course-details-portlet

TDT4255

Computer Design

Credits 7.5
Level Second degree level
Course start Autumn 2014
Duration 1 semester
Language of instruction English
Examination arrangement Portfolio assessment

About

About the course

Course content

Advanced topics in hardware design. Design issues including datapath, control and pipelining as well as implementation issues including assembly programming, high-level programming, hardware description languages, specification, partitioning, testing and verification. Embedded Systems, Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and advanced Microprocessor instruction sets.


Learning outcome

Knowledge:
- The student should have a thorough understanding of the construction and mode of operation of simple processors.
- The student should understand how a processor is constructed using building blocks at different levels of abstraction like registers, register files, multiplexers, gates, ALUs, etc.
- The student should know of advanced performance improvement techniques for scalar processor cores.
- The student should know of important trade-offs regarding instruction set design.
- The student should have a thorough understanding of the construction and mode of operation of caches.

Skills:
- The student should be able to construct simple processors using a hardware description language.
- The student should be able to analyze instruction set design problems.

General competence:
- The student should master simple computer design and be able to use this knowledge in projects at all levels of abstraction.

Learning methods and activities

Auditorium lectures, self-study. Compulsory assignments and evaluations. All teaching will be in English. Portfolio assessment is the basis for the grade in the course. The portfolio includes a written exam (50%) and exercises (50%). The results for the parts are given in %-scores, while the entire portfolio is assigned a letter grade. All lectures are given in English. The written examination is only given in english. If there is a re-sit examination the examination form may change from written to oral.

Course materials

David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy: "Computer Organization and Design - the hardware/software interface". Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Other relevant text will be announced at the start of the semester.
All teaching materials will be in English.

Credit reductions

Course code Reduction From
SIF8062 7.5 sp
This course has academic overlap with the course in the table above. If you take overlapping courses, you will receive a credit reduction in the course where you have the lowest grade. If the grades are the same, the reduction will be applied to the course completed most recently.

Other pages about the course

Subject areas

  • Informatics
  • Technological subjects

Contact information

Course coordinator

  • Magnus Jahre

Lecturers

  • Donn Alexander Morrison

Department with academic responsibility

Department of Computer Science

Examination

Examination

Examination arrangement: Portfolio assessment
Grade: Letters

Ordinary examination - Autumn 2014

Arbeider
Weighting 50/100
Skriftlig eksamen
Weighting 50/100 Date 2014-12-01 Time 09:00 Duration 3 timer Place and room Not specified yet.

Re-sit examination - Summer 2015

Arbeider
Weighting 50/100
Muntlig eksamen
Weighting 50/100 Date 2015-08-06

All about examinations at NTNU