Write Great Code: Understanding the Machine

Brief Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: What You Need to Know to Write Great Code
The Write Great Code Series
What This Book Covers
Assumptions This Book Makes
Characteristics of Great Code
The Environment for This Book
Additional Tips
For More Information
Chapter 2: Numeric Representation
What Is a Number?
Numbering Systems
The Decimal Positional Numbering System
Radix (Base) Values
The Binary Numbering System
The Hexadecimal Numbering System
The Octal Numbering System
Numeric/String Conversions
Internal Numeric Representation
Bits
Bit Strings
Signed and Unsigned Numbers
Useful Properties of Binary Numbers
Sign Extension, Zero Extension, and Contraction
Saturation
Binary-Coded Decimal Representation
Fixed-Point Representation
Scaled Numeric Formats
Rational Representation
For More Information
Chapter 3: Binary Arithmetic and Bit Operations
Arithmetic Operations on Binary and Hexadecimal Numbers
Adding Binary Values
Subtracting Binary Values
Multiplying Binary Values
Dividing Binary Values
Logical Operations on Bits
Logical Operations on Binary Numbers and Bit Strings
Useful Bit Operations
Testing Bits in a Bit String Using AND
Testing a Set of Bits for Zero/Not Zero Using AND
Comparing a Set of Bits Within a Binary String
Creating Modulo-n Counters Using AND
Shifts and Rotates
Bit Fields and Packed Data
Packing and Unpacking Data
For More Information
Chapter 4: Floating-Point Representation
Introduction to Floating-Point Arithmetic
IEEE Floating-Point Formats
Single-Precision Floating-Point Format
Double-Precision Floating-Point Format
Extended-Precision Floating-Point Format
Quad-Precision Floating-Point Format
Normalization and Denormalized Values
Rounding
Special Floating-Point Values
Floating-Point Exceptions
Floating-Point Operations
Floating-Point Representation
Floating-Point Addition and Subtraction
Floating-Point Multiplication and Division
For More Information
Chapter 5: Character Representation
Character Data
The ASCII Character Set
The EBCDIC Character Set
Double-Byte Character Sets
The Unicode Character Set
Unicode Code Points
Unicode Code Planes
Surrogate Code Points
Glyphs, Characters, and Grapheme Clusters
Unicode Normals and Canonical Equivalence
Unicode Encodings
Unicode Combining Characters
Character Strings
Character String Formats
Types of Strings: Static, Pseudo-Dynamic, and Dynamic
Reference Counting for Strings
Delphi Strings
Custom String Formats
Character Set Data Types
Powerset Representation of Character Sets
List Representation of Character Sets
Designing Your Own Character Set
Designing an Efficient Character Set
Grouping the Character Codes for Numeric Digits
Grouping Alphabetic Characters
Comparing Alphabetic Characters
Grouping Other Characters
For More Information
Chapter 6: Memory Organization and Access
The Basic System Components
The System Bus
Physical Organization of Memory
8-Bit Data Buses
16-Bit Data Buses
32-Bit Data Buses
64-Bit Data Buses
Small Accesses on Non-80x86 Processors
Big-Endian vs. Little-Endian Organization
The System Clock
Memory Access and the System Clock
Wait States
Cache Memory
CPU Memory Access
The Direct Memory Addressing Mode
The Indirect Addressing Mode
The Indexed Addressing Mode
The Scaled-Index Addressing Modes
For More Information
Chapter 7: Composite Data Types and Memory Objects
Pointer Types
Pointer Implementation
Pointers and Dynamic Memory Allocation
Pointer Operations and Pointer Arithmetic
Arrays
Array Declarations
Array Representation in Memory
Accessing Elements of an Array
Multidimensional Arrays
Records/Structures
Records in Pascal/Delphi
Records in C/C++
Records in HLA
Records (Tuples) in Swift
Memory Storage of Records
Discriminant Unions
Unions in C/C++
Unions in Pascal/Delphi
Unions in Swift
Unions in HLA
Memory Storage of Unions
Other Uses of Unions
Classes
Inheritance
Class Constructors
Polymorphism
Abstract Methods and Abstract Base Classes
Classes in C++
Abstract Member Functions and Classes in C++
Multiple Inheritance in C++
Classes in Java
Classes in Swift
Protocols and Interfaces
Generics and Templates
For More Information
Chapter 8: Boolean Logic and Digital Design
Boolean Algebra
The Boolean Operators
Boolean Postulates
Boolean Operator Precedence
Boolean Functions and Truth Tables
Function Numbers
Algebraic Manipulation of Boolean Expressions
Canonical Forms
Sum-of-Minterms Canonical Form and Truth Tables
Algebraically Derived Sum-of-Minterms Canonical Form
Product-of-Maxterms Canonical Form
Simplification of Boolean Functions
What Does This Have to Do with Computers, Anyway?
Correspondence Between Electronic Circuits and Boolean Functions
Combinatorial Circuits
Sequential and Clocked Logic
For More Information
Chapter 9: CPU Architecture
Basic CPU Design
Decoding and Executing Instructions: Random Logic vs. Microcode
Executing Instructions, Step by Step
The mov Instruction
The add Instruction
The jnz Instruction
The loop Instruction
RISC vs. CISC: Improving Performance by Executing More, Faster, Instructions
Parallelism: The Key to Faster Processing
Functional Units
The Prefetch Queue
Conditions That Hinder the Performance of the Prefetch Queue
Pipelining: Overlapping the Execution of Multiple Instructions
Instruction Caches: Providing Multiple Paths to Memory
Pipeline Hazards
Superscalar Operation: Executing Instructions in Parallel
Out-of-Order Execution
Register Renaming
VLIW Architecture
Parallel Processing
Multiprocessing
For More Information
Chapter 10: Instruction Set Architecture
The Importance of Instruction Set Design
Basic Instruction Design Goals
Choosing Opcode Length
Planning for the Future
Choosing Instructions
Assigning Opcodes to Instructions
The Y86 Hypothetical Processor
Y86 Limitations
Y86 Instructions
Operand Types and Addressing Modes on the Y86
Encoding Y86 Instructions
Examples of Encoding Y86 Instructions
Extending the Y86 Instruction Set
Encoding 80x86 Instructions
Encoding Instruction Operands
Encoding the add Instruction
Encoding Immediate (Constant) Operands on the x86
Encoding 8-, 16-, and 32-Bit Operands
Encoding 64-Bit Operands
Alternate Encodings for Instructions
Implications of Instruction Set Design to the Programmer
For More Information
Chapter 11: Memory Architecture and Organization
The Memory Hierarchy
How the Memory Hierarchy Operates
Relative Performance of Memory Subsystems
Cache Architecture
Direct-Mapped Cache
Fully Associative Cache
n-Way Set Associative Cache
Cache-Line Replacement Policies
Cache Write Policies
Cache Use and Software
NUMA and Peripheral Devices
Virtual Memory, Memory Protection, and Paging
Writing Software That Is Cognizant of the Memory Hierarchy
Runtime Memory Organization
Static and Dynamic Objects, Binding, and Lifetime
The Code, Read-Only, and Constant Sections
The Static Variables Section
The Storage Variables Section
The Stack Section
The Heap Section and Dynamic Memory Allocation
For More Information
Chapter 12: Input and Output
Connecting a CPU to the Outside World
Other Ways to Connect Ports to the System
I/O Mechanisms
Memory-Mapped I/O
I/O-Mapped Input/Output
Direct Memory Access
I/O Speed Hierarchy
System Buses and Data Transfer Rates
Performance of the PCI Bus
Performance of the ISA Bus
The AGP Bus
Buffering
Handshaking
Timeouts on an I/O Port
Interrupts and Polled I/O
Protected-Mode Operation and Device Drivers
The Device Driver Model
Communication with Device Drivers
For More Information
Chapter 13: Computer Peripheral Buses
The Small Computer System Interface
Limitations
Improvements
SCSI Protocol
SCSI Advantages
The IDE/ATA Interface
The SATA Interface
Fibre Channel
The Universal Serial Bus
USB Design
USB Performance
Types of USB Transmissions
USB-C
USB Device Drivers
For More Information
Chapter 14: Mass Storage Devices and Filesystems
Disk Drives
Floppy Disk Drives
Hard Drives
RAID Systems
Optical Drives
CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Drives
Tape Drives
Flash Storage
RAM Disks
Solid-State Drives
Hybrid Drives
Filesystems on Mass Storage Devices
Sequential Filesystems
Efficient File Allocation Strategies
Writing Software That Manipulates Data on a Mass Storage Device
File Access Performance
Synchronous and Asynchronous I/O
The Implications of I/O Type
Memory-Mapped Files
For More Information
Chapter 15: Miscellaneous Input and Output Devices
Exploring Specific PC Peripheral Devices
The Keyboard
The Standard PC Parallel Port
Serial Ports
Mice, Trackpads, and Other Pointing Devices
Joysticks and Game Controllers
Sound Cards
How Audio Interface Peripherals Produce Sound
The Audio and MIDI File Formats
Programming Audio Devices
For More Information
Afterword: Thinking Low-Level, Writing High-Level
Appendix A: ASCII Character Set
Glossary
Index