Book Review: Insider's Guide to the Pentium Pro

Dave Rowell

Pentium Pro Processor System Architecture by Tom Shanley, MindShare, Inc., Addison-Wesley Developer's Press, ISBN 0-201-47953-2, $34.95

You don't feel like reading Intel's Pentium Pro manuals? Try this book, instead. It's the latest in a well-respected series based on Intel's system architecture. It covers all aspects of Pentium Pro design, including Intel chip sets (440FX, 450GX, and 450KX) and a somewhat speculative introduction to Intel's matrix math extensions, or as they're now termed, multimedia extensions (MMX) technology. The book assumes knowledge of earlier Intel processors and syst em architecture or familiarity with previous books in the "PC System Architecture Series." You must go to the Pentium book in this series, for example, to get serious details on the advanced programmable interrupt controller (APIC).

Using top-down organization, Tom Shanley tells you what he's going to tell you before doing it. The overview sections yield a fair understanding of Pentium Pro design. The rest provides the details -- logically organized and clearly explained at a level appropriate for hardware and software engineers. It includes many tables and figures.

This book is not casual bedtime reading. It is essential information put in a palatable form for those who need it.