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Princeton University

Computer Architecture

Princeton University via Coursera

Overview

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In this course, you will learn to design the computer architecture of complex modern microprocessors.

All the features of this course are available for free. It does not offer a certificate upon completion.

Syllabus

  • Introduction, Instruction Set Architecture, and Microcode
    • This lecture will give you a broad overview of the course, as well as the description of architecture, micro-architecture and instruction set architectures.
  • Pipelining Review
    • This lecture covers the basic concept of pipeline and two different types of hazards.
  • Cache Review
    • This lecture covers control hazards and the motivation for caches.
  • Superscalar 1
    • This lecture covers cache characteristics and basic superscalar architecture.
  • Superscalar 2 & Exceptions
    • This lecture covers the common issues for superscalar architecture.
  • Superscalar 3
    • This lecture covers different kinds of architectures for out-of-order processors.
  • Superscalar 4
    • This lecture covers the common methods used to improve the performance of out-of-order processors including register renaming and memory disambiguation.
  • VLIW 1
    • This lecture covers the basic concept of very long instruction word (VLIW) processors.
  • VLIW2
    • This lecture covers the common methods used to improve VLIW performance.
  • Branch Prediction
    • This lecture covers the motivation and implementation of branch predictors.
  • Advanced Caches 1
    • This lecture covers the advanced mechanisms used to improve cache performance.
  • Advanced Caches 2
    • This lecture covers more advanced mechanisms used to improve cache performance.
  • Memory Protection
    • This lecture covers memory management and protection.
  • Vector Processors and GPUs
    • This lecture covers the vector processor and optimizations for vector processors.
  • Multithreading
    • This lecture covers different types of multithreading.
  • Parallel Programming 1
    • This lecture covers the concepts of parallelism, consistency models, and basic parallel programming techniques.
  • Parallel Programming 2
    • This lecture covers the solutions for the consistency problem in parallel programming.
  • Small Multiprocessors
    • This lecture covers the implementation of small multiprocessors.
  • Multiprocessor Interconnect 1
    • This lecture covers the design of interconnects for a multiprocessor.
  • Multiprocessor Interconnect 2
    • This lecture covers the design of interconnects for multiprocessor and network topology.
  • Large Multiprocessors (Directory Protocols)
    • This lecture covers the motivation and implementation of directory protocol used for coherence on large multiproccesors.

Taught by

David Wentzlaff

Reviews

4.2 rating, based on 6 Class Central reviews

4.7 rating at Coursera based on 2741 ratings

Start your review of Computer Architecture

  • Alex
    The content of this class is really fantastic, but unfortunately the lecturer is really terrible. He's obviously a very smart guy, but watching the videos was dreadful. I had so much difficulty not being bored out of my mind during each video, as hi…
  • Anonymous
    One of the best courses I have ever taken. A good understanding is given on the internal workings on different types of processor architectures. Unfortunately, no certification is given. I would have paid good money for a certificate and I tried to find the course at Princeton.
  • Andrei Razvan Maresu
  • Christopher Pitt

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