Course Outline

Semester: 2
From (February 2015 to June 2015)

Introduction to Computer Architecture COMP108

COURSE DETAILS
Course Location
Department
Program Name
Credits
Status
Contact hours
No. of weeks
Teaching Pattern
Lecturers Name
Venue
Day
Time

:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

Lesotho
Faculty of Information and Communication Technology
Associate Degree in Business Information Technology
3
Core
3 hours (2 hours lecture + 1 hour Tutorial)
14 teaching weeks + 1 Final examination week + 1 week Midterm Break
Lecture + Tutorial
M. Borotho
ROOM1
Monday
1130-1430hrs

Prepared by : M. Borotho
Signature

Checked by : T. Makheka
Date

Signature

This document comprises the following:

Essential Information
Specific Course Information
Course Rules & Regulations
Grades
Plagiarism
Course Introduction
Course Aims & Objectives
Learning Outcome
Specific Generic Learning Skills
Unit Syllabus + Lecture Outline
References
Assessment Schedule
Assessment Criteria
Specific Criteria
Learning Activities

Other documents as follows will be issued to you on an ongoing basis throughout the semester:

Handouts for Assignments

Submission Requirements + Guidelines

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Date

1.0

2.0

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

All courses other than electives are 'significant courses'

As an indicator of workload one credit carries and additional 2 hours of self study per week. For
example, a course worth 3 credits require that the student spends an additional 6 hours per
week, either reading, completing the assignment or doing self directed research for that course.

Submission of ALL assignment work is compulsory in this course. A student cannot pass this
course without having to submit ALL assignment work by the due date or an approved
extension of that date.

All assignments are to be handed on time on the due date. Students will be penalised 10
percent for the first day and 5 percent per day thereafter for late submission (a weekend or a
public holiday counts as one day). Late submission, after the date Board of Studies meeting
will not be accepted.

Due dates, compulsory assignment requirements and submission requirements may only be
altered with the consent of the majority of students enrolled in this course at the beginning/early
in the program.

Extensions of time for submission of assignment work may be granted if the application for
extension is accompanied by a medical certificate.

Overseas travel is not an acceptable reason for seeking a change in the examination schedule.

Only the Head of School can grant approval for extension of submission beyond the
assignment deadline.

Re-submission of work can only receive a 50% maximum pass rate.

Supplementary exams can only be granted if the level of work is satisfactory AND the semester
work has been completed.

Harvard referencing and plagiarism policy will apply on all written assignments.

SPECIFIC COURSE INFORMATION

Attendance rate of 80% is mandatory for passing course.

All grades are subject to attendance and participation.

Absenteeism at any scheduled presentations will result in zero mark for that presentation.

Visual presentation work in drawn and model form must be the original work of the student.

The attached semester program is subject to change at short notice.

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3.0

COURSE RULES AND REGULATIONS:

Assessment procedure:

These rules and regulations are to be read in conjunction with the UNIT AIMS AND
OBJECTIVES

All assignments/projects must be completed and presented for marking by the due date.

Marks will be deducted for late work and invalid reasons.

All assignments must be delivered by the student in person to the lecturer concerned. No other
lecturer is allowed to accept students assignments.

All tests/examinations are compulsory.

Students must sit the test/examination on the notified date.

Students are expected to familiarize themselves with the test/examination timetable.

Students who miss a test/examination will not be allowed to pass.

Any scheduling of tutorials, both during or after lecture hours, is TOTALLY the responsibility of
each student. Appointments are to be proposed, arranged, confirmed, and kept, by each
student. Failure to do so in a professional manner may result in penalty of grades. Tutorials
WITHOUT appointments will also NOT be entertained.

Note that every assignment is given an ample time frame for completion. This, together with
advanced information pertaining deadlines gives you NO EXCUSE not to submit assignments
on time.

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4.0

GRADES
All courses and assessable projects will be graded according to the following system. With respect
to those units that are designated 'Approved for Pass/Fail' the grade will be either PA or F:

5.0

Grade

Numeric Grade

90 100

A+

85 89

80 84

A-

75 79

B+

74 70

65 69

B-

60 64

C+

55 59

50 54

C-, PX, PC

0 49

Description

Pass with Distinction

Pass with Credit

Pass
Fail

EXP

Exempted

PC

Pass Conceded

PP

Pass Provisional with extra work needed

PX

Pass after extra work is given and passed

Ineligible for assessment due to unsatisfactory attendance

Deferred

Withdraw

DNA

Did Not Attend Course

DNC

Did Not Complete Course

PLAGIARISM, COPYRIGHT, PATENTS, OWNERSHIP OF WORK: STUDENT MAJOR PROJECT,

THESES & WORKS
See LIMKOKWING, HIGH FLYERS HANDOUT, pg 10.

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6.0 COURSE INTRODUCTION

The course aims to expose students to the knowledge of keeping abreast with the ever-advancing
and faster-operating components comprising a computer. It also exposes students to identify,
remove bottlenecks and understand the design of architectures and systems software

7.0 COURSE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

8.0

Students should gain the understanding of the computer architecture and operating system.

It should give students knowledge of the need for computer operating systems and methods
used in their design and application.

It should provide students with an understanding of the structure of modern operating systems.

It should also provide students with an understanding of the structure of modern operating
systems.

LEARNING OUTCOME
Upon completing the course, students will have acquired basic knowledge and functions of
operating components in a computer.

9.0

SPECIFIC GENERIC LEARNING SKILLS

Upon completion of the course, student will gain an understanding of:

Both system hardware and software and an appreciation interrupt handling and the
organization of the IO of a typical operating system.

The interplay of the various levels of the memory hierarchy found in the computer systems
through the study of cache memory, virtual memory and file systems.

The process and resource management functions, the nature of the hardware-software
interface and inter process communication mechanisms.

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10.0 UNIT SYLLABUS + LECTURE OUTLINE:

Week:

1. [16/02/2015 - 20/02/2015]

LECTURE 1:

INTRODUCTION

Lecture Synopsis:
1.1 Introduction to Computer Systems
1.2 Brief History of Computer Systems
Handout:

Course outline, Chapter 1 PowerPoint handouts

Week:

2. [23/02/2015 - 27/02/215]

LECTURE 2:

ARITHMETIC AND LOGICAL UNIT

Lecture Synopsis:
2.1 Arithmetic and Logic Operation and Hardware Implementation
2.2 Number System and Representation
2.3 Implementation Issues of some Operations
Handout:

Chapter 2 PowerPoint handouts

Week:

3. [02/03/2015 - 06/03/2015]

LECTURE 3:

MEMORY

Lecture Synopsis:
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4

Concept of Memory
Cache Memory
Memory Management
Virtual Memory

Handout:

Chapter 3 PowerPoint handouts

Week:

4. [09/03/2015 - 13/03/2015]

LECTURE 4:

INSTRUCTION SET ARCHITECTURE & ADDRESSING

Lecture Synopsis:

4.1 Various Addressing Modes

4.2 Machine Instruction
4.3 Instruction Format
Handout:

Chapter 4 PowerPoint handouts

Week:

5. [16/03/2015 - 20/03/2015]

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LECTURE 5:
Lecture Synopsis:

PROCESSOR DESIGN

5.1 Introduction to CPU

5.2 Processor Organization
5.3 Execution of Complete Instruction
5.4 Design of Control Unit
5.5 Microprogrammed Control I
5.6 Microprogrammed Control II
Handout:

Chapter 5 PowerPoint handouts

_________________________________________________________________________________________
Week:

6. [23/03/2015/ - 27/03/2015]

LECTURE 6:

INPUT / OUTPUT

Lecture Synopsis:
6.1 Introduction to I/O

6.2 Programmed Control I/O

6.3 Interrupt Driven I/O
6.4 Direct Memory Access
Handout:

Chapter 6 PowerPoint handouts

Week:

7. [30/03/2015 - 03/04/2015]

MID-TERM EXAMINATION WEEK

________________________________________________________________________________________
Week:

8. [06/04/2015 - 10/04/2015]

SEMESTER BREAK
____________________________________________________________________________
Week:

9. [13/04/2015 - 17/04/2015]

LECTURE 7:

CONNECTING TO I/O DEVICES

Lecture Synopsis:
7.1 I/O Buses
7.2 External Storage Devices
7.3 Disk Performance
Handout:
Chapter 7 PowerPoint handouts
________________________________________________________________________________________

Week:

10. [20/04/2015 - 24/04/2015]

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LECTURE 8:

INSTRUCTION SET COMPUTING

Lecture Synopsis:
8.1 Introduction to RISC
8.2 Design Issues of RISC
Handout:

Chapter 8 PowerPoint handouts

Week:

11. [27/04/2015 - 01/05/2015]

LECTURE 9:

PIPELINE

Lecture Synopsis:
9.1 Introduction to Pipeline Processor
9.2 Performance Issues
9.3 Branching
Handout:

Chapter 9 PowerPoint handouts

Week:

12. [04/05/2015 08/05/2015]

LECTURE 10:

MULTIPROCESSOR / PARALLEL PROCESSING

Lecture Synopsis:
10.1 Introduction to Parallel Processing
10.2 Introduction to Network
10.3 Cache Coherence
Handout:
Chapter 10 PowerPoint handouts
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Week
13. [11/05/2015 15/05/2015]
LECTURE 11:

INTEL 8085/8086 MICROPROCESSOR

Lecture Synopsis:
11.1
11.2
11.3
11.4
11.5

Organization of Intel 8085 Microprocessor

Instruction Set of Intel 8085 Microprocessor
Organization of Intel 8086 Microprocessor
Instruction Format of Intel 8086 Microprocessor
Programming Microprocessor

Handout:

Chapter 11 PowerPoint handouts

Week:

14 [18/05/2015-22/05/2015]

REVISION WEEK

Week:

15 [25/05/2015-29/05/2015]

FINAL EXAMINATION WEEK

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Week:

16 [01/06/2015-05/06/2015]

FINAL EXAMINATION WEEK

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11.0 REFERENCES
1. Stallings William, Computer Organization and Architecture: Designing for Performance, 8th
Edition, Prentice Hall
2. John L. Hennessy and David Patterson, Computer Architecture, A Quantitative Approach, 5th
Edition, Morgan Kaufman
3. Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Computer Organization, 6th Edition, Prentice-Hall India.
4. Paul P. Chaudhuri, Computer Organization and Design, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall India
12.0 ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE
ASSIGNMENT
DESCRIPTION
QUIZ

ISSUE
DATE
WEEK 3

DUE DATE

WEEK 3

5%

CLASS TEST

WEEK 5

WEEK 5

10%

MID-TERM EXAMINATION :

WEEK 7

WEEK 7

25%

LABORATORY
EXPERIMENT
FINAL EXAMINATION :

WEEK 7

WEEK10

20%

WEEK 15

WEEK 16

40%

TOTAL

100%

13.0 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Process of grading and criteria used to determine the grades, passes and high distinctions.
14.0 SPECIFIC CRITERIA

Each student will receive a completed assessment sheet back with their marks, thereby giving
student feedback on each set criterion and the project as a whole.

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