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Computer Architecture and Organization COMP 2825

Computer Systems Course

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International Fees

International fees are typically three times the amount of domestic fees. Exact cost will be calculated upon completion of registration.

Course details

​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. COMP 2825 is offered in the January (Winter) and April (Spring) terms.​​

Prerequisite(s)

Credits

4.0

Domestic fees

$568.94 - $596.05 See individual course offerings below for actual costs.

Course offerings

Spring/Summer 2024

Below are three offerings of COMP 2825 for the Spring/Summer 2024 term.

CRN 66860

Duration

Mon May 06 - Mon Jul 22 (12 weeks)

  • 12 weeks
  • CRN 66860
  • Domestic fees $596.05
    International fees are typically three times the amount of domestic fees.
Class meeting times
Dates Days Times Locations
May 06 - Jul 22 Mon 18:00 - 21:30 Downtown DTC Rm. 420
May 06 - Jul 22 N/A N/A Online
Instructor

Rahim Oraji

Course outline

Course outline TBD — see Learning Outcomes in the interim.

Domestic fees

$596.05

Important information
  1. Departmental approval needed
  2. International fees are typically three times the amount of domestic fees. Exact cost will be calculated upon completion of registration.
  3. 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. This is a BYOD (bring your own device) course, students must provide their own current model laptop with an i5 or higher equivalent processor, 8 GB of RAM minimum, and 256 GB minimum storage. High-speed internet access is needed for online sections and for homework. Please note: BCIT does not provide technical support for student's hardware or operating systems Late registration is not permitted. No class May 20 (Victoria Day); Class in session July 1 (Canada Day).
Status

Seats Available

1 seat remaining as of Sun April 28, 2024 at 4:18 pm (PDT). Availability may change at any time.

CRN 69289

Duration

Sat Apr 27 - Sat Jul 20 (12 weeks)

  • 12 weeks
  • CRN 69289
  • Domestic fees $568.94
    International fees are typically three times the amount of domestic fees.
Class meeting times
Dates Days Times Locations
Apr 27 - Jul 20 Sat 09:00 - 12:30 Online
Apr 27 - Jul 20 N/A N/A Online
Instructor

Maryam Tanha

Course outline

View

Domestic fees

$568.94

Important information
  1. Internet delivery format.
  2. Departmental approval needed
  3. International fees are typically three times the amount of domestic fees. Exact cost will be calculated upon completion of registration.
  4. 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. Class in session May 18 (Victoria Day); No class June 29 (Canada Day). Late registration is not permitted.
Status

In Progress and Full

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.

CRN 57039

Duration

Fri May 03 - Fri Jul 19 (12 weeks)

  • 12 weeks
  • CRN 57039
  • Domestic fees $568.94
    International fees are typically three times the amount of domestic fees.
Class meeting times
Dates Days Times Locations
May 03 - Jul 19 Fri 18:00 - 21:30 Online
May 03 - Jul 19 N/A N/A Online
Instructor

Jason Wilder

Course outline

View

Domestic fees

$568.94

Important information
  1. Internet delivery format.
  2. Departmental approval needed
  3. Important course information will be sent to you prior to your course start date. Check your myBCIT email account to access this information.
  4. International fees are typically three times the amount of domestic fees. Exact cost will be calculated upon completion of registration.
  5. 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.
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.

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

  1. Computer Systems
    Certificate Part-time

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  • Privacy Notice: The information you provide will be used to respond your request for 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.