This roadmap is designed for those who seek a true low-level understanding of how computers work—not just as users or programmers, but as engineers who understand what happens at every layer of the system.
The journey begins with the foundations of digital logic and circuit design, then moves through computer organization and architecture. From there, you’ll explore low-level interaction with the machine via Assembly and C programming, ultimately leading to building and understanding operating systems.
Each stage is supported by hands-on projects that reinforce theoretical concepts with real implementation experience.
we start with the fundamentals — logic gates, binary arithmetic, truth tables, and circuit design. understanding how transistors lead to computation is critical.
recommended book: digital design by morris mano
online course: nand2tetris – part i
This part explains how the processor, memory, I/O, and buses work together. You’ll learn how data moves, how the CPU fetches and executes instructions, and what the control unit does.
Book: Computer Organization and Design by Patterson & Hennessy
Course: CS61C – Great Ideas in Computer Architecture (UC Berkeley)
Dive deeper into the architecture level: instruction sets, pipelining, memory hierarchies (caches, RAM), and branch prediction. This is where performance becomes a major topic.
Advanced Book: Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach
Simulators to Practice: CPulator, Venus (RISC-V)
Now it's time to interact directly with the machine. Start with Assembly to understand instruction-level behavior, then move to C for system-level programming.
Course: Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective
Book: Programming from the Ground Up
Practice: Use Compiler Explorer to compare C and Assembly side-by-side.
Understand the role of the OS in process management, memory, file systems, and scheduling. You’ll also write your own mini OS or kernel modules if you're brave!
Book: Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces
Course: MIT Operating Systems (6.828)
Practice: Try building Your own OS in Rust or Little OS Book (C/ASM)