THE CONTEXT OF PARALLEL PROCESSING The field of digital computer architecture has grown explosively in the past two decades. Through a steady stream of experimental research, tool-building efforts, and theoretical studies, the design of an instruction-set architecture, once considered an art, has been transformed into one of the most quantitative branches of computer technology. At the same time, better understanding of various forms of concurrency, from standard pipelining to massive parallelism, and invention of architectural structures to support a reasonably efficient and user-friendly programming model for such systems, has allowed hardware performance to continue its exponential growth. This trend is expected to continue in the near future. This explosive growth, linked with the expectation that performance will continue its exponential rise with each new generation of hardware and that (in stark contrast to software) computer hardware will function correctly as soon as it comes off the assembly line, has its down side. It has led to unprecedented hardware complexity and almost intolerable dev- opment costs. The challenge facing current and future computer designers is to institute simplicity where we now have complexity; to use fundamental theories being developed in this area to gain performance and ease-of-use benefits from simpler circuits; to understand the interplay between technological capabilities and limitations, on the one hand, and design decisions based on user and application requirements on the other.

It is our pleasure to welcome you to the proceedings of the 13th International C- puter Society of Iran Computer Conference (CSICC-2008). The conference has been held annually since 1995, except for 1998, when it transitioned from a year-end to first-quarter schedule. It has been moving in the direction of greater selectivity (see Fig.1) and broader international participation. Holding it in Kish Island this year represents an effort to further facilitate and encourage international contributions. We feel privileged to participate in further advancing this strong technical tradition. 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Dec 23-26 Dec 23-25 Dec 23-25 Jan 26-28 Mar 8-10 Feb 21-23 Feb 28-30 Feb 23-26 Feb 16-19 Feb 15-18 Jan 24-26 Feb 20-22 Mar 9-11 1995 1996 1997 Iran 1999 2000 2001 U of 2002 Iran 2003 2004 2005 Iran 2006 IPM, 2007 2008 Sharif U Amirkabir U of Sharif U Shahid Isfahan, Telecom Ferdowsi Sharif U Telecom Tehran Shahid Sharif U of Tech, U of Tech, Sci/Tech, of Tech, Beheshti Isfahan Res. U, of Tech, Res. Beheshti of Tech, Tehran Tehran Tehran Tehran U, Tehran Center Mashhad Tehran Center U, Tehran Kish Island Dates, Year, Venue

THE CONTEXT OF PARALLEL PROCESSING The field of digital computer architecture has grown explosively in the past two decades. Through a steady stream of experimental research, tool-building efforts, and theoretical studies, the design of an instruction-set architecture, once considered an art, has been transformed into one of the most quantitative branches of computer technology. At the same time, better understanding of various forms of concurrency, from standard pipelining to massive parallelism, and invention of architectural structures to support a reasonably efficient and user-friendly programming model for such systems, has allowed hardware performance to continue its exponential growth. This trend is expected to continue in the near future. This explosive growth, linked with the expectation that performance will continue its exponential rise with each new generation of hardware and that (in stark contrast to software) computer hardware will function correctly as soon as it comes off the assembly line, has its down side. It has led to unprecedented hardware complexity and almost intolerable dev- opment costs. The challenge facing current and future computer designers is to institute simplicity where we now have complexity; to use fundamental theories being developed in this area to gain performance and ease-of-use benefits from simpler circuits; to understand the interplay between technological capabilities and limitations, on the one hand, and design decisions based on user and application requirements on the other.

Ideal for graduate and senior undergraduate courses in computer arithmetic and advanced digital design, Computer Arithmetic: Algorithms and Hardware Designs, Second Edition, provides a balanced, comprehensive treatment of computer arithmetic. It covers topics in arithmetic unit design and circuit implementation that complement the architectural and algorithmic speedup techniques used in high-performance computer architecture and parallel processing. Using a unified and consistent framework, the text begins with number representation and proceeds through basic arithmetic operations, floating-point arithmetic, and function evaluation methods. Later chapters cover broad design and implementation topics-including techniques for high-throughput, low-power, fault-tolerant, and reconfigurable arithmetic. An appendix provides a historical view of the field and speculates on its future.
An indispensable resource for instruction, professional development, and research, Computer Arithmetic: Algorithms and Hardware Designs, Second Edition, combines broad coverage of the underlying theories of computer arithmetic with numerous examples of practical designs, worked-out examples, and a large collection of meaningful problems. This second edition includes a new chapter on reconfigurable arithmetic, in order to address the fact that arithmetic functions are increasingly being implemented on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and FPGA-like configurable devices. Updated and thoroughly revised, the book offers new and expanded coverage of saturating adders and multipliers, truncated multipliers, fused multiply-add units, overlapped quotient digit selection, bipartite and multipartite tables, reversible logic, dot notation, modular arithmetic, Montgomery modular reduction, division by constants, IEEE floating-point standard formats, and interval arithmetic.
Features:
* Divided into 28 lecture-size chapters
* Emphasizes both the underlying theories of computer arithmetic and actual hardware designs
* Carefully links computer arithmetic to other subfields of computer engineering
* Includes 717 end-of-chapter problems ranging in complexity from simple exercises to mini-projects
* Incorporates many examples of practical designs
* Uses consistent standardized notation throughout
* Instructor's manual includes solutions to text problems
* An author-maintained website http: //www.ece.ucsb.edu/ parhami/text_comp_arit.htm contains instructor resources, including complete lecture slides