Branch Prediction Explained Software Execution скачать в хорошем качестве

Branch Prediction Explained Software Execution

Modern CPUs don’t wait to see what your code will do next. They guess. Every time your program hits an if statement, a loop condition, or a function return, the processor has to decide which instruction to execute next. Waiting would stall the pipeline and waste cycles, so instead the CPU predicts the outcome and continues executing speculatively. That mechanism is called branch prediction. In this video, we break down what branch prediction is, why it exists, how it works at a high level, and why mispredictions are expensive. You’ll see how it connects to instruction dispatch, pipelines, speculative execution, and real-world performance. We also look at why predictable control flow runs faster than unpredictable branches, and what that means for software design. Branch prediction is one of the hidden mechanisms that makes modern processors fast. Without it, deep pipelines and high clock speeds wouldn’t be practical. This video is part of the Software Execution series, where we build a clear mental model of how programs actually run — from entry points and startup semantics to instruction dispatch, threads, context switching, and CPU behavior. If you want to understand software beyond syntax and frameworks, this series will help you see what’s really happening under the hood.