A few chapters were tempting to skim For example, Petzold includes 25 pages on the machine code instructions of an Intel 8080 microprocessor - did we really need all that detail? It leads you from the very basics like morse & braille codes to boolean algebra and various numeric systems, from simple tiny electric circuits which bulb the lamp to primitive adding machine (built from relays, hehe), up to history of development and en. Similarly I knew a fair amount about how various electrical gates work but not how by pairing multiple gates together you eventually get to RAM, a CPU, etc. The route between those two points is the interesting part, and there was some parts that I foudn really illuminating and important. He takes you on an exciting journey, through Braille Code, Morse Code, Telegraph Relays, Logic Gates, Flip-Flops, seamlessly from one to the other, each revealing a powerful concept. Basically, this book designs and builds a basic computer by introducing in each chapter a concept or a technology used inside computers. Almost makes me want to try again (*almost*). […] 7 (which are now referred to by Microsoft’s own support site) to reviews of academic and non-academic books, along with some more academic posts (such as information about my publications and the software […]. Possible simulation software. Charles Petzold has been writing about programming for Windows-based operating systems for 24 years. Raise your hand if you think metaphors and analogies should be used sparingly. Charles Petzold discusses his Bright Idea: how a complex technology like computers can be described more fruitfully by going back in time to its historical origins. When programmers talk about the timeless books that will always be relevant, certain classics always come up: The Mythical Man Month, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Design Patterns, Refactoring, Code Complete, and others. But remember: Authors receive royalties only … You start with braille and simple light switches, make your way to oscillators, flip-flops and multiplexer, and suddenly you understand how computer hardware works. In this book, Charles Petzold gives a lucid explanation of how a computer works. Interview with Charles Petzold regarding Code on the Amazon.com web site. I feel like I've learned a lot by reading this book, especially since we had no relevant computer architecture courses in college. With Code, Petzold sets out to inform a general audience about the inner workings of computers. Definitely one of the greats. Starts from understandable foundations and builds from there. Written in 1999, the book yet actual nowadays (well, there are funny moments regarding computers' capacity and performance, and probably some other stuff but those don't matter much). I’d never really understood relays before, but Petzold introduces them with a very good analogy as a ‘labour saving device’ at a telegraph station. With a desire to learn how the high level code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.) You may be able to obtain copies of the hardcover edition from online booksellers listed on my Books page. In brief: be prepared to skim through at least 25% of this book! Given how much detail everything is explained in – and how little knowledge is assumed – fitting it into 260 pages is very impressive! Code has no drawings of trains carrying a cargo of zeros and ones. hello, 5am.). There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Metaphors and similes are wonderful literary devices but they do nothing but obscure the beauty of technology.”, “In 1948, while working for Bell Telephone Laboratories, he published a paper in the Bell System Technical Journal entitled "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" that not only introduced the word bit in print but established a field of study today known as information theory. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Is it comfortable to read this book on Kindle? Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). The last chapter of the book felt a bit rushed and ended abruptly, but maybe that’s just my wanting the book to go on longer/end at present day. In a very fun manner, this book presents 3 years of introductory CS curricula: discrete structures, algorithms, logic gates, ... After reading this during two cross-country flights, I better understand (and remember) classes I took 10 years ago. While that chapter was fairly thorough, when I got to later chapters and realized I couldn't quite grok what was going on in these chips, it was hard for me to tell whether I was holding myself back by not fully understanding the concepts of Chapter 17, or if Petzold was simply glossing over some of the details that might have clued m. This was a wonderful non-fiction read, especially the first 15 or so chapters. I really, really truly love this book. The book starts by looking at the ways you, as a child, might try and communicate with your best friend who lives across the street – after your parents think you’ve gone to bed. By the end of the book I was itching to buy lots of relays or transformers and make a computer on my living room table! The benefits of an academic website « Robin's Blog, Pint + SQLAlchemy = Unit consistency and enforcement in your database, Creating an email service for my son’s childhood memories with Python. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Great way to fill blanks in my computer knowledge. petzold-pw5e. You won’t be disappointed. Summary: This book takes you all the way from Morse Code to a fully working computer, explaining everything along the way. Every single person in tech should read this book. I can now look around at all the electronics in my house and feel like I know what’s fundamentally going on. by Microsoft Press, Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software. It is a great book, I demystified some thoughts I had about software architecture. There's not much programming or CS (apart from some machine code and assembly language examples). To see what your friends thought of this book. Very close to my ideal book. Surprisingly interesting. And while it does get pretty complex, Charles doesnt avoid it. This week's BART book of the week is Charles Petzold's Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, recommended to me by my awesome coworker Dan Tsui. It carries you along from the very fundamentals of both codes (like braille) and electric circuits in the telegraph days all the way to the web in a way that even a layperson could understand, with plenty of verbal and diagrammatic explanation. Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software - Ebook written by Charles Petzold. Unlike other computer science books, the 'Code' teaches how computers work in a nutshell. The majority of the book, however, is great - I had never really delved into logic gates and circuitry, so it was truly eye-opening even if I couldn't fully understand some parts. Charles doesnt try to explain through high level metaphors (that do a poor job of capturing the truth -- I am frustrated after picking up another apparently interesting physics book only to find it contains no math), rather, he slowly builds on simple examples. Buy a discounted Paperback of Code online from Australia's leading online bookstore. I'll be honest. With a desire to learn how the high level code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.) TODO: Breakout into new pages and review Charles Petzold a does an outstanding job of explaining the basic workings of a computer. By saying 'engineering', I mean it. Such a fun and interesting book. By saying 'engineering', I mean it. Vote for your favourite Australian book of 2020! Information theory is concerned with transmitting digital information in the presence of noise (which usually prevents all the information from getting through) and how to compensate for that. In the preface to the 2000 softcover edition, Petzold wrote that his goal was for readers to understand how computers work at a concrete level that "just might even rival that of electrical engineers and programmers". Code The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software 1st Edition by Charles Petzold and Publisher Microsoft Press PTG. 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. The print version of this textbook is ISBN: 9780735611313, 0735611319. He then describes the development of hardware beginning with a description of the development of telegraph and relays. We’d love your help. Robin's Blog Review: Code – The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold December 29, 2012. If you ever wondered how a computer worked then buy this and read it – even if you think you already know (unless you’re, you know, a chip designer at Intel or something! I do now. Summary: This book takes you all the way from Morse Code to a fully working computer, explaining everything along the way.What’s more, it’s a great read too! I write on a daily basis actually makes its way through the magical land that is a computer and returns pleasantries to a human being behind the screen, I sat down with this "Code" book. In 1949, he wrote the first article about programming a computer to play chess, and in 1952 he designed a mechanical mouse controlled by relays that could learn its way around a maze. While that chapter was fairly thorough, when I got to later chapters and realized I couldn't quite grok what was going on in these chips, it was hard for me to tell whether I was holding myself back by not fully understanding the concepts of Chapter 17, or if Petzold was simply glossing over some of the details that might have clued me in. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. I LOVE this book. Of course, the book continues past page 260, going on to cover topics including input and output (from keyboards and to the screen), high and low level programming languages, graphics, multimedia and more. Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold 2020-07-08 Leave a comment If you have been reading my book reviews, you know that I like history. The book takes the approach of constructing the computer “on the paper and in our minds” — that's great when you're at least a little familiar with the topic, maybe not so when trying to discover a completely unknown territory (but the author takes great lengths to go through everything step by step — e. g. the various gates, binary subtraction, memory handling, etc.). Your email address will not be published. Charles Petzold August 16, 2000 Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software. The book takes the approach of constructing the computer “on the paper and in our minds” — that's great when you're at least a little familiar with the topic, maybe not so when. He slowly puts these together in a stunningly beautiful manner to assemble a computer. And I should understand the logic behind the center of my life, right? And that's coming from someone who already thought they "sorta" understood how it worked. !!! In 1984, PC Magazine decided to do a review of printers. Petzold maintains a good balance: the pace is comfortable, and the tone is informal while at the same time incorporating the appropriate technical terminology to accurately convey the subject matter without obscuring it by unnecessarily avoiding precision out of fear that the reader will be turned off by too much jargon. Book Review: Code by Charles Petzold Charles Petzold is perhaps best known for his books on programming Windows applications. ‍. What a ride! The last chapter of the book felt a bit rushed and ended abruptly, but maybe that’s just my wanting the book to go on longer/end at present day. Refresh and try again. Now I do. Knowledge is empowering! He continues with a potted history of transistors, microchips, RAM, ROM, character encoding and all sorts of other fun stuff. So, while Code goes fairly deep into the workings of the computer (few other books show how computer processors actually work, for example), the pace is fairly relaxed. I didn't really. Around this point a number of other key – but rather unrelated – topics are covered like Boolean logic (True/False, AND, OR etc) and number systems (particularly number bases and binary). I'll raise my hand with you. Wow. I’m not going to go much further into detail about the rest of the book, except to say that you move towards being able to ‘build’ (conceptually if not actually physically) a fully-working computer gradually, one step at a time. Welcome back. - The Basic Principles of Computers for Everyone, New African American Histories and Biographies to Read Now. I feel like I could clearly explain all of the major concepts to someone else, which I think is a key test of true understanding. Code is not special because of its subject but rather because of how it weaves together the many and varied pieces that compose the topic. Buy a cheap copy of Applications = Code + Markup: A Guide to... book by Charles Petzold. 1990s computers) and the final chapter on the graphical revolution goes through way too much, way too fast to be of any use. Overall, I loved it and will surely be recommending it to anyone who asks how computers work. © 2021 Robin's Blog | powered by WordPress Electricity and electrical circuits are introduced when describing how you might communicate with another friend whose window you can’t see from yours. Your email address will not be published. As you’ll probably know if you’ve read many articles on this site: I’m a computer programmer and general ‘geek’. A Windows Pioneer Award winner, Petzold is author of the classic Programming Windows, the widely acclaimed Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, Programming Windows Phone 7, and more than a dozen other books. What’s more, it’s a great read too! Its really hard to understand chapter 17 ,help? Just finished reading my b-day gift, the 'Code' by Charles Petzold - probably the best engineering book I've ever read. Here you can start to see how this is moving towards a computer…. From logic gates, to adding circuits and subtracting circuits and from clocks to flip-flops and RAM you gradually work up to a full, programmable computer which you have basically built by page 260! This was a wonderful non-fiction read, especially the first 15 or so chapters. I wish I had had this book back when I was taking my first Computer Architecture course in college! It carries you along from the very fundamentals of both codes (like braille) and electric circuits in the telegraph days all the way to the web in a way that even a layperson could understand, with plenty of verbal and diagrammatic explanation. This book basicaly tries to take you from the very basics of how to encode information, such as how binary is used to represent complex information, to understanding how a computer uses information like this to perform intricate operations. Just finished reading my b-day gift, the 'Code' by Charles Petzold - probably the best engineering book I've ever read. I write on a daily basis actually makes its way through the magical land that is a computer and returns pleasantries to a human being behind the screen, I sat down with this "Code" book. He then moves on to Braille, which is significantly more complex than I thought, and which gives the opportunity to look at some of the more complex things you find in codes (eg. I start getting the math, the logic behind all this technology that has become pretty much the center of my life today. You’ll note that nothing about computers has been introduced yet – and that is a key feature of the first part of the book, it doesn’t go straight in to “this is how a computer works”, it starts at a very basic (but still interesting) level that becomes useful when thinking about computers later in the book, but isn’t too scary. I really enjoyed most of this book. The slow unfolding of how computers are built actually work was extremely fascinating - from simple lightbulb circuits to logic gates to RAM to keyboards and monitors. Petzold spends a long time laying down the basic blocks of electrical engineering before progressing to how bits flow through a circuit board and control things. Start by marking “Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software” as Want to Read: Error rating book. ), but I very much like the book as a whole. Unfortunately, parts of this book seem quite dated (most anything discussing "contemporary" technology, i.e. Required fields are marked *. QUCS - untested; ngSpice - untested; Other? There is a very practical emphasis on everything – and the point about the importance of binary as on/off, true/false, open/closed and so on, is very much emphasised. Yes, but so much more! Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Code at Amazon.com. We are made by history.” So, this January, as we celebrate Martin Luther King... What do flashlights, the British invasion, black cats, and seesaws have to do with computers? The book reminds me of the courses that students usually have during the first year of the University. By saying 'engineering', I mean it. A few chapters were tempting to skim For example, Petzold incl. It does at points get pretty deep into the weeds but I really appreciated the author's efforts to provide such an exhaustive dive into how computers work (and I regained much of my awe at these machines we take so for granted nowadays). 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. I have been an IT professional for 20 years, but I never knew what the switches on the front panel of the Altar computer were for. It does at points get pretty deep into the weeds but I really appreciated the author's efforts to provide such an exhaustive dive into how computers w. Wow. But remember: Authors receive royalties only … Scott Hanselman says “This book should really be required reading in any CS101 class. As Mr. Petzold states in the preface, Code is “a unique journey through the evolution of the digital technologies that define the modern age.” So, how computers work? So, it won’t surprise you to know that I am quite interested in how computers work – and picked up this book thinking that I’d already know quite a lot of it. Thank you for such an awesome book! The natural solution to this is Morse code using a torch, and Petzold takes this simple code as a good starting point to explain the concepts of a code. Much appreciated, thank you! While Petzold does assume the reader is starting from scratch, I think it would be easier to follow later on if you had some background in computers/technology. The book is very intriguing from the start, beginning with the earliest forms of code (Morse, Braille, etc.). If you work with computers and didn't read this book, you are lame. Chapter 17 ("Automation"), however, was where I began to feel a bit in over my head. Get the definitive guide to the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), the new client programming interface for the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 and Windows Vista.... Free shipping over $10. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Unlike other computer science books, the 'Code' teaches how computers work in a nutshell. I can think of very few issues with this book – although the last chapter does read rather strangely, as if the author was trying to fit far too much into far too little space (trying to cover multimedia, networking, WIMP interfaces and more in one chapter is a bit of a tall order though! Soon he was busy writing little 300-500 byte .COM file utilities for PC Magazine. The 5th edition Programming Windows was published in 1998 in the era of Windows 98, Windows NT and Internet Explorer 4. Starting from workings of an electrical circuit and building up to various logical elements with gradually increasing complexity. Still, the purpose of the book, as I mentioned, is rather to explain the nature of computer codes and hardware at the very low-level. If you know a better one, I want to read it. As it was, I had to bombard my dad (an electronic engineer) with questions to even make it to the end of some chapters, but then I haven't attended regular maths/science classes since about age 14, so maybe it's not surprising that I'm missing some of the needed background information. For example, I didn't understand hexadecimal numbers (or indeed what base 4, base 8, etc) numbers meant before I read this boo. This book pretty quickly gets into electricity and basic circuits. This book basicaly tries to take you from the very basics of how to encode information, such as how binary is used to represent complex information, to understanding how a computer uses information like this to perform intricate operations. The book is very intriguing from the start, beginning with the earliest forms of code (Morse, Braille, etc.). I really liked the gradual introduction to concepts of increasing complexity where each builds on the one before it. I can now look around at all the electronics in my house and feel like I know what’s fundamentally going on. This book is the perfect depth for novices but also people who are “in tech” and don’t really understand how it all works (like me). Once they have been introduced, a couple of important processors (the Intel 8080 and the Motorola 6800) are examined in detail – a really interesting opportunity to see how the concepts you’ve learnt about have been applied in real life by chip designers. Knowledge is empowering! So I've reread this book once more because I felt it was great, yet I could not give it 5/5 before. 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. Overall, I loved it and will surely be recommending it to anyone who asks how computers, This book is the perfect depth for novices but also people who are “in tech” and don’t really understand how it all works (like me). Or if you're just interested in tech. This is the book that every computer science … I really enjoyed most of this book. Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (1999) is a book by Charles Petzold that seeks to teach how personal computers work at a hardware and software level. This book is quite incredible. Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold 6,819 ratings, 4.40 average rating, 554 reviews Code Quotes Showing 1-20 of … Availability - Hardcover The hardcover edition of this book is out of print. 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. I have not read those, but I can’t imagine they will age nearly as well as Code has. The more I interact with software, the more those interactions reflect their makers and materials. If not already, it soon will be, a staple of computer science literature. This was the beginning of Petzold's career as a paid writer. It provides a general overview of how computers function. Code is never mentioned in that group, and for good reason. It leads you from the very basics like morse & braille codes to boolean algebra and various numeric systems, from simple tiny electric circuits which bulb the lamp to primitive adding machine (built from relays, hehe), up to history of development and enhancement of computers in the 20th century. Code-Charles Petzold 2000-10-11 What do flashlights, the British invasion, black cats, and seesaws have to do Review of CODE by Charles Petzold I recently read CODE – The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold. They asked all current New York contributors to help with the review. The route between those two points is the interesting part, and there was some parts that I foudn really illuminating and important. My opinion on this book is really divided : on the one hand I enjoy some chapters, on the other hand I hardly managed to restrain myself from flipping through other chapters. A couple things don't. It's both a narrative history of Computer Science and a brilliant introduction to systems and programming. Whenever circuits are drawn in the book – from here onwards – they are shown with the wires that have current in them in red, making it very easy to see what is going on. I read the Kindle version, and it's fine. Petzold has a great writer's voice and a true talent for making a complicated subject fun to learn. Overall: a great read, very interesting and very educational. First he explains binary (via morse code and Braille), then he introduces relays and switches, then gates and Boolean logic, and before you know it you're building an electronic counting machine. And Petzold helps me to walk inside an electrical circuit, a telephone, a telegraph, an adding machine, a computer, and to understand the basics behind the design, of what is going on inside. His story begins with a description of various ways of coding information including Braille, Morse code, and binary code. When you later need to restore the contents of these registers, use the POP instructions in Interestingly, transistors aren’t mentioned until after you’ve got almost all of the way to building a computer – but this is almost certainly because relays are far easier to understand, and accomplish the same job. Shannon was also well known at Bell Labs for riding a unicycle and juggling simultaneously.”. The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine, But How Do It Know? The beginning is slightly slow, but after the 1/3 mark or so, I couldn't put it down(literally. Oh how I love this book. For example, I didn't understand hexadecimal numbers (or indeed what base 4, base 8, etc) numbers meant before I read this book. I only read this book because it was quoted as a must read by Joel Spolsky on a stackexchange answer about how to go about learning programming (and finding out if you want/should be a programmer). Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Petzold goes back to the very basics to explain how to build a computer (of sorts) from the ground up. View code-charles-petzold-27.pdf from MATH 212 at San Mateo High. Revisited C source code for Charles Petzold's Programming Windows 5th Edition ISBN-10 157231995X. CODE: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold. This code the hidden language of computer hardware and software developer best practices, as one of the most energetic sellers here will certainly be along with the best options to review. This book has really taught me a lot, despite the fact that many of the later chapters lost me somewhat; it felt like it became much more complicated and hard to follow after the earlier chapters, which were great, slowly paced and well explained. shift characters and escape characters – both of which Braille has). Save up to 80% by choosing the eTextbook option for ISBN: 9780735638723, 0735638721. It was probably a combination of both. It is one of those rare books that is suitable for a very wide range of audiences – from those with almost no knowledge of the subject at all (it starts from the very beginning, so that isn’t a problem) right up to those who are experienced programmers and know some of it (they will still find a lot they don’t know, and realise a lot of things). It doesn't have big color illustrations of disk drives with arrows showing how the data sweeps into the computer. Booktopia has Code, The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold. 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. 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