alt Hacker News> One of the best parts about RiscV is that you can teach a freshman level architecture class or a senior level chip building project with an ISA that is actually used.
Same could be said of MIPS.
My understanding is the RISC-V raison d'etre is rather avoidance of patented/copywritten designs.
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adgjlsfhk1 • yesterday at 10:10 PM
the avoidance of patent/copyright is critical for (legally) having students design their own chips. MIPS was pretty good (and widely used) for teaching assembly, but pretty bad for teaching a class where students design chips
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As you indicate, MIPS was widely used in computer architecture courses and textbooks, including pre-RISC-V editions of Patterson & Hennessy (Computer Organization & Design) and Harris & Harris (Digital Design and Computer Architecture.
In spite of the currently mediocre RISC-V implementations, RISC-V seems to have more of a future and isn't clouded by ISA IP issues, as you note.