See MIPS Run (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "MIPS is the most elegant among the effective RISC architectures; even the competition thinks so, as evidenced by the strong MIPS influence to be seen..." (more)
Key Phrases: exception entry point, cache aliases, uncached space, Silicon Graphics, Big Computers, Direct Off (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

...this book is the best combination of completeness and readability of any book on the MIPS architecture... -- from the Foreword by John L. Hennessey, a founder of MIPS Frederick Emmons Terman Dean of Engineering, Stanford University

Read the full review for this book.

MIPS is a family of microprocessors with a checkered business past and a good number of shining technical successes. MIPS seems to have stabilized and acquired a world-class real-time programming environment in the form of an excellent, stable, and well-supported port of Gnu since the early 1990's. If you're eager to introduce yourself to the MIPS architecture and programming model from one tightly packed and expertly written book, you should consider See MIPS Run by Dominic Sweetman. Of course, there is no such thing as "studying" a microprocessor. You build a board, make it work, and then program it, your fingers bleeding from thumbing through the manufacturer-supplied documentation. All the truth is there, but only once, and if you miss it reading quickly, you'll have a hard time finding it again. --Jack Woehr, Dr. Dobb's Electronic Review of Computer Books -- Dr. Dobb's Electronic Review of Computer Books

Product Description

The versatile offspring of an extended family of multiple chip companies, today's MIPS chips are everywhere. They power everything from videogames, network routers, laser printers, set-top boxes, and high-performance workstations. This book brings together this extraordinary proliferation of form and functionality, offering embedded systems programmers and designers unique, eminently practical insights into MIPS. It covers how MIPS started, the principles at the root of the RISC revolution, the full details of the MIPS instruction set, and how these details together constitute a full operating system ready to be put to work in hundreds of ways.

If you're programming embedded systems and need to understand the chips at the deepest level, or even if you're just curious, you're sure to find what you need in this book. It's all here, from the nuts and bolts of a programming reference to the big picture that only a true expert can deliver. So buy the book. Take it home. Step inside. And see MIPS run.

* Written by an independent consultant whose business is understanding MIPS architecture and embedded systems programming.
* Addresses the evolution of MIPS technology, giving you a solid foundation for successful designs and implementations.
* Provides an in-depth, easy-to-use guide to the MIPS instruction set, including special attention to processor control and assembler mnemonics for every instruction.
* Covers everything from MIPS I to MIPS IV, with appendices devoted to the optional MIPS 16 instruction set and V/MDMX.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1st edition (February 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558604103
• ISBN-13: 978-1558604100
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #99,630 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #9 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Hardware > Microprocessors & System Design > Microprocessor Design
  #10 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Hardware > Microprocessors & System Design > Embedded Systems
  #51 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Computer Science > Systems Analysis & Design

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get this book!, September 5, 2000

By A Customer

This is an outstanding book that is written by an author who knows his stuff. It covers a lot more material than just the MIPS architecture, although if that's what you're looking for, it's THE best MIPS book, and I have them all.

Sweetman THANKFULLY covers many topics that aren't unique to MIPS, such as pipelines, caches, memory management units, floating-point processing, etc... in addition to going into great detail specific to the MIPS variants.

The sign of a very good engineer/author/technical writer is someone who takes something that is complicated and involved, and makes it easy to understand. Sweetman is such an author.

On top of all that, the book makes for enjoyable reading and has a very conversational/friendly tone (but don't get me wrong, it is quite in-depth and technical.)

If you're working on any RISC architecture, including other variants such as PowerPC or ARM, this book is for you.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good steamcourse and reference, August 29, 2001

By	J Ruigrok vd Werven (Netherlands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are looking for a book which gets you up and running with MIPS then look no further. This book explains its history and everything you need to know to start `messing around' with the MIPS RISC CPU.
The author also provides a lot of `gotchas', which he learned from prior experience from developing on/with the MIPS CPUs. Valuable insight in those little things which will ease your life as a developer.
Aside from the info provided by the author on the MIPS CPU itself, it also explains a great deal about basic processor technical knowledge, thus making the book a breeze to read for those of us with no extended experience in CPU internals.
Like one of the other reviewers said though, for a real reference with regard to the mnemonics and other instruction related things you might want to get the PDF files from the mips.com site and use those next to your See MIPS Run book.
They supplement each other well.

5.0 out of 5 stars simply the best, April 24, 2005

By	Gong Cheng (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is not only the best MIPS book I have ever seen, but also one of the best computer system books I have ever seen.
I only hate I didn't discover that earlier!!

It has everything a curious system software engineer wants to know about everything related to MIPS. If you have mastered all that this book offers (I wish I can say that in some near future), you not only undoubtedly become a MIPS expert, but also you are at least half a Computer systems expert in general.