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        "tagline": "Advanced text on processor, memory and parallel design",
        "summary": "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach is a textbook by John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson, published by Morgan Kaufmann. It teaches processor and memory design through measurement, comparing design choices with quantitative evidence. The first edition appeared in 1990, and the sixth edition in 2017.",
        "developer": "Morgan Kaufmann (Elsevier)",
        "author": "John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson",
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        "strengths": [
            "Measurement-based method for comparing designs",
            "Deep coverage of processors and memory systems",
            "Covers parallelism beyond a single core"
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        "limits": [
            "Assumes prior knowledge of digital logic",
            "Dense for readers new to architecture"
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        "checked": "2026-10-10",
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        "overview": "The book covers the design of processors, memory hierarchies and parallel systems. Its central method is to measure and compare designs quantitatively rather than describe them only in words, so readers learn to judge a design by evidence. It treats parallelism within a single processor and across several processors as core design topics.\n\nThe book suits graduate students, professional architects and advanced undergraduates who already know digital logic and basic processor organization. It is more demanding than Computer Organization and Design by the same authors, which stays closer to the instruction set and introduces the processor more gently. Its examples focus on processor design rather than programming, so readers who want software-level detail will find Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective more useful.",
        "highlights": [
            "Quantitative design evaluation",
            "Memory hierarchy design",
            "Instruction-level parallelism",
            "Multiprocessor systems"
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