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Packt Publishing

Modern Computer Architecture and Organization: Learn x86, ARM, and RISC-V architectures and the design of smartphones, PCs, and cloud servers

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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 domainsKey FeaturesUnderstand digital circuitry through the study of transistors, logic gates, and sequential logicLearn the architecture of x86, x64, ARM, and RISC-V processors, iPhones, and high-performance gaming PCsStudy the design principles underlying the domains of cybersecurity, bitcoin, and self-driving carsBook DescriptionAre 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. You will see how to implement a RISC-V processor in a low-cost FPGA board and write a quantum computing program and run it on an actual quantum computer.This edition has been 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 learnUnderstand the fundamentals of transistor technology and digital circuitsExplore the concepts underlying pipelining and superscalar processingImplement a complete RISC-V processor in a low-cost FPGAUnderstand the technology used to implement virtual machinesLearn about security-critical computing applications like financial transaction processingGet up to speed with blockchain and the hardware architectures used in bitcoin miningExplore the capabilities of self-navigating vehicle computing architecturesWrite a quantum computing program and run it on a real 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: ranging from tiny, embedded devices to warehouse-size cloud server farms. A general understanding of computer processors is helpful but not required.Table of ContentsIntroducing Computer ArchitectureDigital LogicProcessor ElementsComputer System ComponentsHardware-Software InterfaceSpecialized Computing DomainsProcessor and Memory ArchitecturesPerformance-Enhancing TechniquesSpecialized Processor ExtensionsModern Processor Architectures and Instruction SetsThe RISC-V Architecture and Instruction SetProcessor VirtualizationDomain-Specific Computer ArchitecturesCybersecurity and Confidential Computing ArchitecturesBlockchain and Bitcoin Mining ArchitecturesSelf-Driving Vehicle ArchitecturesQuantum Computing and Other Future Directions in Computer ArchitecturesAppendix Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Packt Publishing


Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 4, 2022


Edition ‏ : ‎ 2nd ed.


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 666 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1803234512


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 19


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.66 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 1.5 x 9.25 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #950,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #57 in Computer Hardware Design #124 in Microprocessor Design #135 in Computer Hardware Design & Architecture


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • New and updated 2nd edition includes all the latest computer architectures.
Format: Paperback
I have also read and reviewed the first edition and found it to be a great read, and like the first this is very digestible and easy to follow. Though you would need to understand technology a bit, I find Jim Ledin's ability to break down complex material to make it much more comprehensible is suburb. This book covers everything from the first edition as well as much more like things such as DDR5 SDRAM, RISC-V variants like SoC and IoT now using AI and ML, iPhone13, NVIDIA GF RTX, Ryzen 9, Cloud Applications, Cybersecurity, Cryptocurrencies, Self-driving cars, Quantum computing and more. This book is wonderful for anyone looking to get into the computer architecture or software architecture industries. It is also valuable for anyone still in school or still seeking out what focus they should start working towards within the computer science or any related technology centered classes. That to me is one of the greatest achievements of a book like this, is that it gives someone such a broad range of knowledge about so many different technologies that one can easily determine what interests them and what does not. Technology is fascinating, and this book does a great job at bringing the reader down to a pretty low level of how it all operates but does not bring you down so low level that you are trying to understand hard to follow proofs or things like this, it is all very easy to read and I highly recommend to anyone into technology. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2022 by Ryan Zurrin
    • Great for Reading! Not an in-depth book. Discord Server is dead đź’€
Format: Paperback
Overall a great book to learn computer architecture. And I mean architecture of all types! It covers a wide range of topics! from digital logic, to RISC V, x86-64 assembly, 6502 architecture, and many CPU concepts. The book also skims over OS related architecture, GPU, Virtualization, and other miscellaneous topics at the end. Nothing in-depth IMO, but I was still able to develop a deeper understanding of computers. Also side note: I think the discord servers for all the books are a wasteland 💀💀 Not sure what that's about... ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2024 by se
    • I got the book for RISC-V coverage, and got more
Format: Paperback
I purchased the book for the RISC-V coverage. I wanted a bit more than a review. I got that and a few things I wasn't looking for. I got a review of Intel/AMD x32 and x64, ARM, and RISC-V, all together in ONE book. It is a review. The full references to the 1000s of pages of materials are included. Some observations: 1. The modern compilers are blessings. Assembly language for any processor is not easy, unless you practice it. I don't often use a processor, so compilers are the "way".. 2. The differences between CISC and RISC are important to keep in mind. CISC hides a lot of action/detail in long instructions. RISC really doesn't hide much in the mostly single cycle instructions. 3. There are reasons for use of any architecture, including crafting your won if needs be. The book makes it clear that your choice is by your application needs. I recommend this book as: - as a backgrounder in architecture for Intel/ARM, ARM, and RISC-V - a review of architectures you may already know ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2022 by Douglas L. Datwyler
    • Very good book on Computer Architecture
Format: Paperback
Written in simple language that is easy to follow. Exceeded my expectations.
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2025 by Sandy VJ
    • Excelente libro
Format: Paperback
Abarca desde lo básico hasta lo más avanzado las arquitecturas y sistemas digitales
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2024 by Julian
    • Comprehensive if shallow, too Wintel-heavy
Format: Paperback
I largely agree with JN’s review: this book while offering a comprehensive of different computer architectures is rather shallow and uneven in many places. For example, there’s very little concrete info on GPU architecture or implementation examples. Come on, show us what a MAC unit looks like inside a GPU. Another flaw is there’s too often straying into software issues without clearly defining how they relate to computer architecture and hardware design. A third complaint is some of the chapters are too Wintel-biased even though the author says each year only 1% of computing devices sold are PCs. I’m not familiar with the clunky world of Wintel, and this clunkiness translates into the incomprehensible sections about their details from ISA to virtual memory (which the author even acknowledges as not representative). All this wasted space could have been used to show us more actual examples of GPUs, DSPs, and embedded systems. A fourth complaint I have is the glaring absence of any mention of the amazing performance of Apple silicon we have observed and experienced in the past decade. The sections on ARM should have had a discussion of how Apple takes advantage of this architecture; the big.LITTLE microarch from ARM, for instance, is worth a few paragraphs to say the least. As a matter of general fact, save for a couple of pages on iPhone 13 Pro Max, the author rarely mentions the hardware contributions Apple has made, and the exercises are none Mac-friendly, actually not even Linux-friendly. The heavy prejudice against things not Wintel makes this book less believable as a source of reliable information. Finally, a minor issue is the author should include C code for the examples, or, like what Harris and Harris's DDCA books do with SystemVerilog and VHDL, include C code alongside another language's. What a pity. This could have been a solid survey on its intended topics for its intended audience but I think a lot of opportunities are missed to make this a great volume. I hope they'll improve a lot in the next edition. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2023 by Old-and-Wise
    • Great resource for self-learners, professionals, and enthusiasts.
Format: Paperback
If you are a self-learner or professional who is looking to learn about computer architecture or embedded systems, this book would be a great fit for your needs. A great audience for this book would be interested high school students or first-year undergraduates, perhaps in a robotics or programming club, as it does not anticipate much background at all for the reader and contains many interesting applications as "carrots" for finishing the parts that might be perceived as more "boring," such as a look at the insides of an Alienware computer and an overview of quantum computing. It is lighter on the theory and heavier on the practical exercises. I plan to go back and re-read and do many of the exercises that I simply read over on the first pass through. Pros: - This is not your typical computer architecture textbook, such as Patterson and Hennessey. In contrast, it casts a wider net in terms of content. I am impressed at the sheer variety of topics this book covers, and in the areas with which I am familiar, it covers the topics without sacrificing any essential detail or being too concise. - Without exageration, each exercise that I have read looks like it is worth the reader's time and effort. There are only a few per chapter, so doing all of them is a very feasible goal. This makes the book a great resource for professionals, who likely don't have time to do "drill" or "exam prep" types of exercises. In the sections with which I was already familiar, the exercises are comparable to the most valuable lab sessions I did in classes in undergrad, which gives me a good degree of confidence in the content of the other chapters. - Exercises in the areas with which I am unfamiliar are genuinely interesting. I intend to work several full sections in the future. For instance, in the chapter on quantum computing, the exercises walk the reader through running a program on an IBM Quantum Computer using their (apparantly free) cloud access. Cons: - External links seem to be frequent and few of them seem to be stable. While this increases the current usability of the book, it decreases the usability in the future when these links will, inevitably, fizzle out. For instance, in the "Implementing RISC-V in an FPGA" section, a link is given to a Digi-Key forum post. In cases like these, it would have likely been better to a more stable source (such as an article with a DOI) or simply write a statement such as, "several methods with more detailed instructions are able to be easily found online." - Due to the practical nature of this book, it would likely not be suitable for coursework, except perhaps in a first-year "Intro to Computer Engineering" course or elective. The book sacrifices depth for breadth in many cases, and doesn't have exercises that test the theoretical material deeply. I don't think this was the intent for this book, so this is truly a "con" rather than an "issue." The book does what it seems to set out to do really well. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2022 by Benjamin Helyer
    • Broad range of topics including recent specialized computer architectures
Format: Paperback
Review Image by Stan J Pawlik
Review Image by Stan J Pawlik
It has been many years since I have read “Computer Architecture a Quantitative Approach Patterson”, Second Edition by Hennessy and Patterson and it was a pleasure reading “Modern Computer Architecture and Organization: Learn x86, ARM, and RISC-V architectures and the design of smartphones, PCs, and cloud servers”, 2nd Edition by Ledin. I found the later chapters of Ledin to be personally informative. The book was a pleasure to read and overall seems to cover a broader range of topics in comparison to the Hennesy and Patterson edition I had read many years ago as should be expected with the development of computer architecture. Although I have not reviewed the Hennesy and Patterson book for this review, I recall that the information provided in the second edition was more technically detailed in comparison to the Liden book. It would be interesting to do a read of the latest version of Hennesy and Patterson for a better comparison. Chapter 1 provided a nice history of computer architecture and was an enjoyable and informative read. Chapters 2-5 on Digital Logic, Processor Elements, Computer System Components, and Hardware-Software appear to provide basic background material and I briefly skimmed the material. Chapter 6 on Specialized Computing Domains and provide a concise description of real-time computing, digital signal processing, GPU processing, and deep learning. The information is this chapter is introductory and I found the description of convolution a bit lacking but then I would not expect convolution to be a major topic in the book. Chapter 7 on Processor and Memory Architectures introduced me to the concept of memory pools but otherwise the material is an introduction to the concepts discussed. Chapter 8 Performance-Enhancing Techniques covers the topics of cache Memory, instruction pipelining, simultaneous multi-threading, and SIMD processing. This is where the material in the book starts to get interesting and this chapter covered the basic concepts and provided easy to follow diagrams. Chapter 9 on Specialize Processor Extensions builds on the previous chapters and discusses privileged processor modes, floating-point mathematics, power management, and system security management. Chapter 10 on RISC-V Architecture and Instruction Set describes the RISC-V base instruction set and various extensions. A section on implementing RISC-V in an FPGA provides information on and HTTP links for accomplishing this task. I would have liked to see some additional links to RISC-V cores on GitHub. Nonetheless, the section introduces the Chisel and Scala languages as well as a simple coding example. Chapters 11-13 cover Processor Virtualization, Domain-Specific Computer Architectures, and Cybersecurity and Confidential Computing Architectures, all of which I briefly skimmed and appear to contain interesting but basic information on the concepts discussed. Chapter 14-16 cover Blockchain and Bitcoin Mining Architectures, Self_Driving Vehicle Architectures, and Quantum Computing, each of which I found to be very informative given my prior lack of knowledge in these area of computing. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2022 by Stan J Pawlik

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