Microprocessor Systems & Computer Architecture
Curated: understand how a CPU actually works — the datapath, registers, ALU, buses, memory, the clock, and the fetch-decode-execute cycle — from the top free video series that builds a real 8-bit computer from scratch, then explore it hands-on in a free online CPU/assembly simulator and get certified. The first module of the computer-architecture track.
Building an 8-bit breadboard computer!
Ben Eater · video · ~8h · Free · English
Why we picked it: The single most-recommended free resource for actually seeing how a CPU works. Ben Eater builds a complete programmable 8-bit computer (the classic SAP-1) from logic chips on breadboards, so every abstract idea — the shared bus, registers, the ALU, the program counter, the clock, RAM, and the microcoded fetch-decode-execute cycle — is shown as a real, blinking circuit rather than a diagram. It's a landmark of electronics education on YouTube: the channel has millions of subscribers, the series is repeatedly front-paged on Hacker News and Hackaday, and it is one of the most cited 'how a computer really works' courses in the maker/EE community. Watch it to understand the concepts; you don't need to build the hardware to benefit.
- the CPU datapath and the shared system bus that ties every module together
- registers, the accumulator, and how data moves between them
- the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): binary addition and subtraction
- the clock module and why a synchronous system needs one
- the program counter and how the CPU steps through a program
- RAM, addressing, and loading a program into memory
- instruction set, opcodes, and microcoded control signals
- the full fetch-decode-execute cycle running a real program
Study guide
Open the study guide →1 study section · what to focus on + prove it in Forge, then take the check.