Essential Resource

Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architectures are efficient because they replace costly and power-consuming consuming hardware for detecting and scheduling Instruction-Level Parallelism (ILP); with that functionality supplied by a smart compiler. Furthermore, such smart VLIW compilers and architectures can achieve levels of ILP and power efficiency many times that from hardware schedulers alone. Fisher, Faraboschi and Young's book explains -- skillfully covering software, hardware, theory, application, and business factors -- how such architectures can enable enormous increases in the capabilities of embedded systems.

It's a fabulous read, engagingly styled, with generous research and practical perspective, authoritative with Fisher being responsible for this paradigm of simultaneously engineering the compiler and processor.

Practicing engineers -- both chip architects and embedded system designers -- will find the techniques they will need to use and develop VLIW-based systems. Instructors will value the rare juxtaposition of advanced technology with practical deployment examples, and students will enjoy the unusually engaging and mind-expanding chapter exercises.

Other Reviews

• Good for the right reader
• Well written, Comprehensive
• Essential Resource
• The foreword to this book