Computing Reviews

Computer organization and design :the hardware software interface, ARM edition
Patterson D., Hennessy J., Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc.,San Francisco, CA,2016. 720 pp.Type:Book
Date Reviewed: 08/22/17

The book Computer organization and design has helped multiple generations of computer scientists, and is an awesome text for students and professionals alike. This book on the ARM architecture is very relevant as billions of devices with the architecture are inundating the market and there are thousands of software developers who need to know how to work with it. The ARM architecture is indeed the most popular mobile architecture in the world. The book goes through a subset of the ARMv8 architecture. In the post-personal computer (PC) era, tablets and mobile devices use the ARM architecture predominantly and cloud and computers use x86. The book has delved into all architectures before, and this specific edition is devoted to the instruction set and architecture of ARM devices. The book explains in rather great detail the instruction set, arithmetic, processor design, memory, and parallel processing. It offers an in-depth comparison of the Intel Core i7 design, NVIDIA graphics processing unit (GPU), and ARM Cortex A53 processor, and highlights the core areas.

Detailed assembly-level programs are given with corresponding C-level code. Many people need to know these details, including compiler writers, operating system design engineers, and database specialists. If one were to dig into the ARMv8 architecture, the reference manual is around 5400 pages long. That would take years to digest. The authors--who are very reputable and probably equivalent to gods in the community--have distilled and brought out the essence in this book. Included are many exercises and programs, which will prove very useful to readers looking for a complete experience. There is no hesitation in recommending this book to computer science aficionados, students, and practitioners.

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Reviewer:  Naga Narayanaswamy Review #: CR145495 (1711-0689)

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