Welcome to ENSC 254 Introduction to Computer Organization!

This course covers the fundamentals of computer organization. Lecture topics include but not limited to:

Basics of computer systems,

• Abstraction between hardware and software (using modern RSIC-V instruction set)
• Fundamentals of processor design and cache memory hierarchy design,
• Recent trends of parallel computing and domain-specific computing

This course is programming-intensive and encourages teamwork. It provides students extensive hands-on programming experience under the Linux environment.

Time: May 11,2026 – Aug 10, 2026

Lecture time: Wed, Fri, 4:30PM–6:20PM.

Lecture Location: B9201

Lab time:

• Mon 8:30AM-10:20AM, 12:30PM-2:20PM
• Wed 2:30PM-4:20PM
• Fri 12:30PM-2:20PM, 2:30PM-4:20PM

Lab location: ASB 9815

Zoom link: https://sfu.zoom.us/j/6669638387

Prerequisite: (ENSC 251 & ENSC 252) or (CMPT 150 & CMPT 225 & enrolled as a Computing Science Major), all with a minimum grade of C-.

Textbook(s) and reference materials:

Course textbook:

David Patterson, John Hennessy. Computer Organization and Design RISC-V Edition: The Hardware Software Interface. 2nd Edition, Morgan Kaufmann, 2020 (ISBN: 9780128203316).

Other recommended books:

Randal E. Bryant and David R. O’Hallaron, Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective, 3rd Edition (CS:APP3e), Pearson, 2016 (ISBN 0-13-409266-X).

Other recommended references:

• !!Always Google first!!

• C++ Reference: http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/

• Stack overflow: https://stackoverflow.com/

• ChatGPT: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt

Acknowledgement: Dr. Zhenman Fang

Please find more information about this course here:

• Admin
• Course Calendar
• Lectures and Tutorials
• Homework and Lab Assignments
• Project