This course was completely different to the ones that teach only software development or high-level languages. I really liked how this course started with the very foundation of all computer architecture and finished with a completed hardware level of a computer.

This course was very interesting and I can't wait to begin the second part of this course.

This is hands down one of the best courses I have ever done. It tears down the layers of abstraction between your programs and your computer's hardware. It's a project centred course meaning you get to build very cool things every week.

I'm blown away that I just finished building a computer that can play pong... it has a display and keyboard inputs!

This was an amazing learning experience that I enjoyed so much. I expanded my knowledge of computer science especially regarding logic gate construction, hardware descriptor language (HDL), and how to build a simple assembler. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants a better understanding of how computers work at the machine level.

Excellent course. I'm a seasoned high-level programmer, but I'd never taken any hardware courses before. Now I better understand when the hardware engineers are talking about different chips and when one chip doesn't have enough pins to control a certain peripheral, etc. Really looking forward to the next part to connect everything I work with.

Very comprehensive! Well worth the hard work!

I already had a vague idea about assemblers and machine code but I now understand how machine code actually controls the hardware in a CPU.

The other mystery solved for me is how basic logic gates can be combined into ever more complex structures which are then combined into a CPU and a computer.

Excellent course! It was hard at times but I learned so much (and learned it well thanks to the do-it-yourself approach in the projects). The instructors explain complicated topics in the clearest and simplest way possible. And they not only teach you what a computer is, but also how to build *anything* complex. Really a superb course!

It was a great course. It fulfilled its role in demystifying the internal parts of a computer. It was a excellent idea to present Digital Circuits through a Hardware Description Language (HDL). It was rewarding to get in touch with Assembly language in the processes of "building" the CPU as well as while coding the Assembler. Thank you!

I had so much fun following the course and I actually feel I've learned a lot.

Not only the course videos are helpful and easy to follow but also the "perspective units" were also very interesting that I watched all the videos.

I definitely will move on to part 2 of this course and I am 100% sure that I will get all I want in part 2 also.

Excellent course. Not one to take lightly as it involves plenty of hard work in order to understand the new concepts it introduces and complete the assignments. Ideal for self-learners who wish to take their skills to the next level. It has done a great deal de-mystifying how computers work on a very low level. Definitely recommended.

This is one of the best courses that I have come across. I had always wanted to learn computer science in a continuous fashion . I wanted to know how all the different subjects come together to make a computer. This course was a boon for me. It showed me how to connect the dots among various subjects. Iam looking forward to part 2 now.

Has been a great course addressing a lot of basic questions. Very well-structured.

However, I do feel that more light could have been shed upon how the instructions in 0's and 1's in the text file (here the .hack files) are actually given to a computer. Perhaps it could be addressed in one of the QA sessions at the end of each module.

The course is one of the best courses in my life. But it was very difficult to understand. I'm a graphic designer and recently started studying computer science. If you dont' have any bases this will be a bloodbath. at least that's how it was for me. But every effort is worth because You will understand how to computer works really.

I learned much of this material in college 20 years ago, but back then it was only book knowledge and never tied to anything practical. Doing this course has given me a much deeper understanding of how the bits and bytes of my program are handled at the lowest level. I'm looking forward to taking the second course in the series.

This is absolutely the best course on Coursera and by far the most unique. The instructors are engaging and clear with what they teach, the quality of the lectures are superb and the amount of supplementary material and resources made available are vast. I wish the instructors would create more courses. On to Part 2 of the course!

Amazing course. I've always wondered how a computer just handles "information", displaying nice images on a screen and allowing magical user interaction. We live in a physical world, so what is physically happening? This course shows you what happens under the hood. And it's very project-centered, so plenty of hands-on learning.

This course was amazing. Despite being a computer science student, I had no real intuition as to how the different computer abstractions worked or how the simple AND,OR gates did everything the a computer could do. I've just finished the firsst part and am already amazed at how much I've learned. I look forward to the next part!

This is an excellent course that is very well-designed to include all the essential details and exclude the inessential ones. I recommend it very highly, especially to those who have some form of technical education, but may never have learned these topics in computer design that are needed to really get from logic gate to CPU.

This was a fantastic course. I'd bought the textbook a few years ago after reading about it on HackerNews, but never had the motivation to work through it until I discovered this class on Coursera. I feel like I now have a much better grasp of what's going on inside of a computer, after having programmed for over thirty years!

Excellent course! I was left mind-blown (in a good, exciting way) at times when I learned how different parts of the computer, such as the CPU or ALU actually work with just logic gates. The programming exercises are a great way to test understanding and they each make one think hard to reach the solution. Highly recommended!

I have always wanted to know how a computer actually works. This course helped me to deep dive into the low level implementation of a computer. In the meanwhile, the projects are perfectly well organized for better understandings. Overall, I'd like to recommend this course to literally everyone who is interested in computers.

One of the best courses I have ever been through. If you like learning along with getting hands-on experience and the joy of building something ground-up, this course is definitely for you. I like how the designs are so simple yet completely functional. Thoroughly enjoyed making all the projects especially week 6 (Assembler).

Great course, but tough. I'd suggest reading the relevant chapters from the professors' book 'The Elements of Computing Systems' (chapters available for free on the professors' course website) in addition to listening to the lectures. I also read 'Code' by Charles Petzold as I took the course and found it a useful supplement.

A wonderful course. The tasks are not very hard, but challenging enough for a student to get things working. Even for auditing students, they provide ways to verify the knowledge. I think they completely achieved their goal of demystifying how computers work and are built. Thank you for the opportunity to attend this course.

While some of earlier topics were a bit rushed, Week 6 videos were just about explaining the assembler algorithm to the programmer, which is something programmer should invent himself, it takes away the fun, while providing no further insight into the topic. Overall great course, but it did not go very deep into some topics.

A fantastic course that should be considered as a requirement for any one working as a software developer. The tutors did an excellent job here, the course material was clear, and the assignments were fun and rewarding.

I can honestly say I've now built my own computer from simple Nand gates and it was fun and educational.