Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives To develop an understanding of the architecture of a typical small computer, of its peripherals and its major building blocks and their interaction with each other.
Synopsis Impact of the computer on society. A-D and D-A converters. Signed number arithmetic. Interfaces and communications: basic communication concepts, serial and parallel interfaces, with examples. Fundamentals of microcomputers and introduction to assembly language programming, architecture, memory (RAM, ROM, disks, disk sectoring, etc), instruction sets, register operations, address modes, interrupts.
Assessment Examination (3 hours): 80% + Practical work and laboratory work: 20%