British Columbia Institute of Technologywww.bcit.ca/study/courses/comp2825

Important Notice: COVID-19 Institute response

BCIT

COMP 2825 - Computer Architecture and Organization

Computer Systems Part-time Studies Course

School of Computing and Academic Studies

To support you and your education, BCIT is adapting applied learning in formats appropriate to the unfolding global situation. All PTS classes are being delivered in an online format unless you are notified otherwise.

Course Details

​Computer architecture and computer organization are fundamental topics for computer programmers and computer systems developers. This applied course 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. PLEASE NOTE: COMP 2825 will be offered in the January and April terms.

Prerequisite(s)

COMP 1113 and COMP 1451 or COMP 2522 or COMP 2526

Credits

4.0

Cost

$559.52 - $569.52 See individual course offerings below for actual costs.

Winter 2021

Below are three offerings of this course for the Winter 2021 term.

CRN 88634

Sun Jan 03 - Sun Mar 28 12 Weeks

Class Meeting Times

Dates Days Times Locations
Jan 03 - Mar 28 Sun 09:00 - 12:30 Online Delivery
See Notes below
Jan 03 - Mar 28 Online Delivery
See Notes below

Instructor

Maryam Tanha

Course Outline

Cost

$569.52

Notes

  1. Departmental approval needed
  2. Please email cstpts@bcit.ca for Departmental approval. Include your Student number (A0#) and COMP__ and preferred CRN __ and Program Declaration____. Course is 48 hours - 42 in class and 6 online. The class meets once per week for 3.5 hours face to face and requires an additional 0.5 hour per week online. Late registration is not permitted. Please sign in to the Learning Hub on the course start date for details on how the course will be delivered online. Class is in session on February 14. No class on March 14.

This course offering is in progress and full. Please check this page for other currently available offerings, subscribe to receive email updates or contact us with your comments or questions.

In Progress and Full

CRN 72998

Thu Jan 07 - Thu Apr 01 12 Weeks

Class Meeting Times

Dates Days Times Locations
Jan 07 - Apr 01 Thu 18:30 - 22:00 Online Delivery
See Notes below
Jan 07 - Apr 01 Online Delivery
See Notes below

Instructor

Jason Harrison

Course Outline

Cost

$569.52

Notes

  1. Departmental approval needed
  2. Please email cstpts@bcit.ca for Departmental approval. Include your Student number (A0#) and COMP__ and preferred CRN __ and Program Declaration____. Course is 48 hours - 42 in class and 6 online. The class meets once per week for 3.5 hours face to face and requires an additional 0.5 hour per week online. Late registration is not permitted. Please sign in to the Learning Hub on the course start date for details on how the course will be delivered online. No class on March 18.

This course offering is in progress and full. Please check this page for other currently available offerings, subscribe to receive email updates or contact us with your comments or questions.

In Progress and Full

CRN 88742

Wed Jan 13 - Wed Mar 31 12 Weeks

Class Meeting Times

Dates Days Times Locations
Jan 13 - Mar 31 Wed 18:00 - 21:30 Online Delivery
See Notes below
Jan 13 - Mar 31 Online Delivery
See Notes below

Instructor

Rahim Oraji

Course Outline

Cost

$569.52

Notes

  1. Departmental approval needed
  2. Please email cstpts@bcit.ca for Departmental approval. Include your Student number (A0#) and COMP__ and preferred CRN __ and Program Declaration____. Course is 48 hours - 42 in class and 6 online. The class meets once per week for 3.5 hours face to face online and requires an additional 0.5 hour per week online. Late registration is not permitted. Please sign in to the Learning Hub on the course start date for details on how the course will be delivered online.

This course offering is in progress. Please check this page for other currently available offerings, subscribe to receive email updates or contact us with your comments or questions.

In Progress

Spring/Summer 2021

Below are three offerings of this course for the Spring/Summer 2021 term.

CRN 57039

Thu Apr 29 - Thu Jul 22 12 Weeks

Class Meeting Times

Dates Days Times Locations
Apr 29 - Jul 22 Thu 18:00 - 21:30 Online Delivery
See Notes below
Apr 29 - Jul 22 Online Delivery
See Notes below

Instructor

Jason Harrison

Course Outline

TBD – see Learning Outcomes in the interim

Cost

$569.52

Notes

  1. Departmental approval needed
  2. Please email cstpts@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 remote classes and 6 hours asynchronous remote activities/labs. The class meets once per week for 3.5 hours face to face (virtual classroom) and requires an additional 0.5 hours per week online. Please sign in to the Learning Hub (learn.bcit.ca) on the course start date and time (not before) for details on how the course will be delivered online. Late registration is not permitted. No class on July 1 (Canada Day).

A portion of seats are temporarily held for domestic students. International students: this may impact your ability to register. Learn why.

}

4 seats remaining as of Feb 25, 2021 11:02 pm (PST). These seats are currently reserved for domestic students only. Availability may change at any time.

CRN 64204

Sun May 02 - Sun Jul 25 12 Weeks

Class Meeting Times

Dates Days Times Locations
May 02 - Jul 25 Sun 09:00 - 12:30 Online Delivery
See Notes below
May 02 - Jul 25 Online Delivery
See Notes below

Instructor

Maryam Tanha

Course Outline

TBD – see Learning Outcomes in the interim

Cost

$569.52

Notes

  1. Departmental approval needed
  2. Please email cstpts@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 remote classes and 6 hours asynchronous remote activities/labs. The class meets once per week for 3.5 hours face to face (virtual classroom) and requires an additional 0.5 hours per week online. Please sign in to the Learning Hub (learn.bcit.ca) on the course start date and time (not before) for details on how the course will be delivered online. Late registration is not permitted. No class on May 23.

A portion of seats are temporarily held for domestic students. International students: this may impact your ability to register. Learn why.

}

16 seats available as of Feb 25, 2021 11:02 pm (PST). Of these 16, 12 are currently reserved for domestic students only. Availability may change at any time.

CRN 66860

Tue May 04 - Tue Jul 20 12 Weeks

Class Meeting Times

Dates Days Times Locations
May 04 - Jul 20 Tue 18:00 - 21:30 Online Delivery
See Notes below
May 04 - Jul 20 Online Delivery
See Notes below

Instructor

Rahim Oraji

Course Outline

TBD – see Learning Outcomes in the interim

Cost

$559.52

Notes

  1. Departmental approval needed
  2. Please email cstpts@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 remote classes and 6 hours asynchronous remote activities/labs. The class meets once per week for 3.5 hours face to face (virtual classroom) and requires an additional 0.5 hour per week online. Please sign in to the Learning Hub (learn.bcit.ca) on the course start date and time (not before) for details on how the course will be delivered online. Late registration is not permitted.

A portion of seats are temporarily held for domestic students. International students: this may impact your ability to register. Learn why.

}

16 seats available as of Feb 25, 2021 11:02 pm (PST). Of these 16, 11 are currently reserved for domestic students only. Availability may change at any time.

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.

Effective as of Spring/Summer 2020

Related Programs

COMP 2825 is offered as a part of the following programs:

School of Computing and Academic Studies

  1. Computer Systems
    Part-time   Certificate

Contact Us

If you have a comment or question about this course, please complete and submit the form below.

Contact Information

The personal information on this form is collected under the authority of the College and Institute Act (RSBC 1996, Ch.52). BCIT will use this information to communicate with you regarding relevant BCIT programs, courses and services. This information is only used by authorized BCIT staff. Email communication sent to and from BCIT is routed through the United States of America. If you have any questions about BCIT's collection and use of this information, please contact BCIT’s manager of Information Access and Privacy.

Subscribe

Interested in being notified about future offerings of COMP 2825 - Computer Architecture and Organization? If so, fill out the information below and we'll notify you by email when courses for each new term are displayed here.

Privacy Notice: The information you provide will be used to respond your request related to BCIT course information and is collected under Section 26(c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). For more information about BCIT’s privacy practices contact: Associate Director, Privacy, Information Access & Policy Management, British Columbia Institute of Technology, 3700 Willingdon Ave. Burnaby, BC V5A 3H2, email: privacy@bcit.ca.

Programs and courses are subject to change without notice.

Find Courses

English Language Proficiency

BCIT's Part-time Studies English Language Proficiency Standard is English 12 (or equivalency). Students who do not meet this requirement should upgrade their English skills prior to any future registration.

Payment Changes At BCIT

We've changed the way we accept payments.

Find out more

Course Navigation, Related Links & Tools

Registration News

Registration is now open for the Spring/Summer 2021 term.

Classroom Locations

Classroom locations are subject to last minute changes. Please check the Part-time Studies Classroom Locations listing at www.bcit.ca/rooms on the first day of any course you are registered for.

Part-time Studies Financial Aid

Will you be studying at BCIT part-time? Do you need assistance funding your studies? Find out if you qualify for Part-time Studies financial aid.

© BCIT