The aim of the course is to familiarise students with the operation of computers and peripherals, the main interfaces, with particular emphasis on machine instruction execution and machine data types.

Lectures

1. Number systems, conversions (2,8,10,16; whole parts and fractions). Representation of unsigned integers (2,16). Number range for 8, 16, 32, 64 and N bits. MSB, LSB. Representation of signed integers in two's complement code (2, 16). Range of numbers for 8, 16, 32, 64 and N bits. Sign expansion, determining (-1) times of a number, related instructions. 2. Floating point number notation (IEEE-754). The normalized form. Binary representation of the sign ("natural") exponent. Implicit and explicit bit representation. Structure of a number in the 32-bit case. 3. Floating point register/stack organization, operation, RPN formula. Useful floating point constants. 4. BCD number representation (packed, unpacked, tetrad, pseudo-tetrad, half-byte carry). Support for BCD arithmetic at ISA level. Two's complement code addition/subtraction for multi-bit operands. Carry bit, sign bit, overflow bit, zero sign, borrow bit. 5. Number of logic functions with N variables. Functionally complete system. Boolean algebra. Algebraic simplification of logic functions. Writing the algebraic form of a logic function given by a truth table, implementation. Logical statements. 6. Main parts of the Neumann machine, their functions. Program area, data area. Stack area. B/K handling. Concept of self modifying code. The Harvard machine. Machine instruction execution flow on the Neumann machine. ILP and pipeline, hazards (WAW, WAR, RAW, RAR) and their handling. Unconditional branching, conditional branching after comparison instruction, conditional branching by state bits, conditional and unconditional procedure call and return, role of stack. 7. Static and dynamic branch prediction, implementation with finite state machine. Vector interrupt system and its operation. Maskable and non-maskable interrupt, software interrupt, interrupt instructions. Interrupt and exception. Structure of machine instructions (four address, three address, two address, 1.5 address, one address, zero address). RISC and CISC. Four address machine and microprogrammed controller. 8. SRAM and DRAM organization and addressing. Parity protected main memory. Error correction code protected main memory (SECDED ECC). Possibilities of bus design, comparison (TP, OC, TS). Data transfer in synchronous and asynchronous bus, examples. The concept of bus arbitration (decentralised, centralised, priorities). 9. Main parts of the 1-bit ALU (decoder, logic executor, aggregator, inputs, outputs) and schematic circuit diagram. Memory hierarchy (capacity, access time). Principles of cache operation, calculation of average access time, cache organisation methods, operation in read/write. Digital comparator schematic example, caching application. 10. Data storage on moving magnetic media (read/write, organisation, application). Increasing reliability (RAID). HDD and SSD. 11. Possibilities and limitations of increasing computing power. MIPS and FLOPS. Possibilities and limitations to reduce electrical power consumption. From high-level language to HW implementation of machine instructions with examples (levels, languages, virtual machines, interpreter, compiler). 12. Midterm Task for lecture part 13. Midterm Task retake for lecture part

Labs

1. Introduction to Assembly programming in Visual Studio part 1: C++ repetition, Assembly settings, project creation and tools 2. Introduction to Assembly programming in Visual Studio part 2: Differences between types of Assemblers with examples 3. Basic instructions: data movements, arithmetic and logical instructions 4. Branching and loop instructions 5. Pointers, arrays, multi-dimensional arrays in assembly (using direct, indirect memory addressing) 6. First Midterm Task 6. Procedures and functions: methods, calling conventions 7. Call C/C++ functions inside assembly language 8. FPU instructions, RPN formula usage inside code 9. Connect FPU and non-FPU instructions with examples, complex task solving with assembly 10. Complex task solving with assembly part 1. 11. Complex task solving with assembly part 2. 12. Second Midterm Task 13. Retakes of the Midterm Tasks

Subject materials published on Teams channels, Visual Studio 2026 is needed for the practical part.