CS 2710 - Computer Organization

3 lecture hours 0 lab hours 3 credits

Course Description
This course provides students with an introduction to the structure of computer hardware, including the components of a modern computer system as well as the tradeoffs necessary to construct such a system. Specific course topics include numeric systems, the role of performance in designing computer systems, Amdahl’s Law, instruction formats, addressing modes, computer arithmetic with both fixed and floating point numbers, single cycle and multi-cycle data-path design, pipelining, the memory hierarchy, and caching. Students will develop small, assembly language programs on a simulator as a means of exploring instruction formats and data-path operation. (prereq: CE 1900)

Course Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

(Comprehension) Understand the relationship between input, output, memory, the processor, the data path, and the control path within a computer
(Comprehension) Explain how signed and unsigned numbers and ﬂoating point numbers are represented internally within a computer and perform these operations
(Comprehension) Explain the memory hierarchy within a computer and quantify its impact on computer performance
(Application) Explain how variables are allocated in memory and the relationship between variables and pointers
(Application) Compute performance related metrics for a computer based system or implemented program
(Analysis) Critique the design and implementation of a processor based upon design parameters
(Synthesis) Write simple assembly language routines using MIPS assembly language

Prerequisites by Topic

Logic Gates
DeMorgan’s Theorems
Binary and Hex number systems
ALU Operation

Course Topics

Course introduction and overview (1 lecture)
Exam review (1 lecture)
Midterm Exam (1 lecture)
End of course assessment (1 lecture)
An overview of compute organization (1 lecture)
Integer numeric representations in the computer (2 lectures)
Arithmetic operations on computer (3 lectures)
Making decisions on the microprocessor (2 lectures)
MIPS assembly language programming (4 lectures)
ARM versus MIPS (1 lecture)
Floating point representation (2 lectures)
Floating point operations (2 lectures)
Datapath design (2 lectures)
Pipelining (2 lectures)
Memory Hierarchy (1 lecture)
Caching (2 lectures)
Virtual Memory (2 lectures)

Coordinator
Walter Schilling

Announcement

The Raider Return

Milwaukee School of Engineering

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CS 2710 - Computer Organization