Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Megaprocessor As An Educational Tool Making The Abstract Concrete, Jonathon Beauregard Ii

Master's Theses

Computer architecture courses can be difficult for students to engage with and learn from. This is because, unlike most core courses for a computer science student, learning architecture is an abstract process. To address this, universities have implemented methods for teaching course material other than purely descriptive methods. This typically means using simulations to model some aspect of a CPU or FPGA (fieldprogrammable gate array) boards for hands-on experimentation in CPU design. However, there are issues with these tools. Simulations can only cover a few topics well, are prone to being abandoned, and introduce additional abstraction layers. FPGAs, while great …