Microprocessors & System Design Books

Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface. Third Edition, Revised

David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy

Amazon Price: $58.45 List Price: $64.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Morgan Kaufmann Amazon Marketplace: 62 new & used starting at $53.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> Computer Design
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Design & Architecture
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Whats New in the Third Edition, Revised Printing

The same great book gets better! This revised printing features all of the original content along with these additional features:

Appendix A (Assemblers, Linkers, and the SPIM Simulator) has been moved from the CD-ROM into the printed book

Corrections and bug fixes

Third Edition features

New pedagogical features

Understanding Program Performance
- Analyzes key performance issues from the programmers perspective
Check Yourself Questions
- Helps students assess their understanding of key points of a section
Computers In the Real World
- Illustrates the diversity of applications of computing technology beyond traditional desktop and servers
For More Practice
- Provides students with additional problems they can tackle
In More Depth
- Presents new information and challenging exercises for the advanced student

New reference features

Highlighted glossary terms and definitions appear on the book page, as bold-faced entries in the index, and as a separate and searchable reference on the CD.
A complete index of the material in the book and on the CD appears in the printed index and the CD includes a fully searchable version of the same index.
Historical Perspectives and Further Readings have been updated and expanded to include the history of software R&D.
CD-Library provides materials collected from the web which directly support the text.


In addition to thoroughly updating every aspect of the text to reflect the most current computing technology, the third edition

Uses standard 32-bit MIPS 32 as the primary teaching ISA.
Presents the assembler-to-HLL translations in both C and Java.
Highlights the latest developments in architecture in Real Stuff sections:
- Intel IA-32
- Power PC 604
- Googles PC cluster
- Pentium P4
- SPEC CPU2000 benchmark suite for processors
- SPEC Web99 benchmark for web servers
- EEMBC benchmark for embedded systems
- AMD Opteron memory hierarchy
- AMD vs. 1A-64

New support for distinct course goals

Many of the adopters who have used our book throughout its two editions are refining their courses with a greater hardware or software focus. We have provided new material to support these course goals:

New material to support a Hardware Focus

Using logic design conventions
Designing with hardware description languages
Advanced pipelining
Designing with FPGAs
HDL simulators and tutorials
Xilinx CAD tools

New material to support a Software Focus

How compilers work
How to optimize compilers
How to implement object oriented languages
MIPS simulator and tutorial
History sections on programming languages, compilers, operating systems and databases


On the CD

NEW: Search function to search for content on both the CD-ROM and the printed text
CD-Bars: Full length sections that are introduced in the book and presented on the CD
CD-Appendixes: Appendices B-D
CD-Library: Materials collected from the web which directly support the text
CD-Exercises: For More Practice provides exercises and solutions for self-study
In More Depth presents new information and challenging exercises for the advanced or curious student
Glossary: Terms that are defined in the text are collected in this searchable reference
Further Reading: References are organized by the chapter they support
Software: HDL simulators, MIPS simulators, and FPGA design tools
Tutorials: SPIM, Verilog, and VHDL
Additional Support: Processor Models, Labs, Homeworks, Index covering the book and CD contents

Instructor Support

Instructor support provided on textbooks.elsevier.com:

Solutions to all the exercises
Figures from the book in a number of formats
Lecture slides prepared by the authors and other instructors
Lecture notes

Computer Architecture, Fourth Edition: A Quantitative Approach (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design)

John L. Hennessy, David A. Patterson

Amazon Price: $80.05 List Price: $88.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Morgan Kaufmann Amazon Marketplace: 65 new & used starting at $65.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> Computer Design
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Design & Architecture
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The era of seemingly unlimited growth in processor performance is over: single chip architectures can no longer overcome the performance limitations imposed by the power they consume and the heat they generate. Today, Intel and other semiconductor firms are abandoning the single fast processor model in favor of multi-core microprocessors--chips that combine two or more processors in a single package. In the fourth edition of Computer Architecture, the authors focus on this historic shift, increasing their coverage of multiprocessors and exploring the most effective ways of achieving parallelism as the key to unlocking the power of multiple processor architectures. Additionally, the new edition has expanded and updated coverage of design topics beyond processor performance, including power, reliability, availability, and dependability.

CD System Requirements
PDF Viewer
The CD material includes PDF documents that you can read with a PDF viewer such as Adobe, Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Recent versions of Adobe Reader for some platforms are included on the CD.

HTML Browser
The navigation framework on this CD is delivered in HTML and JavaScript. It is recommended that you install the latest version of your favorite HTML browser to view this CD. The content has been verified under Windows XP with the following browsers: Internet Explorer 6.0, Firefox 1.5; under Mac OS X (Panther) with the following browsers: Internet Explorer 5.2, Firefox 1.0.6, Safari 1.3; and under Mandriva Linux 2006 with the following browsers: Firefox 1.0.6, Konqueror 3.4.2, Mozilla 1.7.11.
The content is designed to be viewed in a browser window that is at least 720 pixels wide. You may find the content does not display well if your display is not set to at least 1024x768 pixel resolution.

Operating System
This CD can be used under any operating system that includes an HTML browser and a PDF viewer. This includes Windows, Mac OS, and most Linux and Unix systems.

Increased coverage on achieving parallelism with multiprocessors.

Case studies of latest technology from industry including the Sun Niagara Multiprocessor, AMD Opteron, and Pentium 4.

Three review appendices, included in the printed volume, review the basic and intermediate principles the main text relies upon.

Eight reference appendices, collected on the CD, cover a range of topics including specific architectures, embedded systems, application specific processors--some guest authored by subject experts.

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition)

Frederick P. Brooks

Amazon Price: $27.71 List Price: $39.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Addison-Wesley Professional Amazon Marketplace: 87 new & used starting at $18.48

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Software Design, Testing & Engineering -> Software Development
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 126 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A must-read for project leads in the software industry 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

An excellent book and a must-have for all those involved in the software industry. The concepts and problems described in this book are still valid to this day in our modern software development process.
I recommend this book to everyone active in the field of software development.

A insightful book about software project development 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have been a software project manager for many years. One of the biggest problem that I encountered was what the author called as "Second System Effect". Some times, architects were unable to discipline himself to avoid over-designing systems in the second project. Their goals were to build perfect systems that would streamline all processes without considering the costs and patience of business groups. To convince others that they were right, they could come up with various reasons that sounded very reasonable. Unfortunately, they were not aware of the cost, time window for product delivery, and etc.

This books provided insightful view about this effect. If our architects could have read this book, they could avoid such problems and became more successful.

Editorial Review:

The classic book on the human elements of software engineering. Software tools and development environments may have changed in the 21 years since the first edition of this book, but the peculiarly nonlinear economies of scale in collaborative work and the nature of individuals and groups has not changed an epsilon. If you write code or depend upon those who do, get this book as soon as possible -- from Amazon.com Books, your library, or anyone else. You (and/or your colleagues) will be forever grateful. Very Highest Recommendation.

MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536): Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation

Tony Northrup, Shawn Wildermuth, Bill Ryan

Amazon Price: $38.49 List Price: $69.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Microsoft Press Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $30.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Certification Central -> Publisher -> Microsoft Press
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Certification Central -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> Computer Design

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 74 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Hundreds! If not thousands! 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

OK, this book is a little dated, but I got a really good chuckle from an anecdote relayed by one of the authors that is still funny. Early in the book, on page 68, Mr. Wildermuth attempts to assert his expertise to the reader by declaring that he has "written hundreds, if not thousands, of lines of code". I have shown this little blurb around to many of my colleagues and clients. It has turned into somewhat of a euphemism for a n00b. For instance:

Dev1: "How did the interview go with Ted?"
Dev2: "Not great. He's got a good personality, but his skill set is a little weak."
Dev1: "What kind of stuff has he worked on?"
Dev2: "I would say that he has probably written hundreds, if not thousands, of lines of code."
Both: "ROFL!"

or

Dev1: "Holy cow! Come over here and look at this mudball of code that I have to support now."
Dev2: "Wow! You're not kidding. Who wrote this?"
Dev1: "Who do you think? Joe."
Dev2: "Oh man, he's written hundreds ..."
Dev1: "If not thousands!"
Dev2: "... of lines of code."

All that said, this book does the job. It helped me pass the test. I have taken quite a few Microsoft exams and I have usually turned to the Microsoft Press Self-Paced Training Kit books as a first resource. This book lives up to the good name the series has earned for itself.

I see from many of the reviews here that readers are disappointed if the book doesn't spoon feed them all the way through the exam. I would say that, for myself, preparing for an exam includes a multi-pronged approach. It starts with these books and continues to MSDN and Transcender. But most importantly, I think you have to definitely open up Visual Studio and practice. Write some code! Maybe even hundreds, if not thousands, of lines. ;)

Editorial Review:

Get in-depth exam prep for Exam 70-536, a core MCTS exam for the new Microsoft Technology Specialist and Professional Developer certifications and build real-world job skills. Includes test questions, reviews, case studies, code samples, and more.

Windows Server® 2008 Resource Kit

Windows Server Team at Microsoft, Microsoft MVPs and Partners

Amazon Price: $157.49 List Price: $249.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Microsoft Press Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $153.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Microsoft -> Development -> Internet Information Server
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Microsoft -> Operating Systems -> Windows NT
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Microsoft -> Operating Systems -> Windows NT Server

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Get the essential reference for deploying, managing, automating, troubleshooting, and optimizing Windows Server 2008 with expert insights and best practices from Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) and the Windows Server team at Microsoft. This official Microsoft® RESOURCE KIT features six volumes of in-depth technical information that every Windows® administrator needs to understand to master Windows Server 2008 administration. You get detailed information about networking, network aspect projection, security features, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0, Active Directory®, and Windows PowerShellTM. You also get more than 200 time-saving tools, scripts for automation, job aids, eBook resources, plus a fully searchable eBook of each RESOURCE KIT volume on DVD.

Key Book Benefits:

Provides six volumes of in-depth technical information for administering, optimizing, troubleshooting, and automating Windows Server 2008

Delivers definitive product information with expert insights straight from the Windows Server team at Microsoft, Microsoft MVPs, and field consultants

Details information that every Windows administrator needs about Windows Server performance, troubleshooting, security services, group policy, Active Directory, IIS 7, and Windows PowerShell

Features a DVD with more than 200 essential tools and scripts, eBooks with additional technical information, tips, and best practices plus a fully searchable eBook of all six RESOURCE KIT volumes

Mastering VMware Infrastructure 3 (Mastering)

Chris McCain

Amazon Price: $37.79 List Price: $59.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Sybex Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $30.75

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> Computer Design
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Design & Architecture
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Networking -> Networks, Protocols & APIs -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

If you are an admin, get this book now 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have been waiting a long time for a resource like Mastering VMWare Infrastructure 3. After 1/2 year navigating lengthy pdf files to get my job done, the author of this book pulled off a methodical, yet detailed resource to allow you to truly master VI3. I have found answers to questions even VMWare tech support couldn't give me. In one night, I am at least twice as knowledgable about my VI3 environment, and therefore twice as confident. If you can't get funding for the VCP course, get this book, and if you need an additional resource, get it anyway. It rocks.

Editorial Review:

Cut hardware costs, expand your capacity, and manage an entire fleet of virtual machines in your enterprise with the leading virtualization solution, VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3), by applying the step-by-step instructions in Mastering VMware® Infrastructure 3. Packed with the technical details, best practices, and how-tos you need to install, configure, and run a virtual infrastructure at maximum efficiency, this guide is comprehensive and essential. Learn how to create and manage virtual networks and machines, configure every product in the VI3 suite, monitor resources and performance, maintain security, and much more.

Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture (Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

Martin Fowler

Amazon Price: $45.03 List Price: $64.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Addison-Wesley Professional Amazon Marketplace: 64 new & used starting at $39.43

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Small Business & Entrepreneurship -> New Business Enterprises
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> Computer Design
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> PCs

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 54 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Misses out on the important patterns 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book is a complete beginner's handbook for enterprise patterns.

1) The "Mapping to Relational Database Patterns" section discusses patterns that are completely intuitive. I recall logically coming to this conclusions when I started programming in Visual Basic in 99. Nothing new in this section.

2) The "Concurrency" section is criminal in nature and assumes that the application runs on high-cost server. Process-per-session? Thread-per-request? Come on!! Has the author missed out on the Reactor, Proactor and Active Object patterns (he does reference ACE but only as a reference). These patterns have been recognized as not scalable in the late 90s.

3)The distribution patterns are clearly incomplete and desire a lot of details.

If you're just starting out,as a System Architect :-), you'll find this useful. Otherwise, use MSDN or ACE for enterprise patterns.

Great reference for building business apps 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

For me, this book is an invaluable reference for building business apps.

Want help choosing a framework? Want some guidance for solving common business problems? These patterns help solve these kinds of problems.

NOTE: I have tried to find other sources for these patterns, and I have only found Fowlers website, which is really only a summary and recommends purchasing the book.

This book has examples in both Java and C#. You can certainly use these patterns in .NET.

Under .NET you are not actually forced to use the Table Model. I think the purpose of this book is to help you realize this.

There are frameworks for .NET that use the Domain Model and Data Mapper patterns, but you would never know this unless you were familiar with the patterns in this book.

For me, reading this book didn't allow me to write new code, but it did allow me to understand my choice to use a particular framework/technique over another.

Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals (4th Edition)

M. Morris Mano, Charles Kime

Amazon Price: $123.20 List Price: $154.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prentice Hall Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $111.08

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> Computer Design
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

The worst I have ever seen 1 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

This book is the WORST book I ever used. There are barely any examples. The contents are written very unclearly. It takes long time to undertand the SOLVED EXAMPLE in the book, let alone the problems.
Even solved problems on the website, you find wrong solutions...
I DO NOT recommand anyone even read this book...

Needs more examples! 2 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

The other reviews said it all. This book is detailed and thorough, but is practically impossible to learn from because there are not enough examples, and there are no answers to the problems! You can get selected solutions on the website, but even with the answers, it can often be very difficult to figure out how to do the problems.

I'm on Amazon.com right now because I'm desperately seeking other books that will help me pass my Logic Design class...

Editorial Review:

Featuring a strong emphasis on the fundamentals underlying contemporary logic design using hardware description languages, synthesis, and verification, this book focuses on the ever-evolving applications of basic computer design concepts with strong connections to real-world technology. Treatment of logic design, digital system design, and computer design. Ideal for self-study by engineers and computer scientists.

Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects

Tom Igoe

Amazon Price: $19.79 List Price: $29.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Make Books Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $17.29

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Internet & Networking

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Building electronic projects that interact with the physical world is good fun. But when devices that you've built start to talk to each other, things really start to get interesting. Through a series of simple projects, you'll learn how to get your creations to communicate with one another by forming networks of smart devices that carry on conversations with you and your environment. Whether you need to plug some sensors in your home to the Internet or create a device that can interact wirelessly with other creations, Making Things Talk explains exactly what you need.

This book is perfect for people with little technical training but a lot of interest. Maybe you're a science teacher who wants to show students how to monitor weather conditions at several locations at once, or a sculptor who wants to stage a room of choreographed mechanical sculptures. Making Things Talk demonstrates that once you figure out how objects communicate -- whether they're microcontroller-powered devices, email programs, or networked databases -- you can get them to interact.

Each chapter in contains instructions on how to build working projects that help you do just that. You will:

• Make your pet's bed send you email
• Make your own seesaw game controller that communicates over the Internet
• Learn how to use ZigBee and Bluetooth radios to transmit sensor data wirelessly
• Set up communication between microcontrollers, personal computers, and web servers using three easy-to-program, open source environments: Arduino/Wiring, Processing, and PHP.
• Write programs to send data across the Internet based on physical activity in your home, office, or backyard
• And much more

With a little electronics know-how, basic (not necessarily in BASIC) programming skills, a couple of inexpensive microcontroller kits and some network modules to make them communicate using Ethernet, ZigBee, and Bluetooth, you can get started on these projects right away. With Making Things Talk, the possibilities are practically endless.

Embedded Linux Primer: A Practical Real-World Approach (Prentice Hall Open Source Software Development Series)

Christopher Hallinan

Amazon Price: $40.80 List Price: $49.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prentice Hall PTR Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $35.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> Microprocessors & System Design -> Embedded Systems
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Operating Systems -> Linux -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Comprehensive Real-World Guidance for Every Embedded Developer and Engineer

This book brings together indispensable knowledge for building efficient, high-value, Linux-based embedded products: information that has never been assembled in one place before. Drawing on years of experience as an embedded Linux consultant and field application engineer, Christopher Hallinan offers solutions for the specific technical issues you’re most likely to face, demonstrates how to build an effective embedded Linux environment, and shows how to use it as productively as possible.

Hallinan begins by touring a typical Linux-based embedded system, introducing key concepts and components, and calling attention to differences between Linux and traditional embedded environments. Writing from the embedded developer’s viewpoint, he thoroughly addresses issues ranging from kernel building and initialization to bootloaders, device drivers to file systems.

Hallinan thoroughly covers the increasingly popular BusyBox utilities; presents a step-by-step walkthrough of porting Linux to custom boards; and introduces real-time configuration via CONFIG_RT--one of today’s most exciting developments in embedded Linux. You’ll find especially detailed coverage of using development tools to analyze and debug embedded systems--including the art of kernel debugging.

• Compare leading embedded Linux processors
• Understand the details of the Linux kernel initialization process
• Learn about the special role of bootloaders in embedded Linux systems, with specific emphasis on U-Boot
• Use embedded Linux file systems, including JFFS2--with detailed guidelines for building Flash-resident file system images
• Understand the Memory Technology Devices subsystem for flash (and other) memory devices
• Master gdb, KGDB, and hardware JTAG debugging
• Learn many tips and techniques for debugging within the Linux kernel
• Maximize your productivity in cross-development environments
• Prepare your entire development environment, including TFTP, DHCP, and NFS target servers
• Configure, build, and initialize BusyBox to support your unique requirements

About the Author

Christopher Hallinan, field applications engineer at MontaVista software, has worked for more than 20 years in assignments ranging from engineering and engineering management to marketing and business development. He spent four years as an independent development consultant in the embedded Linux marketplace. His work has appeared in magazines, including Telecommunications Magazine, Fiber Optics Magazine, and Aviation Digest.