systems analysis and design

I'm a computer practioneer and know a little about computer hardware, but not much. For the novice reader, this book is great! It is written well, and is thorough in its coverage. I think it's a great reference book (even though it was apparently written as a textbook for teaching) and have used it multiple times in my job already.

I recommend this textbook for those "beginners" who need a good introduction to computer organization and hardware or for those who need a refresher.

As a teacher, I wasn't too thrilled about yet another computer organization and architecture book. However, this one is different. It is written from a computer science point of view and it aimed at a one semester sequence course. After attending SIGCSE, I was aware of the new Computing Curriculum 2001. This book appears to follow that curriculum, even in the amount of hours recommended per topic.

If you are looking for a computer engineering book, this one probably won't be top on your list. However, the selection of topics for both computer science (and information systems) is perfect. If you are looking for an org/arch reference book, this would be a good candidate.

Strong points: Concise, clear writing style (easy for students to understand); lots of examples; many exercises, at varying levels of difficulty; good breadth for a one course sequence; logical organization; simple "learning" architecture (with simulation software); up-to-date errata (on book web page).

Potential weak points: If you teach more than 2-3 weeks of assembly language programming, you'll have to supplement with a different book; all software is in Java (I don't consider this a weakness, but some people may).