Module Identifier | CS15410 | |||||||||||
Module Title | COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE | |||||||||||
Academic Year | 2003/2004 | |||||||||||
Co-ordinator | Dr Mark B Ratcliffe | |||||||||||
Semester | Semester 2 | |||||||||||
Other staff | Dr Adrian D Shaw | |||||||||||
Course delivery | Lecture | 22 lectures | ||||||||||
Practical | Up to 4 x 2 hr. | |||||||||||
Assessment |
| |||||||||||
Further details | http://www.aber.ac.uk/compsci/ModuleInfo/CS15410 |
Informal feedback on progress is provided in the form of question and answer and example examination questions sessions run in class.
2. Buses - 2 Lectures
Address, data and control buses. Basic data transfer.
3. Inside the CPU - 3 Lectures
Simple examples of instructions. The fetch-execute cycle and the program counter. Registers. ALU. Control unit. Implementing a machine code in hardware. Digital logic.
4. A real CPU example: Motorola 68000 and 68HC11 - 4 Lectures
Some machine codes and mnemonics. Addressing modes. Assembly code.
5. Executing high-level software - 4 Lectures
Machine-code equivalents of high-level constructs. Function calls. Stack frames and local variables.
6. I/O - 5 Lectures
Reading and writing data. Interrupts. Transfering large amounts of data; DMA, block I/O.
7. Exercises - 4 Practicals
Use a CPU simulator to watch instruction execution. Assembly language comprehension (probably, but not necessarily, by writing a program).
This module is at CQFW Level 4