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Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach

Descriptions

  • Source: John Hennessy, David Patterson (2017 Turing Award winners)
  • Prerequisites: Computer organization fundamentals
  • Difficulty: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
  • Class Hour: 100+

Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach is the "bible" of computer architecture, authored by 2017 Turing Award winners John Hennessy and David Patterson.

This is not an introductory textbook but an authoritative reference for deep understanding of processor design and performance optimization. It uses a "quantitative" approach — evaluating different design choices through data and experiments — to explain every architectural decision.

Resources

Core Content

Part 1: Fundamentals

  • Quantitative design principles
  • Memory hierarchy design
  • Instruction-Level Parallelism (ILP)

Part 2: Data-Level Parallelism

  • SIMD and vector processors
  • GPU architecture
  • Data-level parallel programming

Part 3: Thread-Level Parallelism

  • Multi-core processor architecture
  • Cache coherence protocols (MESI, MOESI)
  • Memory consistency models

Part 4: Large-Scale Parallelism

  • Warehouse-scale computers
  • Data center architecture
  • Interconnection networks

Self-Study Tips

Read Computer Organization and Design first. That's the introductory companion book. Build foundations before tackling this one.

Focus on quantitative analysis. The book's core isn't memorizing architectures — it's learning to evaluate design decisions with data and experiments.

Read accompanying papers. The book references many classic papers; read a few that interest you.

Notes

This book is for those who want to deeply study architecture. If you just need to pass exams or interviews, Computer Organization and Design is sufficient.

Hennessy and Patterson received the 2017 Turing Award for their contributions to RISC architecture. This book is the culmination of their life's work.