HCAW Diagrams
A visual atlas for How Computers Actually Work: command paths, memory layouts, page faults, TLB walks, cache hierarchy, and diagnostic flows.
Software Path
Follows a systemctl request from the command line through systemd and service state changes.
Shows how a process is created, duplicated, replaced, and finally becomes a running program.
Memory Path
Maps the major regions of a process address space: text, data, heap, mmap, stack, and kernel boundary.
Traces what happens when a virtual address cannot immediately be translated to a physical page.
Visualizes translation lookups, TLB hits and misses, and page table walking.
Places CPU caches, main memory, and storage in their relative speed and distance layers.
Connects cache/TLB symptoms to the diagnostic tools and questions that help explain them.