Systems Foundations · core
Compute, Memory & Storage Hierarchy
CPU caches, NUMA, DRAM, GPU memory, NVMe, object storage, and the movement costs between them.
Mental model
Performance is usually data movement. Each level trades capacity and durability for latency and bandwidth, so placement decisions must follow the working set and access pattern.
How to study Compute, Memory & Storage Hierarchy
Begin by restating the mental model in your own words, then connect it to a concrete system you have built or operated. Name the mechanism, the constraint it addresses, and the trade-off it introduces. Use What Every Programmer Should Know About Memory to check details, but close the source before writing your explanation. Retrieval is the learning step; rereading is only preparation.
Next, compare Compute, Memory & Storage Hierarchy with Operating System Mechanics, Network Protocol Engineering. Ask what changes in correctness, latency, resource use, operability, and failure recovery. Complete Design exercise: Compute, Memory & Storage Hierarchy and preserve the command, input, output, and one failed attempt as evidence. Finish by explaining the idea without jargon to someone who has not studied the track.
Proof of understanding
- Explain the mechanism from first principles and identify the state it reads or changes.
- Give one situation where the concept is the right choice and one where it is not.
- Predict a realistic failure mode before running the drill, then compare the prediction with evidence.
- Connect the result to a roadmap or build artifact instead of treating the concept as isolated trivia.
Learn from primary sources
Practice and explain it back
Design exercise: Compute, Memory & Storage Hierarchy
CPU caches, NUMA, DRAM, GPU memory, NVMe, object storage, and the movement costs between them. Implement designOutline() returning non-empty values for: workingSet, dataMovement, bottleneck. Each value must name a concrete mechanism or decision.
Expected evidence: A design outline with workingSet, dataMovement, bottleneck plus an explicit failure mode or trade-off.
Open the interactive drill →Review prompts
- Two loops do the same arithmetic on the same array and one is many times slower. What is the usual cause?
Build evidence
Synthesize: Systems Foundations
Build a mechanism-first model from hardware and kernels through runtimes, networks, performance, and isolation. Produce one working system, benchmark, or evidence-backed design that integrates the path.
- Implements or precisely models the core mechanisms from all three milestones
- Includes at least one injected failure or adversarial case and demonstrates recovery
- Reports quality, latency, resource, reliability, or usability measurements relevant to the domain
- Ships a concise architecture note explaining decisions, trade-offs, and remaining risks
Prerequisites
None assigned yet.