The course presents the architecture of a basic computer system in all its components and features. It also provides highlights of the techniques for elementary hardware design as well as of assembly programming.

This course is a natural bridge between the first-year course “Computer Science” and the following courses on computer engineering, including “Operating Systems” and “Computer Networks”. Its role is therefore to smoothly and naturally complete the basic knowledge of a computing system acquired during the course “Computer Science” and, at the same time, to gently stimulate the Student to target at more complex issues such as the low level programming and a deeper understanding of the hardware and software interactions of the different components in a computer. By attending this course the Student is expected to increase her/his overview and knowledge of computer based systems, to become more aware of the issues related to the design and management of a computer, and to have one more opportunity to nurture the curiosity qualities that are at the basis of a future Computer Engineer. An important contribution to successfully meet the above expectations comes from the laboratory lectures, where the Students are provided with the possibility of studying and practically approach how to use physical hardware computer platforms to solve real problems.

A deep and well-assessed knowledge and experience of the topics covered during the first-year course “Computer Science” is definitely highly recommended.

• Basics, examples and exercises of simple combinational and sequential circuit design and related issues, such as testing of the correct behavior, memory/area/speed tradeoff, energy consumption, delay and critical path; • The components of a microprocessor-based system and their interactions: CPU, cache memory, main memory, secondary memory, peripherals, Input/Output devices and related addressing and communication issues, buses and addressing modes; • Some “milestones” of Computer Engineering: virtualization, parallelization of operations, operating systems, reduced instruction set computers, configurable devices. • An introduction to the Assembly language.

• Class lectures: about 62% of the course duration; • Class exercise time: about 20% of the course duration; • Assisted laboratories: about 18% of the course duration. Students are highly invited to interact with Lecturers, both at lecture and exercise times. In addition, Students are highly recommended to interact also by using the resources made available through the web pages of the Course, such as the Forum tools.

• Any general purpose textbook covering the topics of the course; • Optional additional material provided by the Lecturers. Additional reading (among all): • V.C. Hamacher et al., Computer Organization, McGraw-Hill, 2005 • M. Morris Mano, C. R. Kime, Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals, 4th edition, Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2008

Modalità di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria; Prova scritta tramite PC con l'utilizzo della piattaforma di ateneo;

Due to the lockdown and social distancing requirements, the implementation of the exam could be affected by the way it can be run, as well as by the tools and restrictions available at the time of a call(s). In such a case, the flow will be implemented under any "new restrictions" as much as possible to be consistent with the rules holding in the years 2019-20, i.e. before the COVID-19 era. In particular, the way all of this will be run, depends on the choice of the hw/sw tools that will be chosen. It is for sure that all students should have a stable internet connection, ine optional additional device with a second webcam, a microphone in addition to a computing system (i.e., a laptop with working webcam), which is compatible with the tools that will be used, likely polito’s virtualclass and zoom.us client, plus additional software (if any) as indicated through portale della didattica by professors. Once more, in such a case, the professors will inform the students through portale della didattica and as soon as possible, about the flow, the way how the rules are implemented and the requirements for attending the exam remotely. An example of implementation of the rules in a remote exam situation (summer 2020, i.e. february 2020 with minor variations, call) is found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3i1yrezbgwswg3w/AACDck2j1ree_3ha2I-deQjoa?dl=0 The goal, as stated above, is to try to replicate as much as possible, the flow of the exam as it was before the COVID-19 era.

Modalità di esame: Prova scritta (in aula); Prova orale obbligatoria; Prova scritta tramite PC con l'utilizzo della piattaforma di ateneo;

Due to the lockdown and social distancing requirements, the implementation of the exam could be affected by the way it can be run, as well as by the tools and restrictions available at the time of a call(s). In such a case, the flow will be implemented under any "new restrictions" as much as possible to be consistent with the rules holding in the years 2019-20, i.e. before the COVID-19 era. In particular, the way all of this will be run, depends on the choice of the hw/sw tools that will be chosen. It is for sure that all students should have a stable internet connection, ine optional additional device with a second webcam, a microphone in addition to a computing system (i.e., a laptop with working webcam), which is compatible with the tools that will be used, likely polito’s virtualclass and zoom.us client, plus additional software (if any) as indicated through portale della didattica by professors. Once more, in such a case, the professors will inform the students through portale della didattica and as soon as possible, about the flow, the way how the rules are implemented and the requirements for attending the exam remotely. An example of implementation of the rules in a remote exam situation (summer 2020, i.e. february 2020 with minor variations, call) is found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3i1yrezbgwswg3w/AACDck2j1ree_3ha2I-deQjoa?dl=0 The goal, as stated above, is to try to replicate as much as possible, the flow of the exam as it was before the COVID-19 era.