Module 11Transformer Deep Dive

Modern Transformer Variants

Map the frontier: Flash Attention, MoE, grouped-query attention, and beyond.

Why this module matters

This is the bridge from education to reading current model-system papers with confidence.

Prerequisites

  • ▸ Mini-GPT capstone

Learning objectives

  • ▸ Explain why modern variants exist
  • ▸ Compare compute, memory, and quality tradeoffs
  • ▸ Read new papers without getting lost in acronyms

Core concepts

Flash Attention
MoE
Grouped-query attention

Hands-on practice

  • ▸ Read one modern architecture paper and summarize the core systems tradeoff

Expected output

A one-page architecture tradeoff map.

Study checklist

  • ✅ Explain why modern variants exist
  • ✅ Compare compute, memory, and quality tradeoffs
  • ✅ Read new papers without getting lost in acronyms

Common mistakes

  • ⚠️ Chasing novelty without understanding the bottleneck addressed
  • ⚠️ Ignoring deployment complexity

Module rhythm

  • 1. Read the summary and why-it-matters section first.
  • 2. Work through concepts before rushing into practice.
  • 3. Use the checklist to verify real understanding, not just completion.

How to continue

From here, you can move into production LLM systems or research implementation.

Back to course overview →

How to use this page well

Treat each module as a compact learning system: understand the intuition, verify the concepts, do one hands-on task, then use the checklist and mistakes section to pressure-test your understanding.