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For anybody that has read both "Computer Organization and Design" and "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach" by Patterson/Hennessy, how would you describe the differences between these two books? (content, audience, etc) Are they essentially the undergrad/graduate texts respectively?

11/1/25, 3:13 am1 repost1 like

Chris Bohn

@docbohn.bsky.social

21 Feb 2025

That seems like a fair distinction. You might be able to use CA:AQA for a senior-level architecture course if the students were sufficiently primed for it in prerequisite courses. You might be able to use COAD for CS students, but I think of it as CE-oriented. CA:AQA is definitely CE-oriented!

Chris Wilson

@cdwilson.dev

11 Jan 2025

And a follow-up question: if you were picking between "Computer Organization and Design RISC-V Edition" by Patterson/Hennessy and "Digital Design and Computer Architecture, RISC-V Edition" by Harris^2 for an undergrad text, which would you pick and why?