Dive Into Systems: A Gentle Introduction to Computer Systems

Dive into Systems is a vivid introduction to computer organization, architecture, and operating systems that is already being used as a classroom textbook at more than 25 universities.

This textbook is a crash course in the major hardware and software components of a modern computer system. Designed for use in a wide range of introductory-level computer science classes, it guides readers through the vertical slice of a computer so they can develop an understanding of the machine at various layers of abstraction.

Early chapters begin with the basics of the C programming language often used in systems programming. Other topics explore the architecture of modern computers, the inner workings of operating systems, and the assembly languages that translate human-readable instructions into a binary representation that the computer understands.