Customer Reviews

Structured Computer Organization (5th Edition)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tanenbaum is one of the CS classical authors. Any CS student or instructor should own a copy of this updated edition of Structured Computer Organization.

The book structure remains the same, but there are many important updates, mainly in the examples and case studies. Tanenbaum's style is also the same: a bit arid and telegraphic, specially for newcomers, but his approach is much better for an introductory computer organization and architecture course than the books by Patterson/Hennessy (which are mandatory reading for any CS student/instructor as well).

I have basically one criticism to this book: it is very pricey! Particularly for an instructor whose wages are not paid in dollars...

It was back in 1987. Our computer architecture teacher presented us with the second edition of this book (1984 ed.). The book opened a new understanding on systems technology and machine sequencing for me. I even designed in paper a version of Mic1 microarchitecture to solve a problem we had with a hand held device.

This book will provide you with a good and basic background on machine sequencing and multilevel models. Use this as a base for your TCP/IP or stack communication protocol study (see my review of TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2 - Implementation).

Highlights (fifth edition, 2006):

* Multilevel vision of machines (a very important basic topic), pages 2-7
* Principal metric (prefixes) units, page 46
* Bits, bytes, byte ordering on memory, pages 69-73
* Binary numbers on Apendix A and B
* Binary codes and Communication equipments, pages 117-130
* Basic transistor switching logic and logical design, chapter 3 complete
* Java virtual machine and interpreter design (beautiful description!), chapter 4 complete
* The DVD includes a graphic microarchitecture simulator and Java byte-code assembler (back in 1988 I started my own bipolar npn transistor/resistance/prototype board based Microarchitecture! but it was so large and I only complete a 4 bit ALU and 8 register data path). Now (2008) you can enjoy and program a Java version with the DVD material

In resume, this book as long as TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2 - Implementation, is a good (like a toy) self learning path in machine organization and interconnection.

This text does a great job of explaining the fundamentals of computer architecture, however it dilutes the great explanations with hundreds of pages of case studies that are often hard to understand and in some cases not relevant to the topics of the text. I would definitely recommend that if you are just starting to learn about computer architecture look else where for something that does not dilute the fundamentals with such complicated examples. However if you are already familiar with architecture/micro-architecture you might find this to be a worth while read to learn more about how these theories are applied in many of today's modern chips, especially the Intel chip-set.

I'll admit that some portions of the book are confusing to follow, but it does good on containing very interesting and relative material. Out of the many classes I have reading assignments for, I actually enjoy opening this book and reading for it. I've learned quite a lot and I hope this class will teach me all the basics of computer organization.

We used the fourth edition of this book in my undergrad Computer Organization course almost 8 years ago. Since then, I've taken other classes (both undergrad and grad) which have used Hennessy and Patterson as well as others books. While H&P may be more complete, the accessibility and clarity of Tenenbaum's presentation make this a superior intro text in my opinion. I appreciated the bits of humor thrown into this book as well.

Good book to understand the organization of computers. I used it in undergrad course. Will recommend it.

I'm really impressed by this title. It's like the Matrix red pill to the computer structure.
It is crystal clear and linear and the content is organized in the best possible way to teach the ( difficult ) concepts reviewed.
The talent of Mr Tanenbaum in presenting and distilling the key aspects really shows.

A knowledge of low-level programming language will greatly enhance the reading experience.

No single book on such a vast subject can be complete in itself. one needs to refer to many books. This book should be included in your list. it provides clear understanding of some key concepts. it is arid at places. but it is worthy at most of the places.

I'm only 1/3 through the book so far, but it's been good. There's even a few snippits of dry humor that make it a little more interesting. As far as breadth and depth of material goes, it starts out assuming you know very little about hardware/architecture, and takes you step by step from there. Assuming the book stays as interesting and downright wooty, I'll give it 5 stars. It's not very often that I find a computer book that I'm willing to read cover to cover.

I bought this book based on the universal high praise it received on this website. I've been reading it, and it's been a struggle. I'm nearly 200 pages into the book, and I'll persevere till the end, because I need the knowledge contained in it for my business, but it's been slow. I often have to read a passage over and over and over again until I grasp the point the author is trying to make, because his writing style is so confusing.