Dynamic Loading of Program Routines and Dynamically linked libraries (DLLs)
In order to execute, it is not necessary for an entire program to be in physical memory. With dynamic loading, a routine is not loaded until it is called. More ...
The Many Processes of Silicon Wafer Manufacturing
A silicon wafer is a thin, circular disc used in the manufacture of integrated circuits and semiconductors. The silicon wafer manufacturing process is interesting. More ...
Capacitors in AC Circuits
In an AC circuit capacitors exhibit a property similar to resistance called reactance and cause a phase shift between votage and current. The vector sum of resistance and reactance in an AC circuit is called impedance. More ...
Operating System Boot
The procedure of starting a computer by loading the kernel is known as booting the system. On most computer systems, a small piece of code known as the bootstrap program or bootstrap loader locates the kernel loads it into main memory, and starts its execution. More ...
The Motherboard Chipset
Because the chipset dictates the bus speed, type and amount of memory, and the type and number of I/O ports, much of a computer's performance is determined by its chipset. More ...
Monolithic Kernel vs Microkernel vs Hybrid Kernel
An operating system consists of two parts, the kernel space which operates in privileged mode, and the user space which operates in unprivileged mode. More ...
Operating System Process Management
A program is not a process. A program is a file containing a list of instructions stored on disk. A process is an active entity with a program counter specifying the next instruction to execute and a set of resources. A program becomes a process when an executable file is loaded into memory. More ...
Operating System Memory Paging - Page Table Structure
One method of memory management is to break physical memory into fixed size blocks and break logical memory into same sized blocks called pages. The physical location of pages is tracked by a page table. More ...
Logical Versus Physical Memory Addresses
Computers use logical and physical addresses to access memory locatiuons. The CPU generates logical addresses. At run-time the Memory Management Unit (MMU) maps logical addresses to physical addresses. More ...
Digital Logic Levels and Transfer Characteristics
A digital system uses discrete logic levels, 0 and 1, while the real world is a continuous range such as a voltage from 0 to 5. To make design easier, engineers view the system in the abstract. More ...
Virtual Memory and Memory Paging
In the early days of computers, memory chips were small capacity, scarce, and expensive. Because of this a memory management scheme called paging was invented. More ...
Electronic Circuits
There are five types of circuits; open, short, series, parallel, and series-parallel. Using Ohm's law, along with the reciprocal formula to calculate the equivalent resistance of resistors in parallel, you can calculate the voltage or current in any part of a circuit. More ...
