Thorough book, tough questions

This book is excellent - I've never seen another computer science book of its type or quality. It is essentially a hardware book for non-EE types; however, the authors literally leave no stone unturned (in chapter 5, for example, they state, "we have only included examples of memory designs that have found their way into commercial implementations"). If a computer has ever, in the history of computing, used a particular design approach, that approach is detailed and compared carefully against all other existing approaches. When I first saw the size of the book, I was amazed that anybody could fill so much text with any information (useful or not) - after reading the first few chapters, I was amazed that they could fit so much information into such a relatively small space!

I have to agree with the other reviewers about the exercises - perhaps 5-10 "warm up" exercises (with answers) before the hardcore exercises presented by the authors might have helped solidify some of the concepts before being hit with the post-PHD level exercises they throw at you.

Also, they drive me crazy by insisting that the word data is plural (e.g. "the data are ready"). It probably technically is, but none of the rest of us talk like that. You should stop, too.

Other Reviews

• excellent reference guide
• The best Computer Architecture text?
• Dont go for 3rd edition even though it is a great text book!!!!!!!
• Perfectly confusing!
• Thorough book, tough questions