School of Science, Computing and EngineeringTechnology

Unit Outline

COS10004
Computer Systems
Semester September 2023

Please read this Unit Outline carefully. It includes:

PART A Unit summary

PART B Your Unit in more detail
PART C Further information

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 PART A: Unit Summary
Unit Code COS10004
Unit Title Computer Systems
Duration One Semester or equivalent
48 hours
Total Scheduled* Contact Hours
Blended ☐
Ha Noi
Delivery Locations

Requisites:
One of:

ENG10004 Digital and Data Systems

OR
Pre-requisites
EAT10016 Digital and Data Systems
OR
ICT10001 Problem Solving with ICT

Co-requisites
Concurrent pre-requisites COS10009 Introduction to Programming
Anti-requisites
Assumed knowledge Assumed familiarity with Boolean algebra and number systems
Credit Points 12.5
Post-unit On-line Question and
Assessment Continuous: 40%
Answer : 60%
Grading Schema HED Graded Mark
Owning Organisation Unit Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET)
Department Responsible for Teaching Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering

Aims
Students will become familiar with the design, programming, operation, and design constraints of
computing hardware.

Unit Learning Outcomes (ULO)

Students who successfully complete this Unit will be able to:
1. Read and write assembly language programs for a simple microcomputer.
2. Identify the hardware components of a computer and the functions they perform.
3. Describe the overall behaviour of compilers, assemblers, linkers and interpreters.
4. Argue some of the trade-offs between hardware and software that occur in computer
system design.

Key Generic Skills

During this unit students will receive feedback on the following key generic skills:
- problem solving skills
- analysis skills
- ability to work independently

Content
 Assembly language programming

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  An introduction to program timing considerations and interrupts
 Serial and parallel input /output
 Memory types and organisation
 Basic computer organisation: Von Neumann and Harvard architectures
 The internals of a microcomputer using a RISC CPU
 An introduction to interfacing to the analogue world
 A block diagram of a complete CPU
 An introduction to data storage technologies

Learning and Teaching Structure

*Scheduled face to face: Lectures (24 hours), Computer Lab (24 hours)
*Scheduled synchronous online Learning events (N/A)
Non-scheduled online learning events and activities (N/A)
Non-scheduled learning events and activities including independent study (approx. 102 hours)

Assessment Details
Individual or Group Assesses attainment
Types Weighting
task of these ULOs
Examination Individual 65% 1,2,3,4
Lab work Individual 5% 1, 2
Assignment 1 Individual 15% 1, 2
Assignment 2 Individual 15% 1, 2, 3.

Minimum requirements to pass this unit

As the minimum requirements of assessment to pass the unit and meet all Unit Learning Outcomes to a
minimum standard, a student must achieve:
(i) An aggregate mark of 50% or more

Reference Materials
Some labs and assessments will use the Logisim Evolution Logic simulator available here:
https://github.com/reds-heig/logisim-evolution or via the unit outline.

PART B: Your Unit in more detail

Unit Improvements
Feedback provided by previous students through the Student Survey has resulted in
improvements that have been made to this unit. Recent improvements include:
• New teaching team, hardware platform, lectures and assessment items.

Unit Teaching Staff

Consultation Times
Name Role Email

Dr. Nguyen Dang Khoa Lecturer/Tutor kdnguyen@swin.edu.au By email appointment

COS10004_ Sem Sep2023

Learning and Teaching Structure
Teaching Period
Activity Total Hours Hours per Week
Weeks

Lectures 24 hours 2 hours Weeks 1 to 12

Labs 24 hours 2 hour Weeks 1 to 12

Week by Week Schedule

Week
Week Teaching and Learning Activity Student Task or Assessment
Beginning
1 Intro to unit. Lab 1: Logisim: Gates
Sep 4 Bits, Bytes and Boolean Algebra
2 Storing bits with Flip Flops Lab 2: Logisim: Adder and Flip-flops
Sep 11

3 Sep 18 Putting Flip Flops to work - Registers, shift Lab 3: Logisim: Counters and Registers
registers and counters

4 Sep 25 Memory, stacks, and computing Lab 4: Assignment 1 released

architectures

5 Oct 02 Encoders, decoders and multiplexers, and Lab 5: Logisim: encoders, decoders,
number representation stacks,

6 Oct 09 Data communication, Programming Lab 6:

Language Fundamentals

7 Oct 16 ARM Assembly Programming Basics, Lab 7: ARMLite intro, Assignment 1 due on
Addressing and Registers, ARM Sunday Oct 15 at 23:59 (VN time)
instruction Basics
8 Oct 23 Bitwise operators, Branching and Lab 8:
Looping, Indirect and Indexed
Addressing, Arrays
9 Oct 30 The Stack, Subroutines and Interrupt Lab 9: Assignment 2 released
handling (pin)
10 Nov 06 Consolidate - let's write Snake Lab 10:

11 Nov 13 Guest Lecture Lab 11:

12 Nov 20 Unit wrap up and revision Lab 12:

Assignment 2 due on Sunday Nov 19 at
23:59 (VN time)

Assessment
a) Assessment Overview
Unit Learning
Individual Outcomes that Assessment
Tasks and Details Weighting
or Group this assessment Due Date
task relates to

COS10004_ Sem Sep2023

 0. Lab Work Individual 5% 1, 2 Weeks 1-12
1. Assignment 1 Individual 15% 1, 2 Week 6
2. Assignment 2 Individual 15% 1, 2, 3 Week 12
3. Examination Individual 65% 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Formal Exam
Period

b) Minimum requirements to pass this Unit

To pass this unit, you must achieve:
 an aggregate mark for the subject of 50% or more.
c) Examinations
If the unit you are enrolled in has an official examination, you will be expected to be available
for the entire examination period including any Special Exam period.
d) Submission Requirements
Assignments must be submitted through the ESP assessment submission system
(https://esp.ict.swin.edu.au).
Please ensure you keep a copy of all assessments that are submitted.
An Assessment Cover Sheet will be submitted with your assignment when submitted through
ESP. For reference, the standard Assessment Cover Sheet is available from the Current
Students web site (see Part C).
e) Extensions and Late Submission
Late Submissions - Unless an extension has been approved, you cannot submit an
assessment after the due date without incurring a penalty. If this penalty does occur, you will
be penalised 10% of the assessment's worth for each calendar day the task is late up to a
maximum of 5 days. After 5 days a zero result will be recorded.
f) Referencing
To avoid plagiarism, you are required to cite a reference whenever you include information
from other sources in your work. Further details regarding plagiarism are available in Section
C of this document.
Referencing conventions accepted for this unit are: Harvard or Vancouver styles
Helpful information on referencing can be found at
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/lib/studyhelp/harvard-quick-guide.pdf
g) Groupwork Guidelines
Not applicable

Required Textbook(s)
None

Recommended Reading Materials

 Nisan, H; Schocken, S. The Elements of Computer Systems, MIT Press 2005.
 ARM Information Center, http://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.jsp

COS10004_ Sem Sep2023

PART C: FUTHER INFORMATION
For further information and links to resources for the following topics, refer to
Swinburne’s Current Students web page http://www.swinburne.edu.au/student/

Student Charter
Please familiarise yourself with Swinburne’s Student Charter. The charter describes what students can
reasonably expect from Swinburne in order to enjoy a quality learning experience. As students contribute to
their own learning experience and to that of their fellow students, the charter also defines the University's
expectations of students.
Student behaviour and wellbeing
Swinburne has a range of policies and procedures that govern how students are expected to conduct
themselves throughout the course of their relationship with the University. These include policies on
expected standards of behaviour and conduct which cover interaction with fellow students, staff and the
wider University community, in addition to following the health and safety requirements in the course of
their studies and whilst using University facilities.
All students are expected to familiarise themselves with University regulations, policies and procedures and
have an obligation to abide by the expected guidelines. Any student found to be in breach may be subject
to relevant disciplinary processes. Some examples of relevant expected behaviours are:
 Not engaging in student misconduct
 Ensuring compliance with the University’s Anti-Discrimination, Bullying and Violence and Sexual
Harassment requirements
 Complying with all Swinburne occupational health and safety requirements, including following
emergency and evacuation procedures and following instructions given by staff/wardens or
emergency response.
In teaching areas, it is expected that students conduct themselves in a manner that is professional and not
disruptive to others. In all Swinburne laboratories, there are specific safety procedures which must be
followed, such as wearing appropriate footwear and safety equipment, not acting in a manner which is
dangerous or disruptive (e.g. playing computer games), and not bringing in food or drink.
Blackboard
You should regularly access the Swinburne Course Management System (Blackboard) available via
http://ilearn.swin.edu.au. Blackboard is regularly updated with important Unit information and
communications.
Communication
All communication will be via your Swinburne email address. If you access your email through a provider
other than Swinburne, then it is your responsibility to ensure that your Swinburne email is redirected to your
private email address.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the action or practice of taking and submitting or presenting the thoughts, writings or other
work of someone else as though it is your own work. Plagiarism includes any of the following, without full
and appropriate acknowledgment to the original source(s):
 The use of the whole or part of a computer program written by another person;
 the use, in essays or other assessable work, of the whole or part of a written work from any source
including but not limited to a book, journal, newspaper article, set of lecture notes, current or past
student’s work, any other person’s work, a website or database;
 The paraphrasing of another’s work;
 The use of musical composition, audio, visual, graphic and photographic models,
 The use of realia that is objects, artefacts, costumes, models and the like.
Plagiarism also includes the preparation or production and submission or presentation of assignments or
other work in conjunction with another person or other people when that work should be your own
independent work. This remains plagiarism whether or not it is with the knowledge or consent of the other
person or people. It should be noted that Swinburne encourages its students to talk to staff, fellow students
and other people who may be able to contribute to a student’s academic work but that where independent
assignment is required, submitted or presented work must be the student’s own.
Enabling plagiarism contributes to plagiarism and therefore will be treated as a form of plagiarism by the
University. Enabling plagiarism means allowing or otherwise assisting another student to copy or otherwise
plagiarise work by, for example, allowing access to a draft or completed assignment or other work.
Swinburne University uses plagiarism detection software (such as Turnitin) for assignments submitted
electronically via Blackboard. Your Convenor will provide further details.

COS10004_ Sem Sep2023

The penalties for plagiarism can be severe ranging from a zero grade for an assessment task through to
expulsion from the unit and in the extreme, exclusion from Swinburne. Consequently you need to avoid
plagiarism by providing a reference whenever you include information from other sources in your work.
Student support
You should talk to your Unit Convenor or Student Services, for information on academic support services
available for Swinburne students.
Special consideration
If your studies have been adversely affected due to serious and unavoidable circumstances outside of your
control (e.g. severe illness or unavoidable obligation) you may be able to apply for special consideration
(SPC).
Applications for Special Consideration will be submitted via the SPC online tool normally no later than
5.00pm on the third working day after the submission/sitting date for the relevant assessment component.
Special needs
Sometimes students with a disability, a mental health or medical condition or significant carer
responsibilities require reasonable adjustments to enable full access to and participation in education. Your
special needs can be addressed by Swinburne's Disability Services, who can negotiate and distribute an
'Education Access Plan' that outlines recommendations for university teaching and examination staff. You
must notify the University Disability Liaison Officer of your disability or condition within one week after the
commencement of a unit of study to allow the University to make reasonable adjustments.
Review of marks
An independent marker reviews all fail grades for major assessment tasks. In addition, a review of
assessment is undertaken if your final result is a marginal fail (45-49) or within 2 marks of a grade
threshold.
If you are not satisfied with the result of an assessment you can ask the Unit Convenor to review the result.
Your request must be made in writing within 10 working days of receiving the result. The Unit Convenor will
review your result against the marking guide to determine if your result is appropriate.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcomes of the review you can lodge a formal complaint.
Feedback, complaints and suggestions
In the first instance you may discuss any issues with your Unit Convenor.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the discussions with the Unit Convenor or would prefer not to
deal with your Unit Convenor, then you can complete a feedback form.
Advocacy
Should you require assistance with any academic issues, University statutes, regulations, policies and
procedures, you are advised to seek advice from Academic Department and Student HQ.

COS10004_ Sem Sep2023