- Introduction
The Machine
A computer is built from one part repeated: a switch that is either on or off, a scrap of doped silicon that conducts only when told to. These chapters stack that switch into logic, logic into arithmetic and memory, and all of it into a processor that runs a program held in its own memory. After that main path is complete, lettered follow-ups look at how large circuits are described and how one CPU core goes faster by overlap and caching. A final optional detour shows how a reloadable chip can become a circuit.