An introduction to the hardware and software organization of computer systems. The course emphasizes a multilevel model of computer organization. Topics include the digital logic level; the micro architecture level; the machine instruction set level; the operating system level; and the assembly language level. Programming assignments will be required.

Computer Architecture is a study of the design of both modern and classic computer hardware. Topics include: a review of classical computer architectures; the design of operation codes and addressing modes, data formats, and their implementation; internal and external bus structures; architectural features to support virtual storage and page-replacement policies, high-level language features, and operating systems. Students will write programs which simulate the organization of several different processor architectures to help further their understanding of design choices.