Microprocessor Architectures and Systems

Intended for both engineers and managers who are given the task of selecting an architecture or design approach, this book examines the developments of Motorola's CISC, RISC and DSP processors. It describes the typical system configurations and engineering trade-offs that are made. The text provides a primer and history of the three basic microprocessor architectures and describes the ways in which the architectures react with the system and covers memory designs, memory management and cache memories. It examines interrupt and exception handling, the effect on real-time applications, basic multiprocessing ideas, shows how certain characteristics can be exploited, looks at semiconductor technology, the changing design cycle and its implications for the design process and commercial success and future processor generations describing the criteria that should be examined when selecting a processor.