Top all-time · #2113
Many But Finite
Personal blog · manybutfinite.com · on HN as gustavo_duartesystemsprogramming
Many But Finite is a personal blog at manybutfinite.com about systems and programming. Since 2018, 35 different Hacker News readers have linked it 42 times, most often “Anatomy of a Program in Memory (2009)”. The last post was in 2020, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (12) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for low-level computing explainers: how computers boot, how program memory and the Linux kernel manage memory, page cache, and CPU-device communication.
- Recommended for · 5 comments
- Called a pretty good explanation of how computers boot, probably the best source on Linux memory, and worth reading in the archives; one commenter likes the blo
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 12 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Tech, science, genomics, machine learning.
Most-linked posts?
- Anatomy of a Program in Memory (2009)5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2018-04-30
- iPhones, Armed Robbery, and Hacking (2018)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2018-01-18
- Goto and the folly of dogma (2018)4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2018-01-11
- First Recorded Usage of “Hacker” (2008)2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-03-17
- Page Cache, the Affair Between Memory and Files (2009)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-01-28
- /post/the-thing-king/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-03-09
- Covid-19 Data Sources for Programmers2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-04-08
- How Computers Boot Up (2008)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-07-21
- Understanding and Visualizing Covid Growth in the US2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-06-13
- The Linux Kernel Boot Process2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-08-28
What Hacker News says?
One of the easiest ways to get into writing your own kernel is to start with the OS Dev wiki [0]. Both the wiki and their forums are a great place for getting your feet wet. For more general information, there are also a handful of articles and/or blog posts that I've come across when I was getting started that gave a very good introduction to many of the low-level components of how computers work and what the OS ne…
Comment linking /post/how-computers-boot-up
on “Kerla: Monolithic kernel in Rust, aiming for Linux ABI compatibility”Submitted What does an idle CPU do? (2014) as a story · 326 points
HN discussionProgramming languages typically operate in middle of one higher/ one lower order level of logic. DNA describes hyperbolic multi-level of logic. The lowest level programming language (assembly) is designed to map/correspond/translate directly to hardware electronic bits. Where, cpu emulates version of turing machine on assembly instructions. And cpu/hardware is under control of OS ( post-pc boot strap ). --- The mapp…
Comment linking /post/the-thing-king/
on “Does DNA have the equivalent of IF-statements, WHILE loops, or function calls?”Submitted How Computers Boot Up (2008) as a story · 168 points
HN discussionI also prefer a GNU userland, but Dave Cutler and his team did a pretty serious job with the NT kernel. A post from a blog I like a lot about how Linux and NT aren’t so different: https://manybutfinite.com/post/how-the-kernel-manages-your-m... .
Comment linking /post/how-the-kernel-manages-your-memory/
on “Microsoft developer reveals Linux is now more used on Azure than Windows Server”Submitted Anatomy of a Program in Memory (2009) as a story · 110 points
HN discussionAh. Yeah. The motherboard just loads BIOS/UEFI into a predefined memory address and then starts the CPU This is a pretty good explanation https://manybutfinite.com/post/how-computers-boot-up/ > In a multi-processor or multi-core system one CPU is dynamically chosen to be the bootstrap processor (BSP) that runs all of the BIOS and kernel initialization code These days, the "bootstrap processor" is a separate core tha…
Comment linking /post/how-computers-boot-up/
on “AMD PSB Vendor Locks EPYC CPUs for Enhanced Security at a Cost”Submitted First Recorded Usage of “Hacker” (2008) as a story · 73 points
HN discussionI realize it's not what you're referring to, but the context and terminology of your comment reminded me of this: https://manybutfinite.com/post/the-thing-king/
Comment linking /post/the-thing-king/
on “Apple M1 Microarchitecture Research”Submitted Goto and the folly of dogma (2018) as a story · 69 points
HN discussion[removed] 1. < https://manybutfinite.com/category/internals >
Comment linking /category/internals
on “Show HN: I'm 17 and wrote this guide on how CPUs run programs”Submitted First recorded usage of “hacker” (2008) as a story · 55 points
HN discussionWould love to see a "2019 update" for this (and its predecessor post, https://manybutfinite.com/post/motherboard-chipsets-memory-m... )
Comment linking /post/motherboard-chipsets-memory-map/
on “How Computers Boot Up (2008)”Submitted Page Cache, the Affair Between Memory and Files (2009) as a story · 49 points
HN discussionYes. But the first recorded use of "hacker" did have to do with phone systems. I wonder what the first recorded use of "phreaker" is? https://manybutfinite.com/post/first-recorded-usage-of-hacke...
Comment linking /post/first-recorded-usage-of-hacker/
on “Early Hackers Used Whistles from Cap’n Crunch Cereal Boxes”Submitted iPhones, Armed Robbery, and Hacking (2018) as a story · 13 points
HN discussionIf you enjoy this article, I highly recommend the other articles in the archives [1], especially the 2008-2009 series. By the way, the author also created Grokbit [2], a search engine for source code that's just… amazing. [1] https://manybutfinite.com/archives/ [2] https://grokbit.com/
Comment linking /archives/
on “Page Cache, the Affair Between Memory and Files (2009)”Submitted The Linux Kernel Boot Process as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSpecifically, https://manybutfinite.com/post/anatomy-of-a-program-in-memor...
Comment linking /post/anatomy-of-a-program-in-memory/
on “Anatomy of a Program in Memory (2009)”Submitted Goto and the Folly of Dogma as a story · 4 points
HN discussionThis article should give you some of the keywords to start Googling: https://manybutfinite.com/post/what-your-computer-does-while...
Comment linking /post/what-your-computer-does-while-you-wait/
on “Ask HN: Resources for learning about cpu-device communication?”Submitted How the Kernel Manages Your Memory (2009) as a story · 4 points
HN discussionthis is probably the best source to actually understand how memory works in Linux: https://manybutfinite.com/post/anatomy-of-a-program-in-memor... [1] You can't really understand mmap/sbrk without understanding virtual memory and process space layout. [1] Images are broken. Just open https://static.duartes.org/img/blogPosts/kernelUserMemorySpl... and go to advanced and "Proceed to static.duartes.org" to workaround t…
Comment linking /post/anatomy-of-a-program-in-memory/
on “Why MMAP in llama.cpp hides true memory usage”Submitted iPhones, Armed Robbery, and Hacking as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Goto and the folly of dogma as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted iPhones, Armed Robbery, and Hacking as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Covid-19 Data Sources for Programmers as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Anatomy of a Program in Memory as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted iPhones, Armed Robbery, and Hacking as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Understanding and Visualizing Covid Growth in the US as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
