TDTS57 Computer Architecture

Course information

Course topics (Lectures are given in English):

• Introduction:
  - Short review of basic architecture issues.
  - The von Neumann architecture.
  - The Computer System.
  - Outline of the course.
• The Memory System:
  - Components of the memory system.
  - The memory hierarchy.
  - Cache memories.
  - Virtual memory.
• Input/Output Handling:
  - Input/Output devices.
  - I/O modules.
  - Interrupts and I/O.
  - Programmed and interrupt driven I/O.
  - Direct memory access.
  - Bus interconnection.
• The Instruction Set:
  - Machine instructions and their type.
  - Addressing modes.
  - Instruction formats.
• Internal Structure and Functioning of the CPU:
  - Internal structure of the CPU.
  - Register organization.
  - Instruction pipelining.
• Pipeline Hazards and Branch Penalties:
  - Pipeline hazards.
  - Reducing branch penalties.
  - Delayed branching.
  - Branch prediction.
• Reduced Instruction Set Computers:
  - Why do we need RISCs? The semantic gap.
  - Main characteristics of RISC architectures.
  - Are RISCs better then CISCs?
• Superscalar Processors:
  - Superpipelining.
  - Features of superscalar architectures.
  - Data dependencies.
  - Policies for parallel instruction execution.
  - Register renaming.
• The Control Unit:
  - Microoperations and control signals.
  - The control unit - basic tasks.
  - Hardwired control.
  - Microprogrammed control.
• Architectures for Parallel Computation:
  - Parallel computation and parallel programs.
  - A classification of computer architectures.
  - The interconnection network.
  - Array processors, multiprocessors, and multicomputers.
  - Vector processors.

Page responsible: Petru Eles
Last updated: 2007-01-09