Customer Reviews

Introduction to Computing Systems: From bits & gates to C & beyond

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This book is the implementation of what I have been trying to impart to my beginning students for years. It contains explanations of all of the ideas that make up the foundation of computer science. The first sections deal with the fundamentals of binary data, how numbers are represented, how arithmetic is performed, how the bitwise operations are executed, followed by the basics of digital logic. These ideas are then expanded into a simple assembly code with many control instructions. Staying at the assembly level, I/O operations, subroutines and stacks are demonstrated.
In chapter 11, the transition is made to higher-level languages by the introduction of C. It is then used to illustrate variables, operators, control structures, functions, pointers and arrays; recursion, I/O in C and simple data structures. The explanations are all very well done and the topics are what should be the first set encountered by a computer science major. While the level of abstraction that most programmers work at has dramatically increased over the years, there is still no substitute for being well schooled in the fundamentals. Not only does this make it easier to move up the abstraction ladder, it also makes it possible for a programmer to function at the lower level, should the need arise.
I strongly recommend this book for adoption as a text for a first course in computer science. While it is not designed to fit into the traditional mold of a first semester programming class, it will provide a much stronger foundation for the student taking their first course in CS.

Everything that was good about the first edition is still here, and what was not-so-good has been improved--production values (page layout in particular), explanations.... If you're interested in an excellent bottoms-up approach, here it is!

This is what I said about the first edition:
... a good introductory book.

I'm a tech writer with a background in the sciences, and used this book in a "Computers from the bottom up" class. We had an excellent teacher, and without her the obscurities of presentation would have defeated several class members.

On the minus side: From a writer's point of view, what is needed is another editing pass to get rid of poor sentence sequences and poorly explained exercises. Also, it's sometimes difficult to follow examples with illustrations on one page and verbal description on another: production values need to be rethought. From a student's point of view, much of the essential information is buried in small print sections, which make the book frustrating to use.

But-- on the plus side, the book, used with the excellent Power Point slides provided online, is the best thing available for a true bottoms-up approach. It discusses the basic logic components and their relationship to Boolean logic, instruction sets, and programming at a basic level. Personally, I found the LC-2 simulator great fun to use, very helpful to my understanding of "how things work".

I started out knowing next to nothing about Computer Architecture, and yet I was still able to, by myself, read and understand most everything in this book. The chapters are laid out intelligently, with each one building on what was taught before. The diagrams are clear and helpful, and there are plenty of tables and example problems (very clear, thoroughly worked out examples!) spread throughout.

While there is a chapter or two in the middle that people who already are familiar with C might find tedious, they're pretty clearly marked and easy enough to skim through.

I definitely recommend this book to any beginner wishing to learn about computer architecture.

I had programmed in a number of languages including C before, but I was a bit intimidated by assembler. I was also curious about how microchips work, and why they seem to be all about transistors. There's a lot of material on the web on this subject, but none of it seems detailed and organized enough to really teach you anything. After reading this book, it all makes sense.

There are some great sections including simple, excellent explanations of 2s-complement numbers and finite state machines. I'd recommend this book to anyone who already programs in C, and has played a bit with pointers - I'm not sure I would have liked to encounter them for the first time in this text.

The book is not perfect. Its pace is very slow, and authors often threw in "real-world" analogies which I didn't find helpful. Some sections are a bit repetitive. There were a few concepts thrown in without careful introduction, for example call-by-value vs. call-by-reference. Again, that's not a serious problem if you have even passing familiarity with C.

Overall, a gradual, relaxed, well-structured introduction to a fascinating subject. Good preparation for further study.

I was lucky enough to be taught by the professor himself--Dr. Patt. The book needs definite improvement in clarity. Too many of the concepts are abstract and ambiguous. The exercises at the end of each section are pathetic, they should be presented more in a Mathematical or Physics style and they do not flex your knowledge about what you have learned in that section. I had to rely on my TAs to explain certain concepts to me since the book did such a poor job.

However, once you master everything that this book has to offer (I strongly recommend you read the appendixes at the end of the book as collateral reading) you will truly understand how computers work at the most fundamental level.

This book is really good for learning the basics of how a computer functions. It takes you from the low-level Flip-Flops to explaining how a register and other small components of a computer work. Then the book shows you the basic components a computer, and then gives a full example in the LC-3. The LC-3 is complete with a architecture diagram and Assembly instructions. The book does a good job of of taking you through the LC-3 data path and showing how an instruction is implemented on the architecture. The book also does a good job of showing how the assembly code connects to higher level languages like C/++ or Java. It also gives a high-level explanation of exactly what a compiler does. Towards the end it gives some information on data structures and particularly as to how a stack would be implemented by the LC-3 in assembly. The book also explains how memory works and how input and output are handled in some computers.

Some problems with the book are in the C section. This book does not give a real C tutorial, there are much better guides to C programming.It doesn't really give you any instruction as to how to program in LC-3 Assembly; however, the instructions are simple enough that you should be able to figure it out. Another potential problem is the combinational logic section. This part of the book is not really comprehensive, but teaches what you need to know so that you understand how all the low-level components work; however, if you want to design your own combinational logic, then there are other books for that. Also this book does not really go into the theory of how and why they developed the LC-3 architecture as it is. It is just an intro to get you used how a computer architecture looks and how it works.

All in all a great read for a CS student or Electrical Engineer to get an idea of how a computer runs the programs written on it.

Note: I am a student at University of Illinois (Patel works here) and took a class created around this book. ECE 190 is still my favorite class I've taken to date.

This book was required for a lower level electrical engineering course. The main complaint I would have is that I found many sections of this book rather convoluted. It simply did not come across as clear as it could be.
The approach is from the bottom up, which is wonderful to aid in understanding how a computer physically computes. Most programmers work at such a high level of abstraction that they never really know what is going on at the lower levels. This book does well to clear the way and connect the physics of computing with computer science.
Overall I would not suggest this book as a text to read outside of academia as a means to gain knowledge of the more fundamental workings of computer systems. Due to clarity issues, it will not be one that I keep around as reference.

I really like how the material is presented in these books, but I dislike how the homework section and practice questions were full of errors. I had no warning about these errors, and I only found out after other classmates and myself insisted to the professor that the book was wrong. We all found out it was. The homework and practice exercises had extensive, subtle flaws. There was a place online we could look and find the errors, but it took time out of my busy schedule and reduced my ability to learn the material.

The authors and publisher should be ashamed of themselves. They should never have sold these books to students. If someone is paying over $100 for your book why would you give them an inconvenience by forcing them to find out by trial and error that YOUR book is wrong, have them go online, edit the question in the book, and re-do the problem? Oh, and because of these mistakes the older prints of this book have no resale value.

I heard the newer versions are fixed, but if you are buying a used version watch for the mistakes. They're everywhere.

Got to me on time, it was just what I wanted. Damage was not outrageous, perfect.

This is a great book for anyone who wants to know how computers and electronics really work. We always hear that "Computers are all just 1's and 0's," but rarely more than that. "Introduction" does just what its title says: it starts with bits (those 1's and 0's) and works all the way up to high level programming languages like C, hitting everything from Boolean and transistor logic to processor construction to assembly language in between. The book even comes with simulation software for a "computer" that allows the reader to practice and experience low-level programming and interaction without having to work on their own real computers. Anyone with an interest in how electronics work, from experienced programmers to novices wanting to get into the field will enjoy this book immensely.