Computer Structures: Principles and Examples
Year First Appeared
1982
Creator
C. Gordon Bell, Daniel P. Siewiorek, Allen Newell
A foundational textbook examining computer architecture through a systematic design-space methodology, presenting dozens of real computer systems, from the DEC PDP-8 to the IBM System/360 to supercomputers, as concrete examples of architectural principles. First published in 1971 as Computer Structures: Readings and Examples (Bell & Newell), the substantially expanded 1982 second edition added Siewiorek as co-author and became the dominant computer architecture text for over a decade.
Importance in Internet Culture
This book transformed computer architecture from engineering craft into an academic discipline. It introduced PMS (Processor-Memory-Switch) diagrams and ISP (Instruction Set Processor) descriptions that became standard vocabulary for describing computer structures. Its design space framework, showing that systems are points in a multidimensional space of design choices, directly influenced VLSI design, DEC's PDP-11 and VAX architectures, and even the Computer History Museum's artifact classification system. The work also led to Bell's Law, predicting the cyclical birth and death of computer classes.
Interesting Fact
The manuscript for the first edition (1971) was completed just before Intel announced the 4004 microprocessor, meaning the authors were systematizing computer architecture at precisely the moment microprocessors were about to transform the field. Bell's original 1966 notebooks at Carnegie Mellon contained preliminary sketches using P, M, S, and I/O primitives that would become the formal PMS notation, inspired by his observations of DEC's modular computers.