Book Description
What do flashlights, the British invasion, black cats, and
seesaws have to do with computers? In CODE, they show us the
ingenious ways we manipulate language and invent new means of
communicating with each other. And through CODE, we see how this
ingenuity and our very human compulsion to communicate have driven
the technological innovations of the past two centuries.
Using everyday objects and familiar language systems such as
Braille and Morse code, author Charles Petzold weaves an
illuminating narrative for anyone who’s ever wondered about
the secret inner life of computers and other smart machines.
It’s a cleverly illustrated and eminently comprehensible
story—and along the way, you’ll discover you’ve
gained a real context for understanding today’s world of PCs,
digital media, and the Internet. No matter what your level of
technical savvy, CODE will charm you—and perhaps even awaken
the technophile within.
Table of Contents
-
Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
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- Preface to the Paperback Edition
- 1. Best Friends
- 2. Codes and Combinations
- 3. Braille and Binary Codes
- 4. Anatomy of a Flashlight
- 5. Seeing Around Corners
- 6. Telegraphs and Relays
- 7. Our Ten Digits
- 8. Alternatives to Ten
- 9. Bit by Bit by Bit
- 10. Logic and Switches
- 11. Gates (Not Bill)
- 12. A Binary Adding Machine
- 13. But What About Subtraction?
- 14. Feedback and Flip-Flops
- 15. Bytes and Hex
- 16. An Assemblage of Memory
- 17. Automation
- 18. From Abaci to Chips
- 19. Two Classic Microprocessors
- 20. ASCII and a Cast of Characters
- 21. Get on the Bus
- 22. The Operating System
- 23. Fixed Point, Floating Point
- 24. Languages High and Low
- 25. The Graphical Revolution
- A. Acknowledgments
- B. Bibliography
- About the Author
- Colophon
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