 |
|
When I reviewed the first edition of this book in the October, 1990 Programmer's Bookshelf column of Dr. Dobb's Journal, I wrote:
Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach is a tour-de-force on several levels. The book is a masterpiece of technical writing -- Hennessy and Patterson's clear, direct style is absorbing and effective, and their enthusiasm for their subject is contagious. The design and production, too, are impeccable. Furthermore, because the book presents a hardheaded and pragmatic approach to computer design, based on real examples, real measurements, and lessons learned from the successes and misadventures of the past, it should revolutionize the teaching of computer architecture and implementation.
Although this book was not written primarily for programmers, it is a thorough and extraordinarily wide-ranging education in that magical interface between the programmer's intentions and the electron's actions. It should be read by every software craftsman who cares about wringing the last drop of performance from his machine.
Flowery words, without a doubt -- the type of glowing review that one sometimes regrets a few years later. In this case, however, the book (and my review) have stood the test of time. It is even more clear now that Computer Architecture is one of the all-time greats.
The second edition is about 200 pages longer than the first and has a significant shift in focus, although the structure is much the same. The first edition contained fascinating explanations of the IBM 360 and DEC VAX architectures as the archetypes of "mainframes" and "minicomputers" respectively. You'll never find a clearer explanation of IBM's "channels" anywhere. The second edition jettisons almost all the IBM and VAX material, and substitutes discussions of the HP PA-RISC and Motorola PowerPC for the Intel i860 and Motorola 88000, but considerably expands the coverage of high-performance instruction execution strategies, multiprocessing, caches, and magnetic storage. Comprehensive sections on processor interconnection, networking, and 64-bit architectures have been added.
Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, Second Edition is a must-buy for every serious programmer, engineer, computer science student, and technical library. But hold on to your copy of the first edition as well; it may come in very handy in a few decades when your grandchildren ask you "What were those giant VAX boxes anyway?" -- Ray Duncan
| Readability |
|
| Originality |
|
| Organization |
|
| Accuracy |
|
| Consistency |
|
| Depth |
|
| Timeliness |
|
| Editing |
|
| Design |
|
| Overall Value |
|
Explanation of ERCB rating scale: No stars = unacceptable, 1 Star = marginal, 2 Stars = average, 3 Stars = above average, 4 Stars = exceptional, 5 Stars = stellar.