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Computer Architecture Lab (Advanced)

A hard-mode extension to How Computers Work: CPU pipelines, two's complement, logic gates, cache and a full assembly practical exam.

🔴 Advanced5 lessons

  1. Lesson 1

    Inside the CPU: Registers and the Fetch–Decode–Execute Cycle

    Trace a single instruction through the MAR, MDR, PC, CIR and ALU — the way real processors do it.

    120

  2. Lesson 2

    Two's Complement, Overflow and Binary Shifts

    Represent negative numbers the way hardware really does, and work out exactly when arithmetic silently breaks.

    130

  3. Lesson 3

    Logic Gates: Build a Full Adder

    Go from single transistors to a circuit that can actually add — with truth tables you have to complete yourself.

    130

  4. Lesson 4

    Memory Hierarchy, Cache and Why Loops Are Fast

    Registers to cloud storage — and the cache maths that explains why one loop runs ten times faster than another.

    130

  5. Lesson 5

    Practical Exam: Assembly Lab

    The real test — hand-trace assembly, predict register values and debug a broken program under exam conditions.

    200