MITEECS6.004

Computation Structures

planned·~168 hours total

Professors

Chris Terman
Steven Ward

Textbook

Computation Structures
Stephen A. Ward, Robert H. Halstead · ISBN 9780262231398 · free copy

Prerequisites

6.0001 — Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python

Materials

Course page →

Digital design and computer architecture, from transistors through ISAs, pipelining, caches, virtual memory, and parallel programming. The undergraduate hardware course. Note: superseded by 6.5950 in current MIT curriculum.

Syllabus

Week 1
Binary representation; bits and bytes
Week 2
Combinational logic; truth tables; gates
Week 3
Sequential logic; finite state machines
Week 4
Pipelining; performance
Week 5
Beta processor — instruction set architecture
Week 6
Assembly language programming
Week 7
Caches and memory hierarchies
Week 8
Virtual memory; protection
Week 9
Operating systems; processes; threads
Week 10
Parallel processing and synchronisation