This book is a collection of 14 technical notes, written by INMOS engineers, regarding the use of transputer technology. The INMOS transputer is a family of VLSI building blocks for the construction of concurrent systems. The technical notes are organized into five sections that cover areas in hardware, systems, software, applications, and performance.

The hardware section discusses in detail how to interface a transputer to memory and how to interconnect transputers using the links over short and long distances. This section concludes with a complete example of a simple multiple-transputer board. The systems section explains the C004 crossbar switch and its use in interconnecting transputers. This section also discusses board-level transputer products, namely transputer modules and motherboards. The software section discusses the design of concurrent systems using transputers and describes an OCCAM program that explores transputer networks and returns network topology information. The applications section describes two applications, each using a single transputer. The first application is a radio navigation system that involves the analysis of incoming radio signals in real time. The second application is a high-performance graphics system. The performance section describes the Whetstone, Dhrystone, and Savage benchmarks as well as transputer performance when executing these benchmarks. This section makes performance comparisons with other microprocessors and discusses methods that can enhance transputer performance.

This book is rich with detailed information and would be of great use to those who want to build transputer systems, use transputer products, or write software for transputer systems. However, individuals who are not very familiar with the transputer, OCCAM, or the Transputer Development System will find the book of limited value. Although the book does not include a good definition of transputers, anyone who would benefit from this book will know it already.