Foundations of Computing
How a machine computes at all — from transistors to running programs.
What Is Computation? Bits, Bytes, Binary & Hex
Master the language hardware speaks: why computers are binary, how to fluently read and write in binary and hex, and why a kibibyte is not a kilobyte.
Boolean Logic & Logic Gates
Two values, a handful of operations, and a universe of computation — Boolean logic is the language your CPU speaks at the deepest level.
From Transistors to Gates (CMOS)
Every CPU is billions of tiny switches — here is how electrons, silicon, and geometry conspire to compute anything.
Number Systems & Two's Complement
Two's complement is the elegant relabeling that lets a single adder circuit serve both positive and negative integers — and understanding it deeply is the foundation of reading kernel code without being surprised.
Data Representation: Integers, Floats, Text
Every bit you'll ever flip in the kernel comes down to how numbers, fractions, and text are encoded in binary — master these fundamentals and nothing at the low level will ever surprise you again.
The Von Neumann Architecture
The stored-program computer: one deceptively simple idea — instructions are just numbers in memory — that bootstrapped the entire software industry and whose consequences you will encounter on every kernel patch you ever write.
The Memory Hierarchy
Every byte you touch travels through a speed-vs-capacity pyramid — mastering this hierarchy is the single biggest lever for writing fast systems code.
How a Program Runs: Source to Execution
Master the five-stage pipeline that turns C source into a running process, and gain the mental model that underlies every systems-programming tool and kernel debugging technique you will ever use.