4 pages tagged with "systems"

A beginner-friendly introduction to compilers: follow along as we build a compiler from scratch, or fork the code on GitHub and add your own optimizations too! In this episode: value numbering helps track how values are used in the program. Last time on Compiler Adventures, we implemented constant p… read more

A beginner-friendly introduction to compilers: follow along as we build a compiler from scratch, or fork the code on GitHub and add your own optimizations too! In this episode: propagating constant values to eliminate more instructions. Last time on Compiler Adventures, we wrote an optimization that… read more

A beginner-friendly introduction to compilers: follow along as we build a compiler from scratch, or fork the code on GitHub and add your own optimizations too! In this episode: eliminating no-op instructions. What part of computer science feels most like arcane magic? I'd say compilers. "The magical… read more

Distributed systems courses frequently introduce the Paxos and two-phase commit (2PC) protocols in quick succession. On one hand, this is a reasonable educational choice, as Paxos and 2PC are both examples of consensus algorithms used in the real world. On the other, it leads many students toward th… read more