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Back to Build a Modern Computer from First Principles: Nand to Tetris Part II (project-centered course)

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Build a Modern Computer from First Principles: Nand to Tetris Part II (project-centered course) by Hebrew University of Jerusalem

4.9
stars
501 ratings

About the Course

In this project-centered course you will build a modern software hierarchy, designed to enable the translation and execution of object-based, high-level languages on a bare-bone computer hardware platform. In particular, you will implement a virtual machine and a compiler for a simple, Java-like programming language, and you will develop a basic operating system that closes gaps between the high-level language and the underlying hardware platform. In the process, you will gain a deep, hands-on understanding of numerous topics in applied computer science, e.g. stack processing, parsing, code generation, and classical algorithms and data structures for memory management, vector graphics, input-output handling, and various other topics that lie at the very core of every modern computer system. This is a self-contained course: all the knowledge necessary to succeed in the course and build the various systems will be given as part of the learning experience. The only prerequisite is knowledge of programming at the level acquired in introduction to computer science courses. All the software tools and materials that are necessary to complete the course will be supplied freely after you enrol in the course. This course is accompanied by the textbook "The Elements of Computing Systems" (Nisan and Schocken, MIT Press). While not required for taking the course, the book provides a convenient coverage of all the course topics. The book is available in either hardcopy or ebook form, and MIT Press is offering a 30% discount off the cover price by using the discount code MNTT30 at https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/elements-computing-systems. 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 15 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

MS

Jan 14, 2018

This is by far one of the best online-courses I have completed. Thumbs up, it was well worth my time and it will definitely help me on my never-ending journey of becoming a better software developer.

RB

Sep 2, 2018

I'm a 13 year old 8th Grader from California. I loved this course and learned a lot! Thank you Mr.Schocken for putting together such a wonderful course! It was a thrill to finish the course finally!

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126 - 150 of 153 Reviews for Build a Modern Computer from First Principles: Nand to Tetris Part II (project-centered course)

By AAA 2

May 29, 2017

A very interesting course

By Mark B

Sep 10, 2021

Difficult but rewarding

By Xulei Y

Mar 24, 2020

Great project! I like it

By David L

Mar 3, 2020

Best course in Coursera!

By dracula 7

Dec 8, 2017

Tough, Boring but useful

By George K O

Jun 10, 2019

passionate professors!

By 李俊宏

Aug 18, 2017

REALLY A NICE COURSE!

By Yi L

Jun 28, 2020

Super great course!

By Will J

Jan 12, 2020

Excellent course!

By Devashish T

Nov 17, 2022

Simply Amazing

By Isaac C S

Mar 1, 2021

Amazing Course

By Wooil S

Mar 21, 2021

best of best

By tangella l

Jul 24, 2018

Great course

By Anran

Jun 19, 2019

A true gem!

By Geovanni P C

Jan 16, 2020

Excelente!

By Code A A

Nov 9, 2017

Fantastic!

By Serjey G I

Jan 23, 2019

splendid

By Bussetty S S

Apr 12, 2021

GOOD

By Himanshu M

Jul 4, 2020

gg

By Stuart H

Jul 6, 2022

A very good and thorough course.

One downside when compared to the first part however, was the lack of the book chapters. In the first part of the course, many of the chapters were available, and I found them extremely helpful. However, while I frequently wanted the written material in this part, only one or two were available. The required material was findable in the videos, but searching through videos, and reading big tables of grammars, api contracts etc which I need to implement, is much less convenient than having a written document.

By Cheryl

Feb 17, 2020

Although the teaching was still great, the projects were more of a slog to get through and took way more time. Most of the projects were to build "translators" (in another language such as Java or Python that is otherwise unrelated to the course) to bridge the low level language of the computer to a programming language. While I can understand the learning that comes with how this is done and techniques to use, I felt that there was just too much programming relative to the lessons.

By Brandon W

Feb 4, 2021

One of the best MOOCs I've ever taken. Some of the parts during numbers of projects were tricky enough to spend hours Googling and searching for an answer. However, you may find the answers in the discussion forum on Coursera or nand2tetris forum. It is definitely not an easy course, but worthwhile to take. One thing if I may append, some of the lecture PDFs still contain contents that may give fellow learners some amount of frustrations. I hope those will be fixed soon.

By Nathan B H

Feb 6, 2022

It was a fun course, yet it's super involved! Please be sure to have a solid understanding of computer programming and computer science before you take this course!

By Benedek R

Sep 3, 2018

It was a bit superficial. Homework helped to practice the basics. I prefer more detailed and more deep lectures.

By Knowledge M

Apr 15, 2021

The Exercises were a bit hard, but everything else was fantastic!