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Back to Build a Modern Computer from First Principles: From Nand to Tetris (Project-Centered Course)

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Build a Modern Computer from First Principles: From Nand to Tetris (Project-Centered Course) by Hebrew University of Jerusalem

4.9
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3,494 ratings

About the Course

What you’ll achieve: In this project-centered course* you will build a modern computer system, from the ground up. We’ll divide this fascinating journey into six hands-on projects that will take you from constructing elementary logic gates all the way through creating a fully functioning general purpose computer. In the process, you will learn - in the most direct and constructive way - how computers work, and how they are designed. What you’ll need: This is a self-contained course: all the knowledge necessary to succeed in the course and build the computer system will be given as part of the learning experience. Therefore, we assume no previous computer science or engineering knowledge, and all learners are welcome aboard. You will need no physical materials, since you will build the computer on your own PC, using a software-based hardware simulator, just like real computers are designed by computer engineers in the field. The hardware simulator, as well as other software tools, will be supplied freely after you enroll in the course. Course format: The course consists of six modules, each comprising a series of video lectures, and a project. You will need about 2-3 hours to watch each module's lectures, and about 5-10 hours to complete each one of the six projects. The course can be completed in six weeks, but you are welcome to take it at your own pace. You can watch a TED talk about this course by Googling "nand2tetris TED talk". *About Project-Centered Courses: Project-centered courses are designed to help you complete a personally meaningful real-world project, with your instructor and a community of learners with similar goals providing guidance and suggestions along the way. By actively applying new concepts as you learn, you’ll master the course content more efficiently; you’ll also get a head start on using the skills you gain to make positive changes in your life and career. When you complete the course, you’ll have a finished project that you’ll be proud to use and share....

Top reviews

AI

Jun 13, 2021

Undeniably one of the best computer science courses. The advertising isn't false! This course permanently changed my perspective on hardware and software along with the relationship between the two...

MM

Feb 17, 2017

An excellent course provided by phenomenal professors! Everything is broken down into simple, easily understandable portions, and leaves you with a clear idea how to proceed to solve a given problem.

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226 - 250 of 1,058 Reviews for Build a Modern Computer from First Principles: From Nand to Tetris (Project-Centered Course)

By Francisco G G

Jul 4, 2021

Noam and Shimon made a very engaging course. I finished my studies more than 20 years ago, and I came acroos with FPGAs. I wanted to update my knowledge so every thing came fresh after following the course. For sure, I will follow the 2nd course as well. Thanks.

By Sapozhnikov K

Feb 21, 2018

Awesome course, it give me understanding how everything works under the hood. I am grateful to the creators for their work, perfect explanations, interesting and exciting projects, awesome supported materials and software. It was an amazing adventure. Thank you.

By Daniel S

Dec 8, 2019

This class was truly exceptional. I felt like it did an excellent job on conveying abstract concepts and I came away with a working knowledge of very basic computer architecture. I recommend this class to anyone curious about the inner workings of a computer.

By Anubhav B (

Oct 26, 2020

From coding an AND gate to a RAM, from being puzzled about bottom-up working of a computer to writing an Assembler....It took me 7 and a half weeks, 73 notebook pages and gazillion brain cells.

Thank you dear professors, Shimon and Noam :)

I learned a lot...

By Tsung-Ju, Y

Dec 11, 2022

As a sophomore majoring CS, it help me a lot with the bottom design and implementation of a computer. I would definitely recommend to everyone regardless of their major. All in all, shout out to Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken for the high quality contents!

By Ajinkya M

Sep 29, 2019

Really I want to thank Coursera for providing such wonderful knowledge and high-quality course available. The course should be made mandatory to kids, students & engineers. The understanding of the computers is greatly enhanced after completing this course

By Elham

Dec 3, 2021

Great introduction to the internal workings of a computer. It illustrates how parts slowly form from the bottom up to produce a beautiful piece of machinery that is able to understand arithmetic and logic, as well as remember data stored in it. Wonderful!

By Thomas N

Dec 6, 2016

The most amazing online course. I love how it is project based. Everything you learn is straight away applied to building the project and it it made me look at so many things in life differently due to the way it breaks down the concept of abstraction.

By Ion P

Dec 23, 2018

It was a really nice course with very good practical projects. What I really liked was the fact that in the end you will understand how all the electronic circuits inside the CPU will be translated into the lowest level of software inside a computer.

By Sudhabindu D

Mar 20, 2021

One of the best online Computer Science courses out there. I don't know why it's not as famous as the other ones. If you want to know how a computer works inside out (and also build one from scratch!), just go for it. This one is for the epiphanies.

By Yuval A

Apr 1, 2021

Very informative, before taking the course I always treated computers as a black box without knowing and even being able to imagine how they can be built. Now it became much more clear how 0's and 1's only can be added up to such an amazing machine

By Huzaifa A

Aug 30, 2020

I think this was an amazing course. Both profs really teach you well and clears your basic concepts about electronic and digital world. It was a great experience learning and building HACK computer which was a dream come true in 6 weeks. Thank you.

By Alexander N

Dec 31, 2017

I took this course out of curiosity and probably some nostalgic feelings. I really like the idea of making CS 101 course that builds your knowledge from ground up. And what can be more exciting than building a computer and writing your own game :)

By INISH M D S

Jun 26, 2020

I'm totally overwhelmed by the power I have after taking this course. From 3 years the question "How computers work?" was wondering in my mind. There is no space for this query in my mind anymore after building a computer from scratch on my own.

By Vytenis N

Dec 21, 2019

This course provides a great and sight-opening introduction to the very basics of computing science. Going from basic parts and seeing the system build up step-by-step gives a sense of accomplishment and understanding that is hard to be matched.

By Anubhav p

Aug 30, 2020

I always wanted such a course where I can learn each and every fundamentals of computer from scratch in small steps. This course is really a fantastic course and I suggest this for all those who are interested in learning how the computer work.

By Krišjānis R

May 18, 2020

What a great course! Very inspiring also in terms how one can scale a course using automated assignment checking. I would love to join a camp at a IC factory where one could build this for real. Let me know if somebody has a course like that.

By Eric B

Nov 19, 2019

Excellent course. Instructors provide enough guidance for you to do most of the discovery and design on your own. The topics are covered in a logical order. It's a lot of work, but you'll learn a tremendous amount and feel quite accomplished.

By neil g

Mar 7, 2024

An excellent computer science course. I do think some of the assignments are sort of messed up (particularly the last two) which I think isn't fixed because it's a virtual course. But overall excellent material and exceptionally well taught.

By Joshua R

Nov 11, 2022

Phenomenal. A great progression from the very basic building blocks to a functioning computer. Projects were of a good difficulty level but not too hard, and the concepts were very well explained. Excited to take part 2. Thank you so much!!

By Aniruddha D

Sep 22, 2018

Awesome Course!! This instructors teach all the concepts on building a computer from ground zero and at a very decent pace. This course has greatly improved my understanding of how the different layers interact and work to build a computer.

By 吉羽

Jun 12, 2022

Come across this course when I try to dig the basic principles of how the computer works, and all the questions have been solved during the learning process!

Thanks to the teachers very much, really learn a lot from this course! Thank you!

By king o h r

Mar 10, 2021

the time frame for programming the compiler is really small, but other then that there's almost no pressure all throughout the course the instructions are clear and they do an excellent job of explaining everything from first principals.

By Elaine B

Jan 8, 2021

I really enjoy the course, after finishing all the projects, I think I have a deeper understanding of how the hardware of the computer works! Thanks for bringing such a nice course, looking forward to taking the part II and learning more.

By Vineeth

Sep 27, 2019

I was a computer science student, still I was not able to make much sense out the theory classes I attended. But this course gives extremely different experience and make it a piece of cake. Now I can correlate many things I have learned.