Course Description(s) from the University Catalog

CS 6211 - Comp. Architecture/Machn Org I
Credits: 3.00
An introduction to computer organization and principles of computer design. Topics include: machine language, assembly language programming, organization fo the processor, main and secondary memory, representation of data types, linkers and loaders, addressing methods, mchine program sequencing, processing unit, cache and pipelining.
Lecture: 2.00 Lab: 2.00
College: College of Arts and Sciences
Department: Computer Science
Pre-requisites: See hard copy catalog for pre-requisites.

CS 3110 - System Architecture
Credits: 3.00
An introduction to systems architecture and its impact on software execution. Topices include digital logic and digital systems, machine level representation of data, assembly level machine organization, memory systems organization, I/O and communication, and CPU implementation.
Lecture: 2.00 Lab: 2.00
College: College of Arts and Sciences
Department: Computer Science
Pre-requisites: CS 1302 Minimum Grade: D


Course Information

Course Syllabus
Course Page on the UWG CS Course Web (Moodle)

Course Summary

This course covered many basic principles in computer architecture and included topics such as:
  • Binary Integer Representation
  • Binary Integer Arithmetic
  • Binary Floating-Point Representation
  • Hexadecimal Number Representation
  • Data Representation of Characters and Strings
  • Boolean Logic
A great deal of the course was taught using the C language as a tool since C requires that most things that are commonplace in in modern languages, especially those descended from it like Java and C#, be done manually as opposed to having predefined libraries with such tools already available for use.  Topics covered using the C language include:
  • Memory and Dynamic Memory Management
  • Stacks and Subroutines
Still other topics were covered during the course:
  • Memory Management and Garbage Collection (Java was used here)
  • Virtual Memory

Course Assessment

From the syllabus:

Course Objectives
CO-01    
Explain the function of, and the relationship among, the processor, the operating system, and the network.
CO-02 Explain the internal representation of numeric and non-numeric data.
CO-03 Use combinational logic to design simple circuits.
CO-04 Explain the organization of the Von Neumann machine and its functional units and describe how an instruction is executed.
CO-05 Demonstrate how high-level language constructs are implemented at the machine language level.
CO-06 Identify the main types of memory technology.
CO-07 Explain how interrupts and buses are used to implement input/output control and data transfer.
CO-08 Describe virtual machine architectures.
CO-09 Explain multiple OS architectures such as monolithic and micro-kernels.
CO-10 Explain the algorithms used in memory and storage management.

Completed Course Objectives?
Yes.  The course focused primarily on memory and the management thereof, but all of the learning objectives listed above were satisfied in this course.  See the course summary for more details.

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