Computer Architecture

by Blanchet, Gé; rard; Dupouy, Bertrand

• ISBN13: 9781848214293
• ISBN10: 1848214294
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-12-26
• Publisher: Wiley-ISTE

Summary

This book lays out the concepts necessary to understanding how a computer works. The writing was done according to the following decisions: the details of how a computer's components function electronically are beyond the scope of this book. we insist on the concepts and focus on the building blocks of a machine's architecture, on their functions and on how they interact. we take the time to point out the unavoidable ties between software and hardware resources. For reasons of clarity, we have deliberately chosen examples that apply to machines from all eras, without having to water down the contents of the book. This choice helps to show how techniques, concepts, and performance have evolved since the first computers. This book is divided into five parts. The first four, which are of increasing difficulty, are the core of the book : "Elements of a basic architecture", "Programming model and operation", "Memory hierarchy", "Parallelism and performance enhancement". The final part provides hints and solutions to the exercises in the book as well as appendices. The reader may approach each part independently based on their prior knowledge and goals. Exercises are given in most chapters. Solutions or hints are provided as an appendix.

Author Biography

Gérard Blanchet is the author of Computer Architecture, published by Wiley.

Bertrand Dupouy is the author of Computer Architecture, published by Wiley.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Part I - Elements of a basic architecture

1- Introduction

2- The basic modules

3- Representing information

Part II- Programming model and operation

4- Instructions

5- The processor

6- Inputs and outputs

Part III- Memory hierarchy

7- Memory

8- Caches

9- Virtual memory

Part IV- Parallelism and performance enhancement

10- Pipeline architectures

11- Example of an architecture

12- Caches in a multiprocessor environment

13- Superscalar architectures

Part V- Appendices

14- Hints and solutions

15- Appendices

Bibliography

Index