wolberg@cs.columbia.edu (George Wolberg) (10/30/90)
I'm looking for a good textbook that provides a thorough, comprehensive, and up-to-date introductory treatment of computer architecture. The book is intended for use by undergraduates. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. Comments about the primary strengths and weaknesses of the texts would be especially appreciated. Please reply to wolberg@cs.columbia.edu Thanks a lot, George Wolberg -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- George Wolberg Department of Computer Science wolberg@cs.columbia.edu Columbia University
astevens@acorn.co.uk (Ashley Stevens) (10/31/90)
In article <1990Oct29.225043.2425@cs.columbia.edu> wolberg@cs.columbia.edu (George Wolberg) writes: >I'm looking for a good textbook that provides a thorough, comprehensive, >and up-to-date introductory treatment of computer architecture. The book >is intended for use by undergraduates. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. >Comments about the primary strengths and weaknesses of the texts would be >especially appreciated. I recommend 'Computer Architecture: A Quantitive Approach' by John Hennessy and David Patterson. Its published by : Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc. P.O Box 50490, Palo Alto, CA 94303. (ISBN 1-55860-069-8). (I have nothing to do with Morgan Kaufmann or the writers). This is an excellent book, and I would guess it was about suitable for second or final-year undergraduate use. The book emphasises quantitive measurement of various architectures, as hinted at in the title. Thus, benchmarking, using real applications, is heavily emphasised. Naturally, considering the authors, the benefits of the class of processors generically referred to as 'RISC' are highlighted. The book costs M-#25 Sterling here in England (hard-back). Chapter titles are: 1. Fundamentals of Computer Design 2. Performance and Cost 3. Instruction Set Design: Alternatives and Principles 4. Instruction Set Examples and Measurements of Use 5. Basic Processor Implementation Strategies 6. Pipelining 7. Vector Processors 8. Memory-Heirarchy Design 9. Input/Output 10. Future Directions Appendix A: Computer Arithmetic Appendix B: Complete Instruction Set Tables Appendix C: Detailed Instruction Set Measurements Appendix D: Time Versus Frequency Measurements Appendix E: Survey of RISC Architectures -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Stevens (disclaimer: I speak for myself etc) astevens@acorn.co.uk Acorn Computers, 645 Newmarket Rd, Cambridge, UK. Tel.(0223) 214411
bhabeck@hpcuha.cup.hp.com (William Habeck) (11/01/90)
Ashley Stevens (astevens@acorn.co.uk) writes: > I recommend 'Computer Architecture: A Quantitive Approach' by John Hennessy > and David Patterson. Its published by : > Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc. > P.O Box 50490, > Palo Alto, > CA 94303. Even though I haven't read the whole book, I would second the recommendation. The Stanford University classes EE182 (Computer Organization) and EE282 (Computer Architecture and Organization) each have only one required textbook and _Computer_Architecture:_A_Quantitative_Approach_ is it. EE182 is an undergraduate class; 282 is graduate (and taught by Hennessy!). The book cost about $50 at the Stanford Bookstore. In the foreword, C. Gordon Bell (DEC founder) writes, "The authors have gone beyond the contributions of Thomas to Calculus and Samuelson to Economics. They have provided the definitive text and reference for computer architecture and design. To advance computing, I urge publishers to withdraw the scores of books on this topic so a new breed of architect/ engineer can quickly emerge." I'll leave it to others to recount the contributions of Hennessy and Patterson to the MIPS and SPARC RISC architectures. -- Bill Habeck, Hewlett-Packard Company, bhabeck@hprasor.hp.com
jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu (Joe Buck) (11/02/90)
In article <32580001@hpcuha.cup.hp.com>, bhabeck@hpcuha.cup.hp.com (William Habeck) writes: !> Ashley Stevens (astevens@acorn.co.uk) writes: |> > I recommend 'Computer Architecture: A Quantitive Approach' by John Hennessy |> > and David Patterson. |> Even though I haven't read the whole book, I would second the recommendation. |> The Stanford University classes EE182 (Computer Organization) and EE282 |> (Computer Architecture and Organization) each have only one required textbook |> and _Computer_Architecture:_A_Quantitative_Approach_ is it. EE182 is an |> undergraduate class; 282 is graduate (and taught by Hennessy!). The book cost |> about $50 at the Stanford Bookstore. Or if you want the other guy, Patterson (who coined the term "RISC") teaches EECS 252, Graduate Computer Architecture, using the book at UC Berkeley. -- Joe Buck jbuck@galileo.berkeley.edu {uunet,ucbvax}!galileo.berkeley.edu!jbuck
morgan@unix.SRI.COM (Morgan Kaufmann) (11/02/90)
In article <1990Oct29.225043.2425@cs.columbia.edu> wolberg@cs.columbia.edu (George Wolberg) writes: >I'm looking for a good textbook that provides a thorough, comprehensive, >and up-to-date introductory treatment of computer architecture. The book >is intended for use by undergraduates. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. >Comments about the primary strengths and weaknesses of the texts would be >especially appreciated. Please reply to wolberg@cs.columbia.edu > >Thanks a lot, >George Wolberg >-- >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >George Wolberg Department of Computer Science >wolberg@cs.columbia.edu Columbia University For those who have been following these postings the exact title is: COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE: A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH, by John Hennessy (Stanford) and Dave Patterson (UC Berkeley). This book is available through technical bookstores, and should be in-stock at the larger stores in major cities. It can also be ordered directly from the publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2929 Campus Drive, Ste 260, San Mateo, CA 94403, USA Tel 800/745-READ (US AND CANADA), 415/578-9911 (ELSEWHERE) FAX 415/578-0672 Email morgan@unix.sri.com VISA, Mastercard, personal checks and money orders will be accepted. The cost of the title is $54.95 plus $3.50 shipping/handling for each copy ordered for US and Canadian shipment and $6.50 for shipment to all other territories. California residents please add appropriate sales tax. Contents: 1. Fundamentals of Computer Design. 2. Performance & Cost. 3. Instruction Set Design: Alternatives and Principles. 4. Instruction Set Examples and Measurements of Use. 5. Basic Processor Implementation Techniques. 6. Pipelining. 7. Vector Processors. 8. Memory Hierarchy Design. 9. Input/Output. 10. Future Directions & Parallel Computation. Appendices: A) Computer Arithmetic, by David Goldberg (Xerox PARC) B) Complete Instruction Set Tables (VAX, 360, 8086) C) Detailed Instruction Set Measurements (VAX, 360, 8086, DLX) D) Time Versus Frequency Measurements (VAX 11/780, IBM 370/168, 8086 in an IBM PC, DLX) E) Survey of RISC Architectures (DLX, i860, MIPS, M88000, SPARC). Another title of interest that expands upon performance issues for cache and memory hierarchies also from Morgan Kaufmann: CACHE & MEMORY HIERARCHY DESIGN: A PERFORMANCE DIRECTED APPROACH, by Steven A. Przybylski (MIPS), $33.95 Contents: Intro. Background Material. The Cache Design Problem and its Solution. Performance Directed Cache Design. Multi-Level Cache Hierarchies. Summary, Implications and Conclusions. Appendices: A) Validation of Empirical Results, B) Modeling Write Strategy Effects.