System Architecture

General Information

The lecture System Architecture of the summer semester 2025 takes place every Wednesday from 8:30 am to 10:00 am and every Friday from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm in Günter-Hotz-Hörsaal (E2 2) and teaches basic knowledge in the field of digital design, computer architecture, and operating systems.

For students of the 2020 (and beyond) curriculum, the lecture is located in the fourth semester. However, participation is also possible for second semester students provided that you have passed both Mathematics for Computer Scientists I and Programming I.

 

Organisation

Lectures are held in presence on campus at scheduled times. Recordings of the lecture will be made available for download or streaming.

Tutorials will also be held in presence on Mondays between 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Materials for the 2024 course can be found under Materials in the CMS.

In the Literature section, you will also find a list of topics expected to be covered this year and corresponding chapters in textbooks. If you already want to prepare for the course, it is a good idea to study these book chapters as well as the lecture slides of 2024.

 

Examination modalities

Examinations

•     The final exam covers the material of all the lectures.
•     Participation requires that a total of 50% of the points from the mini-tests and 50% of the points from the projects have been achieved.
•     The re-exam also covers the material of all the lectures.
•     Participation requires that a total of 50% of the points from the mini-tests and 50% of the points from the projects have been achieved.
•     Even those who have passed the final exam may participate in the re-exam and try to improve their grade.
•     You are allowed to bring a (double-sided) handwritten DIN A4 sheet to the exam.
•     Further details about the exam procedure will be announced during the semester.

Quizzes

•     Quizzes will take place approximately every two weeks in the beginning of the tutorials. The completion time is 15 minutes.
•     A quiz not taken will be graded with 0 points.

Assignments

•     There are weekly assignment sheets to be worked on voluntarily. These are published each Wednesday in the CMS under Materials.
•     You can work on the assignment sheets in any group. You can hand in your solution before the end of the lecture on Wednesdays in the CMS. Normally, you have one week to work on your solution.
•     You will receive the corrected sheets back in your tutorial. Solutions to the exercises will be discussed there as well.

Projects

•     There are two projects during the semester, one in the area of digital design and computer architecture and one in the area of operating systems.
•     Projects that are not submitted will be graded with 0 points.
•     Plagiarism will be assessed with 0 points and reported to the examination board.

 

Grading

The total score for the system architecture lecture is calculated as follows from the points earned in the final or re-exam, the points earned in the quizzes, and the points earned in the projects:

k = max(pointsFinalExam/totalPointsFinalExam, pointsReExam/totalPointsReExam).
t = pointsQuizzes/totalPointsQuizzes
p = min(pointsProjects, totalPointsProjects)/totalPointsProjects

passed = k >= 0.5 && t >= 0.5 && p >= 0.5
q = 0.8 * k + 0.2 * p

The number q is then mapped to the grading scale.

Hence, in each of the three areas at least 50% of the points must be reached. The grade is based on 80% of the exam result and 20% of the project result.

Due to bonus tasks, pointsProjects can be > totalPointsProjects. min(pointsProjects, totalPointsProjects) therefore caps the project score at 100% of the regular project points to be achieved.

 

System Architecture for Computer Science Teachers (6 CP)

For student teachers taking the 6 CP variant of the course, the following adjustments apply:

•     Only the computer architecture project must be completed.
•     The first 4 quizzes are relevant for the exam admission.
•     The exam covers only the computer architecture part of the lecture, not the operating systems part.