Computer Systems A Programmer's Perspective Second Edition
We then provide some background on digital hardware design. We describe
the basic building blocks used in a processor and how they are connected together
and operated. This presentation builds on our discussion of Boolean algebra and
bit-level operations from Chapter 2. We also introduce a simple language, HCL
(for “Hardware Control Language”), to describe the control portions of hardware
systems. We will later use this language to describe our processor designs. Even if
you already have some background in logic design, read this section to understand
our particular notation.