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Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, 4th Edition |  | Authors: John L. Hennessy, David A. Patterson
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
Category: Book
List Price: $89.95
Buy New: $55.00
as of 9/6/2010 14:03 CDT details
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Seller: FOYBOOKS
Rating:  21 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: 4
Pages: 704
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0123704901
Dewey Decimal Number: 004.22
EAN: 9780123704900
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Product Description
The era of seemingly unlimited growth in processor performance is over: single chip architectures can no longer overcome the performance limitations imposed by the power they consume and the heat they generate. Today, Intel and other semiconductor firms are abandoning the single fast processor model in favor of multi-core microprocessors--chips that combine two or more processors in a single package. In the fourth edition of Computer Architecture, the authors focus on this historic shift, increasing their coverage of multiprocessors and exploring the most effective ways of achieving parallelism as the key to unlocking the power of multiple processor architectures. Additionally, the new edition has expanded and updated coverage of design topics beyond processor performance, including power, reliability, availability, and dependability.
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This CD can be used under any operating system that includes an HTML browser and a PDF viewer. This includes Windows, Mac OS, and most Linux and Unix systems.
Increased coverage on achieving parallelism with multiprocessors.
Case studies of latest technology from industry including the Sun Niagara Multiprocessor, AMD Opteron, and Pentium 4.
Three review appendices, included in the printed volume, review the basic and intermediate principles the main text relies upon.
Eight reference appendices, collected on the CD, cover a range of topics including specific architectures, embedded systems, application specific processors--some guest authored by subject experts.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
 The next edition of the definitive series; another must-have September 25, 2006
John Mashey (Portola Valley, CA United States)
54 out of 57 found this review helpful
Computer architecture has seen vast changes in the last 20 years, and fortunately, H&P somehow manage to do a new edition about every 5 years, often enough to stay current. When the First Edition appeared, it quickly became *the* standard textbook on the topic, to be replaced in that role by each successive edition.
Computer architectures complexify over time, and so do books. The Third Edition was about 1100 pages long. The Fourth has been shrunk back to something more manageable by moving subsidiary details to a CD included with the book.
This edition is well worth having, even if one already has the earlier ones. In particular, the additional material on multiprocessors is especially welcome, given that it has become much more difficult to speed up uniprocessors.
Most people who work in or near computer systems architecture know these books, but I have often recommended them to others, such as technology journalists, venture capitalists, and financial analysts, i.e., people who are rarely computer archtiects, but need to understand computer technology and its trends. Many such have been surprised to find the book was useful to them.
H&P write very clearly, and each chapter outlines its key concepts for a topic, then works down to detailed analyses, and then comes back up to summarize. hence, I've often recommended to people:
1) Read the first few sections of each chapter.
2) In each remaining section per chapter, read until the going gets heavy, then skip to the next section. In some cases, this will happen after reading the first paragraph, but don't worry, the writing will return to a higher level.
3) Read "Concluding Remarks" and any "Fallacies and Pitfalls" or Historical Perspectives" sections at the end of a chapter.
Anyway, I expect this Edition will be just as indispensable as the earlier ones.
a must-have for computer engineers December 28, 2007
Y. Zhu (SF, CA)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I read the 3rd edition cover to cover a few years ago and was amazed by its comprehensive coverage for computing related topics from high level to details. Now, the 4th edition is no worse and worth the money. With significant shift from single processor to multiprocessor, it matches the technology trend and stays on top of current industry challenges. This book is a definitely must have for both learning and referencing.
Regretfully, the publisher decided to save cost by moving many useful appendix chapters to CD and use paperback. The stretch to other topics like virtual memory, networking seems unnecessary. But that doesn't affect the overall book quality.
Combining this architecture level view with in-depth coverage of other important computer areas like "Computer organization and design", "operating system concepts" and "computer network", you will have a clear view of the whole infrastructure of the high tech industry.
Excellent deep-dive into processor architecture March 21, 2009
M. Zaleski (Detroit, MI USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book isn't for the timid. It goes deep into several recent CPU designs and explains why the architectures turned out the way they did. There is decent coverage of RISC versus CISC ideas, and why CISC now dominates (hint: it is a combination of luck, marketing, and massive amounts of available transistors, plus new ways of instruction-level parallelism).
It does not cover the absolute latest processors. But it doesn't have to. It will give you the background needed that when you go to the website that have technical details of a new architecture (e.g. Ars Technica), chances are good you will know the concepts they reference.
Who shouldn't buy this: Programmer's in high level languages expecting to learn some black magic way to speed up your code. Even assembly language programmers have been mostly sidelined by the power of a modern CPU to optimize high-level languages.
always a great book! October 22, 2007
svchw (VA, USA)
every CS and computer releted student should read this book. It has great introductory as well as in-depth materials. The references are also extensive --- a great book for both learning and research.
One of the finest Computer Architecture books in existence January 23, 2007
Rambam HaTalmid (Sydney Australia)
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is the latest edition of the updated classic by the people who invented RISC. Clear and up to date, it take you from a virtual beginner to a situation where you can follow understand current comp arch research ( and if you are a masochist, the discussions on the comp.arch newsgroup ! :-) )
Run, do not walk to your local library to reserve that copy !
Or if you are feeling generous, treat yourself and buy this great book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
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