Modern Computer Architecture and Organization

A no-nonsense, practical guide to current and future processor and computer architectures, enabling you to design computer systems and develop better software applications across a variety of domainsKey FeaturesUnderstand digital circuitry with the help of transistors, logic gates, and sequential logicExamine the architecture and instruction sets of x86, x64, ARM, and RISC-V processorsExplore the architecture of modern devices such as the iPhone X and high-performance gaming PCsBook DescriptionAre 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.What you will learnGet to grips with transistor technology and digital circuit principlesDiscover the functional elements of computer processorsUnderstand pipelining and superscalar executionWork with floating-point data formatsUnderstand the purpose and operation of the supervisor modeImplement a complete RISC-V processor in a low-cost FPGAExplore the techniques used in virtual machine implementationWrite a quantum computing program and run it on a quantum computerWho this book is forThis 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 from tiny embedded devices to warehouse-size cloud server farms. A general understanding of computer processors is helpful but not required.

Jim Ledin is the CEO of Ledin Engineering, Inc. Jim is an expert in embedded software and hardware design, development, and testing. He is also accomplished in embedded system cybersecurity assessment and penetration testing. He has a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University and an M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. Jim is a registered professional electrical engineer in California, a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), and a Certified Penetration Tester (CPT).