CS33: Introduction to Computer Organization – Fall 2025

About / Contact

Office Hours

Instructor/TA Office Hours & Room Email   Piazza Day Lab Lead
Tony Nowatzki Eng.VI 468b: W/Th 3:45pm-4:45pm tjn cs.ucla.edu
Dylan Kupsh Boelter 3286: W 3:00pm-5:00pm dkupsh@ucla.edu Wednesday Lab 1: DataLab
Mingqi Zhao Boelter 3286: Tu 12:00pm-2:00pm mizhao34@ucla.edu Tuesday Lab 2: BombLab
Benet Oriol Sabat Boelter 3286: M 12:00pm-2:00pm benet@cs.ucla.edu Thursday Lab 3: AttackLab
Chris Liu Boelter 3286: Th 1:00pm-3:00pm chrisliu@cs.ucla.edu Monday Lab 4: PerfLab
Lab 5: ThreadLab

Description

In this course our aim is to introduce the key concepts of computer systems. We will learn the basics of many topics, including computer architecture, computer organization, operating systems and concurrency. First we build from the bottom up with detailed explanations of number systems, how they are employed in the instruction set architecture. Then, using x86 as an example, we explain how programs are represented to the hardware, how to view and manipulate these abstractions (eg. procedure calls, stacks, interrupts, and traps) directly in assembly language, and how operating systems provide virtualization and process management. We finally demonstrate how this knowledge applies to improving system security and performance of a real system.

Prerequisites

CS31 and CS32 are official prereqs. It is possible to take CS32 and CS33 together, but it will significantly increase the difficulty of the course.