Computer Architecture: A Qualitative Approach by J.Hennesy, and D.Patterson - Book Report/Review Example

John Hennessy and David Patterson have vast experience in computer science and information technology. Their motivation for writing this book is to extrapolate the opportunities that computer architecture has had and will continue to have. The primary objective is to change the way people learn and think about computer architecture. Rather than depending on a collection of definitions and designs, the duo offers an opportunity for learners and industry professionals to study with real examples and measurements of real computers.

This is where the quantitative approach and analysis of real systems originate from.The fourth edition of the book provided significant changes in terms of a switch to a multi-core chip analysis. The book emphasizes the excitement of both extremes of computing. Personal mobile devices (PMD’s) and warehouse-scale computers used as servers in cloud computing currently qualify as the end extremes in cloud computing and is what the authors derive interests in terms of costs, performances, and energy efficiency.

Each chapter of the book bases its discussion on PMDs and warehouse-scale computers and in chapter six a special analysis is conducted with respect to the later. The other theme exploited in David and John is parallelism; data-level parallelism (DLP) and Task-level parallelism (TLP).The improvement in the cost and performance of computing devices over the past 65 years can be attributed to advances in information technology and innovations of computer design. Improvement in performance is attributed to the emergence of microprocessor technologies facilitated by improvements in integrated circuit technologies especially in the 1970’s which pushed their [performance to approximately 35% per year.