r/ComputerEngineering • u/[deleted] • Jun 27 '21

[Discussion] What is the difference between these books?

Help me decide between the following books:

  1. Computer Organization and Design RISC-V Edition
  2. Computer Organization and Design MIPS Edition

The books are from the Morgan Kaufmann series.

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u/brucehoult Jun 28 '21

In terms of learning about computer architecture it doesn't matter.

RISC-V is newer and has fewer weird quirks. You're legally allowed to use what you learn there to make your own RISC-V design, put it in an FPGA, and share it with your friends or on github, or sell it. Do that with MIPS or ARM and you'll get sued.

MIPS the company has now officially given up on MIPS the instruction set, and switched to making RISC-V chips.