Book Image

Modern Computer Architecture and Organization

By : Jim Ledin
Book Image

Modern Computer Architecture and Organization

By: Jim Ledin

Overview of this book

Are you a software developer, systems designer, or computer architecture student looking for a methodical introduction to digital device architectures but overwhelmed by their complexity? This book will help you to learn how modern computer systems work, from the lowest level of transistor switching to the macro view of collaborating multiprocessor servers. You'll gain unique insights into the internal behavior of processors that execute the code developed in high-level languages and enable you to design more efficient and scalable software systems. The book will teach you the fundamentals of computer systems including transistors, logic gates, sequential logic, and instruction operations. You will learn details of modern processor architectures and instruction sets including x86, x64, ARM, and RISC-V. You will see how to implement a RISC-V processor in a low-cost FPGA board and how to write a quantum computing program and run it on an actual quantum computer. By the end of this book, you will have a thorough understanding of modern processor and computer architectures and the future directions these architectures are likely to take.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
1
Section 1: Fundamentals of Computer Architecture
8
Section 2: Processor Architectures and Instruction Sets
14
Section 3: Applications of Computer Architecture

Exercises

  1. A 16-bit embedded processor has separate memory regions for code and data. Code is stored in flash memory and modifiable data is stored in RAM. Some data values, such as constants and initial values for RAM data items, are stored in the same flash memory region as the program instructions. RAM and ROM reside in the same address space. Which of the processor architectures discussed in this chapter best describes this processor?
  2. The processor described in Exercise 1 has memory security features that prevent executing code from modifying program instruction memory. The processor uses physical addresses to access instructions and data. Does this processor contain an MMU?
  3. The order of accessing sequential elements in a large data structure can have a measurable impact on processing speed due to factors such as the reuse of TLB entries. Accessing distant array elements in sequence (that is, elements that are not in the same page frame as previously accessed elements...