CODE 72303 ACADEMIC YEAR 2022/2023 CREDITS 6 cfu anno 2 INGEGNERIA ELETTRONICA E TECNOLOGIE DELL'INFORMAZIONE 9273 (L-8) - GENOVA SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINARY SECTOR ING-INF/01 LANGUAGE Italian TEACHING LOCATION GENOVA SEMESTER 1° Semester MODULES Questo insegnamento è un modulo di: LABORATORIO DI INFORMATICA E TELEMATICA & ARCHITETTURE DEI SISTEMI ELETTRONICI TEACHING MATERIALS AULAWEB OVERVIEW The progress of computer technologies from 1960 to today has been oustanding. In 1960, a computer was as big as an entire room. Today, a computer is as small as a tablet or a smartphone. In this course, students will study the principles of computer architecture, which played a crucial role in such evolution of computer system. AIMS AND CONTENT LEARNING OUTCOMES The course is a study of the evolution of computer architecture and the factors influencing the design of hardware and software elements of computer systems. The course covers the fundamentals of classical and modern processor design: performance and cost issues, instruction sets, pipelining, memory organization. AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES The design and development of a computer requires one to address specific targets in terms of computational performance, size, cost, and power consumption. Accordingly, both a tablet and a data centre belong to the class of computers; on the other hand, they are definitely different when looking at the four attributes listed above. This module focuses on the design methodologies that allow one to target specific constraints when developing a computer. At the same time, students will be involved in practical classes, where professional tools for the design of digital electronic systems will be utilized. Overall, students will be able to improve their skill on computer architectures and computer systems. TEACHING METHODS This course includes a combination of lectures and laboratory assignments. Lab assignments will allow students to incrementally design, implement, test, and evaluate digital architectures. SYLLABUS/CONTENT Topics will include: introduction to computer architecture design; analysis of the major design issues: computational performance, power consumption, cost, size; computer arithmetic; instruction set design; processor: datapath and control unit; pipeline and parallelism; memory organization. RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY Lecture notes David Patterson, John Hennessy, "Computer Organization and Design", Morgan Kaufmann David Harris, Sarah Harris, "Digital Design and Computer Architecture", Morgan Kaufmann TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD PAOLO GASTALDO Ricevimento: Phone: 010 3532268 email: paolo.gastaldo@unige.it Exam Board PAOLO GASTALDO (President) EDOARDO RAGUSA LUCIO MARCENARO (President Substitute) RODOLFO ZUNINO (President Substitute) LESSONS LESSONS START https://corsi.unige.it/9273/p/studenti-orario Class schedule The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy EXAMS EXAM DESCRIPTION Written exam with multiple choice tests. The final score will be calculated by taking also into account the outcomes of the lab assignments ASSESSMENT METHODS The assessment will be based on Lab assignments. The goal is to evaluate the ability of properly exploiting the theoretical contents introduced in the lessons. In particular, the first assignment deals with computer architecture. The second assignment deals with the design of digital electronic systems. Written exam. The goal is to evaluate the levels of comprehension of the theoretical contents introduced in the lessons The exam includes both multiple choiche tests and open questions.
