Core Dumped (YouTube channel)

What the channel covers

Core Dumped is run by a computer science engineer who teaches complex low-level concepts in a simple format. The channel started in late 2023 and has around 50 videos, almost all on operating systems and computer architecture. Each video takes one question that textbooks often gloss over and answers it visually and step by step.

Where to start

The channel has two main playlists:

• Operating Systems Theory: processes, threads, scheduling, memory and the boundary between user space and the kernel.
• Computer architecture from scratch: how a CPU executes instructions, represents numbers and talks to devices.

Individual videos that show the style well include:

• "How CPUs Run Functions" (the call stack in hardware terms).
• "The Weird Way Linux Creates Processes" (fork and exec).
• "Signals: Make Ctrl+C Do Anything You Want".
• "How Hardware Makes Threads Less of a Nightmare".
• "Why Python Is Removing The GIL".
• "The Binary Trick Behind Negative Numbers" and "Bit Shifting: The Hidden Trick Inside Your CPU".
• "The Question Nobody Ever Explains: Where Does the Kernel End?"

Who it suits

Students taking operating systems or computer organisation courses who find the textbook abstract, and working developers who want a better mental model of processes, memory and concurrency. You will get more from it if you can read a little C, but the explanations stand on their own.

How to learn from it without getting stuck in tutorial loops

Short explainers are easy to enjoy and forget. Anchor each one to practice:

1. After a process or signal video, write a small C program on Linux that calls fork, exec or a signal handler and observe the behaviour.
2. After an architecture video, work through the same idea on paper, for example converting numbers to two's complement by hand.
3. Read the matching chapter in Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces, which is free online and goes deeper.
4. When you want a serious challenge, try the labs in MIT 6.1810: Operating System Engineering.

Pair it with on Sefism

• The CS core subjects roadmap and its cheat sheet cover operating systems and architecture alongside networks and databases.
• The Linux, terminal and Git roadmap and cheat sheet give the hands-on Linux side.
• Nand to Tetris lets you build a computer yourself, and Computerphile offers more short conceptual explainers.

Best for: learners who want operating systems and architecture explained clearly, one concrete question at a time.