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Top University Courses in Systems Programming, Compilers, and Low-Level Computing

Compilers & Language Design

  1. MIT 6.035 - Computer Language Engineering
  2. Course Materials: MIT OCW
  3. Projects: Course Projects Repository

  4. Stanford CS143 - Compilers

  5. Course Videos: YouTube Playlist
  6. Course Materials: Stanford EDU
  7. Additional Resources: Course Reader

  8. Berkeley CS164 - Programming Languages and Compilers

  9. Course Materials: Berkeley Course Page
  10. Video Lectures: Berkeley Webcasts
  11. Projects Repository: GitHub

  12. CMU 15-411 - Compiler Design

  13. Course Materials: CMU Course Page
  14. Lectures: YouTube Playlist
  15. Lab Resources: Course Labs

  16. Cornell CS4120 - Introduction to Compilers

  17. Course Website: Cornell Course Page
  18. Lecture Notes: Course Materials

Operating Systems

  1. MIT 6.828 - Operating System Engineering
  2. Course Materials: MIT OCW
  3. Video Lectures: YouTube Playlist
  4. xv6 Resources: xv6 Book

  5. Stanford CS140 - Operating Systems

  6. Course Materials: Stanford EDU
  7. Reference Documentation: Course Reader
  8. PintOS Project: Project Repository

  9. Berkeley CS162 - Operating Systems and System Programming

  10. Course Materials: Berkeley Course Page
  11. Video Lectures: YouTube Playlist
  12. Projects: CS162 GitHub

  13. Harvard CS161 - Operating Systems

  14. Course Materials: Harvard EDU
  15. OS/161 Resources: OS/161 Documentation

  16. MIT 6.S081 - Operating System Engineering (RISC-V Focus)

Computer Architecture & Assembly

  1. MIT 6.004 - Computation Structures

  2. Berkeley CS61C - Great Ideas in Computer Architecture

  3. CMU 15-213 - Introduction to Computer Systems

  4. Stanford CS107 - Computer Organization & Systems

Performance Engineering & Systems Optimization

  1. MIT 6.172 - Performance Engineering of Software Systems

  2. Stanford CS315A - Parallel Computer Architecture and Programming

  3. CMU 15-418 - Parallel Computer Architecture and Programming

Distributed Systems

  1. MIT 6.824 - Distributed Systems

  2. Stanford CS244b - Distributed Systems

Security & Systems

  1. MIT 6.858 - Computer Systems Security

  2. Stanford CS155 - Computer and Network Security

Systems Programming & Low-Level Programming

  1. Harvard CS50 - Introduction to Computer Science (Heavy C Focus)

  2. Stanford CS107E - Computer Systems from the Ground Up

  3. CMU 15-123 - Principles of Imperative Computation

Advanced Topics

  1. Stanford CS240 - Advanced Topics in Operating Systems

Complete Systems Programming Educational Resources

Additional Learning Resources

Free Textbooks & Online Books

  1. Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces
  2. Online Book
  3. GitHub Resources

  4. Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective

  5. Course Website
  6. Lab Assignments

  7. The Craft of Programming

  8. Online Book
  9. Practice Problems

  10. xv6: a simple, Unix-like teaching operating system

  11. RISC-V Book
  12. x86 Book
  13. Source Code

  14. Programming from the Ground Up

  15. PDF Book
  16. Source Code

Development Environments & Virtual Machines

  1. MIT JOS Operating System Lab
  2. Setup Instructions
  3. VM Image

  4. Stanford PintOS

  5. Project Resources
  6. Setup Guide

  7. Harvard OS/161

  8. Setup Guide
  9. System Guide

  10. Berkeley RISC-V Toolchain

  11. Installation Guide
  12. Docker Image

Practice Problems & Assignments

  1. CMU Computer Systems Performance Problems
  2. Problem Sets
  3. Solutions Manual

  4. MIT OCW Problem Sets

  5. 6.004 Problems
  6. 6.828 Problems

  7. Stanford Practice Problems

  8. CS107 Practice
  9. CS110 Problems

Advanced Architecture & Computer Systems

  1. University of Washington CSE351 - The Hardware/Software Interface

  2. EPFL CS-323 - Introduction to Operating Systems

  3. UC Berkeley CS152 - Computer Architecture and Engineering

Systems Programming & Performance

  1. UIUC CS241 - System Programming

  2. UW-Madison CS537 - Introduction to Operating Systems

  3. ETH Zürich - Systems Programming and Computer Architecture

Embedded Systems & Real-Time Computing

  1. MIT 6.111 - Introductory Digital Systems Laboratory

  2. Stanford CS341 - Embedded Systems Workshop

Advanced Topics

  1. MIT 6.826 - Principles of Computer Systems

  2. Berkeley CS262A - Advanced Topics in Computer Systems

Online Learning Platforms with Systems Programming Courses

  1. Coursera
  2. Computer Architecture
  3. Operating Systems and You

  4. edX

  5. Computer Science: Programming with a Purpose
  6. Computation Structures

GitHub Repositories with Learning Resources

  1. The Missing Semester of Your CS Education
  2. Command-line tools
  3. Version control
  4. Debugging tools

  5. OS-Study

  6. Curated list of free courses
  7. Project-based learning
  8. Community support

  9. Awesome C

  10. Frameworks
  11. Libraries
  12. Resources

  13. Awesome Low Level Programming

  14. Assembly
  15. Operating Systems
  16. Compiler Construction

Development Tools & Resources

  1. Debugging Tools
  2. GDB Tutorial: Guide
  3. Valgrind: Documentation
  4. LLDB: Tutorial

  5. Performance Analysis Tools

  6. Perf: Tutorial
  7. VTune: Guide
  8. DTrace: Documentation

  9. Compiler Tools

  10. LLVM: Getting Started
  11. GCC: Documentation

Practice Projects

  1. Build Your Own X
  2. Operating System
  3. Compiler
  4. Shell

  5. System Programming Projects

  6. Mini Redis
  7. Mini Shell
  8. HTTP Server

Community Resources

  1. Forums & Discussion
  2. OS Dev
  3. Low Level Programming Subreddit
  4. Systems Programming Subreddit

  5. Conferences & Workshops

  6. USENIX OSDI
  7. SOSP
  8. EuroSys

Important Notes

  1. Course availability and materials may vary by semester
  2. Some resources might require university credentials
  3. Always check for the most recent version of course materials
  4. Many courses update their materials yearly
  5. Some resources might be architecture-specific (x86, ARM, RISC-V)
  6. Practice proper security when downloading virtual machines or tools
  7. Consider contributing back to open-source educational resources