the hidden language of computer hardware and software /
Charles Petzold
393 pages :
illustrations ;
25 cm
Includes index
Includes bibliographical references (page 383) and index
Ch. 1. Best Friends -- Ch. 2. Codes and Combinations -- Ch. 3. Braille and Binary Codes -- Ch. 4. Anatomy of a Flashlight -- Ch. 5. Seeing Around Corners -- Ch. 6. Telegraphs and Relays -- Ch. 7. Our Ten Digits -- Ch. 8. Alternatives to Ten -- Ch. 9. Bit by Bit by Bit -- Ch. 10. Logic and Switches -- Ch. 11. Gates (Not Bill) -- Ch. 12. A Binary Adding Machine -- Ch. 13. But What About Subtraction? -- Ch. 14. Feedback and Flip-Flops -- Ch. 15. Bytes and Hex -- Ch. 16. An Assemblage of Memory -- Ch. 17. Automation -- Ch. 18. From Abaci to Chips -- Ch. 19. Two Classic Microprocessors -- Ch. 20. ASCII and a Cast of Characters -- Ch. 21. Get on the Bus -- Ch. 22. The Operating System -- Ch. 23. Fixed Point, Floating Point -- Ch. 24. Language High and Low -- Ch. 25. The Graphical Revolution
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"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 ways to communicate 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."--Jacket