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Older notes, lessons, and series entries from the growing technical library.

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7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 22

The Kernel: The Privileged Core of an Operating System

Learn what the kernel controls, how user mode and kernel mode differ, what system calls do, and how kernels manage memory, processes, devices, and failures.

#technology#computer-science#kernel#operating-systems
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 21

What an Operating System Does: The Manager Between Apps and Hardware

Learn how operating systems manage processors, memory, files, devices, users, security, networking, and common application services.

#technology#computer-science#operating-systems#software
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 20

What Happens When a Computer Starts: From Power Button to Desktop

Follow the boot process through power stabilization, firmware, hardware initialization, UEFI, bootloaders, the operating-system kernel, drivers, services, and login.

#technology#computer-science#boot#hardware
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 19

Batteries and Power Management: Where Device Runtime Goes

Learn how batteries store energy, how watts and watt-hours differ, why screens and processors drain power, and how charging, heat, and aging affect runtime.

#technology#computer-science#batteries#hardware
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 18

Ports, Cables, and Protocols: Why the Plug Shape Is Not Enough

Learn the difference between connectors and protocols, understand USB-C capabilities, data rates, video modes, charging negotiation, cable limits, and adapters.

#technology#computer-science#usb#hardware
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 17

GPUs and Parallel Work: Why Thousands of Small Tasks Matter

Learn how GPUs differ from CPUs, why graphics is parallel, how shaders and GPU memory work, and why the same architecture accelerates science and AI.

#technology#computer-science#gpu#hardware
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 16

The Motherboard and Data Buses: How Computer Parts Communicate

Learn how a motherboard connects components, distributes power, starts hardware, and carries data through memory channels, PCI Express, and device interfaces.

#technology#computer-science#motherboard#hardware
8 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 15

Storage: SSDs and Hard Drives Explained Clearly

Compare solid-state drives and hard drives, learn how each stores bits, and understand latency, throughput, endurance, failure, interfaces, and backups.

#technology#computer-science#storage#hardware
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 14

RAM: The Computer's Workbench for Active Programs

Learn what RAM stores, why programs need fast working memory, what happens when memory fills, and how capacity, speed, channels, and latency differ.

#technology#computer-science#ram#hardware
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 13

CPU Cores and Clock Speed: What Actually Makes a Processor Fast?

Understand gigahertz, CPU cores, instructions per cycle, parallel workloads, boost clocks, thermal limits, and why specifications alone cannot predict performance.

#technology#computer-science#cpu#performance
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 12

What the CPU Actually Does: Fetch, Decode, and Execute

Follow the CPU instruction cycle and learn how registers, arithmetic units, branches, caches, and machine instructions turn programs into actions.

#technology#computer-science#cpu#hardware
7 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 11

The Main Parts of a Computer: A Beginner's Map of the Machine

Learn how the CPU, RAM, storage, motherboard, GPU, power system, and input-output devices cooperate to run applications.

#technology#computer-science#hardware#computers
8 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 10

File Size, Storage, and Speed: Capacity Is Not Performance

Learn how file size, storage capacity, transfer rate, latency, and processing speed differ, then estimate downloads and understand common unit confusion.

#technology#computer-science#storage#performance
8 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 9

Compression: Making Files Smaller Without Losing Their Usefulness

Understand lossless and lossy compression, redundancy, dictionaries, perceptual coding, compression ratios, and why already-compressed files rarely shrink again.

#technology#computer-science#compression#data
8 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 8

How Sound Becomes Data: Sampling a Wave into Numbers

Learn how microphones, sampling, bit depth, channels, and audio formats turn air vibrations into digital sound and back again.

#technology#computer-science#audio#data
8 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 7

How Images Become Data: Pixels, Color, Resolution, and Files

Learn how digital images store color measurements as pixels, what resolution and color depth mean, and how cameras and image formats turn light into data.

#technology#computer-science#images#data
8 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 6

How Text Becomes Data: Unicode, Characters, and UTF-8

Learn how computers turn letters and emoji into numbers, what Unicode standardizes, how UTF-8 encodes characters as bytes, and why garbled text appears.

#technology#computer-science#unicode#data
8 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 5

How Binary Represents Numbers: Place Value with Powers of Two

Learn to read and write binary numbers using place value, convert between binary and decimal, understand ranges, and see how computers store signed values.

#technology#computer-science#binary#digital-foundations
8 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 4

Why Computers Use Binary: From Voltage to Zero and One

Learn why binary matches electronic hardware, how transistors create logic, why two-state signals tolerate noise, and why computers do not simply use decimal.

#technology#computer-science#binary#hardware
8 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 3

Bits and Bytes: The Small Units Behind Digital Data

Learn what bits and bytes are, how binary patterns represent information, why a byte has 256 possibilities, and how storage units scale.

#technology#computer-science#binary#digital-foundations
9 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 2

Analog and Digital Information: How Reality Becomes Data

Understand the difference between analog and digital information, how sampling turns real-world signals into numbers, and why digital copies can remain reliable.

#technology#computer-science#data#digital-foundations
11 min readSeries: Tech Explained Simply · Part 1

What Is Technology? A Simple Explanation Beyond Gadgets

Technology is much older and broader than computers. Learn what makes something technology, how technologies become systems, and how to examine any tool clearly.

#technology#computer-science#digital-foundations#beginner
3 min readSeries: LeetCode Notebook

LeetCode Easy Notebook - the plan

How I am going to turn Easy problems into a real notebook: pattern first, brute force second, optimized solution third, and complexity last.

#leetcode#algorithms#interview-prep
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1124

Cost Explorer: Delete cost category definition from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to delete cost category definition in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1123

Cost Explorer: Delete anomaly subscription from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to delete anomaly subscription in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
4 min readSeries: LeetCode Notebook

LeetCode #20 - Valid Parentheses, and the stack instinct

A small string problem that teaches the core stack pattern: the most recent opener must be the first one closed.

#leetcode#stack#strings
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1122

Cost Explorer: Delete anomaly monitor from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to delete anomaly monitor in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
3 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1121

Cost Explorer: Tag resource from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to tag resource in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1120

Cost Explorer: Start cost allocation tag backfill from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to start cost allocation tag backfill in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1119

Cost Explorer: Start commitment purchase analysis from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to start commitment purchase analysis in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1118

Cost Explorer: Update cost allocation tags status from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to update cost allocation tags status in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1117

Cost Explorer: Update anomaly subscription from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to update anomaly subscription in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1116

Cost Explorer: Update anomaly monitor from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to update anomaly monitor in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1115

Cost Explorer: Create cost category definition from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to create cost category definition in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1114

Cost Explorer: Create anomaly subscription from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to create anomaly subscription in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1113

Cost Explorer: Create anomaly monitor from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to create anomaly monitor in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1112

Cost Explorer: Get cost and usage from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to get cost and usage in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1111

Cost Explorer: Get commitment purchase analysis from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to get commitment purchase analysis in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1110

Cost Explorer: Get approximate usage records from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to get approximate usage records in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1109

Cost Explorer: Get anomaly subscriptions from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to get anomaly subscriptions in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1108

Cost Explorer: Get anomaly monitors from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to get anomaly monitors in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1107

Cost Explorer: Get anomalies from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to get anomalies in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1106

Cost Explorer: Describe cost category definition from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to describe cost category definition in Cost Explorer, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#cost-explorer#finops#cost
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1105

AWS Backup: Cancel legal hold from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to cancel legal hold in AWS Backup, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#backup#operations
4 min readSeries: LeetCode Notebook

LeetCode #70 — Climbing Stairs: Fibonacci in disguise

Why 'how many ways' problems are recurrences in disguise — from exponential recursion to my memoized 0ms solution, plus the O(1) two-variable finish.

#leetcode#dynamic-programming#recursion
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1104

AWS Backup: Delete backup vault from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to delete backup vault in AWS Backup, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#backup#operations
2 min readSeries: AWS from Zero · Part 1103

AWS Backup: Delete backup selection from the CLI

Use the AWS CLI to delete backup selection in AWS Backup, identify required inputs, and inspect the modeled response.

#aws#cli#backup#operations
2 min read

How I built this site: 3D, static, and nearly free

The architecture behind dhayalram.com — Next.js static export, React Three Fiber, and S3 + CloudFront for a bill measured in cents.

#aws#nextjs#threejs#serverless