SSDs and HDDs for permanent data storage. Parallelism Modern computing relies on doing many things at once.

Also known as Computer Organization, this deals with the lower-level details of the design.

The ISA is the interface between the hardware and the software. It defines what the processor can do.

Using multiple independent CPUs on a single chip. Performance Metrics How we measure if a design is actually "better." Latency: The time it takes to complete a single task. Throughput: The number of tasks completed in a given time.

Understanding the "metal" makes you a better high-level coder. Minimize memory bottlenecks.