This book describes the architecture and design of IBM mainframe computers from the launch of system/360 (S/360) in 1964 through the announcement of the Enterprise Systems Architecture (ESA/370) in 1988. It consists of 15 chapters, the first of which is a general introduction to computer systems and to the history of IBM mainframes. Chapter 2 discusses the concept of computer architecture, which played an important role in the design process and description of the IBM mainframes. Unfortunately, the author does not explicitly state which definition of architecture he uses throughout the book, so statements like “The System 360 Model 67 had the dynamic address translation capability that is not present in the 360 architecture” (p. 37) are difficult to interpret. The next four chapters deal with the S/360, the S/370, the 370/XA, and the ESA/370 architectures, respectively. Prasad hardly touches on the ESA/370 architecture because not much was publicly known about it when the book was written, but he describes the other three rather extensively in similarly structured chapters that have sections on the CPU, storage, I/O architecture, and instruction set. He also highlights the differences between the architectures. In fact, Prasad not only describes the architectures, but also covers the computer organization of the mainframes conforming to these architectures. Every chapter ends with a review section that contains criticism and discussion; I found, however, that only for the chapter on the S/360 is this section substantial.

The next chapter is a general discussion of the techniques used in the design of the IBM mainframes. Brief chapters on the design of the 3033, 308X, 3090, 4381, and 9370 processors follow. These chapters discuss the technology used, pipelining, and channel organization. The following two short chapters are on DASD subsystems and on communication configurations (e.g., SNA). The book ends with a chapter of conclusions, which has little content, and a good index.

The introduction states that the book can be used by professionals using IBM mainframes, as supplementary material in an assembly language course, or as an additional text in a computer architecture course. This book does not address any of these needs well. Someone working with IBM mainframes will not find enough detail here and has access to the relevant manuals; the book does not contain a single example assembly language program, and many specialized texts cover S/370 assembly language; and many general computer architecture books contain a case study of S/370.

Every chapter of this book contains a list of references to related material, mainly to IBM manuals and to papers in the IBM Systems Journal and the IBM Journal of Research and Development. I would advise anyone who wants to know about IBM mainframes to browse through the last 25 years of these journals and read the appropriate papers and special issues. Finally, the physical quality of the book is below modern international, and indeed McGraw-Hill, standards.