- Preface
- Chapter 1: Hello World and The Basics of C
- Chapter 2: Variables, Types, and Memory
- Chapter 3: Flow Control
- Chapter 4: Functions, Scope, and The Call Stack
- Chapter 5: Pointers and Arrays Deep Dive
- Chapter 6: Structures and Unions
- Chapter 7: Dynamic Memory Allocation
- Chapter 8: File I/O and System Interaction
- Chapter 9: Advanced Concepts
- Chapter 10: The Goal — Building a Virtual Machine
Learn programming by programming directly
Building a Virtual Machine in C
Learn C programming by building a fully-functional Virtual Machine from scratch. No theoretical fluff, just hands-on coding that takes you from your first "Hello World" to architecting complete system-level software.
Minimum price
$5.00
$10.00
You pay
$10.00Author earns
$8.00EPUB
About
About the Book
Tired of endless tutorials that leave you copying and pasting without understanding how the machine actually works?
This book is designed with one core principle in mind: you will learn programming by programming directly.
There will be no long-winded theoretical discussions completely decoupled from practice. Every concept we cover will be immediately realized in code that you can compile, run, and understand clearly.
We will use the C programming language. C was chosen because it is an efficient, simple, and transparent language that operates incredibly close to the machine's hardware. By understanding C, you easily build a solid mental model of how memory truly works and how to architect high-performance programs without getting bogged down by unnecessary abstractions.
The Ultimate Capstone Project
We are not just learning syntax to pass a test. The ultimate goal of this book is for you to build a fully functional, miniature Virtual Machine (VM) from scratch.
Throughout the chapters, you will slowly build the tools needed for this endeavor. By Chapter 10, you will:
- Design your own Instruction Set Architecture (ISA).
- Implement a virtual CPU cycle (Fetch, Decode, Execute).
- Manage virtual RAM and hardware registers.
- Write assembly-like binary programs that run on the very machine emulator you built
Every concept—from simple loops to complex double-pointers and dynamic memory allocation—is taught deliberately as a necessary stepping stone to reach this goal. You are not just learning C; you are learning how computers actually compute.
Dive in, and take absolute control of the machine.
Author
About the Author
Hafidh Musyaffa
Hi, I'm starssxhfdmh. I’m an independent developer and technical writer who loves digging into systems programming, low-level architecture, and figuring out how things actually work under the hood.
I firmly believe in "learning by doing." I’m obsessed with stripping away the "magic" of modern abstractions to help people truly understand the mechanics of software and hardware. In my work and writing, I focus on bridging the gap between high-level development and bare-metal execution through hands-on, no-nonsense projects.
When I’m not writing code or tutorials, you can usually find me exploring CPU architecture, reverse-engineering operating systems, or just trying to find simpler ways to explain hard computer science concepts.
Contents
Table of Contents
Get the free Community Edition
You can get the free Community Edition in PDF or EPUB just by sharing your name and email address with the author, or you can just click this link to read a shorter sample online...
The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
Now, this is technically risky for us, since you'll have the book or course files either way. But we're so confident in our products and services, and in our authors and readers, that we're happy to offer a full money back guarantee for everything we sell.
You can only find out how good something is by trying it, and because of our 100% money back guarantee there's literally no risk to do so!
So, there's no reason not to click the Add to Cart button, is there?
See full terms...
Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase
We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.
(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)
In fact, authors have earned over $14 million writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Write and Publish on Leanpub
You can use Leanpub to easily write, publish and sell in-progress and completed ebooks and online courses!
Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors, combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks.
Leanpub is a magical typewriter for authors: just write in plain text, and to publish your ebook, just click a button. (Or, if you are producing your ebook your own way, you can even upload your own PDF and/or EPUB files and then publish with one click!) It really is that easy.