Why does a busy server fall behind? The 8-chapter foundation

No computer science background needed. Start at ones and zeros, end at a queue of customers at a bank counter — one trap question per chapter.

1. 01How do ones and zeros become letters?A computer only knows ones and zeros — so where do the letters on your screen come from?4min
2. 02What does a CPU actually do?People say a CPU "does the math" — but how many different things can it actually do?5min
3. 03Does double the GHz really mean double the speed?Swap a 3GHz chip for a 6GHz one — does your server really get twice as fast?4min
4. 04Why is one fetch instant and another slow?Both are just "fetch some data" — so why does one take 0.000001 seconds and the other 0.1?5min
5. 05Can a computer do something else while it waits?If the counter has to stand empty while a customer fetches paperwork from the vault, how do you ever serve more of them?5min
6. 06Why does a busy server fall behind?The counter is not even full yet — so why are customers already waiting a long time in line?6min
7. 07Two hundred windows — why are only ten working?You opened two hundred places to take a request — so why did throughput not rise to match?5min
8. 08When does an event loop win, and when does it lose?If handling many jobs from few seats always wins, why do plenty of servers still run hundreds of seats?6min