Written by a 16 year old, a book on how computers work

by ILyesMk2 • 2 years ago

215 66 2 years ago

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

Greetings! This is coming from a.. as the title says, a 16 year old who wrote a mini-book on how computers operate internally focusing on RAM and CPU aspects, respectively. Because almost all of us (if not all) use computers and similar devices on a daily basis without an ACTUAL idea on how they work, even though you might have a brief view of your system. You get my point.

Just the fact that I've been using something and not knowing the way it really works, made me go insane. And that's exactly why i stepped up and taught myself all of it, from start to finish, While Apparently my coding knowledge didn't undermine me from writing this in a way of "Im teaching you what i learned" rather than "learning and writing" that took nearly 6 months to finish completely!

If you're the background person.. fine, some acknowledgments you might want: Something that made me crazier? web-dev, no disrespect to you folks out there but i had to add some extra time to the writing (which is exhausting in itself) just to code a (yet) simple HTML/CSS/JS website for the book. But since then, i fell in love with web-design and styling after using Figma to draw all the illustrations seen throughout the segments. Also I had the idea to initiate this project when i was 15! So i think it's pretty safe to say that this article went through a draft-phase of randomly collecting technical information.

And i'm finally happy to share it with the globe! to put it in simple Hacker News fashion, any feedback and/or suggestion(s) is greatly appreciated hoping this becomes a learning material. Check it out and i guarantee you will learn a thing or two: https://github.com/hackclub/RAM-a-thon

otteromkram• 2 years ago

...when I was 15!

Eh, ideas like this should be pretty simple when you're 1,307,674,368,000 years old ;-)

As others have said, very cool book. Thank you for sharing!

stonethrowaway• 2 years ago

You’ve been bitten by a bug thats prevalent across space and time. The poor souls who carry this awful affliction have segregated themselves from the polite society to avoid a catastrophic societal collapse. They don’t know what they are anymore. We call them embedded systems engineers. We don’t know how deep this rabbit hole goes. I wish you a safe journey.

k310• 2 years ago

What a commendable effort! I come from the days of KIM-1 and cpu and memory boards where the function of every chip was discernable.

At the time, I told my boss to learn these things while they were still comprehensible.

Knowing "what goes on inside" is fun.

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

ty! Those days and people like you are what made these things last long.

while they were still comprehensible

They, in fact still are. Only if you put the time and effort to know what goes inside, It's not fun in terms of learning, but interesting. Then it becomes fun after you really know what goes on.

nebulous1• 2 years ago

They are, in fact, not still comprehensible. Don't get me wrong, you can learn a lot, but it's no longer possible to have an in depth understanding of everything going on in a modern PC. At a certain abstraction level, sure, but the subsystems are now too complicated for one person to have detailed knowledge of it all.

Okay, I used the word "possible", but perhaps I should have used the word feasible. If the information exists then it's "possible" to learn it. Although given that the hardware companies no longer actually tell us everything that's going on in their hardware, you could make an argument for it not being possible.

ernestrc• 2 years ago

This is beyond brilliant! So well written. Love the gen Z tone. I’m bookmarking it for my kids.

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

Haha, that was the #1 priority while writing!

Let them kids know what happens under the hood of their systems.

esafak• 2 years ago

Have you tried explaining it to someone? They will provide you feedback whether they understand, which will help you improve your material and explanations.

itsmemattchung• 2 years ago

Hats off! Wish I had the the grit and determination at 16 to write something like this

A 'special' CPU register that holds the memory address of the next instruction

Though it's been years since (grad school) I dealt with any assembly, for some reason I recall this being the EIP register? These days, I rarely touch low level language and yet, I have such a deep and profound love for them.

dooglius• 2 years ago

RIP with 64-bit x86

beardedwizard3• 2 years ago

Better to start with 64bit registers these days, it's rare to find a 32 bit system when you are just starting out learning assembly.

The "Write great code" series of books is a must read for those interested in low and "high" level concepts.

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

You're welcome. It wasn't as easy as it looks now, but i managed to pull it off at this age.

I have such a deep and profound love for them.

Oh god, i wish i included more about registers but it isn't the main focus- And thank you for clarifying which REG it is, It's added to the book!

spc476• 2 years ago

It depends upon the manufacturer. Motorola used PC (program counter), Intel used IP (instruction pointer). I think it's only the x86 that has multiple names, depending upon the size: IP for 16 bits, EIP for 32 bits, RIP for 64 bits.

asdf6969• 2 years ago

It’s a cool project. You’ll have fun writing a compiler

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

I can say the same! I considered doing so at some point during my research, might actually give it a go.

teaearlgraycold2• 2 years ago

I did a JIT one for Brainfuck. Pretty easy thanks to the language’s simplicity.

icholy2• 2 years ago

A byte is the smallest addressable unit, not a bit.

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

Oopsie, good catch! I intended it as 'the smallest space X can take'

i corrected it.

icholy2• 2 years ago

It's a pretty impressive write up.

jecel• 2 years ago

Nearly all current computers address bytes, but in the past we had many computers that addressed words instead as well as processors like the Texas Instruments 34010 that did address bits.

metabagel• 2 years ago

I like how you highlight key terms. I think that helps a lot with readability.

I also like the irreverent tone.

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

1

The key-terms highlight was a very late addition, the text without it was a bit uncomfortable to read.

2

I hope this catches the eyes of Gen Z/Alpha so they can understand how the tablet they're using to watch skibidi videos with works.

Mathnerd3142• 2 years ago

Unexpected tidbit: If you abbreviate the term 'interrupt descriptor table'. Then reverse it - You get 'TDI', which stands for Turbo Charged Diesel Injection, an engine developed by Volkswagen fo- Okay. Ethically, believe it or not but computers emit more CO2 than cars.

Does this really help people learn the material? I am doing a presentation on networking in a week or two for a high school group. Certainly I could include stuff like this, but to me it seems more like a distraction. If I was writing this I would rather include something like a sample table of how IDT's were used by old DOS video games. (Disclaimer: I'm 30)

-mlv• 2 years ago

If I were to include such a digression, I'd probably keep it as a footnote.

But all in all, great work, OP!

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

My pleasure, happy that you liked it

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

Disclaimer: I'm 30

This says it all- jokes aside, i couldn't resist writing a book without including combustion engines.

Mathnerd3142• 2 years ago

I couldn't resist

The common refrain of a teenager... https://www.npr.org/2016/04/15/474348291/why-teens-are-impul... honestly at that age I never went out of my room, and I still got in trouble. If you do develop some self-control, you could look at https://blog.benjojo.co.uk/post/dive-into-the-world-of-dos-v... or https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B97801... (c.f. also https://hackmd.io/@_01X9rimQmWH33Djf8QhoA/SkygF9WdP which is based on that book)

f1shy• 2 years ago

My 2 cts: in Germany yes, in the rest of the world, absolutely leave it out.

jprete• 2 years ago

I think it's audience-dependent. For readers with less background and less pre-existing motivation to learn the material, I think it helps to cut down on the density a little. It's kind of a cruddy experience to have to pause and digest every sentence as you go and it makes it physically hard to read a book that way since you have to constantly track where you were.

If the audience has more background in the material and a stronger pre-existing motivation to read it, then it is probably a distraction, and they need a higher density of information to keep flow.

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

So true.

Especially with term highlighting, makes it 2x easier to read and keep the information flow to process (and funnier?).

pvg• 2 years ago

There's a huge difference between an adult talking to a bunch of teens and a teen addressing a bunch of teens. I'm not saying this would be the case with this particular thing but it's not hard to imagine something delivered by a peer which could at worst come across as dorky vs outright cringe when adopted by someone else.

bitwize• 2 years ago

This gives me very old-internet vibes. Like somebody mashed together an introductory guide to how computers work with Real Ultimate Power: https://www.realultimatepower.net/ninja/ninja2.htm

I don't know how to feel about it as an effective instructional guide, but it sure is creative. If it helped its author understand computers through the act of collecting, organizing, and presenting the information, I suppose it was worth it in the end.

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

It's nothing but WORTH the effort-

If it helped its author understand computers..

Probably the main reason this book even existed in first place and the perfect example of "The best way to understand something is to explain it to someone else."

eminent1012• 2 years ago

[flagged]

dang3• 2 years ago

I don't think we need to bring hammers down on 16-year-olds.

eminent1012• 2 years ago

Fair enough! Thanks @dang!

trogdor2• 2 years ago

I am surprised to hear you describe “applying the rules even-handedly” as “bringing the hammer down on a 16-year-old.”

IMO, we should all be held to the same standard.

interludead• 2 years ago

It’s inspiring. Just wanted to write it.

markhahn• 2 years ago

I'm curious whether this helps anyone - why and how.

I suppose there's some value in minimizing the "cultural impedence mismatch" - using genz terms/style/jokes.

But the quality is not as good as "normal/longform" (let me coin "oldsplaining") coverage on the subject. And really, shouldn't we all aspire to do a good job, rather than just a meh job that's comfortable?

This is the TT of explanations: not entirely accurate, relatively shallow, aimed at being quickly scroll-through-able to obtain a facile sense of knowing. For people who find Blinkist too slow-old-fashioned. You can survive on Pizza Pops, but you really shouldn't.

Cyph0n2• 2 years ago

Awesome work! As always, there is an opportunity to “extend” this down/up a few layers :)

Also, are you Algerian by any chance? I am Tunisian - it’s always nice to see North Africans (and Africans in general) on HN!

ILyesMk219• 2 years ago

Appreciate it!

there is an opportunity to “extend” this.

Ofc there is, and im already up to it. So apparently my username is screaming 'Algerian' lol, It's so good to see a Tunisian here (or HN).

Cyph0n2• 2 years ago

It wasn’t obvious, but a North African would figure out the combination of name + dz on your GH profile :P

butterisgood• 2 years ago

I keep thinking someday I’ll write something but my life has been such a mess lately and my inspiration is about as low as it’s ever been.

delichon• 2 years ago

Congratulations on writing these twenty seven words, great start, keep it flowing.

epolanski• 2 years ago

I have so many things in my backlog, from launching a startup, writing some app, blogging, producing some music, getting into amateur filmmaking, picking on padel, learning many new things in programming, contributing to OSS more, learning more vegetarian dishes, making more time for friends and family, I could go with this list for on and on.

Till my early 30s this had given me anxiety and sadness.

After 35 I accepted that I have more ambitions and interests than time and energy, and shifted instead of living more day by day and doing things at my pace and according to my mood.

Slowly I sometimes do some of the things I wanted to, I feel fulfilled and definitely less stressed.

The feeling of not doing enough was sometimes itself paralyzing, now I just don't care and enjoy and end up doing more.

i_read_news• 2 years ago

I also have a similar struggle right now with similar ambitions. I’ve been finding that while I want to do many of these things idealistically, in reality I didn’t end up actually doing them and just idealizing in a sort of paralysis of getting to my end goal. I’ve been learning the balance of pursuing these things when I’m interested and to not stress about simply watching television. I’m not probably going to be the next hot shot OSS contributor or project creator, but a few patches and features here and there is actually more than enough. Day by day is great advice for long term happiness (and productivity), and as Bruce Lee says: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times”

wizerno• 2 years ago

They have an equally impressive post [1] about CPUs!

[1] https://cpu.land

iwontberude• 2 years ago

This article could maybe use something about Dell having a partnership with Rambus proliferating the world with those modules RD-RAM for a year or two. It was more than just a concept which never saw light. It was a spectacular failure.

Charon77• 2 years ago

Love the cute writing style it's actually more fun to read compare to boring textbooks

Written by a 16 year old, a book on how computers work

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