Status update
It’s been a good one-month break, so I figured it’s a good time to post some new updates! To new subscribers: hello! 👋 this newsletter was active on a weekly...
[LMG S13] Issue 169: Search engine optimisation
Previously: A search engine uses bots to build up a database of URLs and their contents. The search engine uses various algorithms to determine the most...
[LMG S13] Issue 168: Search engines
Previously: Fragmentation is likely a contributor of system slowdown, particularly for mobile devices: the database used by most mobile apps tend to store...
[LMG S13] Issue 167: Database fragmentation
Previously: There are easy and quick ways to check the validity of the most common advice for resolving system slowdown. But it still seems to happen even...
[LMG S13] Issue 166: A cause of system slowdown: caches
Previously: There are easy and quick ways to check the validity of the most common advice for resolving system slowdown. But it still seems to happen even...
[LMG S13] Issue 165: The myths of system slowdown
Previously: Linux software is distributed through Linux distros. The maintainers of distros maintain repositories of software that have been tested with the...
![[LMG S13] Issue 164: Linux, the universal operating system](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ngjunsiang/laymansguide/release/season13/issue164/issue164_01.png)
[LMG S13] Issue 164: Linux, the universal operating system
Previously: Software that we use usually comes from the OS makers, or from third-party developers. These two groups of developers are not the same, and might...
[LMG S13] Issue 163: System & software ecosystems
Previously: Typeface families consist of multiple fonts for each style in the typeface. Each font consists of glyphs, which are mathematical shapes described...
![[LMG S13] Issue 162: Fonts](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ngjunsiang/laymansguide/release/season13/issue162/issue162_01.png)
[LMG S13] Issue 162: Fonts
Previously: Cross-site scripting attacks occur when a webpage loads malicious code from a third-party, usually carried out by a script in the page. Today,...
[LMG S13] Issue 161: Security and XSS
Previously: A content delivery network comprises multiple servers around the world that are able to quickly distribute static content (typically images and...
[LMG S13] Issue 160: CDNs and content distribution
Previously: Instead of GPS satellites, smartphones can also use wifi points and cell towers to determine their position (if enabled in the OS). All...
[LMG S13] Issue 159: Wifi & cell tower location tracking
Previously: To get your location using GPS, your phone requests information from four overhead GPS satellites: their location, and the distance between them...
[LMG S13] Issue 158: GPS
Previously: Time is synchronised from higher-precision sources through a protocol called Network Time Protocol (NTP). A public pool of time servers is...
[LMG S13] Issue 157: NTP and time-syncing
Previously: To speed up execution and avoid translation overhead, some systems employ ahead-of-time translation, storing the translated instructions to be...
[LMG S12] Issue 156: Translation
Previously: Translating a set of instructions before executing it will always lead to a slowdown, although sometimes this may not be noticeable to users. So,...
[LMG S12] Issue 155: Emulation performance
Previously: Programs that were not compiled for the instruction set of the host OS have to go through an emulation layer program. This program translates the...
![[LMG S12] Issue 154: Emulation](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ngjunsiang/laymansguide/release/season12/issue154/issue154_01.png)
[LMG S12] Issue 154: Emulation
Previously: The cloud offers standard digital business services, accessible through a web interface and API, which any developer (with a credit card) can...
![[LMG S12] Issue 153: Using the cloud](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ngjunsiang/laymansguide/release/season12/issue153/issue153_01.png)
[LMG S12] Issue 153: Using the cloud
Previously: Actually making a web application requires you to set up lots of supporting software and carry out lots of steps to create a suitable app...
[LMG S12] Issue 152: Getting started with programming
Previously: The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) bundles the Java VM and supporting libraries. The JRE has to be installed on the user’s system for Java...
[LMG S12] Issue 151: the Java VM
Previously: System VMs provide a set of virtualised hardware that the OS interacts with. Process VMs provide a set of libraries that a program (written in...