This hands-on tutorial is a broad examination of how a modern computer works. Classroom tested for over a decade, it gives readers a firm understanding of how computers do what they do, covering essentials like data storage, logic gates and transistors, data types, the CPU, assembly, and machine code.

Introduction to Computer Organization gives programmers a practical understanding of what happens in a computer when you execute your code. You may never have to write x86-64 assembly language or design hardware yourself, but knowing how the hardware and software works will give you greater control and confidence over your coding decisions. We start with high level fundamental concepts like memory organization, binary logic, and data types and then explore how they are implemented at the assembly language level.

The goal isn’t to make you an assembly programmer, but to help you comprehend what happens behind the scenes between running your program and seeing “Hello World” displayed on the screen. Classroom-tested for over a decade, this book will demystify topics like:
• How to translate a high-level language code into assembly language
• How the operating system manages hardware resources with exceptions and interrupts
• How data is encoded in memory
• How hardware switches handle decimal data
• How program code gets transformed into machine code the computer understands
• How pieces of hardware like the CPU, input/output, and memory interact to make the entire system work

Author Robert Plantz takes a practical approach to the material, providing examples and exercises on every page, without sacrificing technical details. Learning how to think like a computer will help you write better programs, in any language, even if you never look at another line of assembly code again.

这本实践教程是对现代计算机如何工作的广泛考察。经过十多年的课堂测试，它使读者对计算机是如何工作的有了坚定的了解，涵盖了数据存储、逻辑门和晶体管、数据类型、CPU、汇编和机器代码等基本内容。

《计算机组织概论》让程序员切实了解当你执行代码时计算机中会发生什么。你可能永远不需要编写x86-64汇编语言或亲自设计硬件，但了解硬件和软件的工作原理将使你对你的编码决定有更大的控制力和信心。我们从内存组织、二进制逻辑和数据类型等高水平的基本概念开始，然后探讨它们在汇编语言层面的实现方式。

我们的目标不是让你成为一个汇编程序员，而是帮助你理解在运行你的程序和看到屏幕上显示的 "Hello World "之间发生的幕后情况。经过十多年的课堂测试，本书将揭开以下主题的神秘面纱。

- 如何将高级语言代码翻译成汇编语言

- 操作系统如何用异常和中断来管理硬件资源

- 数据是如何在内存中编码的

- 硬件开关如何处理十进制数据

- 程序代码如何转变为计算机理解的机器代码

- 像CPU、输入/输出和内存这样的硬件部件是如何相互作用以使整个系统工作的？

作者罗伯特-普兰茨对材料采取了实用的方法，在不牺牲技术细节的前提下，在每一页都提供了例子和练习。学习如何像计算机一样思考，将有助于你用任何语言写出更好的程序，即使你不再看任何一行汇编代码。