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Virginia Tech

ECE-3504: Principles of Computer Architecture

Description: Instruction formats and construction. Addressing modes. Memory hierarchy (cache, main memory and secondary memory) operation and performance. Simple pipelines. Basic performance analysis. Simple Operating System (OS) functions, particularly as they relate to hardware. Virtual memory. Computer Input/Output (I/O) concepts, including interrupt and Direct Memory Access (DMA) mechanisms. Intercomputer communication concepts. Processor design.

Pathways: N/A

Course Hours: 3 credits

Corequisites: N/A

Crosslist: N/A

Repeatability: N/A

Sections Taught: 12

Average GPA: 3.08 (rounds to B)

Strict A Rate (No A-) : 23.97%

Average Withdrawal Rate: 1.93%

Jeffrey S Ransbottom202454.9%34.0%7.4%0.3%2.1%1.3%3.374
Cameron D Patterson202321.1%40.2%22.6%6.6%6.4%3.2%2.613
Ryan K Williams202444.7%33.3%15.8%2.0%2.2%2.1%3.174
Haibo Zeng202441.0%35.6%16.4%1.4%5.5%0.0%3.031

Grade Distribution Over Time