Computer Architecture and Operating Systems

Students will acquire theoretical and practical knowledge about the basis of computer organization and architecture; main processes, running in the computer (execution of commands, pipelining, input and output, etc.), appropriate devices (processor, memories, input and output devices, etc.) for processes implementation, and the principles of their design, about the structure of operating systems, process and thread planning and interprocess communication, memory management and virtual memory implementation principles, input-output management and deadlock avoidance, file system structure, security management, organizational principles of operating system user interfaces.

The course aims to introduce students to the elements of modern computers, their architecture and working principles, to the basic structure and organizational principles of computer operating system, its main management functions as well as main algorithms for accomplishing these functions.

Elementary computer and information technology skills; the basics of programming.

1. Command set architecture, main categories, examples. MIPS architecture. 2. Logical gates and circuits. 3. Arithmetic logic unit. Numeral systems. Basic mathematical operations using 2's complement system. Computer formats represent numerals (integer and real values) and characters. 4. Memory architecture. Main memory, cache memory, processor register, virtual memory, external memory. 5. Pipeline and parallel processing. 6. Input and output. 7. Computer performance and evaluation metrics. 8. Operating system evolution. Operating system structure and functions. 9. Process and thread planning and management. Process communication. Process race conditions and means for avoiding: semaphores, event counts, messages. 10. Memory management. Virtual memory. Paging. Page replacement algorithms. 11. Input-output management. Deadlock conditions and their avoidance. 12. File system structure and management. 13. OS selection.

1. At least 60% of written mid-term exam questions on computer architecture organization principles answered correctly. 2. At least 60% of written exam questions on operating system organization principles answered correctly. 3. Practical computer architecture and operating system process simulation tasks accomplished, their results presented and defended.