What Every Programmer Should Know about How CPUs Work

When programming these days it’s easy to forget the many layers of abstractions between what you type and what the computer you run your code on is actually doing. In this talk, Matt will describe some of the performance features of modern CPUs and explain how your code is already benefiting from them. We’ll look at real-world server performance, the tooling available to measure their impact, and how compilers are often already doing the right thing for us. By the end of the talk you’ll appreciate the amazing work of chip designers and compiler authors, but you’ll also know how to diagnose when things go awry, and what to do about it.