Duartes - duartes.org - Gustavo Duarte
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Added Best Of Page, Back to Writing 31 Dec 2010 | 09:06 pm
I have created a Best Of page with links to the better posts I have written in the blog. This should help people who want to read all of the Software Illustrated posts. I expect to write new posts thi...
Page Cache, the Affair Between Memory and Files 11 Feb 2009 | 07:20 pm
Previously we looked at how the kernel manages virtual memory for a user process, but files and I/O were left out. This post covers the important and often misunderstood relationship between files and...
The Thing King 5 Feb 2009 | 06:12 am
I hope the previous post explained virtual memory adequately, but I must admit I held back a much better explanation, which I first saw in Expert C Programming. It wasn’t written by the book’s author,...
How The Kernel Manages Your Memory 4 Feb 2009 | 07:35 pm
After examining the virtual address layout of a process, we turn to the kernel and its mechanisms for managing user memory. Here is gonzo again: Linux processes are implemented in the kernel as insta...
Quick Note on Diagrams and the Blog 29 Jan 2009 | 02:21 pm
People often ask me what tool I use to make the diagrams in my Software Illustrated posts. I use MS Visio 2007. It has a ‘themes’ feature that allows you to set fill and line options that apply to all...
Anatomy of a Program in Memory 27 Jan 2009 | 08:34 pm
Memory management is the heart of operating systems; it is crucial for both programming and system administration. In the next few posts I’ll cover memory with an eye towards practical aspects, but wi...
Getting Physical With Memory 16 Jan 2009 | 07:15 am
When trying to understand complex systems, you can often learn a lot by stripping away abstractions and looking at their lowest levels. In that spirit we take a look at memory and I/O ports in their s...
Programming and the Recession 14 Jan 2009 | 10:26 pm
Back in April of last year I wrote about job numbers and trends for programming languages. Since the newspapers tell me we’re all doomed to the soup line in the near future, I decided to compare the j...
Daddy, why does it smell like fire? 13 Jan 2009 | 07:18 pm
So on Sunday morning my daughter runs up to me and asks me why it “smells like fire.” “FIRE?” “Yes fire, weee, let’s find the fire! Fire fire fire, woohoo!” Should I stop reading my book? Run? Pani...
Cache: a place for concealment and safekeeping 12 Jan 2009 | 07:11 pm
This post shows briefly how CPU caches are organized in modern Intel processors. Cache discussions often lack concrete examples, obfuscating the simple concepts involved. Or maybe my pretty little hea...
