- Knowledge of several processor architectures, with particular attention paid to x86, ARM and MIPS families - Superscalar and multithread architectures - Knowledge of the sw/hw architecture of an embedded system - Knowledge about system bus, cpu and I/O characteristics - Competences about I/O management and interface design - Competences about development of applications for embedded systems - Assembly code implementation for I/O device management.

- Knowledge of basic elaboration systems architecture: processor structure, memory organization and peripheral management - Knowledge of basic functionalities of operating systems - Capability to develop programs in assembler language.

• Advanced description of the basic microprocessor architecture • Introduction to modern microprocessor architectures • CISC, RISC and superscalar processor architectures, behavior and performance • Microprocessor-based systems architecture • Development flow of embedded system applications using a development board • Advanced programming techniques for embedded systems: theory and practice • Advanced assembly programming techniques (ARM, 8086): theory and practice.

EXAM RULES (ANY MINOR CHANGES TO THESE POLICIES/PROCEDURES WILL BE TIMELY COMMUNICATED TO THE STUDENTS) • The exam consists of a 2 –sections written part, i.e, one where some responses on the topics covered by professor Marceddu have to be provided and a second one where it will be requested to write one or more programs in the assembly language (ARM and 8086), plus a mandatory oral part, which will take place in the next days following the written part. • In the very few days after the written part, the students have to self-correct their assembly program(s), starting from the solution completed during the written part. Fully functional program(s) have to be obtained together with a .doc list of all the changes with respect to the written version part. Both the .txt file of the new running version(s) and the .doc with the list(s) of changes, have to be uploaded to Portale della Didattica by a unique deadline common to all students, which will be timely communicated. Later uploads will not be considered and the exam will be voided (even in the case of no changes, the students have to upload the necessary and requested files). After their upload, students will not be allowed to further change their files. • If the list of modified changes does not match with the effectively implemented changes and in case of other/similar anomalies, the correction of the programming part will determine an immediate rejection. In any case, compliance checks could be run offline by Professors and, in case anomalies are found, a rejection will be recorded. • The list of ALL changes should be provided, in the form of a .doc file where the written-exam-version of the program(s) is in black, and where the deletions are in background yellow color and the additions are in red character color. (example: unchanged text, deleted text, modified text). Not complying with this format and/or not marking ALL errors/ changes, will automatically void the exam. • The first part globally accounts up to 27 points at most, i.e., up to 19 points for the second section (as evaluated during the oral discussion), plus 8 for the first section. In order to pass the written part and go for the mandatory oral, it is necessary that all the following conditions are met: o The first section score is at least 4 points o Global ARM program(s) evaluation has achieved at least 50% of the overall score available for the ARM part o Global 8086 program(s) evaluation has achieved at least 50% of the overall score available for the 8086 part o The second section (i.e., ARM+8086 programs) score is at least 10 points o The first section plus second section score is at least 16 points • The oral questions following the program(s) discussion, can decrease by any amount the first part score, or add up to 6 additional points • Usually but depending on the time constraints, the list of students who successfully passed the written part minimum threshold will be posted on course’s page in Portale della Didattica together with the instructions about how to have the oral exam, which will cover all the program but not the laboratories. • Failure to respond in a sufficient way can at any time lead to a rejection, which has not necessarily to be communicated immediately, but in general will follow the general protocol to communicate the results through Portale della Didattica. Addendum: In the rare event of remote exams, all exam parts run in remote mode (written and oral) will be video-recorded; students who do not want to be video-recorded unfortunately will not be admitted to the exam.

• Class lectures: 50% of the course duration • Extensive Class exercise time: 30% of the course duration • Assisted laboratories: 20% of the course duration. Students are highly invited to interact with Lecturers, at lecture, exercise, and laboratory slots

• J.L. Hennessy, D.A. Patterson, Computer Architecture: a Quantitative Approach, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., VI Edition, 2017 • Steve Furber, ARM system-on-chip architecture, Addison-Wesley, 2000. Optional additional material provided by the Lecturers.

Video lectures (previous years);

Exam: Computer lab-based test; Written test; Compulsory oral exam; Computer-based written test in class using POLITO platform;

FOR 2023-24 ALL EXAMS WILL BE GIVEN IN IN-PERSON MODE (as per Politecnico’s policies and procedures) (ANY MINOR CHANGES TO THESE POLICIES/PROCEDURES WILL BE TIMELY COMMUNICATED TO THE STUDENTS) The exam consists of a written plus a mandatory oral part. The written part is further divided into two sub-parts: 1. The first sub-part consists of open&closed questions about subjects covered during lectures. While this sub-part is being run, it is not possible to use any book or other material. 2. The second sub-part consists of the development of an assembly program. While this sub-part is being run, it is possible to use only printed books and/or documents in electronic format downloaded from the web site of the course (Portale della Didattica). If possible the written part will be run by using the facilities of a laboratory at Politecnico, otherwise will be run in "paper-written-mode". The first part globally accounts up to 27 points at most, i.e. up to 19 points for the second section (as evaluated during the oral discussion), plus 8 for the first section. In order to pass the written part and go for the mandatory oral, it is necessary that all the following conditions are met: o The first section score is at least 4 points o Global ARM program(s) evaluation has achieved at least 50% of the overall score available for the ARM part o Global 8086 program(s) evaluation has achieved at least 50% of the overall score available for the 8086 part o The second section (i.e., ARM+8086 programs) score is at least 10 points o The first section plus second section score is at least 16 points The oral questions following the program(s) discussion, can decrease by any amount the first part score, or add up to 6 additional points The written part (=first+second sub-parts) lasts from 2 to 3 hours and has to be passed in both its two sub-parts. Failing one of the two sub-parts will imply a rejection. The correction of the written tests usually takes place during the oral part; the presence of the student is required, otherwise his/her vote will be rejected / refused. Points in the two parts are added up. At the end of the correction, the student will be able to continue the oral exam, consisting of at most three additional questions. Failure to satisfactorily responding a question, will imply a negative score for that question and the possible termination of the oral exam. If less than 18 points are obtained, a rejection will be registered. Professor(s) has (have) the right to ask at any time oral questions to get a better and more complete picture of the student's preparation. The final grade will be determined by adding up all the points collected by the student and rounding the numerical result. Laude will be granted to all students whose number of points is larger than 31.5 (before rounding) AND have shown both brilliant attitude to computer engineering and deep knowledge of the topics covered by the course. Regarding the rejection of a "final positive score" (i.e., >=18), recently Politecnico changed the policies to introduce the "self-reject" option by a student of their final grade. The course indeed follows 100% the most recently approved and current Politecnico's policies on this and other matters. In particular: • If Politecnico’s most current policies in place do allow the student to autonomously reject the score, by some deadline, the final scores will be made available some days after the end of the last oral exam in the webpages of the students through Portale della Didattica, as final recorded (and consolidated) scores; there will be no explicit communication or action taken by professors. • If Politecnico’s most current policies do not allow the student to autonomously reject the score, the scores will be made available through Portale della Didattica in the personal page of each student, as “provisional scores” and a student can request the rejection of the score usually by 12 noon CET of the day after the partial scores have been published. or by the deadline communicated by the Professors in Portale della Didattica. Later requests will be not considered. A document with the most up-to-date "flow" of operations for the different cases (in-person/remote) exams will be made available to students during the course. An example of flow and rules (last academic year) is found at https://swiy.co/last-year-rules Overall, the exam is targeted at evaluating the students both from their abilities to design, write and run assembly programs, and their knowledge of modern computing systems architectures.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.