Computer Organization

CS 224 is where the abstraction of "the computer" gets torn open: you learn how a few billion transistors actually execute a program by tracing the path from MIPS assembly down through datapaths, control logic, pipelines, caches, and virtual memory. Expect to write MIPS by hand, build single-cycle and pipelined processors in lab, and reason carefully about hazards, forwarding, and memory hierarchy performance on an open-book midterm and final. It sits on top of CS 223's digital logic and feeds directly into operating systems, compilers, and embedded work — basically every later course where knowing what the hardware is really doing stops being optional.