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INTRODUCTION TO THE MODULE:

This module provides students with a broader understanding of the infrastructure of a computer. It covers basic issues in hardware and operating systems and focuses on commonly available desktop computer systems. The aim is to widen students’ exposure to the computer systems; covering widely used operating systems in industry to support software engineering and the Internet. Recent trends mean many students are familiar with Microsoft environments and this module will introduce LINUX/ UNIX as a widely used alternative and compare the facilities of both. The students will gain practical skills associated with using both environments.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

1.     demonstrate understanding of essential facts, concepts, principles and theories relating to computer systems;

2.     show understanding of the underlying scientific and software engineering-based approaches to the development of computer systems;

3.     recognise any risk and/or safety aspects in computing systems;

4.     solve problems and represent ideas at different levels of abstraction .

ASSIGNMENT :

Portfolio (comprising workbook and test)

HAND IN DEADLINE:

Portfolio: TBD

Test: TBD

KEY TEXTS:

Tanenbaum, A. S. & Austin, T. (2012) Structured Computer Organization. 6^th ed. Pearson.

Hennessy, J.L. & Patterson, D. A. (2010) Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware / Software Interface. 4^th ed. Boston, The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design.

Englander, I. (1996) The Architecture of Computer Hardware and Systems Software: An Information Technology Approach. 3^rd ed. New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons.

Williams, R. (2006) Computer Systems Architecture: A Networking Approach. 2^nd ed. Essex, Prentice Hall.

 Glass, G. and Ables, K. (2006) Linux for Programmers and Users.  Prentice-Hall.

JOURNALS:

ACM Transactions on Computer Systems – http://tocs.acm.org

IT Professional – http://ieexplore.ieee.org/servlet/opac?punumber=6294