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Computer Book Store > Computer books beginning with E
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Essentials of Computer Architecture |
Author: Douglas E. Comer
Published: 2004-08-23 |
List price: $112.00
Our price: $90.27
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As of: March 11th, 2010 08:55:24 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Great Purchase
Great sale. Purchase was smooth as silk and received book in great condition and very quickly!@
Computer architecture for the non-hardware professional
I was looking for a book that would give me a better understanding of how computer hardware works, without requiring me to have taken EE courses in college. This book was exactly what I was looking for - the Computer Hardware 101 class I missed.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know at more detailed level how their computer works, and particularly recommend it to other software professionals who want to know more from a theoretical perspective. Professor Comer introduced me to TCP/IP over a decade ago, and now he's done the same thing for computer architecture - this book si both technically crisp and very readable.
 Not a usual Comer book ...
I have been a big fan of Comer's networking books for a long time now. Back in 1994, beginning my career as a software engineer at a small protocol-software development company, I had used Comer's networking book to understand TCP/IP suite. (Back then Tanenbaum's 2ed book dealt with theoretical concepts rather than real-life examples.) Comer's networking book helped me get off the ground and become very productive with basic embedded IP protocol stack in a week.
Subsequently, out of admiration for such a great teacher, I have bought almost all the various books that Comer has written.
Essentials of Computer Architecture was the latest addition to the Comer-books section of my personal library. A few days back I decided to read it. And I was amazed at the bad and incoherent writing in this book. My first guess was that Comer had not even written this book. Somebody was pulling off a scam off his name. Further reading convinced me that this book is worthless and definitely not worthy of carrying Prof Comer's name on it.
The book starts with the premise that computer arch and org is a required course in all CompSci and Eng depts. Without doubt, most of the currently popular books on CompArchOrg are heavily biased towards people with electrical engineering background. But, people who would eventually be involved in developing software also need to understand how computers are organized and designed. So, apparently Comer decided to write this book focusing on "concepts" rather than details. I figured only Prof Comer could set and achieve such a lofty goal. So, I started reading the book.
The problem with the "concepts" rather than details approach starts becoming apparent from the very firt page: You cannot teach digital logic without some references to electrical and electronics concepts. The high level digital logic exposition presented in this book is bound to leave any student (reading from only this book) very, very, very ... confused about eveyrthing he/she reads in the few pages devoted to digital logic.
Secondly, you cannot talk about data representation and the importance of 2-s complement, etc without talking about how digital adders and multipliers work. "Why 2-s complement" can only be answered by students who have a good understanding of how arithmentic circuits can be built using digital logic components.
The book spirals downward from the beginning adding more and more confusing "concepts" without any proper explanation.
I think you would do yourself a lot of good just reviewing the slides on the ESA website. Those slides have about all the contents that the book has.
Finally, for real computer arch and org courses, I am sure there are much better books out there that talk about the details as well as the concepts. I feel readers of this book would come out of school completely confused about what is computer arch and org and its importance in compSciEng departments.
I would wait for a 2ed that is worthy of Prof Comer's name.
Computer architecture 97% fat free
Comer, a distinguished professor of nearly everything (Purdue University) writes another book that weaves highly technical subject matter into prose that reads like a novel. Comer has a habit of writing beautiful technical books.
Comer is famous for his masterpiece, his Internetworking with TCP/IP series. But Comer has also designed and fabricated VLSI circuits at Bell Labs, and has world class expertise in other areas. Comer knows what he's talking about and it shows.
I loved this book. I just couldn't put it down. It's one of those rare technical books that you take to bed, and you've read half the book in a day.
This book was written for computer science majors, but I'm an electrical engineering student and I really appreciated it for its broad, elegant overview of computer architecture. Comer doesn't force a thousand pages of rambling opinion pieces down your throat. Instead you get ~300 pages of just what you need, 97% fat free. Another wonderful feature of Comer's unique computer architecture text is the practical work. Comer provides a series of labs where you will wire up logic gates and build stuff. Magnificent. So if you want to stop before becoming Seymour Cray, you will like this book, too. Those who have never taken a digital logic course will breeze through and understand how computers are constructed from logic gates up, and how they work at a simplified model level.
It doesn't matter if you're in CS or EE, this book gives a breadth that you will appreciate before you dig into stuff like Verilog and VHDL for advanced digital logic and computer engineering courses. Comer has an uncanny ability to make it so clear that you'd have to make an effort not to learn anything.
This book covers hundreds of the most fundamental concepts you must learn whether this will be your only book on computer architecture or you're pursuing a course to become a degreed computer engineer. In bite-sized pieces Comer clearly and gracefully lays naked some pretty hairy stuff like clocking, feedback, arithmetic logic, microprogramming, out of order execution of instructions, virtual memory and caches, pipelining in hardware and software, input/output, and most importantly the "big picture" of modern computer systems we use today. What I found the most pleasing about this book is the precise point that interconnects between 1) enough to get a satisfying knowledge of computer architecture; 2) a real understanding of digital logic by doing it with a lab exercise; and 3) a low enough page count so that you can comfortably read it and absorb everything in a week, all without being overwhelmed or bored to death. Comer hits the spot. Bullseye.
There is just too much covered in the book for me to detail it all (check the contents), but suffice it to say that you end up with a peculiar enlightened feeling!
Just the useful education, thanks; hold the blabbering.
Comer's Computer Architecture text great for non-EE classes
I adopted Essentials of Computer Architecture for my course
because of the breadth of coverage and the hardware oriented labs. For a nominal investment in a breadboard and components, my students get hands-on experience with logic gates, directly tied to the text. Dr. Comer's Essentials of Architecture is an exceptional textbook.
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