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Microprogrammed systems design
Florentin J., Macmillan Press Ltd., Basingstoke, UK, 1991. Type: Book (9780333542507)
Date Reviewed: Dec 1 1992

Florentin describes microprogramming using bit-sliced microprocessors produced by AMD and TI. The author does this by describing the implementations of two computers (basically the PDP-8 and PDP-11) and the architecture of the bit-slice chips.

The book is meant for the working engineer, but it begins with a basic introduction to logic design. Anyone needing this material has no hope of making use of the rest of the material in the book.

The second chapter describes the architecture of the  PDP-8  (called the FIRST computer here) and a possible random logic implementation. Throughout, implementation is assumed to be done with SSI/MSI glue logic chips. Many designers today would be more likely to use programmable logic. The next two chapters describe the bit-sliced chips and sequencers. Chapter 5 gives a microprogrammed implementation of a PDP-11. Additional logic required for features such as condition codes is described piecemeal, making it difficult to see the design as a whole. Important issues such as how to interface with memory are not considered at all.

In chapter 6, after 200 pages, microprogramming is described briefly, with an emphasis on software tools. Chapter7 talks briefly about microprogrammable controller chips, using a disk controller as an example. Chapter 8 describes support chips in the bit-slice families, and chapter 9 is a 3-page conclusion.

It would be hard to learn how to use these chips from this book. The descriptions are bottom-up, and some material is covered in great detail while other material is hardly covered at all. This applies to the sections describing the bit-slice chips as well as the sections describing the example computers.

Someone wishing to learn about microprogramming in general will not get much from this book. The only significant microprogram shown is for a legal chess move checker, which looks too much like assembly language to give a good feeling for what a microprogram looks like. A microprogram for the implementation of the example computer is not given. The author provides only one page of references, mostly related to the bit-slice chips.

I do not know who would benefit from reading this book. Someone wishing to learn about microprogramming would be quite confused. A skilled designer would do better to work with the vendor’s data book and perhaps a book targeted to a specific design, such as Mick and Brick [1].

Reviewer:  S. Davidson Review #: CR116391
1) Mick, J. and Brick, J. Bit-slice microprocessor design. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1980.
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Firmware Support Of Operating Systems/ Instruction Sets (B.1.5 ... )
 
 
Electronics (J.2 ... )
 
 
Engineering (J.2 ... )
 
 
Instruction Set Interpretation (B.1.5 ... )
 
 
Microprocessor/ Microcomputer Applications (C.3 ... )
 
 
General (B.2.0 )
 
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