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Course contents

  • How to Use This Course
  • Reading Paths
  • Concept Map
  • How to Read the Diagrams
  • Part 0: What Is a Protocol?10
  • Part 1: Timing and Clocking11
  • Part 2: Encoding and Framing12
  • Part 3: Handshakes13
  • Part 4: Flow Control17
  • Part 5: Transactions19
  • Part 6: Concurrency and Performance17
  • Part 7: Ordering13
  • Part 8: Sharing and Arbitration12
  • Part 9: Deadlock and Liveness13
  • Part 10: Reliability and Recovery20
  • Part 11: Bring-Up and Link Management10
  • Part 12: Power8
  • Part 13: Shared State and Coherence9
  • Part 14: Security and Isolation7
  • Part 15: Specifying and Verifying11
  • Part 16: Protocols Dissected17
  • Part 17: Capstones5
  • Part 18: Interview Preparation6
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‹First Principles of Hardware Protocols
  1. Topics
  2. First Principles of Hardware Protocols
  3. Reading Paths

Start here · All levels

Reading Paths

Five routes through the course: complete, RTL designer, DV engineer, architect, and a two-week interview sprint.

On this page

    The parts are in learning order, and reading them in order is the best route if you have the time. If you do not, pick the path that fits your work.

    Complete

    All nineteen parts in order: about 55 hours of reading when the course is finished, and about 100 with the exercises and code.

    RTL designer: you build interfaces

    • Part 0: What Is a Protocol?

    • Part 3: Handshakes

    • Part 4: Flow Control

    • Part 5: Transactions

    • Part 6: Concurrency and Performance

    • Part 9: Deadlock and Liveness

    • Part 10: Reliability and Recovery

    • Part 11: Bring-Up and Link Management

    • Part 12: Power

    • Part 16: Protocols Dissected

    Focus on the Build it sections, the What breaks stories, and the DCLink steps.

    DV engineer: you verify interfaces

    • Part 0: What Is a Protocol?

    • Part 3: Handshakes

    • Part 4: Flow Control

    • Part 5: Transactions

    • Part 6: Concurrency and Performance

    • Part 7: Ordering

    • Part 9: Deadlock and Liveness

    • Part 10: Reliability and Recovery

    • Part 15: Specifying and Verifying

    • Part 16: Protocols Dissected

    Focus on the rules each lesson states, the checkers in the listings, and Part 15's assertions, monitors, scoreboards and coverage.

    Architect or principal engineer: you define and review protocols

    • Part 4: Flow Control

    • Part 6: Concurrency and Performance

    • Part 7: Ordering

    • Part 8: Sharing and Arbitration

    • Part 9: Deadlock and Liveness

    • Part 10: Reliability and Recovery

    • Part 13: Shared State and Coherence

    • Part 14: Security and Isolation

    • Part 17: Capstones

    Read every Principal lens, the design-space tables, and capstones 3 (design a protocol) and 4 (design review).

    Interview sprint: two weeks

    • Week 1: the "Protocols compared" and "Drills" page of Parts 3 to 10, plus every interview corner in those parts.

    • Week 2: Part 16: Protocols Dissected for the protocols on the job description, then Part 18: Interview Preparation.

    Tip

    Whatever the path, keep the warm-up questions at the top of each part page: if you cannot answer two of three, go back one part.

    Related topics

    • Course hub

    • Concept map

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    See also

    • How to Read the Diagrams
    • Part 0: What Is a Protocol?
    • Part 1: Timing and Clocking