Hardware and operating systems

From bits and transistors to the CPU, memory and what the operating system demands from the hardware, in dependency order.

1. 1
   ReadALU and registers: adding, comparing and holding operands

   How the ALU adds, subtracts, compares and does logic, what the Z, N, C and V flags mean, and what registers are for inside the CPU.

   intermediate
2. 2
   ReadSRAM, DRAM and storage: how each technology stores a bit

   How SRAM, DRAM, flash and disk store a bit inside, why SRAM is fast and expensive, why DRAM is slow and cheap, and what keeps data after power loss.

   intermediate
3. 3
   ReadCache: lines, associativity and what happens on a miss

   How a cache finds data by tag, index and offset, what happens on a miss, and how associativity and replacement change the hit rate.

   intermediate