ISA

Building Blocks of Hardware: From Logic Gates to Modern CPUs Hardware starts with simple parts that handle binary information. The basic unit is the logic gate, a tiny switch that passes or blocks a signal. Even a simple calculator relies on hundreds of these gates working together. By arranging gates in different ways, engineers build circuits that can sense, decide, and control real devices. This is the backbone of every computer, phone, and appliance you use. ...

The Fundamentals of Computer Architecture: from Transistors to Systems Computer architecture is how a computer’s parts are chosen and arranged to work together. It starts with tiny switches called transistors and ends with full systems that run software daily. The journey from transistors to systems shows how physics, math, and engineering affect speed, power, and reliability in laptops, phones, and servers. At the lowest level, transistors form logic gates. These gates combine into circuits that perform basic tasks like adding numbers or storing a bit. Designers translate this physical world into a language computers understand through the instruction set architecture, or ISA, which names the commands software can use. ...