BSc Computer Science

This course introduces the key ideas behind the design of modern computer processors and explains how advanced architectural techniques are used to improve performance and efficiency. Students will explore why these techniques are needed and how they are applied in real computing systems.

This course covers the following topics and themes:

•    Why modern processors need advanced design techniques 
Performance limitations in modern computing systems and the motivation for advanced processor architecture techniques.

•    Reducing delays when accessing memory 
Memory latency and the role of caching, including cache organisation and operation.

•    Overlapping work inside the processor 
Instruction pipelining, processor throughput, superscalar architectures.

•    Handling dependencies and decision points during execution 
Pipeline limitations and hazards, including data and control hazards, and techniques to improve pipeline performance.

•    Running multiple tasks at once on a single processor 
Multi-threading concepts, processor support for multi-threading, and simultaneous multi-threading.

•    Using multiple processor cores 
Motivation for multi-core processors and possible multi-core processor organisations.

•    Sharing data safely between processing units 
Data sharing, cache coherence, and consistency in multi-core systems. 

COMP15111 is a pre-requisite.

This course explains how modern computer processors really work and why they are designed the way they are. Students will explore how techniques such as caching, pipelining, and parallel processing help computers run faster and more efficiently. By understanding these ideas, students will learn how software and hardware interact and how to use computing systems more effectively in practice. 

ILO 1: Describe the main architectural techniques used in modern processors to improve performance, reliability, and flexibility.

ILO 2: Compare the strengths and weaknesses of different processor designs and multi-core organisations.

ILO 3: Explain and analyse how caching, pipelining, superscalar, out-of-order and multi-threading techniques affect system performance.

ILO 4: Explain the Von Neumann bottleneck and describe design methods to mitigate its impact.

ILO 5: Identify and justify suitable processor and system architectures for given performance, reliability, and flexibility requirements.

ILO 6: Apply knowledge of architectural techniques to reason about trade-offs between performance, reliability, and resource usage in modern computing systems.

This course introduces the key ideas behind the design of modern computer processors and explains how advanced architectural techniques are used to improve performance and efficiency. Students will explore why these techniques are needed and how they are applied in real computing systems.

This course covers the following topics and themes:

•    Why modern processors need advanced design techniques 
Performance limitations in modern computing systems and the motivation for advanced processor architecture techniques.

•    Reducing delays when accessing memory 
Memory latency and the role of caching, including cache organisation and operation.

•    Overlapping work inside the processor 
Instruction pipelining, processor throughput, superscalar architectures.

•    Handling dependencies and decision points during execution 
Pipeline limitations and hazards, including data and control hazards, and techniques to improve pipeline performance.

•    Running multiple tasks at once on a single processor 
Multi-threading concepts, processor support for multi-threading, and simultaneous multi-threading.

•    Using multiple processor cores 
Motivation for multi-core processors and possible multi-core processor organisations.

•    Sharing data safely between processing units 
Data sharing, cache coherence, and consistency in multi-core systems. 

Lectures, coursework, online quizzes.

Guest lecture from industry (TBC).

Continuous feedback with students will be maintained through active participation in the classroom.

Feedback given after assessment

1. Patterson, David A. (2020). Computer organization and design: the hardware/software interface. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN: 9780128226742
    
2. Hennessy, John L. (2025). Computer architecture: a quantitative approach. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN: 9780443154065 

Tuition fees for home students will be £10,050 for the 2027/28 academic year. In England and Wales, tuition fees for home undergraduate students are subject to the Government fee cap, which the Government has announced will be £10,050 for the 2027/28 academic year.

Government policy is to increase the fee cap on an annual basis to reflect inflation (i.e. increasing costs), and the tuition fee home students pay in subsequent academic years will reflect any increases in the Government fee cap (which we will communicate to you as soon as we can in advance of the relevant academic year).

Tuition fees for international students will be £39,700 for the 2027/28 academic year. For subsequent academic years, the University reserves the right to increase the tuition fee by up to 7% each year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our education and wider student experience.

For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

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