Good book on Basics of Computer Organization & Architecture

[abhishekm71]

I am searching for a good introductory book on Computer Organization & Architecture (preferably not more than 300 pages). I have a decent understanding of computer software but a very basic understanding of computer hardware.

Are there any standard prescribed textbooks for the above topic?

Edit:
Actually I am preparing for an exam whose syllabus includes:

Computer Organization and Architecture: Machine instructions and addressing modes, ALU and data-path, CPU control design, Memory interface, I/O interface (Interrupt and DMA mode), Instruction pipelining, Cache and main memory, Secondary storage.

Thanks!

[helios]

Tanenbaum's book is basically the book on the subject.

[a k n]

I studied different things on Wikipedia , osdev wiki and the book

"Art of Intel x86 Assembly"

You can start following these links and hopefully follow links from there :
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/microprocessor.htm (Very basic)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_architecture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine

[abhishekm71]

Thanks!

Is the book titled "Structured Computer Organization"? I checked, it does seem very thorough.

Actually I am preparing for an exam whose syllabus includes:

Computer Organization and Architecture: Machine instructions and addressing modes, ALU and data-path, CPU control design, Memory interface, I/O interface (Interrupt and DMA mode), Instruction pipelining, Cache and main memory, Secondary storage.

So I would like a book in which the above concepts are covered (maybe not in too much detail).

Edit:
Thanks for the links @akn. Will go through them. Although I would prefer studying from a book also since then the flow of concepts are consistent.

[Null]

Structured Computer Organization

This is the main book in my computer architecture course and while I only quickly skipped through the book, it is really comprehensive. It definitely contains something about cache I/O machine instructions, dma

[Cody0023]

You cant expect a thorough book on computer architecture to be less than 300 pages

[Z e r e o]

You cant expect a thorough book on computer architecture to be less than 300 pages

^ Defintely agree with that. It is just like with C++ if you want a thorough book on the language it is going to be definitely 300 pages+, if not appoaching 1000 pages like C++ Primer.

True that is for C++ and not computer architecture but I would think that the computer architecture subject would have much more to learn about then C++ would.

[dhayden]

Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by Hennessy and Patterson.

[abhishekm71]

Ok, thanks so much guys.
Actually I didn't want a thorough book. I wss hoping it might just cover the topics I mentioned without going into too much detail. But after reading your suggestions I think I shouldn't go the seemingly easy way.

[abhishekm71]

After searching the net, I have found this book:
Fundamentals of Computer Organization and Architecture by Mostafa Abd-El-Barr and Hesham Al-Rewini.

Seems to cover all the topics I listed and has about 300 pages. Will try to read it and then send my review on this thread.

EDIT: This is no comparison to the suggested Tanenbaum's book

Thanks

[abhishekm71]

Just to thank people who recommended Tanenbaum's book, I started reading it couple of days ago and found out that it is indeed an un-put-downable book!

The way of writing and the subtle humour keeps you engaged. Will read it cover to cover.