A Crash Course in Modern Hardware

Explore a comprehensive crash course on modern hardware in this 59-minute conference talk by Cliff Click at Devoxx. Dive into a small performance example on a contemporary out-of-order CPU, demonstrating that single-threaded performance has reached its limits, multi-threaded programs are the focus of advancement, and the memory subsystem plays a crucial role. Examine key concepts such as the Von Neumann architecture, CISC vs RISC, the rise of multicore processors, Instruction-Level Parallelism (ILP), pipelining, and out-of-order dispatch. Investigate the differences between static and dynamic ILP, understand the performance impact of cache misses, and explore memory performance in relation to CPU caching. Gain insights into memory and CPU cache interactions through practical examples, and discover valuable tips for improving overall system performance. Learn from Cliff Click, an industry expert with extensive experience in compiler design, Java optimization, and high-performance computing systems.