It is interesting to think that articles usually jump into explaining “What is EVM?”, but if you found this article - I am 99.99% sure you already know what the EVM is. And in that case, this article is definitely *NOT* for you advanced Ethereans. However on the off-chance you do not know what it means, read on to find out!

Let’s start with this:

Source: EVM Diagram

Annndddd that’s it! That’s the EVM. Now you’re an EVM expert! You can exit this page now.

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Oh you’re still here? Looks like you are just like me - a budding learner crawling through the web in search of any resource to help you deepen your understanding of Ethereum.

In that case, let’s begin.

While you are reading this, think of the tool you are using to read this piece of writing. Is it a smartphone? Laptop? It may be any of it, and they are all your local machines (unless you printed this out, then the joke’s on me). These machines live in the physical space with us. We use it to interact with the resources and elements living on the internet. This is the architecture for the Human Digital Experience (HDE, something I coined myself).

Using the HDE architecture model as an example, we can break it down to explain the EVM. The “VM” in EVM stands for Virtual Machine, while the “E” …? Heh, you guessed it, Ethereum! Much like our local machines, the VM provides an environment for Ethereum (or humans in HDE’s model) to execute its code.

If you have read this far and you are scratching your head on what Ethereum is, you might want to take a step back! Come back after you have read this great piece on “What is Ethereum?”.

According to the Ethereum yellow paper, the EVM is a simple stack-based architecture which alters the system state upon instructions from a series of bytecodes. The illustrated example of that description is best illustrated below.

Source: EVM Illustrated

From this point on, I am sure that you have more questions. You might be thinking: why is it 1024 elements? What do the instructions “PUSH/POP/COPY/SWAP” do? I would highly recommend you to research external resources (such as the yellow paper) for more information.

The purpose of this writing is to keep it short and simple for us from the traditional industries. The goal is for you to establish a basic understanding of the EVM, equipped with a mental illustration of the architecture.

For all you readers who read till the end, you are in for a treat! As the EVM knowledge space is ever expanding with rich resources, it is almost difficult to come across a one-stop shop resource to deepen our understanding of the EVM.

If you are interested in this resource, be sure to venture into EVM Mastery - A curated list of resources to internalize EVM by Quillhash.

While the resources appear overwhelming, the takeaway I’d like to emphasize is that gaining understanding of Ethereum’s components is a gradual process. It is important not to feel daunted in your learning journey. The reality is that this process involves a cyclical approach, where we interact with the community in this space, engage with various tools, conduct research, and iterate.

ELIFTI (Explain Like I’m From Traditional Industries) is a series focused on bridging complex topics in Ethereum to aspiring learners from external sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, operations, and many more. These writings stem from my personal experiences and challenges in learning about Ethereum, and I hope to provide valuable insights to my readers.