a186@mindlink.UUCP (Harvey Taylor) (12/13/89)
In <112400014@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>,afgg6490@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
] [...]
] (You know what I would like? I'd like to have a "Art of Computer
] Architecture" series much like Knuth's "Art of Computer Programming",
] with sections on arithmetic, instruction sets, memory and busses,
] I/O, compilers, and so on... If it doesn't exist, I'd like to write
] it, but I don't have time or $$ to do so.)
Somebody hire this man & put him to work!
"The most common commodity in this country is unrealized potential."
-C.Coolidge
Harvey Taylor Meta Media Productions
uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!Harvey_Taylor
a186@mindlink.UUCPafgg6490@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (12/15/89)
> Somebody hire this man & put him to work!
Hey, I just unhired myself...daryl@hpcllla.HP.COM (Daryl Odnert) (12/16/89)
I audited a computer architecture course at Stanford this fall which was taught by John Hennessey. The text he used was a preliminary edition of a new book Prof. Hennessey co-authored with David Patterson of U. C. Berkeley. The title is "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach" and it contains chapters on all of the topics mentioned in the basenote. Based on the chapters that I've read, I think this is an excellent text book on the subject. I think first edition will be published sometime during 1990. I don't have the book here right now, so I don't remeber the publishers name. Mail me if you want this info. If there is a lot of interest I'll post it. Daryl Odnert daryl@hpda.hp.com Hewlett-Packard California Languages Lab
daryl@hpcllla.HP.COM (Daryl Odnert) (12/19/89)
There was sufficient interest in the Hennessy and Patterson book that
I've decided to post the information here:
Title: Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach
Authors: John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 89-85227
ISBN 1-55860-096-5
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc.
P.O. Box 50490
Palo Alto, CA 94303-9953
Orders for the book can be sent to the publisher at this address.
First edition is scheduled to be published February, 1990.
Table Of Contents (from the Preliminary Edition)
1. Fundamentals of Computer Design
2. Performance and Cost
3. Instruction Set Design: Alternative and Principles
4. Instruction Set Examples and Measurements of Use
5. Basic Processor Implementation
6. Pipelining
7. Vector Processors
8. Memory-Heirarchy Design
9. Input/Output
10. Future Directions
Daryl Odnert
Hewlett-Packardjps@wucs1.wustl.edu (James Sterbenz) (12/20/89)
In article <960020@hpcllla.HP.COM> daryl@hpcllla.HP.COM (Daryl Odnert) writes: >There was sufficient interest in the Hennessy and Patterson book that >I've decided to post the information here: General question to anyone who has read this, without starting another RISC/CISC war: Given the RISC background of the authors, how balanced a book is this, i.e. is it a unbiased architecture text or is it a textbook on RISC architecture? (the answer is 'RISC architecture' = 'computer architecture' doesn't count :-) James Sterbenz Computer and Communications Research Center Washington University in St. Louis +1 314 726 4203 INTERNET: jps@wucs1.wustl.edu 128.252.123.12 UUCP: wucs1!jps@uunet.uu.net
lu@druhi.ATT.COM (david lu) (12/21/89)
In article <1989Dec19.204601.8509@cec1.wustl.edu>, jps@wucs1.wustl.edu (James Sterbenz) writes: > In article <960020@hpcllla.HP.COM> daryl@hpcllla.HP.COM (Daryl Odnert) writes: > >There was sufficient interest in the Hennessy and Patterson book that > >I've decided to post the information here: > > Given the RISC background of the authors, how balanced a book is this, > i.e. is it a unbiased architecture text or is it a textbook > on RISC architecture? I took Dr. Hennessy's class on Computer Architecture at Stanford last year and we used a pre-beta release version of the said book (Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach). In other words, the version of the book was done by Copymat and bound by plastic spirals. I bring this up as a disclaimer that most of my comments will be based on this version, not the bound (most recent) version. I found the book to be quite insightful and very informative. Since the class was being taught by Hennessy, my thinking may have become skewed in favor of RISC, but looking at the book a second time, I've come to realize that it is not an overly biased book on RISC. There are sections that favor RISC architecture and attempt to show what makes RISC a better alternative (e.g. pipelining), but as a whole, issues are covered that can be applied to all systems (e.g. memory hierarchies, performance and cost evaluation, I/O, what makes a good benchmark). Though it is not a truely unbaised book on computer architecture (I don't think there is such a thing), I found it to be quite good. Especially the sections on memory systems and pipelining (However, it does not explore the usage of pipelines on CISC machines. That came in EE382 with Dr. Flynn). Since taking the class, I've come across a description of the book and I see that the authors have included a chapter on vector processors (a topic for all types of machines), a chapter parallel and special purpose processors, and an appendix on computer arithmetic. Essentially, I found the book to be quite good and not extremely biased on RISC. I'm not sure if it makes a good first computer architecture book, but definitely an excellent second book. ------------------------ These comments are strictly my own. Any thoughts or discussion are welcomed (but no CISC/RISC wars please). -- -David Lu lu@druhi.att.com ..att!druhi!lu