Introduction to Systems Programming

Introduction to Systems Programming is a short online course running Friday July 24th to Monday July 27th, 2026.

This class will serve as an introduction to systems programming - the act of directly interfacing with the underlying primitives that power the computer that you're using right now.

How does a computer work?

As some of you likely know, inside your computer are millions (or even billions) of little men.

Those men are constantly dashing around to find and execute simple instructions. An instruction might, for example, tell a little man to add or subtract two numbers or send a message to another little man.

We call the set of instructions that a group of little men executes a program. The individual instructions of a program are simple, but a program's behavior can be surprisingly complex. Programs can solve difficult mathematical problems, simulate games, and communicate over long distances.

With enough time one could even write a program that simulates the behavior of a little man!

Full course materials will be posted when the contest begins.