Learning software engineering

Resources I've bookmarked for learning software engineering. Some I've actually used.

I haven't used all of these resources. Some are listed based on recommendations I've received, for my own future reference.

Books#

Fundamentals#

• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - computational thinking
• Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software - computers from first principles
• Algorithms - algorithms and data structures
• Types and Programming Languages - type systems and formal semantics
• The Linux Command Line - shell scripting

Systems#

• Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces - OS fundamentals
• Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective - how architecture affects your code
• Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach - Hennessy & Patterson
• What Every Programmer Should Know About Memory - memory hierarchies
• Data-Oriented Design - cache-aware programming
• Algorithms for Modern Hardware - cache-aware algorithms, free online
• Database Internals - storage engines and distributed databases
• RISC-V ISA Specification

Languages#

• The Rust Programming Language - systems programming with memory safety
• The Rustonomicon - unsafe Rust
• Modern C - Jens Gustedt, free online, covers C23
• Ziglearn - Zig tutorial
• Jai Primer - community guide to Jai
• Execute Program TypeScript: Basics, Everyday, Advanced - interactive

Concurrency#

• Rust Atomics and Locks - concurrency primitives, free online
• The Art of Multiprocessor Programming - concurrent data structures

Architecture & design#

• Designing Data-Intensive Applications - distributed systems
• Software Engineering at Google - engineering at scale
• A Philosophy of Software Design - managing complexity
• Game Engine Architecture

Language implementation#

• Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools - the Dragon Book
• Crafting Interpreters - building languages from scratch

Courses#

Degree programs#

• Georgia Tech OMSCS - online MS in CS (~$7k total), strong systems track
• CU Boulder MS-CS on Coursera - flexible online MS

Self-paced#

• MIT 6.172 Performance Engineering - the MIT course on making code fast
• Computer, Enhance! - performance-aware programming (Casey Muratori)
• Linux Kernel Internals and Development (LFD420) - Linux Foundation
• Embedded Linux Kernel and Driver Development - kernel and driver development, free training materials
• CS Primer - CS fundamentals with a systems focus
• From Blinky to Bootloader - bare metal STM32, from blinking an LED to signed firmware updates

Hands-on#

Build-your-own#

• CodeCrafters - build Redis, Git, SQLite from scratch
• Writing an OS in Rust - the classic
• Operating System in 1000 Lines
• OS/161 - teaching operating system
• Writing a JPEG Decoder in Rust - surprisingly fun format to reverse-engineer
• What's in a Linux Executable? - ELF deep dive (fasterthanlime)
• Writing a Wayland Compositor - Drew DeVault
• FFmpeg Assembly Lessons - x86 assembly, from the FFmpeg project
• Build a Database in 3000 Lines
• NES Emulator in Rust
• Ray Tracing In One Weekend
• Linux in a Pixel Shader - a RISC-V emulator that runs Linux inside VRChat, which is a sentence
• Designing a Physics Engine in 5 minutes

Exercises#

• Rustlings - small exercises to learn Rust
• 8086 Assembler Tutorial - x86 assembly basics
• git-katas - deliberate practice for git
• SQLBolt - interactive SQL exercises

Videos & talks#

Performance#

• CPU Caches and Why You Care - Scott Meyers
• What Every Programmer Should Know about How CPUs Work - Matt Godbolt
• A Practical Guide to Applying Data Oriented Design - Andrew Kelley
• Practical Optimizations - Arseny Kapoulkine
• The Big OOPs: Anatomy of a Thirty-five-year Mistake - Casey Muratori
• Spinlocks - CoffeeBeforeArch

Compilers#

• What Has My Compiler Done for Me Lately? - Matt Godbolt
• The Bits Between the Bits: How We Get to main() - Matt Godbolt
• Advent of Compiler Optimisations 2025 - Matt Godbolt

Articles#

Memory & performance#

• Gallery of Processor Cache Effects
• Myths Programmers Believe about CPU Caches
• The Lost Art of Structure Packing
• Handles vs Pointers
• Memory access is O(N^[1/3])
• Untangling Lifetimes: The Arena Allocator
• Static Search Trees - cache-aware data structures
• Pointers Are Complicated - Ralf Jung on pointer semantics
• The RAM Myth - memory is not what you think it is
• abseil / Performance Hints - practical optimization tips from Google

Concurrency#

• Optimizing a Ring Buffer for Throughput - lock-free SPSC queue
• 1024cores - Dmitry Vyukov's lock-free algorithms
• Basics of Futexes - Eli Bendersky
• Futexes Are Tricky - Ulrich Drepper
• Acquire-Release Semantics - memory ordering explained clearly
• Linux-Kernel Memory Model - the formal model
• The Scoped Task Trilemma - structured concurrency vs. borrowing vs. async cancellation

Other#

• How Programs Get Run - from fork to exec
• Linux IP Networking - Linux protocol stack
• Compiler Engineering in Practice
• C++ Design Patterns for Low-Latency Applications - patterns from trading systems
• Parse, Don't Validate - type-driven design
• Three Ways Formally Verified Code Can Go Wrong - Hillel Wayne
• Borrow checking, RC, GC, and the Eleven Other Memory Safety Approaches
• Four Limitations of Rust's Borrow Checker
• Why Is Rust Difficult?
• Rust Embedded Development - getting started with embedded Rust
• HVM - massively parallel functional runtime in Rust
• A Defect-Tolerant Computer Architecture - reconfigurable computing (Heath, 1998)
• The Google File System - the GFS paper (Ghemawat et al., 2003)
• yarchive.net/comp - archived Usenet posts from Linus Torvalds, Mitch Alsup, Terje Mathisen

Tools#

• Compiler Explorer - see what your code compiles to
• Bootlin Elixir - Linux kernel source browser
• CREATOR - RISC-V and MIPS assembly simulator
• Vim Hero - interactive Vim lessons
• awesome-shell - curated list of CLI tools
• gdb - the GNU debugger
• perf - Linux profiling
• valgrind - memory debugging and profiling

Blogs & channels#

Blogs#

• Julia Evans - systems explainers
• Dan Luu - performance and systems deep dives
• Fabian Giesen - graphics and performance
• Brendan Gregg - performance engineering
• Easyperf - CPU performance analysis
• Travis Downs - microarchitecture
• null program - systems programming in C
• Nelson Elhage - systems and debugging
• fasterthanlime - Rust and systems
• Random ASCII - debugging and performance
• The Old New Thing - Windows internals
• purplesyringa - systems programming

YouTube#

• Ben Eater - hardware from first principles
• Low Byte Productions - embedded and low-level
• stacksmashing - hardware hacking and reverse engineering
• CoffeeBeforeArch - computer architecture
• Jon Gjengset - Rust deep dives
• Jonathan Blow - game dev and language design
• javidx9 - game development
• Bisqwit - retro programming
• Tsoding - low-level programming
• Nir Lichtman - low-level programming
• Sheafification of G - math and CS theory