Computer Architecture for Physics

Course objectives

A - Knowledge and understanding OF 1) To know the elements of the computer hardware and software architecture and to understand their interactions. OF 2) To know the techniques needed to develop optimized code for a given computer architecture. OF 3) To know the fundamentals of logic design of digital circuits using hardware description languages (VHDL). B - Application skills OF 4) To be able to evaluate the execution performance of code on a given computer architecture. OF 5) To be able to develop scientific code optimized for a given computer architecture. OF 6) To be able to select the computer architecture best suited for a given application. OF 7) To be able to implement a circuit through VHDL coding and to simulate its behaviour. C - Autonomy of judgment OF 8) To be able to integrate the knowledge acquired in order to apply them for the processing needs in the experimental or theoretical Physics. D - Communication skills E - Ability to learn OF 9) Have the ability to follow up the development in computer architectures.

Channel 1
Ottorino FREZZA Lecturers' profile
Michele Martinelli Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
Introduction to computers: hardware organization, firmware and software, performance definition and measurement. Language of computers: high level, assembly and machine languages, examples. Computer arithmetic: arithmetic and logical operations on integers and floating point numbers. Fundamentals of logic design: gates, truth tables, boolean logic equations; combinational and sequential circuits, finite-State machines. Introduction to hardware description languages: the VHDL language. Processor Architecture: functional units, registers, control unit, microprogramming; processing unit; pipelining, exceptions handling. Memory hierarchy: cache memory, virtual memory. Storage and I/O. Overview of Embedded Systems: architecture, design, real-time constraints, and examples of embedded computing platforms. Overview of multicore systems, multiprocessors and clusters: parallel processing, classification, examples of many-core computing architectures (GPU) and multiprocessor systems networks.
Prerequisites
No prerequisites required.
Books
Patterson D.A. Hennessy J.L: Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface (RISC-V Edition), Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, ISBN: 978-0-12-812275-4 Volnei A. Pedroni: Circuit Design and Simulation with VHDL, MIT Press
Exam mode
mid-term and final exam.
  • Lesson code10620703
  • Academic year2025/2026
  • CoursePhysics
  • CurriculumFundamental Interactions: Theory and Experiment
  • Year1st year
  • Semester2nd semester
  • SSDFIS/01
  • CFU6