Third semester core course · 50 sessions · 6 arcs · 11 decks live
A computer contains no numbers. Only voltages, and circuits built to read those voltages as numbers.
A processor contains no instructions. Only circuits, and an instruction is a number that selects one of them.
Fifty hours on one question: what is actually happening underneath a line of code? Each class below is a slide deck I use in the room. The decks go up as the course moves; the questions further down are where we are headed.
Start here
What the course is, the six arcs, and how it is marked
00Course overviewopen deckClasses 1 to 12
Four failures that turn out to be one failure
01What went wrong?open deck 02How did we learn to write numbers down?open deck 03Does it need a human?open deck 04Do we have to choose?open deck 05Where do we put the minus sign?open deck 06What is a float?open deck 07What did the reserved patterns buy?open deck 08Why does the order matter?open deck 09What if the point cannot move?open deck 10What happens at the boundary?open deck 11What else can a pattern mean?open deck 12What have we built ?open deckClasses 13 to 18
You can store 5, so how does a machine add 1 to it?
13Can a switch do mathematics?open deck 14What is a gate, physically?open deck 15Can anything be built from gates?open deck 16What is secretly a truth table?open deck 17How small can it go?open deck 18What does a gate cost, and what can it not do?open deckClasses 19 to 26
Put representation and gates together
19How does a machine add?open deck 20How can you add multiple columns ?open deck 21Why is it so slow?open deck 22Can the carry be computed in parallel?open deckClasses 27 to 31
Seven separate circuits, one set of inputs and outputs
Classes 32 to 36
Where does int x = 5 physically live?
Classes 37 to 49
Somebody has been setting the controls by hand for six classes
Class 50
What actually happens when you press run?