Simulating Multi-CPU Scheduling and Cache Performance

Modern software relies heavily on multi-core processors, but understanding how operating systems schedule tasks across multiple CPUs while keeping caches warm is a complex challenge. This written course demystifies these low-level interactions through the lens of scheduling simulation. You will transition from a basic understanding of single-core execution to conceptualizing complex multi-CPU systems, learning how scheduling policies directly impact memory latency, cache affinity, and overall system throughput. What you'll learn: - Understand foundational CPU scheduling algorithms and core operating system concepts. - Analyze how cache affinity and cache coherence affect multi-core performance. - Model load-balancing strategies, including push and pull migration techniques. - Explore modern scheduling paradigms such as NUMA-aware scheduling and work-stealing queues. - Evaluate performance trade-offs between system throughput, response time, and hardware efficiency. The journey begins with essential CPU and memory hierarchy definitions before moving into scheduling algorithms and cache-affinity simulation models. You will work through detailed text explanations, architectural walk-throughs, and step-by-step code analysis to see these concepts in action. This course is designed for aspiring systems programmers, software engineers, and computer science enthusiasts who want to understand low-level performance. No advanced hardware prerequisites are required. Start reading today to unlock a deeper understanding of how modern operating systems manage hardware resources.