Computation Structures

by Stephen A. Ward, Robert H. Halstead Jr.

Developed as the text for the basic computer architecture course at MIT, Computation Structures integrates a thorough coverage of digital logic design with a comprehensive presentation of computer architecture. It contains a wealth of information for those who design computers or work with computer systems, spanning the entire range of topics from analog circuit design to operating systems. Ward and Halstead seek to demystify the construction of computing hardware by illustrating systematically how it is built up from digital circuits through higher level components to processors and memories, and how its design is affected by its intended uses. Computation Structures is unusually broad in scope, considering many real world problems and tradeoff decisions faced by practicing engineers. These difficult choices are confronted and given careful attention throughout the book. Topics addressed include the digital abstraction; digital representations and notation; combinational devices and circuits; sequence and state; synthesis of digital systems; finite state machines; control structures and disciplines; performance measures and tradeoffs; communication; interpretation; microinterpreter architecture; microprogramming and microcode; single sequence machines; stack architectures; register architectures; reduced instruction set computers; memory architectures; processes and processor multiplexing; process synchronization; interrupts, priorities, and real time; directions and trends. Computation Structures is included in the MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science series.

Genres: Computer Science, Technical, Science, Textbooks

812 pages, Hardcover

First published December 13, 1989

Reviews

[Nick Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one I picked up in the rush to figure out VLSI before my multicore architecture class has its midterm, this seeming sister volume to the epic classic Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Rivest and Leiserson of MIT (they used the same LaTeX templates if nothing else) is thus far one of the best introduction-to-broad-advanced-topics I've seen, and it'll occupy a place of high honor on my shelves. The first five chapters, building up to the basic digital abstraction (that of logic gates) from the basics of circuit physics, were a tour de force providing me an immediate firmament. A longstanding gap in my education (and that, I suspect, of many computer scientists) -- despite a strong amateur study of physics, nonetheless! -- has been filled, and I thank Mssrs. Ward and Halstead for that. The final (21st) chapter is a wonderful coverage of paradigms contrasting the von Neumann model, a list I'd built up mentally only through numerous diverse sources. I'm still skipping around, but highly recommended.

(With apologies to Mike Alberghini, who last night claimed I'm turning GoodReads into my own Nigerian spam channel.)

[DJ]

primer on computer architectures

[Rebecca Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Page turner!