The fact that there are more embedded computers than general-purpose computers and that we are impacted by hundreds of them every day is no longer news. What is news is that their increasing performance requirements, complexity and capabilities demand a new approach to their design. The authors describe a new age of embedded computing design, in which the processor is central, making the approach radically distinct from contemporary practices of embedded systems design. Rather than assembling the traditional elements of nonprogrammable components, peripherals, interconnects and buses, embedded computing designers must design systems that unify these elements with high-performance processor architectures, microarchitectures and compilers, and with the compilation tools, debuggers and simulators needed for application development. In this landmark text, the authors use their expertise in highly interdisciplinary hardware/software development and VLIW processors to illustrate this change in embedded computing. VLIW architectures have been a popular choice in embedded computing, and while VLIW is a running theme throughout the book, embedded is the topic. This book thoroughly examines both.