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Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

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.

Chapter 1. Best Friends

Chapter 2. Codes and Combinations

Chapter 3. Braille and Binary Codes

Chapter 4. Anatomy of a Flashlight

Chapter 5. Communicating Around Corners

Chapter 6. Logic with Switches

Chapter 7. Telegraphs and Relays

Chapter 8. Relays and Gates

Chapter 9. Our Ten Digits

Chapter 10. Alternative 10s

Chapter 11. Bit by Bit by Bit

Chapter 12. Bytes and Hexadecimal

Chapter 13. From ASCII to Unicode

Chapter 14. Adding with Logic Gates

Chapter 15. Is This for Real?

Chapter 16. But What About Subtraction?

Chapter 17. Feedback and Flip-Flops

Chapter 18. Let’s Build a Clock!

Chapter 19. An Assemblage of Memory

Chapter 20. Automating Arithmetic

Chapter 21. The Arithmetic Logic Unit

Chapter 22. Registers and Busses

Chapter 23. CPU Control Signals

Chapter 24. Loops, Jumps, and Calls

Chapter 25. Peripherals

Chapter 26. The Operating System

Chapter 27. Coding

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