This document summarizes several university courses on computer architecture and organization. It discusses where the courses fit in their respective curriculums, how students are assessed, what topics are covered, and what materials and tools are used. The courses cover topics like digital logic, machine level representation of data, assembly level organization, memory systems, multiprocessing, and performance enhancements. Assessment methods include exams, projects, homework, and labs. Tools used include simulators, emulators, assemblers, and hardware description languages.

1. Trends and innovations in Computer organisation and Computer Architecture courses
Yogesh Singh
FDP on Emerging Trends in Computing Education

2. WHY DO WE STUDY COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE ?
Intuition? Brain? The relationship between hardware
and software.

3. ACM CURRICULUM GUIDELINES FOR COMPUTER
ORGANISATION ARCHITECTURE COURSES
Computing professionals should not regard the computer as just a black box that executes programs by magic.
Students should acquire an understanding and appreciation of a computer system’s functional components, their characteristics, performance, and
interactions
Students need to understand computer architecture to develop programs that can achieve high performance through a programmer’s awareness of
parallelism and latency.
The learning outcomes specified for core topics of AC by ACM.
1. Digital Logic and Digital Systems
• Design the basic building blocks of a computer: arithmetic-logic unit (gate-level), registers (gate-level), central processing unit (register
transfer-level), memory (register transfer-level).
2.Machine Level Representation of Data
• Explain why everything is data, including instructions, in computers.
• Explain the reasons for using alternative formats to represent numerical data.
3. Assembly Level Machine Organisation
• Describe how an instruction is executed in a classical von Neumann machine, with extensions for threads,
multiprocessor synchronisation, and SIMD execution.

4. 4. Memory System Organisation and Architecture
• Identify the main types of memory technology (e.g., SRAM, DRAM, Flash, magnetic disk) and their relative cost and performance.
• Describe how the use of memory hierarchy (cache, virtual memory) is used to reduce the effective memory latency.
5. Interfacing and Communication
• Explain how interrupts are used to implement I/O control and data transfers.
• Identify various types of buses in a computer system.
6. Functional Organisation
• Compare alternative implementation of datapaths.
• Discuss the concept of control points and the generation of control signals using hardwired or
microprogrammed implementations
• Design and implement a complete processor, including datapath and control.
7. Multiprocessing and Alternative Architectures
• Discuss the concept of parallel processing beyond the classical von Neumann model
• Describe alternative parallel architectures such as SIMD and MIMD
8. Performance Enhancements
• Describe superscalar architectures and their advantages.
• Explain the concept of branch prediction and its utility.

5. CS/ECE 552: Introduction to Computer Architecture, University of Wisconsin
Where does the course fit in your curriculum?
This is taken by juniors, seniors, and beginning graduate students in computer science and computer engineering. Prerequisites include courses that cover assembly
language and logic design. This course is a (recommended) prerequisite for a graduate course on advanced computer architecture. Approximately 60 students take the
course per offering; it is offered two times per year (once each semester).
Assessment
Assessment is a combination of homework, class project, and exams. There are typically six homework assignments. The project is a detailed
implementation of a 16-bit computer for an example instruction set. The project requires both an unpipelined as well as a pipelined implementation and
typically takes close to a hundred hours of work to complete successfully. The project and homeworks are typically done by teams of 2 students. There is a
midterm exam and a final exam, each of which is typically 2 hours long.
20% Homework 25% Project 25% Midterm 25% Final 5% Class participation
Tools
Mentor, ModelSim, WISC-SP08 Simulator-debugger, cacheSim, wsrun.pl
Knowledge Area Total Hours of Coverage
Architecture and Organization (AR) 39

6. Knowledge Unit Topics Covered
Introduction and Performance Technology trends, Measuring CPU performance ,Amdahl’s law and averaging performance metrics
Instruction Sets
Components of an instruction set,Understanding instruction sets from an implementation perspective,RISC and CISC and example
instruction sets
Computer Arithmetic
Ripple carry, carry lookahead, and other adder designs,ALU and Shifters,Floating-point arithmetic and floating-point hardware
design
Datapath and Control Single-cycle and multi-cycle datapaths,Control of datapaths and implementing control finite-state machines
Pipelining
Basic pipelined datapath and control,Data dependences, data hazards, bypassing, code scheduling.Branch hazards, delayed
branches, branch prediction
Memory Hierarchies
Caches (direct mapped, fully associative, set associative) ,Main memories,Memory hierarchy performance metrics and their
use,Virtual memory, address translation, TLBs
Input and Output
Common I/O device types and characteristics,Memory mapped I/O, DMA, program-controlled I/O, polling, interrupts,Networks
Multiprocessors
Introduction to multiprocessors ,Cache coherence problem
.
Course textbooks and materials
David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware and Software
Interface Morgan Kaufmann Publishers,
What is covered in the course?

7. CC152: Computer Architecture and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Where does the course fit in your curriculum?
This is a senior-level course in the computer science curriculum for computer engineering students interested in computer design.
Assessment
Examinations, homeworks, and hands-on laboratory exercises.The class will have two mid-terms and no final. The class will have two long homework assignments.
Labs:
The centerpiece of the class is a set of computer architecture lab assignments based on RISC-V processors implemented in the Chisel hardware description language.
Three architecture simulation labs are the focus of the class:
Lab 1 (directed, open-ended) covers static pipelined CPUs.
Lab 2 covers the memory hierarchy.
Lab 3 covers dynamically-scheduled CPUs.
The heart of each lab is the open-ended section. This section lists a set of computer architecture project topics that are a good fit to a 3-week work schedule.
Students pick one of the open-ended projects, and focus on doing the best job possible during the allotted time period.
Academic Honesty:
Copying all or part of another person's work, or using reference material not specifically allowed, are forms of cheating and will not be tolerated. A student involved in
an incident of cheating will be assigned an F grade or a 'zero' grade to the subject work
Knowledge Area Total Hours of Coverage
Architecture and Organization (AR) 33

8. Knowledge Unit Topics Covered
Digital Logic and Digital Systems
N/A
Machine Level Representation of Data N/A
Assembly Level Machine Organization Historical Perspectives
Memory System Organization and
Architecture
Memory Hierarchy, Virtual Memory, Snooping Caches
Interfacing and Communication Synchronization, Sequential Consistency
Functional Organization Pipelining
Multprocessing and Alternative
Architecture
Superscalar, VLIW, Vector Processing
Performance Enhancements
Complex Pipelining
.
Additional topics
Case Study: Intel Sandy Bridge & AMD Bulldozer (1.5); Warehouse-Scale Computing (1.5)
Course textbooks and materials
J. L. Hennessy and D. A. Patterson, Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 5th Edition, Morgan Kaufmann Publishing Co., Menlo
Park, CA. 2012.
What is covered in the course?

9. 6.823 Computer System Architecture - Spring 2015, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Overview
This course is a study of the evolution of computer architecture and the factors influencing the design of hardware and software elements of computer systems.
This is graduate level course.
Assessment
75% of the grade will be based on the four quizzes, equally weighted. The remaining 25% of the grade will be based on four laboratory exercises. The last
two labs have twice the weight of the first two.Tools
Laboratory Exercises
There will be four Laboratory Exercises that will explore the concepts taught in lecture using industrial strength tools. Two to three weeks will be allotted for
the completion of each lab.
Tool
Pin - A Dynamic Binary Instrumentation Tool
Knowledge Area Total Hours of Coverage
Architecture and Organization (AR) 40

10. What is covered in the course?
Introduction & History of Calculation and Computer Architecture
Influence of Technology and Software on Instruction Sets: Up to the dawn of IBM 360
Hardwired, Single-cycle ISA Implementation
Instruction Pipelining and Hazards
Instruction Pipelining: Hazard Resolution and Timing Constraints
Caches
Memory Management from Absolute Addresses to Demand Paging
ModernVirtual Memory Systems
Complex Pipelining
Out-of-Order Execution, Register Renaming and Exceptions
Branch Prediction
Speculative Execution
Advanced Memory Operations
Multithreading Architectures
On-chip Networking (I)
On-chip Networking (II)
Cache Coherence (I)
Cache Coherence (II)
Memory Consistency Models
Transactional Memory
Microcoded and VLIW Processors
Vector Computers
Graphics Processing Units
Reliability
Course Reading Material:
Computer Architecture:A Quantitative Approach: 5th Edition by J. L. Hennessy and D.A. Patterson

11. CSL 211 - Computer Architecture, IIT Delhi
Where does the course fit in your curriculum?
The 'Computer Architecture' course is intended to teach undergraduate students in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science the basics of computer architectures.
Credits : 5 [3-1-2] (L-T-P)
Assessment
MINOR - I 10%, MINOR -II 15%, MAJOR 25%, ASSIGNMENTS 50%
Tools
Tejas Architecture Simulator, EmuArm (GUI based ARM Emulator), NASM assembler, Logisim
ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
Academic misconduct such as cheating will not be tolerated. The work you submit in this class is expected to be your own. If you submit work that has in part
or in whole been copied from some published or unpublished source (including current or former students), or that has been prepared by someone other than
you, or that in any way misrepresents somebody else's work as your own, you will face severe disciplinary action.
Any detected cases of cheating will be pursued. Penalties can include: receiving a zero on the assignment (the minimum penalty), failing the course, having a
note placed in your permanent academic record, suspension, and ultimately expulsion.
Knowledge Area Total Hours of Coverage
Architecture and Organization (AR) 42

12. Knowledge Unit Topics Covered
Introduction to Computer
Architecture
The Language of Instructions, Instruction Set Design, Design of Practical Machines
Instruction Sets
The Language of Bits, Floating-Point Numbers, The Basics of Assembly Language, SimpleRisc,ARM Assembly Language, x86 Assembly
Language
Computer Arithmetic
Ripple carry, carry lookahead, and other adder designs,ALU and Shifters,Floating-point arithmetic and floating-point hardware
design, Multiplication of Floating-Point Numbers, Division of Floating-Point Numbers
Processor Design Single-cycle and multi-cycle datapaths,Control of datapaths
Pipelining
Basic pipelined datapath and control,Data dependences, data hazards, bypassing, code scheduling.Branch hazards, delayed
branches, branch prediction
Memory System
Caches (direct mapped, fully associative, set associative) ,Main memories,Memory hierarchy performance metrics and their
use,Virtual memory, address translation, TLBs
Input and Output Common I/O device types and characteristics,Memory mapped I/O, DMA, program-controlled I/O, polling, interrupts,Networks,
Case Studies—I/O Protocols, Storage
Multiprocessors
Design Space of Multiprocessors, MIMD Multiprocessors, SIMD Multiprocessors,Interconnection Networks
Case Study: ARM Processors, NVIDIA Tesla Architecture,
Course textbook
David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware and Software
Interface Morgan Kaufmann Publishers,
What is covered in the course?

13. OCE:Computer Architecture(Course sponsored by Aricent) NPTEL, IIT Madras
ABOUT THE COURSE
The course provides a detailed understanding of various processor microarchitectural designs, which include in-order scalar pipeline design, out-of-order superscalar
processor design, and multicore processor design.
Pre-requisites:
Digital Logic Design or Digital Circuits and Systems, Computer Organization
CERTIFICATE
Certificate will be given to those who register and write the exam. Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam. It will also have the logos of
NPTEL and IIT Madras. It will also be e-verifiable on the nptel.ac.in/noc website.The exam is optional.
Exams will be on 6 September 2015 and 13 September, 2015. Time: 1pm-4pm.The list of cities where the exam will be conducted will be available in the registration form.
SYLLABUS OUTLINE
Week 1: Introduction, Instruction Set Principles
Week 2: Memory Hierarchy Design – Cache Memory Hierarchy
Week 3: Memory Hierarchy Design – Main Memory Design
Week 4: Fundamentals of Pipelining
Week 5: Instruction Level Parallelism
Week 6: Out-of-Order Execution
Week 7: Thread-Level Parallelism – Multi-core Processors
Week 8: Thread-Level Parallelism – Cache Coherency Problem, Synchronization, and Memory Consistency
Knowledge Area Total Hours of Coverage
Computer Architecture 20

14. VIRTUAL LABS
An Initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)
Under the National Mission on Education through ICT
http://vlab.co.in/index.php

15. This paper tells about principles and goals of the curriculum, teaching philosophy and methods, improvements of contents.
COA course contents lie on the intersection of hardware and software and tightly links to the operating system, compiler/assembler, and
programming, the design of hardware system can affect programming strategy and execution efficiency of programs.
Principles for designing the curriculum
(1). The curriculum must periodically update and adjust its topics and contents
(2). Hardware is tightly linked with software concepts and knowledge
- so understand hardware from the perspective of programmers.
(3). The course experiments should lead students make use of what they have learned.
- course experiments should be helpful for students to develop their computer skills,
(4). Include professional skills as an integral part of the curriculum.
-Introduce concrete examples :
American Patriot Missile failure to intercept an incoming Iraqi Scud missile
Intel Pentium Process Floating-Point Number Bug
ChunfengYuan;Yihua Huang; Zhesheng Zhang; Guihai Chen;Wanchun Dou, "Improvements on Teaching Methods and Contents for
the "Computer Organization and Architecture" Curriculum," Scalable Computing and Communications; Eighth International
Conference on Embedded Computing, 2009. SCALCOM-EMBEDDEDCOM'09. International Conference on , vol., no., pp.560,565,
25-27 Sept. 2009
Improvements on Teaching Methods and Contents for the "Computer Organization and Architecture"

16. The curriculum refers to not only the hardware and the Instruction Set Architecture design but also software design for operating systems,
compilers and programming.
eg how float no is stored in hardware
Begin from the programming perspective; stress the relationship between hardware and software; place emphasis on CPU design; and aim to
enhance system performance
(1). Based on approach, “high-level programming language-> assembly language ->machine code-> instructions CPU design”,
(2). In regard to CPU design contents,
design of the pipelined CPU and other advanced technology. Based on a progressive order “the IAS machine’s CPU ->bus-driven CPU ->single-
cycle CPU ->multi-cycle CPU ->basic pipelined CPU-> advanced pipelined CPU”, using MIPS and Pentium 4 processors as blueprint,
3. interaction between hardware and software, exception and interruption, memory access, and I/O access into the execution process of
instructions.
4. Incorporating the pipelining of a CPU, we explain how to optimize compilers.
Experiments and Results
Authors emphasize on designing a pipelined CPU based on the strategy: begin with ISA simulator, then functional components design, then
designing a single-cycle CPU, and finally pipelined CPU design.
Altera DE2 experiment toolkits that allow students to use hardware description language and FPGA to conduct their CPU design experiments.
The results have shown that the majority of students can complete their CPU design projects – either a single-cycle CPU or a multi-cycle CPU,
and some of them can accomplish their design for a 5-segment pipelined CPU.
Teaching method and course content improvement

17. Nikolic, B.; Radivojevic, Z.; Djordjevic, J.; Milutinovic,V., "A Survey and Evaluation of Simulators
Suitable for Teaching Courses in Computer Architecture and Organization," Education,
IEEE Transactions on , vol.52, no.4, pp.449,458, Nov. 2009
This paper attempts to give a survey of simulators suitable for teaching courses in computer architecture and organization.

18. Generally, these simulators can be separated into two major groups
The first group contains the appropriate tools and necessary methods to enable the user first to build specific computer system
configurations and then to simulate them.
This type of simulator implies five-step procedure in which a user:
1. selects components from the library;
2. places selected components onto the working panel;
3. connects the selected component with other ones in order to create a new component;
4. creates an interface for the created new component; and
5. tests the created component.
The most representative simulators from this group are: HASE, ISE Design Suite, JHDL, Logisim, M5, Quartus II, Simics, SMOK, and Virtual Vulcan.
The second group of simulators contains appropriate tools that enable the user to simulate already created systems.
This type of simulator implies the five step procedure in which a user:
1. initializes the simulator with default options;
2. specifies the test configuration;
3. creates test vectors and diagrams to be observed;
4. carries out the simulation; and
5. analyzes test results for the specified test configuration.
The most representative simulators from this group used in the evaluation are: ANT, CASLE, CCSTUDIO, CodeWar- rior, CPU Sim, DigLC2, DLXview,
Easy CPU, EDCOMP, ESCAPE, FastCache, HASE-Dinero, JCachesim, RM, RSIM, SIMCA, SimFlex, SimOS, and SimpleScalar.

20. Conclusion
The evaluation, based on the topics coverage criteria, shows that there is no single simulator which covers all topics. The best overall topics coverage is
achieved with simulators M5 (69.57%) and Simics (64.13%), while most of other simulators achieve about 30.00% coverage.
The evaluation, based on the simulation features criteria, shows that there are many simulators which meet a great number of these criteria. Simulators
EDCOMP, HASE, ISE Design Suite, JHDL, M5, and Quartus II meet most of the criteria.

21. The paper presents the approach followed at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, to introduce design automation tools and
structured design techniques in the first course on digital system design of our Integrated Master in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Paper approach the use of Electronic Design Automation tools with a reconfigurable platform based on a Xilinx FPGA
LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS
In the first laboratory assignment students build a basic digital circuit with gate-level logic devices
The second block of laboratory experiments leads the students from the gate-level design of an adder/subtractor to the construction of an
elementary microprocessor. It includes a sequence of four lab assignments, leading to the construction of a simple, albeit fully functional, 8-bit
RISC-style microprocessor.
The third and final block of labs deals with the MIPS assembly programming
FPGA board and development tools
The sequence of laboratory assignments leading to the development of the microprocessor, makes use of a low cost development board with
reconfigurable logic: the Spartan-3 Starter Kit . After designing the circuit with the ISE WebPACK Design Software from Xilinx, the students
program the FPGA and validate the expected results.
Silva Matos, J.;Alves, J.C.; Sousa Mendonca, H.;Araujo,A.J., "From Boolean algebra to processor
architecture and assembly programming in one semester," Design of Circuits and Integrated
Circuits (DCIS), 2014 Conference on , vol., no., pp.1,5, 26-28 Nov. 2014
From Boolean algebra to processor architecture and assembly programming in one semester

22. THANKYOU