The Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture provides a one-semester introduction to computer organization and architecture. Created in direct correlation to the ACM-IEEE Computing Curricula 2001 guidelines, this text exposes the inner working of a modern digital computer through an integrated presentation of fundamental concepts and principles. With real-life examples and a focus on practical application, this text encourages its readers to develop a “big picture” understanding of how the essential organization and architecture concepts are applied in the world of computing.

Distinctive Features

• The authors write from a computer science perspective, without machine-specific terminology, motivating topics before covering them.
• I/O and data compression are comprehensively covered, and cache memories and paging are introduced in a clear, straightforward presentation.
• The text includes an overview of various architectures, including RISC, superscalar machines, instruction-level parallelism, neural networks, and distributed architectures.
• Learning Resources including the MARIE architecture, a memory tutorial and simulator, tutorial software and more are provided on the book’s web site.

Covers the ACM-IEEE Computing Curricula 2001 topics for Organization & Architecture:

• AR1. Digital logic and digital systems
• AR2. Machine-level representation of data
• AR3. Assembly-level machine organization
• AR4. Memory system organization and architecture
• AR5. Interfacing and communication
• AR6. Functional organization
• AR7. Multiprocessing and alternative architectures
• AR8. Performance enhancements
• AR9. Architecture for networks and distributed systems