What is the best way for someone to learn how a CPU works? I dont mean how it processes code. I mean the hardware level. How the 1s and 0s travel from point A to point B. I have constantly looked this up and all it does is bring me to ICs connected to each other. I try to look up the IC schematics and how they work but that is guarded or very difficult to get to. I have gotten to the point where I am tired of having to go in circles. Is there any advice that any of you can give me? I began looking at how a 4-bit computer works(which I cant even find anything concrete on that) so its not like I am trying to find the schematics and inner workings of an i7 3770K. Maybe I am going about it wrong or maybe I am not looking in the right places. I dont know. I would think that with how many CPUs of any type are sold every second even that this data would be much easier to come by.
Computer/CPU architecture class; learn how to build one.
I dont have access to a class. My only resources are what Google pulls up as my search results. Are there any books or websites that are useful for finding stuff like this? I have spent quite a bit of time trying to find a resource that makes sense. All the ones that I have found jump around the different parts but never show a big picture. Probably because they use all these colorful shapes and such and I am more of a schematics guy. Although, I have learned how a 3-8 decoder works and the schmatic of it so I have learned something
This might sound like an incredibly stupid idea, but are you familiar with the computers people have made in Minecraft? Well, they run on simliar principle, maybe you could talk with someone familiar with those about how the various circuits interact. Again, probably stupid idea, but those people had to learn it somewhere, maybe they could guide you.