(GlobalCpp) Back to Basics: Computer Systems

Description

Every software engineer needs to understand the fundamentals of how your computer works. My mantra for teaching computer systems is 'no more magic', and in this talk I'll do my best to dispel what feels like 'magic' in our hardware in a single hour. In this talk, we will investigate '3' pictures of the 'the compilation process', 'program stack', and a 'cpu' to understand how these components work together to ultimately compile and execute code. An emphasis during this talk will focus on the 'CPU' and the hardware components (e.g. registers, cache memory, main memory, page table) interact with the operating system to efficiently execute a program. Hardware will be presented side-by-side with code so we can understand what happens in the hardware as software executes. Attendees will leave this talk with a better mental model of how their hardware works, and the implications their software design choices have on performance

About the Presenter

Mike Shah is currently a teaching faculty at Yale University with primary teaching interests in computer systems, computer graphics, and game engines. Mike’s research interests are related to performance engineering (dynamic analysis), software visualization, and computer graphics. Along with teaching and research work, Mike juggles occasional consulting work as a 3D Senior Graphics Engineer in C++ and producing programming content at his YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@MikeShah) and providing technical training/talks at companies.