Computer Architecture

by Charles Fox

Not since the 1980s has computer architecture been so exciting! This book captures the moment, mining the history of computing to teach key concepts in modern hardware design and introduce the neural and quantum architectures of the future.

Computer Architecture is an in-depth exploration of the principles and designs that have shaped computer hardware through the ages, from counting devices like the abacus, to Babbage’s Difference Engine, to modern GPUs and the frontiers of quantum computing.

This engaging blend of history, theory, hands-on exercises, and real-world examples is sure to make for an insightful romp through a fast-changing world. You won’t just read about computer architecture, you’ll also gain the understanding to touch, build, and program it. You’ll explore the basic structures of a CPU by learning to program a Victorian Analytical Engine. You’ll extend electronic machines to 8-bit and 16-bit retro gaming computers, learning to program a Commodore 64 and an Amiga. You’ll delve into x86 and RISC-V architectures, cloud and supercomputers, and ideas for future technologies. 

You’ll also
• How to represent data with different coding schemes and build digital logic gates 
• The basics of machine and assembly language programming
• How pipelining, out-of-order execution, and parallelism work, in context
• The power and promise of neural networks, DNA, photonics, and quantum computing 

Whether you’re a student, a professional, or simply a tech enthusiast, after reading this book, you’ll grasp the milestones of computer architecture and be able to engage directly with the technology that defines today’s world. Prepare to be inspired, challenged, and above all, see and experience the digital world, hands-on.

Genres: Technology, Computer Science, Computers, Programming

494 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2024

Reviews

[Eugene ghaiklor Obrezkov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read lots of books about computer architecture both from the academic perspective and from "casual" perspective. This books IMHO comes into the latter group.

You will not find here all the hacks and intricacies about modern CPU architecture, but you will find the overall overview of all the needed parts to at least to know about them. And while it lacks these details, I believe they are not needed here.

I really liked reading about the history of computer architecture at the beginning of the book. It even made me nostalgic at some points. I've learned some new interesting facts I didn't know about from historical perspective. And in the end of the book it was interesting to read about possible evolvement of the computer architecture.

So, I think, for a casual book about computer architecture it was really a nice read, 5/5.

[Alexander Parady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! I have an EECS degree but never took a Comp Arch class surprisingly. This filled in a lot of the gaps and specifically touched on some of the parallel computing shortcomings I wanted to cover in the GPU portion of the book. I'm a big fan of an easy to read textbook (few and far between) and this is definitely one of those. I skipped the first quarter given that was largely review from my courses, but refreshers and deep dives into the hardware and instruction level codes was great. Definitely recommend if you want to understand device hardware better!

(reading Harry Potter so much really made me overcorrect into reading a literal textbooks. I am a nerd.)

[Colton · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone totally out of the loop, Charles Fox offers a substantial introduction to the history of computing as a context for where computing has gone, and perhaps where it is going.

For such a crossroads like the one we're in now, it's fascinating.
At a certain point, I lost my grip on the points Fox made, and it's clear I'll need to re-read this a couple times through to help cement a lot of the major ideas.

For someone especially who is interested in the architecture of retro gaming consoles up to the x86 based ones, this is a very handy tool to see how they worked.