Computer Internals and Architecture

1. Standards and Formats

• Executable
• Audio
• Images
• Video
• Lossy Compression
• Lossless Compression
• File Signatures
• Order of Magnitude

2. Digital Logic

• Logic Gates
• AND Gates
• OR Gates
• NOT Gates
• NAND Gates
• NOR Gates
• XOR Gates
• OR Gates
• Logical Connectives

3. Base Components

• I/O
• CPU
• Memory
• Stack
• Heap
• .bss
• .data
• .text
• Buffer Overflow
• Stack Overflow
• Speculative Execution
• RISC
• CISC
• ARM
• x86
• x64
• Little Endian
• Big Endian

4. Multiprocessing

• Flynn’s Taxonomy
• Single Instruction, Single Data (SISD)
• Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD)
• Multiple Instruction, Single Data (MISD)
• Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data (MIMD)
• Multi-Core Processing
• Graphics Processing Unit
• Symmetric Multiprocessing
• Asymmetric Multiprocessing
• Million Instructions Per Second (MIPS)
• Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC)

5. Input/Output (I/O) Architecture

• Bus
• Address Line
• Data Line
• Control Line
• System on a Chip (SoC)
• North Bridge
• South Bridge
• Bus Topology
• Multipoint Bus
• Point-to-Point Bus
• Serial Communication
• Parallel Communication
• Serial Port
• Parallel Port
• Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
• Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)
• Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA)
• Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA)
• Peripheral Component Interconnect
• Universal Serial Bus (USB 1/2/3/3.1/3.2)
• Video Graphics Array (VGA)
• Digital Video Interface (DVI)
• High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
• DisplayPort (DP)
• Thunderbolt
• I/O Control Methods
• Memory-mapped I/O
• Interrupt-driven I/O
• Direct Memory Access (DMA)
• Interrupt
• Exception
• Traps
• Faults
• Aborts

6. Memory Architecture

• Volatile
• Non-Volatile
• CPU Registers
• CPU Cache
• L1
• L2
• L3
• L4
• Primary Memory
• RAM
• SRAM
• DRAM
• ROM
• PROM
• EPROM
• EEPROM
• Secondary Memory
• Magnetic Disks
• Solid State Drives
• Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)
• External Memory
• Magnetic Tape
• Optical Discs
• Latency
• Throughput
• Buffering

7. Wireless and Mobile Technologies

• WI-FI (b/a/g/4/5/6/6E)
• Cellular network
• Bluetooth
• Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Near Field Communications (NFC)
• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Body Area Network (BAN)
• Personal Area Network (PAN)
• Near-me Area Network (NAN)
• Antenna Types
• Omnidirectional
• Semi-directional
• Highly-directional