Tanenbaum organizes a computer as six virtual machines stacked on each other. This tool's physical zoom (Laptop → Board → Chip → Pipeline → Cell) is a different but complementary axis. Use the mapping below to read the book and the 3D view side-by-side:
Lvl
Tanenbaum Layer
Chapter
Tool Zoom
5
Problem-Oriented Language Python, C, Java source
—
(not shown)
4
Assembly Language
Ch. 7
(not shown)
3
Operating System Machine Virtual memory, paging, processes
Ch. 6
MMU / TLB tooltip
2
Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)
Ch. 5
Pipeline zoom (instructions)
1
Microarchitecture ALU, registers, data path, control unit, 5-stage pipeline
Ch. 4
Chip / SoC + Pipeline zoom
0
Digital Logic Gates, flip-flops, memory cells
Ch. 3
Cell / Digital Logic zoom
Note: Tanenbaum Ch. 2 (Computer Systems Organization) sits across several layers — it introduces the CPU, main memory, secondary storage, buses, and I/O as a whole, before zooming in on each layer individually in later chapters.
