// Warm-Up Series

C / C++ — Pointers, Memory & Internals

10 articles covering the C and C++ fundamentals that show up in every embedded and VLSI interview. Free, no sign-in required.

10 articles ~3 hrs total reading Beginner to internals
Share: LinkedIn X / Twitter
01 Pointers & Memory 3 articles
1
Pointers in C and C++ — Complete Guide Pointer declaration, dereferencing, pointer arithmetic, pointers to arrays, function pointers, and null/void pointers — everything in one place.
2
Double Pointer in C — Complete Guide Pointer-to-pointer mechanics, dynamic 2D arrays, modifying a pointer from a function, and common double pointer pitfalls.
3
Constant Pointer vs Pointer to Constant in C The four combinations of const and pointers — what can be changed, what can't, and how to read complex const declarations.
02 C Fundamentals 3 articles
4
Storage Classes in C — auto, register, static, extern How auto, register, static, and extern affect scope, lifetime, and linkage — with common interview traps explained.
5
Volatile in C and Compiler Optimization Why the compiler eliminates "redundant" reads, what volatile actually does, hardware registers, ISR shared variables, and when volatile is not enough.
6
Structure vs Union in C — Memory Layout & Use Cases Memory allocation differences, padding and alignment, when to use a union for type-punning, and practical embedded use cases.
03 C++ Internals 1 article
7
C++ vtable & vptr — Minimising Virtual Pointer Loads How the compiler implements virtual dispatch, vtable layout, hidden vptr overhead, cold-cache effects, and patterns to reduce virtual call cost.
04 Systems & Low-Level 3 articles
8
How to Pin a Thread to a Specific CPU Core pthread affinity with CPU_SET, sched_setaffinity, and why core pinning matters for real-time and high-performance workloads.
9
Remote Logging for Embedded Systems and IoT Streaming logs from a microcontroller to a remote server — ring buffers, UART/TCP transports, and zero-copy techniques for tight memory budgets.
10
ARM Architecture — Cortex-A, Cortex-M, Cortex-R ISA overview, pipeline stages, Cortex profile differences, AMBA bus hierarchy, and why ARM dominates mobile and embedded.

// Practice

Hands-on C/C++ Practice

Run and experiment with C and C++ code directly in the browser — no setup needed.

Open C Studio →

// Next step

Ready for SystemC?

C/C++ warmed up — now dive into hardware-level modeling with the full SystemC article series.

SystemC Series →