This book presents a comprehensive treatment of digital systems analysis and design for use as a text in a one- or two-semester course for undergraduate and graduate students in computer science and engineering. The book is divided into three parts, the first two which cover the specification and implementation of combinational and sequential systems, using traditional techniques appropriate for simple systems. The third part addresses an algorithmic approach to the design of complex systems. This includes a specification in a register-transfer level language and a microprogramming implementation.

The first thing to be said is that this is a very long book, with a great deal more detail than could be included in an introductory course of the length suggested, even though it does not go into any depth about asynchronous circuits or circuit testing and verification. Much of this detail, including the presentation of standard sets of combinational and sequential modules for use as building blocks, with illustrations and comparisons of different forms of implementation using both gates and pass transistors, is valuable for reference. There are also useful appendices on bipolar and MOS technologies and a wealth of examples and exercises that will be welcomed by any teacher. That said, the book’s length also results in part from an attempt by the authors to present a formal and generalized exposition of combinational and sequential systems in terms of switching functions and time functions, while at the same time introducing and describing practical implementations.

The presentation of both theory and practice, of the general and the particular, and of abstract specification alongside binary realization, leads to a rather labored development of the subject from which even quite simple concepts and details sometimes struggle to emerge. As a teacher, my choice would be a briefer, informal introduction to the subject; while I expect to find this book invaluable as a reference volume, I would not use it as a course text.