Simulators for courses in advance computer architecture

Abstract

The usage of simulator in teaching computer architecture courses has proven to be the most acceptable way, especially when the simulators offer rich graphical and visual representation of the architecture. In this paper we present several simulators used to teach ILP (Instruction Level of Parallelism) courses. The simulators cover wide area of concepts such as internal logic organization, datapath, control, memory behavior, register renaming, branch prediction, and overall out of order execution. Special dedicated simulators cover details in internal organization like Tomasulo approach and scoreboard for organization of reservation stations. This innovative approach in laboratory exercises is used for advanced ILP course.