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FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTER ORGANIZATION AND ARCHITECTURE

This book is printed on acid-free paper.
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Copyright # 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as
permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior
written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy
fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923,
for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,
111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030; (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts
in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or
completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales
representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be
suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the
publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including
but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher

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1 Fundamentals of Computer Design

Computer technology has made incredible progress in the roughly 55 years since
the first general-purpose electronic computer was created. Today, less than a
thousand dollars will purchase a personal computer that has more performance,
more main memory, and more disk storage than a computer bought in 1980 for
$1 million. This rapid rate of improvement has come both from advances in the
technology used to build computers and from innovation in computer design.
Although technological improvements have been fairly steady, progress aris-
ing from better computer architectures has been much less consistent. During the
first 25 years of electronic computers, both forces made a major contribution; but
beginning in about 1970, computer designers became largely dependent upon in-
tegrated circuit technology. During the 1970s, performance continued to improve
at about 25% to 30% per year for the mainframes and minicomputers that domi-
nated the industry.
The late 1970s saw the emergence of the microprocessor. The ability of the
microprocessor to ride the improvements in integrated circuit technology more
closely than the less integrated mainframes and minicomputers led to a higher
rate of improvement—roughly 35% growth per year in performance.

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