Introduction to Microprocessors

Arm via Coursera

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/arm-education-introduction-to-microprocessors

Introduction

The purpose, specs, components and activities of a CPU

The differences and uses of RAM, ROM, and cache memory

The purpose and activities of buses and registers

Opcode, operands and memory addresses

Syllabus

Welcome to the Course

Meet your instructors and learn what you can expect from the course.

Module 1: Introduction to the CPU

This first module will introduce you to the central processing unit, or CPU, of a computer. We will introduce the basic components of a computer before introducing the components of the CPU itself. We'll help you understand the different types of memory inside a computer, registers within the CPU, and the data lines, or buses, which are used to carry data and instructions around the CPU. Finally, you will be introduced to the concept of binary instructions and their component parts, opcodes, operands, and addressing modes, as well as an insight into why binary is so important in the world of computers.

Module 2: The ALU and Decode Unit: Their Functions and Relationship to Input-Process-Output

This module will introduce you to the heart of the CPU - the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and the basic arithmetic operations, as well as some of the Boolean operations that it performs.

Module 3: The Fetch-Decode-Execute Cycle, Including an Introduction to Two Basic Architectures and Pipelining

In this module, you will learn about the process to organize the execution of instructions - the fetch-decode-execute cycle (FDE). We will look at some of the elements which impact the performance of the CPU, and you will be introduced to the concept of pipelining.

Module 4: Assembly Language: Writing Low Level Code

In this module you will be introduced to a sub-set of assembly code mnemonics used by an Arm processor and executed in the ASim emulator.

Final Thoughts

Recap what has been learned in the course.