I like the physical design and format of this book, but I do not like the logical design and organization. This is a textbook intended for undergraduates majoring in CIS or EE for a course in computer organization or computer design.
My biggest complaint is the bottom-up approach to discussing computer organization. This topic is best discussed in terms of top-down design. In this format, the computer organization is broken into several, large, functional subsystems, such as memory, CPU, and Input-Output. These, in turn, are broken down into other functional units until we get to the circuit or gate level. This provides much more motivation for the student by letting him or her know what overall functions are required at each level and how they are fulfilled by the building blocks on the next lower level. This is the approach taken by Hamacher, Vranesic and Zaky in their textbook Computer Organization [1], which is referenced by Mano.
The book is composed of these chapters:
:9N(1) Binary Numbers and Codes
(2) Digital Circuits
(3) Combinatorial Systems
(4) Sequential Logic
(5) Registers and Counters
(6) Memory and Programmable Logic
(7) Register Transfer in Computer Operation
(8) Control Logic Design
(9) Computer Instructions and Addressing Modes
(10) Design of a Central Processing Unit
(11) Input-Output and Communication
(12) A Memory Management
Another aspect of education and a would-be purpose of a textbook is to indicate to the reader what occupations exist that require the knowledge that it is conveying. One might employ this knowledge as a systems designer, a VLSI designer, a chip designer, or a computer designer. Most of these engineers work with existing chips or design them. Still, there are only a few pages devoted to integrated circuits and what they are. It is unfortunate that most of the available textbooks were published in the 1960s; why can we not get out of this period and into the 1980s? Somehow we must relate what is happening on the job to what we teach in the school. Two further objections I have to the book are the stilted style of the author and his emphasis on the composition of a block rather than its purpose and/or function. As an example of this, here is his definition of a counter from page 152 of the book: “A counter is essentially a register that goes through a predetermined sequence of states upon the application of clock pulses.” Why not say that it reacts to incoming pulses to store the count of the number of pulses it has seen so far as a binary number until its maximum is reached, at which point it resets?
I would not recommend this book because of its style and its approach to computer engineering.
