Design and Engineering of Computer Systems

Have you ever wondered how software interacts with hardware, or how large-scale computer systems manage resources efficiently? Understanding the inner workings of computer systems is essential for writing high-performance, robust software. This text-only course takes you on a journey through the architecture, design principles, and engineering decisions that shape modern computing environments. You will transition from writing basic programs to understanding how the operating system, memory, and network stack collaborate to execute your code. Through clear, written explanations and structured architectural analyses, you will learn to build and configure systems that are fast, secure, and scalable. What you'll learn: Understand the foundational interaction between hardware, operating systems, and application software; Analyze CPU scheduling, memory management, and virtual memory techniques; Configure and optimize system calls, process synchronization, and file systems; Explore modern virtualization, containerization fundamentals, and microservices architecture; Master network socket programming and basic distributed systems communication; Apply performance profiling techniques to identify and resolve system bottlenecks. This course begins with fundamental hardware and operating system concepts before moving into advanced topics like concurrency, storage subsystems, and distributed designs. It is designed for software developers, aspiring system architects, and computer science enthusiasts who want a deep, foundational understanding of system engineering without needing prior hardware design experience. Step into the world of system-level engineering and write more efficient code today.