Teaching computer systems through common principles

Computer system subjects ranging from computer organization and operating systems to computer networking and database systems form an integral part of a computer science or computer engineering major. Because the subjects are usually taught as separate courses, students may not recognize that they share many design principles. We identify a set of these principles and demonstrate how they apply to all these aspects of a computer system. In our experience, students´ understanding of these subjects and how they are inter-related improves when we identify and illustrate these common principles.