Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective 3rd Edition

This book presents computer architecture, an often challenging subject, in a lively and practical way. The book starts with fundamental concepts and incrementally introduces more confusing topics.Strengths:1. The book’s approach is heavily dependent on practice. There are loads of practice examples and answers to the questions provided in the book. That way, students can compare their work examples with the answers in the book.2. Concepts in the book are explained from first principle. Detailed illustrations are given to clarify key concepts and ideas.3. Sharpens programming skills. C Programming is used heavily in this book. For those who understand C, the codes that support discussions can easily be applied to more significant problems. Students new to C programming get an opportunity to learn C programming from the “Asides” in the book.Weaknesses:1. Some answers to practice problems are wrong. Students could do well cross-checking those answers elsewhere.2. Using other programming languages in addition to C ( perhaps C++ or Java) to explain concepts will come in handy.3. This particular product has weak pages. Care should be taken when flipping pages.Overall, this book is a must-have for anyone keen on understanding the core concepts of computer architecture while shaping their programming skills. Moreover, the book arrived on time and was in good condition.

I have multiple editions of this book and this latest version does not disappoint. The full supplemental support for this book is still available online.

Update 2024I bought the PHYSICAL book version and read every chapter. Really good walkthrough of lots of key computer concepts. It covers logic, IEEE floating point, really great intro to assembly on modern processors, CPU conceptual internals such as the TLB, caches, strong introduction to Linux API, …Still needed to read TLPI after this but I learned a lot of valuable information I didn’t know I didn’t know.===== originalI have not read the physical book. But the kindle version has most of the math equations typeset incorrectly. You end up having to realize things like 216 means 2^16 as the the 16 is not superscripted but it just looks like the number two hundred and sixteen. This means that you have to read the text very carefully, not trust the formulas, and figure out what it must have said in the physical book.(Update: As I read on after creating this review, I found the formulas impossible to follow. Hopefully you have substantial understanding of the material and can create all of the formulas displayed in text and breakouts yourself as the presentation is completely ambiguous.)I am only in the second chapter. Other than the type scripting issues, the context is pretty good so far.Perhaps that is why the price for a college level text book is so affordable.Check the publisher of the version you buy. These are different products shown on the same page.

I bought a global edition before on Amazon JP. Since global edition doesn't have a errata and I did find much strange things in that book, I bought this hardcover NA edition in the end. Indeed, NA edition is better than global edition. First, it's colored. Second, hardcover makes its spine is hard to be fractured by folding. And the most important thing, I have a errata now. I thought those typo and misprint is just global edition, but I'm wrong.So, color and hardcover are the only two things are worth to be appreciated, thought you have to pay more money on it. But there are also some of shortcoming on NA edition.Expensive, of course.When I was writing some note on the footer, I noticed that all right pages are kind of sloping, which makes the right side of bottom margin is 18mm, while the left side is 20mm. Not a big deal, but really makes me annoyed after I paid such amount of money. It might be just my book's issue, so please double check if you can tolerate it once you get one like mine before you buy it.Contents: 5 starPrint: 2 star----------------------------------I bought from Amazon, not third party.The condition is not good enough. The edge of binding glue is exposing, so I have to reinforce by myself.

It's a great book, but this particular edition is an inferior quality, black and white print that is only authorized for sale in India and surrounding countries. The paper also has a very weird purplish tint to it in certain lighting that I've never seen on any other book. Who knows what kind of material safety standards they enforce for this garbage. I should have expected something like this based on the listing price, but it's highly unscrupulous of the seller not to indicate this in their listing. This copy is going straight in the trash and I'm going to buy a proper print of it directly from the publisher even if costs 10x as much.

I am a PhD chemist that does computational physics and engineering, where programming is a tool, so admittedly not the standard audience. I like that this book feels is very practical, but not too simple. It’s a good resource for someone who does programming, but either needs to or wishes to learn a little bit about software and hardware. My only - admittedly pedantic - complaint is that the chapters are incredibly long. It would be nice to have shorter, more digestible chapters.