Inside the Machine: An Illustrated Introduction to Microprocessors and Computer Architecture

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A Look Inside the Silicon Heart of Modern Computing

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Computers perform countless tasks ranging

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from the business critical to the recreational,

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but regardless of how differently they may look

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and behave, they’re all amazingly similar in

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basic function. Once you understand how the

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microprocessor—or central processing unit (CPU)—

Includes discussion of:

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works, you’ll have a firm grasp of the fundamental

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concepts at the heart of all modern computing.

• Parts of the computer and microprocessor

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• Programming fundamentals (arithmetic

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Inside the Machine
, from the co-founder of the highly

instructions, memory accesses, control

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respected Ars Technica website, explains how

flow instructions, and data types)

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microprocessors operate—what they do and how

• Intermediate and advanced microprocessor

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they do it. The book uses analogies, full-color

concepts (branch prediction and speculative

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diagrams, and clear language to convey the ideas

execution)

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that form the basis of modern computing. After

• Intermediate and advanced computing

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discussing computers in the abstract, the book

concepts (instruction set architectures,

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examines specific microprocessors from Intel,

RISC and CISC, the memory hierarchy, and

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IBM, and Motorola, from the original models up

encoding and decoding machine language

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through today’s leading processors. It contains the

instructions)

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most comprehensive and up-to-date information

• 64-bit computing vs. 32-bit computing

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available (online or in print) on Intel’s latest

• Caching and performance

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processors: the Pentium M, Core, and Core 2 Duo.

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Inside the Machine
also explains technology terms

Inside the Machine
is perfect for students of

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and concepts that readers often hear but may not

science and engineering, IT and business

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fully understand, such as “pipelining,” “L1 cache,”

professionals, and the growing community

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“main memory,” “superscalar processing,” and

of hardware tinkerers who like to dig into the

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“out-of-order execution.”

guts of their machines.

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Jon “Hannibal” Stokes is co-founder and Senior CPU Editor of Ars Technica. He has written for a variety of publications on microprocessor architecture and the technical aspects of personal computing. Stokes holds a degree in computer engineering from Louisiana State University and two advanced degrees in the humanities from Harvard University. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.

“This is, by far, the most well written text that I have seen on the subject

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of computer architecture.”

to

An Illustrated Introduction to

—John Stroman, Technical Account Manager, Intel

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Microprocessors and Computer Architecture

TH E FI N EST I N G E E K E NTE RTAI N M E NT™

www.nostarch.com

$49.95
($61.95 cdn)

shelve in:
Computer Hardware

Jon Stokes

ISBN: 978-1-59327-104-6

5 4 9 9 5

9 7 8 1 5 9 3 2 7 1 0 4 6

6 8 9 1 4 5 7 1 0 4 2 7

INSIDE THE MACHINE

®

San Francisco

itm_TITLE_COPY.fm Page iv Wednesday, March 14, 2007 2:57 PM

INSIDE THE MACHINE.
Copyright © 2007 by Jon Stokes.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.

Printed in Canada

10 09 08 07

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

ISBN-10: 1-59327-104-2

ISBN-13: 978-1-59327-104-6

Publisher: William Pollock

Production Editor: Elizabeth Campbell

Cover Design: Octopod Studios

Developmental Editor: William Pollock

Copyeditors: Sarah Lemaire, Megan Dunchak

Compositor: Riley Hoffman

Proofreader: Stephanie Provines

Indexer: Nancy Guenther

For information on book distributors or translations, please contact No Starch Press, Inc. directly: No Starch Press, Inc.

555 De Haro Street, Suite 250, San Francisco, CA 94107

phone: 415.863.9900; fax: 415.863.9950; [email protected]; www.nostarch.com

Librar y of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stokes, Jon

Inside the machine : an illustrated introduction to microprocessors and computer architecture / Jon Stokes.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-59327-104-6

ISBN-10: 1-59327-104-2

1. Computer architecture. 2. Microprocessors--Design and construction. I. Title.

TK7895.M5S76 2006

621.39'2--dc22

2005037262

No Starch Press and the No Starch Press logo are registered trademarks of No Starch Press, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, we are using the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.

The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor No Starch Press, Inc. shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in it.

The photograph in the center of the cover shows a small portion of an Intel 80486DX2 microprocessor die at 200x optical magnification. Most of the visible features are the top metal interconnect layers which wire most of the on-die components together.

Cover photo by Matt Britt and Matt Gibbs.

To my parents, who instilled in me a love of learning and education,

and to my grandparents, who footed the bill.

B R I E F C O N T E N T S

Preface ........................................................................................................................ xv Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... xvii Introduction ................................................................................................................. xix

Chapter 1: Basic Computing Concepts
............................................................................. 1

Chapter 2: The Mechanics of Program Execution
............................................................. 19

Chapter 3: Pipelined Execution
...................................................................................... 35

Chapter 4: Superscalar Execution
.................................................................................. 61

Chapter 5: The Intel Pentium and Pentium Pro
.................................................................. 79

Chapter 6: PowerPC Processors: 600 Series, 700 Series, and 7400
................................ 111

Chapter 7: Intel’s Pentium 4 vs. Motorola’s G4e: Approaches and Design Philosophies
...... 137

Chapter 8: Intel’s Pentium 4 vs. Motorola’s G4e: The Back End
....................................... 161