About

Below the Code is where the book Below the Code: How the Chips That Run Your Code (CPU, GPU, NPU) Are Structured and How They Work is published, chapter by chapter.

The question this book answers

“How does my code actually run on circuits?” This book is for readers who know software but wonder how the hardware underneath is organized and how a program is really carried out. Starting from first principles, it walks step by step through how chips — the heart of the hardware — are built inside, and what it takes to create chips like CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs.

How the book is organized

• Part 1 — Computers and Chips, Understood Through the CPU: building from the bottom up, from transistors and logic circuits to computation and memory circuits, computer architecture and instructions, and the ISA that links software and hardware.
• Part 2 — The World of Real Chip Design (CPU, GPU, NPU): how chips are designed and manufactured, why CPUs, GPUs, and NPUs are designed differently, and the people and industry that make chips.

New chapters are added as they are completed. Start reading from the beginning

Korean and English

The book was written in Korean, and an English edition is published alongside it. Use the language switcher at the top of the page to jump to the same page in the other language. Some figures still contain Korean text; they will be replaced with English versions over time.

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Get in touch

For typo reports, questions about the content, or anything else, please write to belowthecode.contact@gmail.com.