Understand computer system fundamentals and the hardware-software interface.

• Computer system overview
• Hardware vs software components
• System abstraction levels
• Von Neumann architecture
• Stored program concept
• Performance metrics
• Computer evolution history
• Current trends and future directions

Learn how computers represent and manipulate different types of data.

• Binary, octal, and hexadecimal systems
• Number base conversions
• Signed number representations
• Two's complement arithmetic
• Floating-point representation (IEEE 754)
• Character encoding (ASCII, Unicode)
• Error detection and correction
• Data alignment and padding

Master the mathematical foundation of digital circuit design.

• Boolean algebra fundamentals
• Logic gates (AND, OR, NOT, XOR)
• Truth tables and logic expressions
• Karnaugh maps
• Circuit minimization techniques
• Combinational circuit design
• Sequential circuit basics
• Timing and propagation delays

Design and analyze circuits where outputs depend only on current inputs.

• Adders (half, full, ripple-carry)
• Subtractors and comparators
• Multiplexers and demultiplexers
• Encoders and decoders
• Priority encoders
• Arithmetic Logic Units (ALU)
• Code converters
• Hazards and glitches

Understand circuits with memory and state-dependent behavior.

• Latches and flip-flops
• Clock signals and timing
• Registers and shift registers
• Counters (synchronous and asynchronous)
• Finite state machines (FSM)
• State diagrams and tables
• Moore vs Mealy machines
• Sequential circuit design process

Learn how computers perform mathematical operations in hardware.

• Integer addition and subtraction
• Multiplication algorithms
• Division algorithms
• Floating-point operations
• Arithmetic unit design
• Overflow and underflow handling
• Rounding modes
• Performance optimization techniques

Understand CPU structure and instruction execution fundamentals.

• CPU components and organization
• Instruction set architecture (ISA)
• Registers and register files
• Datapath design
• Control unit design
• Instruction formats
• Addressing modes
• RISC vs CISC architectures

Master the interface between hardware and software through instruction sets.

• Instruction types and categories
• Assembly language programming
• Machine language encoding
• Instruction execution cycle
• Stack operations
• Subroutine calls and returns
• Interrupt handling
• Assembly-to-machine translation

Learn how to improve processor performance through instruction pipelining.

• Pipelining concepts
• Pipeline stages (IF, ID, EX, MEM, WB)
• Pipeline hazards
• Data hazards and forwarding
• Control hazards and branch prediction
• Structural hazards
• Pipeline performance analysis
• Superscalar and VLIW processors

Understand the organization of computer memory systems for optimal performance.

• Memory hierarchy principles
• Cache memory fundamentals
• Cache organization and mapping
• Cache replacement policies
• Write policies (write-through, write-back)
• Multi-level cache systems
• Virtual memory concepts
• Memory performance optimization

Deep dive into cache design and optimization techniques.

• Cache design parameters
• Direct-mapped caches
• Set-associative caches
• Fully associative caches
• Cache coherence protocols
• Cache miss handling
• Cache optimization techniques
• Cache performance metrics

Learn how operating systems manage memory through virtualization.

• Virtual memory motivation
• Address translation
• Page tables and paging
• Translation lookaside buffer (TLB)
• Page replacement algorithms
• Segmentation
• Memory protection
• Working set and thrashing

Understand how computers communicate with external devices.

• I/O system organization
• I/O device types and characteristics
• Programmed I/O
• Interrupt-driven I/O
• Direct Memory Access (DMA)
• I/O buses and interfaces
• Storage systems (HDDs, SSDs)
• I/O performance optimization

Explore techniques for improving performance through parallelism.

• Parallel processing concepts
• Flynn's taxonomy
• Shared memory systems
• Distributed memory systems
• Multicore processors
• Thread-level parallelism
• Synchronization mechanisms
• Performance scaling

Learn to measure, analyze, and improve computer system performance.

• Performance metrics and benchmarks
• Amdahl's law
• CPU performance equation
• Bottleneck analysis
• Power consumption and efficiency
• Reliability and availability
• System optimization techniques
• Future architecture trends