- International Fees
International fees are typically 3.12 times the domestic tuition. Exact cost will be calculated upon completion of registration.
Course Overview
Computer architecture and computer organization are fundamental topics for computer programmers and computer systems developers. This hands-on course follows on from Applied Mathematics for Computing and Java programming. COMP 2825 is a study of the rules and methods used to describe the functionality and implementation of computer systems. The hierarchy of computer levels and functions are discussed and analyzed in detail. Through exercises and labs students evaluate modern computer system hardware architectures. They are shown how to build performance into their software applications and computer systems. Topics include pipelining, error-correcting code in theory and in practice, performance enhancement, hard-disk drives and solid-state drives, cache and main memory, addressing, microprogramming the CPU, registers and circuits. Additional topics include the ALU and data path, logarithms, bus clocking, bus arbitration, and address decoding. COMP 2825 is required for the Computer Systems Certificate, CSC in PTS and it is equivalent to COMP 2721 in the full-time CST Diploma. Upon successful completion students will use software at the hardware level to optimize how code is managed by the datapath inside the CPU. They will have skills to evaluate and recommend the appropriate computer system architecture for specific applications. be able to optimize software for specific hardware, accounting for how code is managed inside the CPU. They will also have gained an introduction to lower-level assembly programming, in order to build better software applications in higher-level programming languages.
Prerequisite(s)
Credits
4.0
Domestic fees
$580.51 - $622.55 See individual course offerings below for actual costs.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain the basic concepts and terminology related to computer architecture and organization.
- Discuss and compare modern machine architectures.
- Explain and describe the characteristics of current CPU architectures.
- Explain the three lowest levels of computer organization: digital logic level, microarchitecture level, and instruction set architecture level.
- Solve problems related to the design of each level.
- Evaluate modern computers from the point of view of performance.
- Determine the latency, bandwidth, and important relevant features of pipelines.
- Create codes capable of detecting and possibly correcting errors in code-words.
- Determine whether a Hamming code word contains errors, and possibly also fix the errors.
- Calculate the time required to read different hard-disk drives and compare them to solid-state drives.
- Create various circuits including adders, shifters, latches, and multiplexers.
- Determine the timing and negotiations necessary between the CPU and memory.
- Describe how computers handle bus arbitration.
- Describe in detail how computers fetch, decode, and execute instructions, including micropramming the datapath inside the CPU.
- Gain an introductory theoretical and practical knowledge of assembly-level programming.
Effective as of Winter 2022
Related Programs
Computer Architecture and Organization (COMP 2825) is offered as a part of the following programs:
- Indicates programs accepting international students.
- Indicates programs with a co-op option.
School of Computing and Academic Studies
- Computer Systems
Certificate Part-time
Course Offerings
Fall 2024
Below are two offerings of COMP 2825 for the Fall 2024 term.
CRN 51424
Dates
Tue Sep 10 - Tue Nov 26
- 12 weeks
- CRN 51424
- Domestic fees $622.55
Status
Seats Available
This course offering has seats available.
Class meeting times
Instructor
Rahim Oraji
Course outline
Course outline TBD — see Learning Outcomes in the interim.
Important information
- Departmental approval needed
- International fees are typically 3.12 times the domestic tuition. Exact cost will be calculated upon completion of registration.
- Please email cstflex@bcit.ca for Departmental approval. Include your Student number (A0#) and COMP__ and preferred CRN __ and Program Declaration____. Course is 48 hours - 42 hours on campus and 6 hours asynchronous activities/labs. The class meets once per week for 3.5 hours on campus and requires an additional 0.5 hours per week asynchronously. Please Note: Attendance, participation in class and the BCIT Learning Hub are mandatory. You should prepare to spend 2-3 hours on homework for every 1 hour of class time. This course may require an average total time commitment of 12-15+ hours per week. 3 hours of synchronous class, 1-hour asynchronous class time and 9-12+ hours per week for homework. Late registration is not permitted. BCIT Computing is primarily a Microsoft Windows environment. Students must provide their own current model Windows-compatible PC. i5 or higher equivalent processor, with 8 GB of RAM minimum, and 256 GB minimum storage. Highspeed internet access is needed for online sections and for homework. Mac users must have the ability to manage and support their iOS computer. They may need to create a virtual Windows environment using Parallels or VMWare Fusion. COMP instructors may not be able to assist Mac users with software compatibility issues. BCIT does not provide access to Parallels or support for students to use a Mac to run Windows.
CRN 48124
Dates
Sun Sep 08 - Sun Dec 01
- 12 weeks
- CRN 48124
- Domestic fees $580.51
Status
Full
This course offering is full. Please check this page for other currently available offerings, subscribe to receive email updates or contact us with your comments or questions.
Class meeting times
Instructor
Maryam Tanha
Course outline
Course outline TBD — see Learning Outcomes in the interim.
Important information
- Internet delivery format.
- Departmental approval needed
- Important course information will be sent to you prior to your course start date. Check your myBCIT email account to access this information.
- International fees are typically 3.12 times the domestic tuition. Exact cost will be calculated upon completion of registration.
- Please email cstflex@bcit.ca for Departmental approval. Include your Student number (A0#) and COMP__ and preferred CRN __ and Program Declaration____. Course is 48 hours - 42 hours synchronous online classes and 6 hours asynchronous activities/labs. The class meets once per week for 3.5 hours online and requires an additional 0.5 hours per week asynchronously. Late registration is not permitted. Please Note: Attendance, participation in class and the BCIT Learning Hub are mandatory. You should prepare to spend 2-3 hours on homework for every 1 hour of class time. This course may require an average total time commitment of 12-15+ hours per week. 3 hours of synchronous class, 1-hour asynchronous class time and 9-12+ hours per week for homework. Late registration is not permitted. BCIT Computing is primarily a Microsoft Windows environment. Students must provide their own current model Windows-compatible PC. i5 or higher equivalent processor, with 8 GB of RAM minimum, and 256 GB minimum storage. Highspeed internet access is needed for online sections and for homework. Mac users must have the ability to manage and support their iOS computer. They may need to create a virtual Windows environment using Parallels or VMWare Fusion. COMP instructors may not be able to assist Mac users with software compatibility issues. BCIT does not provide access to Parallels or support for students to use a Mac to run Windows. No class October 13 (Thanksgiving); Class in session September 29 (Truth & Reconciliation) and November 10 (Remembrance Day).
Programs and courses are subject to change without notice.