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Summary: An excellent book for learning basic hardware design
Review: As a BA student for computer science, I found this book very helpfull in learning about how the computer's "guts" work, in courses of computer structure and computer architecture.The book introduces the different hardware components of the computer and the way they are all coordinated. It does so in a very simple ( yet not simplified ) manner, so that even "dummies" in this field ( like myself ) can get a very good comprehension of the fundamental approaches in computer design and architecture.
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Summary: Caution! This book could hurt your academic career
Review: As a student with an perfect record (GPA:4.0)with but a single class to go until graduation, I felt so uncomfortable with this text that I dropped the course. The meandering and lack of technical elaboration was frustrating and confusing. I felt it a shame that any University would approve such garbage. It is enough to make one curious about whether money is being exchanged under the table between the book publishers and schools.
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Summary: Not suitable for undergrads
Review: Computer Architecture by M. Morris Mano lacks substantially in its explanation of the subject matter at hand. Every chapter is incomplete and provides superficial examples that are presented out of order of complexity. It is neither a reference nor a text book. To serious engineer this book is laughable. However, it is useful as a summary of what should be taught in a Computer Architecture course.
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Summary: This book is incomplete.
Review: Computer Architecture by M. Morris Mano lacks substantially in its explanation of the subject matter at hand. Every chapter is incomplete and provides superficial examples that are presented out of order of complexity. It is neither a reference nor a text book. To serious engineer this book is laughable. However, it is useful as a summary of what should be taught in a Computer Architecture course.
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Summary: A collection of data with no explanation.
Review: I am taking a Computer Science course and I had to buy this book. This book is a collection of fragmented information without any explanation! It is more like a plan with a brief description. It may be good for a teacher but is completely useless for a student.
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Summary: Nice and Simpe Introductory Book
Review: I have three of M. Mano's books and this one is the one I've liked the most. I found the author's exposition of the material good on average. I'm using this book for self-study. The book provides a nice overview of computer architecture by focusing on the basic concepts in manner that is not dependent on a particular real-life architecture. I must say however that I gotten up to chapter 11 and have become totally unmotivated to finish the book (only two chapters left). I've gone through most of the interesting problems of each chapter but have no clue to the 'correctness' of some of them since the book doesn't come with solutions. One thing that I really dislike about a book is the lack of an errata sheet. All of Mano's books I own lack an errata sheet. I've noticed some errors in the book although nothing major. Recommendation: As far as I know there are no really good books in the area of computer architecture. If you're looking for a simple introductory book on computer architecture, I would recommend this book. Avoid this book if you're looking for a more technical treatment on the subject.
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Summary: Very labored writing, too few completely worked out examples
Review: I refer to the latest edition of this text by Mano and Kime. I tried to teach Comp. Architecture to a senior level BS class (in CS) from this book. The problem is that this book attempts to do too much and it wanders all over the subject area, leaving the students lost since they just cannot grasp the "big picture". This book gets progressively worse with every new edition! I had to extensively edit the contents to prepare lecture notes which could be comprehended. Halfway through the semester, when I came to the part on "microprogrammed control", I gave up and switched to Tanenbaum (Structured Comp Organization) instead. I would appreciate it if anyone could tell me about a better book on this subject. All the ones that I have looked at seem to be terrible in one way or another.
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Summary: It's okay.
Review: I think this book is so good for my preparing examination. My supervisor told me ought to bye it. Before I byed it I was not sure it would be easy for understanding and appropriate text. But I have something so difficult to know the way for get the answer that is how to know I can prove problem in the end each chapter right. If you have any book for checking each answer or give answer on the last page in each chapter it will be better as now I can't know I can do it right or wrong. If you can do it. I think it will be a better text for my course.
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Summary: Needs a little work...
Review: I've grown a love hate relationship with this book.
I love it, because after attending a lecture in school and then reading the chapter from which the lecture was built on, I find the book to be an excellent resource of information. It'll clear up any confusion which I had, aswell as reitterating all the points discussed in class.
I hate it, because I can't read ahead. Anytime I have tried to read a chapter which we have not yet learned, I have had a difficult time grasping the concepts and gaining an overall perspective of what the chapter is trying to teach you.
If you are planning to learn all this material on your own without the benefit of a professor's teachings, then I probably would not reccommend this book to you. If on the other hand, you do have some other source of learning and are just looking for an additional source to keep your mind fresh on the topics (and maybe even learn a little more while your at it), then this book is for you.
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Summary: Great book to learn about the innards of a CPU
Review: It's hard for me to believe this book didn't get good reviews. It's an awesome book that succintly details the design of a CPU. The author uses a hands on approach by showing you how to design a simple CPU from scratch. Even though simple, this CPU has a useable set of instructions (including IO ones), interrupts, and a memory subsytem. RTL is used to convey what is done at each instruction cyle, which is great. For me, this is the first time
I see a practical application of RTL. The book could have been more interesting if it provides an implementation in VHDL, or Verilog, but i guess that's left as an excercise for the reader.
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