The Physics of Computing gives a foundational view of the physical principles underlying computers. Performance, power, thermal behavior, and reliability are all harder and harder to achieve as transistors shrink to nanometer scales. This book describes the physics of computing at all levels of abstraction from single gates to complete computer systems. It can be used as a course for juniors or seniors in computer engineering and electrical engineering, and can also be used to teach students in other scientific disciplines important concepts in computing. For electrical engineering, the book provides the fundamentals of computing that link core concepts to computing. For computer science, it provides foundations of key challenges such as power consumption, performance, and thermal. The book can also be used as a technical reference by professionals. Links fundamental physics to the key challenges in computer design, including memory wall, power wall, reliability Provides all of the background necessary to understand the physical underpinnings of key computing concepts Covers all the major physical phenomena in computing from transistors to systems, including logic, interconnect, memory, clocking, I/O

This book presents a self-contained introduction to the physics of computing, by addressing the fundamental underlying principles that involve the act of computing, regardless of the actual machine that is used to compute. Questions like “what is the minimum energy required to perform a computation?”, “what is the ultimate computational speed that a computer can achieve?” or “how long can a memory last”, are addressed here, starting from basic physics principles. The book is intended for physicists, engineers, and computer scientists, and it is designed for self-study by researchers who want to enter the field or as the main text for a one semester course at advanced undergraduate or graduate level. The theoretical concepts presented in this book are systematically developed from the very beginning, which only requires basic knowledge in physics and mathematics.

Why do computers use so much energy? What are the fundamental physical laws governing the relationship between the precise computation run by a system, whether artificial or natural, and how much energy that computation requires? This volume integrates concepts from diverse fields, cultivating a modern, nonequilibrium thermodynamics of computation.

This text is the product of several years' effort to develop a course to fill a specific educational gap. It is our belief that computer science students should know how a computer works, particularly in light of rapidly changing tech nologies. The text was designed for computer science students who have a calculus background but have not necessarily taken prior physics courses. However, it is clearly not limited to these students. Anyone who has had first-year physics can start with Chapter 17. This includes all science and engineering students who would like a survey course of the ideas, theories, and experiments that made our modern electronics age possible. This textbook is meant to be used in a two-semester sequence. Chapters 1 through 16 can be covered during the first semester, and Chapters 17 through 28 in the second semester. At Queens College, where preliminary drafts have been used, the material is presented in three lecture periods (50 minutes each) and one recitation period per week, 15 weeks per semester. The lecture and recitation are complemented by a two-hour laboratory period per week for the first semester and a two-hour laboratory period biweekly for the second semester.

A very active field of research is emerging at the frontier of statistical physics, theoretical computer science/discrete mathematics, and coding/information theory. This book sets up a common language and pool of concepts, accessible to students and researchers from each of these fields.

Using computers to solve problems and model physical problems has fast become an integral part of undergraduate and graduate education in physics. This 3rd year undergraduate and subsequent graduate course is a supplement to courses in theoretical physics and develops problem-solving techniques using the computer. It makes use of the newest version of Mathematica (3.0) while still remaining compatible with older versions The programs using Mathematica 3.0 and C are written for both PCs and workstations, and the problems, source files, and graphic routines help students gain experience from the very beginning.

How differing assessments of risk by physicists and computer scientists have influenced public debate over nuclear defense. In a rapidly changing world, we rely upon experts to assess the promise and risks of new technology. But how do these experts make sense of a highly uncertain future? In Arguments that Count, Rebecca Slayton offers an important new perspective. Drawing on new historical documents and interviews as well as perspectives in science and technology studies, she provides an original account of how scientists came to terms with the unprecedented threat of nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). She compares how two different professional communities—physicists and computer scientists—constructed arguments about the risks of missile defense, and how these arguments changed over time. Slayton shows that our understanding of technological risks is shaped by disciplinary repertoires—the codified knowledge and mathematical rules that experts use to frame new challenges. And, significantly, a new repertoire can bring long-neglected risks into clear view. In the 1950s, scientists recognized that high-speed computers would be needed to cope with the unprecedented speed of ICBMs. But the nation's elite science advisors had no way to analyze the risks of computers so used physics to assess what they could: radar and missile performance. Only decades later, after establishing computing as a science, were advisors able to analyze authoritatively the risks associated with complex software—most notably, the risk of a catastrophic failure. As we continue to confront new threats, including that of cyber attack, Slayton offers valuable insight into how different kinds of expertise can limit or expand our capacity to address novel technological risks.