Book Recommendation? - How computers / processors work

[zhermes]

Book Recommendation? -- How computers / processors work

I'm familiar with basic, high-level programming (e.g. C) and the principles behind compilation, operating systems, etc. I'm also familiar with the basics simple electronics, e.g. circuits, transistors, simple logic gates, etc.

The space between these levels is a complete mystery; a magical black-box.

Does anyone have a book recommendation to fill in this (massive) gap?

I'd like to understand how simple circuits are built into processors, processors into computers, and perhaps how the high-level software code is translated into lower-level hardware-minded code.

I'm a physics graduate student, so I think I can handle a good amount of technical language and detail -- but perhaps not a full EE or CE level of it.

Thanks for your recommendations!

 

[MATLABdude]

I'd recommend a good intro to microcontrollers or intro to assembly programming textbook. The abstraction starts disappearing when you have to figure out what register / memory location you have to shove bits into in order to perform various tasks--and when you end up banging your head against the wall trying to debug an innocuous-tiny looking program.

Unfortunately, I have to leave these generic, since I don't have any specific ones (when I was learning, I used Harman's The Motorola MC68332 Microcontroller: Product Design, Assembly Langauge Programming and Interfacing. It's nearly 20 years old, but the 332 (and it's descendants) live on today, powering a great number of embedded electronic devices.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Check this out

Computer Organization and Design, Fourth Edition: The Hardware/Software Interface
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0123744938/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[FAlonso]

Studying basic microcontrollers like PIC etc will give you initial insight to the topic. Afterwards pick any computer architecture book for more information

 

[rezeew]

I highly recommend the book "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software" by Charles Petzold. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible explanation of how computers and processors work, starting from the basics of binary code and building up to more complex concepts such as assembly language and computer architecture. It also includes discussions on how software code is translated into hardware instructions and how circuits are built into processors. I believe this book will fill in the gap you mentioned and provide a solid understanding of the inner workings of computers and processors. Happy reading!