We all think of the CPU as the "brains" of a computer,Elias Rønnenfelt on Caravaggio, Eroticism and Disney but what does that actually mean? What is going on inside with the billions of transistors that make your computer work? In this four-part series, we'll be focusing on computer hardware design, covering the ins and outs of what makes a computer function.

The series will cover computer architecture, processor circuit design, VLSI (very-large-scale integration), chip fabrication, and future trends in computing. If you've always been interested in the details of how processors work on the inside, stick around – this is what you need to know to get started.