Computer architecture
From bits and gates to the processor: number systems, logic, the datapath, instruction sets, pipelines, caches, buses and parallel hardware.
Course · 8 lessons · 62 min
- 1Number systems and two's complementFreeBinary, octal, decimal and hexadecimal, how negative integers are stored in two's complement, and what happens when a value does not fit.1945–today · 7 min
- 2Logic gates and Boolean algebraAND, OR, NOT and their friends, the algebra that simplifies them, De Morgan's laws and why a single NAND gate can build any circuit.1854–1938 · 7 min
- 3Combinational and sequential circuitsAdders, multiplexers and decoders compute from their inputs alone; flip-flops and a clock add memory. Together they make registers and state machines.1918–today · 8 min
- 4The datapath and the instruction cycleRegisters, ALU, control unit and memory, the fetch-decode-execute loop that drives them, and the equation that measures how fast a CPU really is.1945–today · 8 min
- 5Instruction sets: RISC and CISCThe instruction set is the contract between software and hardware. Registers, addressing, encodings, a small RISC-V program, and the RISC–CISC debate.1980–today · 8 min
- 6Pipelining and hazardsOverlapping instructions like an assembly line: the five-stage pipeline, its ideal speed-up, and the data and control hazards that eat into it.1981–today · 8 min
- 7The memory hierarchy and cachesFast memory is small, big memory is slow. Locality lets a few levels of cache hide the gap; how they are organised and how to compute their effect.1965–today · 8 min
- 8Buses, interrupts and parallel hardwareHow the CPU reaches devices over buses and learns of events through interrupts, and why performance now comes from many cores and GPUs, within Amdahl's limit.1967–today · 8 min