COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE A

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* Advanced Computer architecture
Introduction to the architecture of the modern CPUs.
CISC and RISC approaches.
Pipeline and superscalar architectures.
Control unit. Hardwired control - Introduction to microprogramming.

* Computer System architecture
Interconnection Structures, data transfer and bus.
Distributed and concentrated arbiter
I/O subsystem: interrupt and DMA

* The Memories:
Memory systems hierarchy
Electronic and magnetic technologies. Memory technologies such as DRAM, EPROM.
Main memory organization: characteristics and performance
Latency, cycle time, bandwidth, and interleaving
Cache memories (address mapping, line size, replacement and write-back policies)
Virtual memory systems.

* Distributed and parallel architectures
Taxonomies: parallel machine models (SIMD, MIMD, SISD, MISD): Flynn’s taxonomy. Amdahl law and performance parameters.
Multiprocessors and multi-computers: topology, tightly coupled and loosely coupled architectures
Introduction to clusters.

* The logical Architecture of the CPU x86
Basic architecture
Registers and register files
Instruction types and addressing modes
Subroutine call and return mechanisms
Programming in assembly language
I/O techniques and interrupts