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BOOK REVIEWS M. David Freedman, Editor B77-21 Structured Computer Organization-Andrew S. Tanenbaum (New YOrk: Prentice-Hall, 1976, 443 pp., Z:~8.50) * This book, intended as a text for a first course in computer architecture and assembly language, covers a wide range of topics with adequate depth for use as a reference for more advanced students. Most texts on th~ subject treat computer hardware and software as separate entities. This book, however, takes a refreshingly different approach in asserting that "hardware and software are logically equivalent." A modern computer is considered to be composed of a hierarchy of levels. Each level is a virtual machine whose programs are either translated or interpreted by the virtual machine in the lower level. Such an approach seems very convenient and logical in explaining contemporary computer architecture. The text focuses its discussion on four levels of computer architecture. {1) The microprogramming level {Chapter 2) is immediately on top of the machine hardware and interprets the machine language. A hypothetical machine is used in the text to illustrate step by step how machine instructions are interpreted by microprograms. Some important microprogramming design issues are also discussed. (21 The conventional machine level {Chapter 31 is supported by microprogramming. The presentation of this level includes coverage of machine instructions, data representation, address modes, and program execution control. (3) The operating system level (Chapter 5) runs on the conventional machine level and provides users with instruc- *Reprinted by Permission from Computer, June 1977 tions and facilities not available in lower levels. Virtual I/O, process synchronization, and file and memory management are topics included in this chapter. (4) The assembly language level {ChaPter 61 is t h e only one of the four levels to translate its programs. Besides the assembly process, this chapter covers searching and sorting methods, macros, and the linking and loading processes. The contents of the other chapters can be summarized as follows. Chapter 1 is an introduction which briefly explains the rationale of looking at computer architecture as a hierarchy of levels. Chapter 4 describes the various hardware component and data communication methods. Chapter 7 considers methods of implementing multi-level machines, including a study of operating-system-supported virtual machines using the IBM VM/370 System as an example. Chapter 8 contains a useful annotated bibliography. The IBM 370 Series, CDC Cyber 70 Series, and the D E C PDP-11 Series computers are used as examples throughout the text. The Burroughs B1700 and the G.E. MULTICS are also used to aid the discussions on microprogramming and virtual memory, respectively. The use of these examples is a strong point of the book and provides further insight into the subject matter. The author might consider expanding two areas when he prepares the second edition of this book. First, the discussion of hardware could be substantiated to make the treatment more complete. In its present form, the book could mislead a reader into thinking that the microprogramming level is indispensable and uniformly implemented. Second, the structure of operating systems could be covered in more detail. Such a discussion would have complemented the overall approach. It is, however, an excellent book that is suitable for use as either a text or a reference on computer architecture. C. V. Ramamoorthy UC Berkeley B77-28 Content Addressable Parallel Processors--Caxton C. Foster (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1976, 233 pp., $11.95} ** The computer architectures of nonranging von Neumann machines from simple associative processors to content addressable parallel processors or CAPPs--are surveyed in this book. Written on an introductory level suitable for courses on computer architecture, it considers the relative costs and advantages of a CAPP and discusses elementary machines in detail. Logical and arithmetic algorithms are presented by means of detailed flow charts. The book suggests a number of simple CAPP apphcations--e.g., radar analyzer, connectivity tester, spelling corrector, and digital differential analyzer--and covers applications in conventional computing as well. The architecture of Starch, the Goodyear Aerospace processor, is briefly outlined, along with that of some "paper machines." As a final note, the design of a mixed CAPP-von Neumann machine is discussed. A weU.documented book that reviews many of the important papers it} the area of associative processors, it will be a useful supplement to the oexts in computer architecture and design courses. - Daniel R. McGlynn **Reprinted by Permission from Computer, August 1977
ACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News – Association for Computing Machinery
Published: Aug 1, 1978
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