Learning paths
Curated, ordered tours through the atlas. Each path is a sequence of topics that build on each other — start the first topic and the prev / next navigation, progress tracking, and "mark complete" follow you the whole way.
25 paths · grouped by audience.
For beginners
5 paths-
From Hardware to the Web
beginnerTrace one connection from the CPU on your laptop through the operating system, the network, and the web browser.
- CPU
- Memory
- Operating System
- IP Address
- +3 more
7 topics Updated 2026-06-04 -
Frontend Engineer Starter Kit
beginnerThe topics that take you from "I can write some JavaScript" to "I can ship a real product on the web that respects users".
- Programming Language
- JavaScript
- Type System
- Web Browser
- +11 more
15 topics Updated 2026-06-07 -
History of Computing
beginnerA historical arc through the people and ideas that built modern computing, from the Analytical Engine to the open-source era.
- History of Computing
- Ada Lovelace
- Alan Turing
- Turing Machine
- +7 more
11 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
How Computers Work
beginnerA beginner-friendly path from bits to operating systems — the smallest mental model of a modern computer.
- Bit
- Binary Numbers
- Boolean Logic
- Transistor
- +15 more
19 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
UX and Interface Design
beginnerThe concepts behind designing interfaces that people can actually use — from visual fundamentals to accessibility and usability testing.
- User Interface
- UX
- GUI
- Command-Line Interface
- +5 more
9 topics Updated 2026-06-08
For intermediates
15 paths-
Algorithms and Data Structures
intermediateFrom binary to big-O — the foundational structures and analysis that underpin every program ever written.
- Bit
- Binary Numbers
- Boolean Logic
- Hexadecimal
- +16 more
20 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Backend Engineer Starter Kit
intermediateThe minimum set of topics that turns a programmer into someone who can ship and operate a backend service in production.
- Programming Language
- Data Structure
- Big O
- Version Control
- +15 more
19 topics Updated 2026-06-07 -
Building for Platforms
intermediateThe landscape of modern software targets — web, mobile, embedded, and IoT — and the trade-offs that define each one.
- Web Browser
- Native vs Web
- Mobile App
- Embedded System
- +4 more
8 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Concurrency 101
intermediateThe smallest mental model of concurrent programming — processes, threads, the scheduler, locks, deadlock — and why your multithreaded code keeps breaking in weird ways.
- Process
- Thread
- Scheduler
- Context Switch
- +4 more
8 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Cryptography Crash Course
intermediateA practical tour of the cryptography most engineers actually use — symmetric and public-key, TLS, password storage, and the auth flows on top.
- Cryptography
- Public-Key Cryptography
- TLS
- HTTPS
- +5 more
9 topics Updated 2026-06-07 -
Database Foundations
intermediateThe ideas every working programmer should know about relational databases — model, query language, design, indexing, transactions, and the NoSQL alternatives.
- Database
- Relational Model
- Normalization
- SQL
- +10 more
14 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Graphics and Rendering
intermediateFrom pixels to ray tracing — how images are represented, compressed, and rendered in real time and offline.
- Pixel
- Color Space
- Image Format
- JPEG
- +7 more
11 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
How Programming Languages Work
intermediateFrom source code to execution — how compilers, runtimes, type systems, and memory management work under the hood.
- Programming Language
- Syntax vs Semantics
- Type System
- Compiler
- +10 more
14 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Internet from the Bottom Up
intermediateTrace one connection from raw packets up through addressing, transport, encryption, and the web — the minimum mental model of how the internet works.
- Packet
- IP Address
- Router
- NAT
- +10 more
14 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Math for Computer Science
intermediateThe continuous and statistical mathematics that modern computing runs on — sets, calculus, linear algebra, and probability, and where each one shows up in practice.
- Set Theory
- Discrete Mathematics
- Boolean Logic
- Calculus Basics
- +5 more
9 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Modern AI in Ten Topics
intermediateFrom algorithms to large language models — the sequence of ideas that explains where AI is in the mid-2020s and how it actually works.
- Algorithms
- Data Structure
- Machine Learning
- Supervised Learning
- +13 more
17 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
OS Concepts
intermediateThe minimum viable mental model of an operating system — processes, threads, scheduling, memory, files, and the kernel that ties it together.
- Operating System
- Process
- Thread
- Scheduler
- +12 more
16 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Security for Software Engineers
intermediateThe security topics every backend or full-stack engineer needs to know — not security as a specialism, but the part that's table stakes for shipping public software.
- Cryptography
- Public-Key Cryptography
- TLS
- Authentication
- +9 more
13 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Software Engineering Practices
intermediateThe discipline behind writing code that teams can maintain, test, and evolve — from version control to deployment pipelines.
- Version Control
- Git
- Code Review
- Semantic Versioning
- +10 more
14 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
The Web from Top to Bottom
intermediateTrace a single HTTPS request from the browser down through HTTP, TLS, TCP, UDP, IP, packets, and routing — the whole stack in one walk.
- Web Browser
- HTTP
- REST API
- HTTPS
- +9 more
13 topics Updated 2026-06-07
For advanceds
5 paths-
Computer Architecture Deep Dive
advancedFrom transistors to the instruction pipeline — how a modern CPU actually executes code, and how that shapes software performance.
- Instruction Set
- Register
- RISC vs CISC
- CPU Pipeline
- +8 more
12 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Distributed Systems Fundamentals
advancedThe ideas behind systems that span multiple machines — consensus, replication, consistency, and the infrastructure that glues it together.
- Distributed System
- Consensus
- Replication
- Sharding
- +10 more
14 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
High-Performance Systems
advancedHow sub-millisecond software is built — cache-aware data layout, pool allocation, and lock-free concurrency, grounded in how the memory hierarchy and cache coherence really behave.
- Memory Hierarchy
- Cache
- Cache Coherence
- Cache-Line Alignment
- +6 more
10 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Scaling a Web Service
advancedHow a single web app survives going from "100 users" to "100 million" — caching, replication, sharding, queues, edge networks, and the orchestration glue.
- Database
- SQL
- Indexing
- Query Plan
- +14 more
18 topics Updated 2026-06-08 -
Site Reliability Engineering
advancedHow to keep software running reliably in production — from SLOs and observability to incident response and safe deployments.
- Deployment
- Monitoring
- Logging
- Observability
- +7 more
11 topics Updated 2026-06-08