Computer Systems Architecture

Computer Systems Architecture provides IT professionals and students with the necessary understanding of computer hardware. It addresses the ongoing issues related to computer hardware and discusses the solutions supplied by the industry. The book describes trends in computing solutions that led to the current available infrastructures, tracing the initial need for computers to recent concepts such as the Internet of Things. It covers computers’ data representation, explains how computer architecture and its underlying meaning changed over the years, and examines the implementations and performance enhancements of the central processing unit (CPU). It then discusses the organization, hierarchy, and performance considerations of computer memory as applied by the operating system and illustrates how cache memory significantly improves performance. The author proceeds to explore the bus system, algorithms for ensuring data integrity, input and output (I/O) components, methods for performing I/O, various aspects relevant to software engineering, and nonvolatile storage devices, such as hard drives and technologies for enhancing performance and reliability. He also describes virtualization and cloud computing and the emergence of software-based systems’ architectures. Accessible to software engineers and developers as well as students in IT disciplines, this book enhances readers’ understanding of the hardware infrastructure used in software engineering projects. It enables readers to better optimize system usage by focusing on the principles used in hardware systems design and the methods for enhancing performance.

The first Computer Architecture text to recognize that computers are now predinantly used in a networking environment, fully updated to include new technologies and with an all new chapter on Distributed Computing.

The Architecture of Computer Hardware, Systems Software and Networking is designed help students majoring in information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) understand the structure and operation of computers and computer-based devices. Requiring only basic computer skills, this accessible textbook introduces the basic principles of system architecture and explores current technological practices and trends using clear, easy-to-understand language. Throughout the text, numerous relatable examples, subject-specific illustrations, and in-depth case studies reinforce key learning points and show students how important concepts are applied in the real world. This fully-updated sixth edition features a wealth of new and revised content that reflects today’s technological landscape. Organized into five parts, the book first explains the role of the computer in information systems and provides an overview of its components. Subsequent sections discuss the representation of data in the computer, hardware architecture and operational concepts, the basics of computer networking, system software and operating systems, and various interconnected systems and components. Students are introduced to the material using ideas already familiar to them, allowing them to gradually build upon what they have learned without being overwhelmed and develop a deeper knowledge of computer architecture.

Computer Systems Organization -- Processor Architectures.

This book provides up-to-date coverage of fundamental concepts for the design of computers and their subsystems. It presents material with a serious but easy-to-understand writing style that makes it accessible to readers without sacrificing important topics. The book emphasizes a finite state machine approach to CPU design, which provides a strong background for reader understanding. It forms a solid basis for readers to draw upon as they study this material and in later engineering and computer science practice. The book also examines the design of computer systems, including such topics as memory hierarchies, input/output processing, interrupts, and direct memory access, as well as advanced architectural aspects of parallel processing. To make the material accessible to beginners, the author has included two running examples of increasing complexity: the Very Simple CPU, which contains four instruction sets and shows very simple CPU design; and the Relatively Simple CPU which contains 16 instruction sets and adds enough complexity to illustrate more advanced concepts. Each chapter features a real-world machine on which the discussed organization and architecture concepts are implemented. This book is designed to teach computer organization/architecture to engineers and computer scientists.

This text was developed to serve as an introduction to computing systems. The text introduces and elucidates the principles of modern computer architecture (instruction set design) and organization (instruction set implementation) through assembly language programming. In the design of computing systems, solutions to problems must fit a set of constraints which are frequently determined by the current state of technology and our understanding of it. As constraints and solutions are a constantly moving target, it is important to emphasize general concepts so that students appreciate the limits of solutions. With this knowledge, students should be better able to anticipate and appreciate the inevitable changes in future systems.