Computer Architecture 01 - Overview
Core concepts of Von Neumann architecture and how CPU, memory, and buses work together
Computer Architecture
From CPU internals and privilege levels to memory hierarchy and modern multicore processors
Who This Is For
Software engineers who want stronger performance intuition and a better sense of what hardware constraints shape software behavior.
Prerequisites
General programming experience and comfort reading basic low-level concepts.
What You'll Get
- Understand the big pieces of modern processor and memory-system design
- Connect caches, pipelines, interrupts, virtual memory, and multicore behavior back to software performance
- Make lower-level design and debugging decisions with better intuition
All Posts
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1
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2
Computer Architecture 02 - CPU Internals
How the ALU, control unit, and datapath work together to execute instructions
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Computer Architecture 03 - Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)
The role of ISAs, CISC vs RISC philosophy, and x86 versus ARM design differences
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Computer Architecture 04 - Pipelining and Parallel Processing
Instruction pipelining, hazard handling, branch prediction, superscalar and out-of-order execution
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5
Computer Architecture 05 - CPU Privilege Levels and Protection
Why CPUs distinguish privilege levels, and how x86 protection rings and ARM exception levels protect the system
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Computer Architecture 06 - Interrupts and Exceptions
Why interrupts exist and how IDT, ISR, PIC/APIC work
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Computer Architecture 07 - Memory Hierarchy
The memory hierarchy from registers to HDD and how caches work
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Computer Architecture 08 - Virtual Memory and MMU
How virtual memory enables process isolation through the MMU, page tables, and TLB
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Computer Architecture 09 - I/O and DMA
How the CPU exchanges data with external devices and the principles behind efficient data transfer via DMA
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Computer Architecture 10 - Multicore and Modern Processors
Why clock speeds stopped increasing and the core concepts of modern multicore processor architecture