Hardware and Computer Organization is a practical, introductory book covering the architecture of modern microprocessors. It is designed to take practicing professionals under the hood of a PC and provide them with an understanding of the basics of the complex machine that has become such a pervasive part of our everyday life. The book is divided into three major sections: Hardware Fundamentals and Digital Design; Assembly Language Programming; and Computer Architecture. The book covers the basic theories and concepts of how hardware and software cooperatively interact to accomplish real-world tasks. It begins with a discussion of hardware and computer fundamentals, and then moves on to cover complex systems. The very important area of memory and its organization is covered in detail. Finally, the book looks at computers from a macro point of view, with performance issues, as well as pipelines, caches, and virtual memory are discussed. The book also looks into the future of reconfigurable hardware. Unlike other major books covering this subject matter, Dr. Berger's is aimed not at how to design a computer's hardware, but at providing an understanding of the total machine its strengths and weaknesses, how to deal with memory, how to write efficient assembly code that interacts directly with the hardware and takes best advantage of the underlying machine. Also unlike most other books, Berger shows how real engineering decisions are made in industry.

The DVD accompanying the text will contain the following:
· source code files for all the code examples used in the text
· working demo versions of two different processor simulators
· video lectures from industry notables covering several of the major topics dealt with in the text.