A no-nonsense, practical guide to current and future processor and
computer architectures that enables you to design computer systems and
develop better software applications across a variety of domains
Key Features:
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Understand digital circuitry through the study of transistors, logic
gates, and sequential logic
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Learn the architecture of x86, x64, ARM, and RISC-V processors,
iPhones, and high-performance gaming PCs
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Study the design principles underlying the domains of cybersecurity,
bitcoin, and self-driving cars
Book Description:
Are you a software developer, systems designer, or computer architecture
student looking for a methodical introduction to digital device
architectures, but are overwhelmed by the complexity of modern systems?
This step-by-step guide will teach you how modern computer systems work
with the help of practical examples and exercises. You'll gain insights
into the internal behavior of processors down to the circuit level and
will understand how the hardware executes code developed in high-level
languages.
This book will teach you the fundamentals of computer systems including
transistors, logic gates, sequential logic, and instruction pipelines.
You will learn details of modern processor architectures and instruction
sets including x86, x64, ARM, and RISC-V, and take on practical
challenges such as implementing a RISC-V processor in a low-cost FPGA
board and writing a quantum computing program and running it on an
actual quantum computer.
This edition has been further updated to cover the architecture and
design principles underlying the important domains of cybersecurity,
blockchain and bitcoin mining, and self-driving vehicles.
By the end of this book, you will have a thorough understanding of
modern processors and computer architecture and the future directions
these technologies are likely to take.
What You Will Learn:
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Understand the fundamentals of transistor technology and digital
circuits
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Explore the concepts underlying pipelining and superscalar processing
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Implement a complete RISC-V processor in a low-cost FPGA
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Understand the technology used to implement virtual machines
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Learn about security-critical computing applications like financial
transaction processing
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Get up to speed with blockchain and the hardware architectures used in
bitcoin mining
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Explore the capabilities of self-navigating vehicle computing
architectures
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Write a quantum computing program and run it on a real quantum
computer
Who this book is for:
This book is for software developers, computer engineering students,
system designers, reverse engineers, and anyone looking to understand
the architecture and design principles underlying modern computer
systems: ranging from tiny, embedded devices to warehouse-size cloud
server farms. A general understanding of computer processors is helpful
but not required.
