Computer Architectures and Networks

The cluster aims to provide students with foundational knowledge on computer system architectures and network infrastructures, which is required to understand how modern computing systems operate, with particular reference to program execution, resource management, and inter-system communication mechanisms.
The educational pathway introduces core principles of computer organization and operating systems, addressing key concepts such as processes, concurrency, memory management, file systems, and resource allocation policies. In parallel, the cluster presents the fundamentals of computer networks and essential notions of the cloud computing paradigm and its service models.
The cluster fosters an integrated view of hardware, system, and networking layers, supporting the understanding of performance and reliability aspects as well as the main security implications of digital systems. The acquired competencies also provide a preparatory foundation for subsequent clusters, where these concepts are reused and further developed in more complex application contexts.
The cluster is organized into the modules of Computing Systems and Networks and Cloud, designed in a coherent and coordinated manner. The modules jointly contribute to the intended learning outcomes by linking internal execution and resource-management mechanisms (computer systems and operating systems) with communication, interconnection, and resource-distribution principles (networks and cloud).

Knowledge and understanding
At the end of the cluster, the student acquires foundational knowledge of computer system architectures, operating systems, computer networks, and cloud infrastructures required to understand the operating principles of modern computing systems. In particular, the student is able to:
· describe the main components of a computing system and their role in program execution;
· explain fundamental operating system mechanisms, including processes and concurrency, memory management, file systems, and resource management;
· describe basic principles of computer networks (layered model, essential protocols and services) and their role in inter-system communication;
· outline key concepts of the cloud computing paradigm (virtualization, service models, and resource distribution).
Applying knowledge and understanding
At the end of the cluster, the student is able to:
· use basic tools to observe and describe the state of a system and a network (processes, memory, I/O, connectivity), formulating motivated hypotheses about elementary issues;
· apply operating system and networking concepts to interpret typical behaviours (e.g., concurrency, resource usage, communications) in guided scenarios;
· configure or use, at an introductory level, basic network/cloud services and resources in simple scenarios, understanding constraints and dependencies.
Making judgements
The student develops the ability to:
· interpret the behaviour of programs and services at system level, identifying common causes of inefficiency or malfunction;
· qualitatively assess effects and trade-offs between performance, reliability, and main security implications in basic configuration and usage choices.
Communication skills
At the end of the cluster, the student is able to:
· communicate clearly and in a technically correct manner, also in written form, observations and outcomes from simple system and network analysis/diagnostic activities, using appropriate terminology and essential representations (e.g., architecture description, execution flow, communication flow).
Learning skills
The student acquires the ability to:
· autonomously update skills on emerging technologies and solutions (systems, networks, cloud) by interpreting technical documentation and relevant standards;
· experiment with new observation and diagnostic tools (monitoring, logging, network testing) and assess their usefulness and limitations with respect to performance or reliability goals;
· transfer learned concepts and methods to unseen scenarios and architectures (e.g., new protocols, new cloud platforms), providing a rationale for the adopted choices.