As software engineers, we study computer systems (also called "computer architecture") to be able to understand how our programs ultimately run and how the machine expects our data to be encoded. Our immediate reward is to be able to write faster, more memory-efficient and more secure code.

Longer term, the value of understanding computer systems may be even greater. Every abstraction between us and the hardware leaks, to one degree or another. This course aims to provide a set of first principles from which to build sturdier mental models and reason more effectively.
We'll start by considering the machine's expectation of how our data is encoded, as well as some higher level binary representations like those for text. We'll continue through introductory C and assembly programming, to better understand the interface that a typical computer provides for executing programs. Finally we'll cover two important areas for improving program performance: utilizing the CPU microarchitecture, and CPU caches (the memory hierarchy).
At the core of this course are the sequences of problems for each topic. You should aim to solve each problem, using the worked solutions and supplementary explainers as needed. There are also some full seminars, which some find helpful to tie topics together. While no textbook is necessary for this course, we do recommend Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective ("CS:APP") as a supplement, and reference relevant CS:APP chapters below. For more suggestions on how to approach CS Primer, see the how-to guide.

Homepage