Course Description

Computer Organization & Architecture (COA) is a fundamental course in computer science that focuses on the design and operation of computer systems. The course covers the organization and architecture of computer systems, including the underlying hardware and software components. The COA course starts with an overview of computer systems and their components, such as processors, memory, input/output devices, and storage. The course then delves into the different levels of computer organization, including digital logic circuits, microarchitecture, and instruction set architecture (ISA). The course covers topics such as machine instructions and their execution, instruction pipelining, memory hierarchies, and input/output systems. Additionally, the course explores the various types of memory, including cache memory, virtual memory, and secondary storage, and their respective management techniques. In the context of computer architecture, the course covers the design and analysis of different computer systems, including single-processor systems, multiprocessor systems, and distributed systems. The course also covers the concepts of parallelism and concurrency, including instruction-level parallelism, thread-level parallelism, and data-level parallelism. Throughout the COA course, students gain hands-on experience through various lab assignments and projects. They learn to design and implement digital circuits using hardware description languages, such as Verilog and VHDL. They also learn to program in low-level assembly language and explore the performance trade-offs of different software and hardware design choices. COA is an essential course for computer science students as it provides a strong foundation in computer system design and operation. The knowledge and skills gained in this course are applicable in many areas of computer science, including software engineering, operating systems, database systems, and networking. In summary, Computer Organization & Architecture (COA) is a comprehensive course that covers the organization and architecture of computer systems, including their underlying hardware and software components. Students who take this course gain a deep understanding of how computer systems work and are able to apply this knowledge in various areas of computer science. Author: Neso Academy (YouTube)