Structured Computer Organization

by Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Book Overview

This book takes a modern structured, layered approach to understanding computer systems. It's highly accessible - and it's been thoroughly updated to reflect today's most critical new technologies and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0130959901
• ISBN13: 9780130959904
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 669 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 7.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

The Book

Does any one know of a solution mannual for this book? The questions at the end of the book are nice and all but they are really hard to solve.

A great introduction to computer hardware and architecture

This is a superb introduction to modern computer architecture and is highly readable. I particularly enjoyed the running examples of the Pentium, UltraSPARC & Java VM, and the chapter on parallel computer architectures. I heartily recommend this to computer programmers who want to gain a fundamental understanding of computer architecture.

This book makes everything click!

Granted, there are quite a few typos in this book; however, it provides a fantastic overview of computer architectures. I have a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and I can honestly say that this book tied all of that knowledge together in 600 pages of material. The puzzle pieces are now fully assembled! Get this book! It is a must for anyone interested in knowing exactly how a computer works, right down to the transistor level.

Extremely readable and thoroughly enjoyable

This book is in my opinion, one of the best books available on Comp. Organization. It treats the computer as a layered machine with each successive layer being isolated from the complexities of the layers underneath. Design abstraction is carried to supreme heights without sacrificing content and relevant details. In particular, chapter 4 on 'The micropragramming level' is probably the best on this subject that I've seen so far in any introductory book. I'm actually using this chapter to teach the concepts of microprogrammed control to senior BS students of Computer science. Be warned however, that if you are looking for more detailed treatment of architecture (Digital Logic), you need to buy another book to go with this one (Try the one by Morris Mano et. al.) This book compares favorably with another related book "Comp. Organization" by Hamacher et al. Together, these books can be used to effectively teach/understand the concepts of layered design. In short, I recommend this book to all beginners!

Every programmer should read this one.

This book, probably the oldest of the Tanenbaum tetralogy, is in my opinion, the finest. This can double up as a first course in Operating Systems as well as Computer Architecture/Organization. I wish our school had used this as the textbook for our first year CO class. The material covered is fundamental yet very readable. Coverage of microprogramming(including some good stuff about x86 Micro Architecture), virtual memory, instruction set design, RISC v CISC, multicomputers. The tenet of this book is that a computer can be viewed as a series of layered machines, with chapters describing each machine. Overall a great value for anybody who wants to have a better idea of what goes under computer systems, without too much pains.