How detailed does an application programmer need to know the architecture of a computer?

Question

Iron

Because I can't decide. I have Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach and Andrew Tanenbaum. Lately, all I've been doing is learning theory, and nothing practical - zero. Now I started one course on Coursera called Computer Architecture, but for some reason it seems to me that it is more for the part of people who are interested in engineering and electronics. Here's what I'm thinking of doing.
How detailed did you study computer architecture?

Answer 1

For web development, you can not learn at all. Can watch a couple of videos about how a hard drive works and what a processor cache is. And even then, now more and more often ssd, and the need to get into the processor cache during web development almost never arises.
And for the development of some kind of autopilot for drones or robotic vehicles, it is a must.
If you want to get the basics down quickly, spend $10-15, buy an arduino, some sensors, and play around with it for a few evenings. But not just "downloaded the finished sketch, uploaded it, and forgot" but write the code yourself, dealing with interrupts, timers, and other garbage. Just processing the bounce of a button can bring several "epiphanies". And yes, then this arduino can be attached to something useful.

Answer 2

Serious projects in 98% of cases involve working with hardware (and working with hardware is C / C ++ a priori). And how do you optimize the performance of, say, a game on the hardware of a certain manufacturer, if you do not rummage through the hardware? APs are not yet smart enough to do everything for coders, although everything is moving towards this by leaps and bounds.

Answer 3

It all depends on the place of "attachment". If an application programmer develops an equipment inventory system in an enterprise network, this is one thing, if a goods inventory system is somewhat different.

Answer 4

The architecture of a computer - the architecture of wasps - is connected by a red thread and it is pointless to learn one without the other. These two architectures bring along a whole bunch of topics from algorithms in matan to compilers, depending on the depth you are going to dig. For an electronics engineer, the architecture of a computer is an applied thing, and the architecture of an OS is like a theory. For a programmer, the opposite is true.

How much did you learn about computer architecture?

- as much as they gave at the university, then depending on the tasks at work.
In any case, an understanding of addressing, application protocols for networking (and how it works in hardware), data synchronization, multithreading, information encoding, information placement on disk and in memory - an understanding of these things is basic. And in 90% for applicationists it is sufficient. For zhelezyachnikov and sistemshchikov everything begins with these things.

I am attracted to game development. I think it will be interesting for me to either program them or create graphics for them.

- if you are attracted to game dave, then learn what you need for this area, the rest as interest grows.