Learning about the understanding of the operation of modern computers.

This module aims to give a broad understanding of the operation of modern computers. This will acquaint students with the general architecture of computers and introduce them to low-level programming using assembly language. It will also give an overview of the purpose and key features of modern operating systems, explaining some of the functionality that we take for granted in modern computer systems. The course draws examples from Windows, Linux and OS X.

• Computer architecture: logic gates, binary representation, processors, memory, I/O
• Assembly language
• Process management
• Memory management
• I/O system
• File systems