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Product Description
From Amazon
The real value of Code is in its explanation of technologies that have been obscured for years behind fancy user interfaces and programming environments, which, in the name of rapid application development, insulate the programmer from the machine. In a section on machine language, Petzold dissects the instruction sets of the genre-defining Intel 8080 and Motorola 6800 processors. He walks the reader through the process of performing various operations with each chip, explaining which opcodes poke which values into which registers along the way. Petzold knows that the hidden language of computers exhibits real beauty. In Code, he helps readers appreciate it. --David Wall
Topics covered: Mechanical and electrical representations of words and numbers, number systems, logic gates, performing mathematical operations with logic gates, microprocessors, machine code, memory and programming languages. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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.
You're 10 years old. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Book of this Type,
By M. R. (United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (Paperback)
As a hobbyist programmer, I had wondered for years how a computer worked at its most internal level. I had even had a couple of unsuccessful encounters with other "How Computers Work"-type books that left me mainly with the dissatisfied impression that the machine was an impenetrable black box.Petzold's book was not like this. While other books started with flashy graphics of internal designs all flowcharts with little in the way of explanation, Code starts off simply, with two flashlights and the goal of communicating at night. This problem, of course, would be easy solved by anyone who knows of Morse code. Yet, from Petzold's pen it becomes an illuminating and amusing journey with attempts to deal with similar scenarios of every increasing complexity until I realized two-thirds of the way through that given a sufficient time and space, I could, at least in theory, build a computer. This is the greatest success of Code, in my opinion. Rather than attempting to peel away the mysteries of the system a layer at a time like an onion, it delves directly to the core and builds upon its ideas in a fashion like that of the original computer designers, until everything forms into a cohesive whole. Petzold does an excellent job of capturing his excitement for the material, making the progressive developments a joy to read about. With my uneven background knowledge, there were a few sections that I felt that I could skim through, but also many a passage that I had to carefully scrutinize. Overall, I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in computers, from beginner to expert: Petzold provides enough explanation for a determined newcomer to understand all of the concepts, but enough breadth to still entertain and educate those with more experience in the area.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read!,
This review is from: Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (Paperback)
This book is very good and a great read for anyone who wants to learn about the inner workings of their computers. I am studying to be a software engineer and I am often disappointed by my shortcomings when it comes to the low level aspects of engineering. This book is a very good place for me to start catching up.It is very well written and extremely enjoyable.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intro to EE,
By
This review is from: Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (Paperback)
That is what the title should have been. I feel like I've taken a course in Electrical Engineering. Not exactly what I was expecting but really fun and educational. He literally builds a computer from the ground up. He starts with a switch and a light bulb and by the end you have a computer. It is really that simple (but phenomenally complex!!!).The author is just wonderful. He does seem to repeat himself a bit, and I did find myself skimming a couple pages after I understood something enough for my tastes, but that could be just me. His use of illustrations is just the best. Most authors get lazy and try to put everything in writing. This author tries to convey as much information in the diagrams as possible, but while still keeping them so clear. Extremely useful! Sometimes you can just look at the diagram and understand without even needing to read the text! An illiterate could almost come out knowing how a computer works. The book is long and thorough. Be prepared to learn it all. But if you're the type that wants that understanding, you will get it. Everything is built on first principles so you will have a solid understanding. Every computer programmer should know this stuff.
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