本书的主要读者是计算机科学家、计算机工程师，以及那些想通过学习计算机系统的内在运作而能够写出更好程序的人。
我们的目标是解释所有计算机系统的本质概念，并向你展示这些概念是如何实实在在地影响应用程序的正确性、性能和实用性的。其它的系统类书籍都是从构建者的角度来写的，讲述如何实现硬件或是系统软件，包括操作系统、编译器和网络接口。而本书是从程序员的角度来写的，讲述应用程序员如何能够利用系统知识来编写出更好的程序。
We believe that the only way to learn systems is to do systems, either working concrete problems or writing and running programs on real systems.
The idea with ICS (Introduction to Computer Systems) was to introduce students to computers in a different way. Few of our students would have the opportunity to build a computer system. On the other hand, most students, including all computer scientists and computer engineers, will be required to use and program computers n a daily basis. So we decided to teach about systems from the point of view of the programmer, using the following filter: we would cover a topic only if it affected the performance, correctness, or utility of user-level C programs.
