On-Campus Interview

This is a total review of computer architecture, ranging from superscalar structures to multi-core processors.

The morning session involves the first screen, followed by an interview offered in the afternoon. The total interview length is 30 minutes, and it is a one-on-one session.

It is not very question-oriented. We broadly discussed:

• Cache hierarchy
• Virtual addresses
• Register renaming
• Branch prediction
• Load/store bypassing/forwarding
• Memory coherence in multi-core processors
• The basic structure of multi-core processors
• Many details in processor designs

The interview is generally pretty relaxed. You can draw many figures to help the interviewer understand your points.

Why do we need branch prediction?

Detailed description about the cache address structures.

Out-of-Order superscalar processor structure.