Just wondering if anyone else has read Charles Petzold's Code.
I just finished it today and thought it was a really awesome book.
It starts out with the evolution of code throughout history - Morse code, Braille, barcodes, etc. Analyzing how the various systems of communication were started, how they're read, and the good and bad aspects of each system.
It then continues on to basic circuitry, Ohm's Law, boolean algebra and how you can use circuitry with boolean algebra to express logic through electrical circuits (of course covering how OR, XOR, AND, etc gates are constructed, why they're important, etc), along with the evolution of the elementary unit (electromagnetic relays, vacuum tubes, transistors). And touches upon numbering systems and why base-10 is the norm for humans, and why binary is THE system for computers (computers didn't start with binary, that was actually a relatively recent fundamental change that has allowed computers to become what they are today).
Basically, throughout the whole book, Petzold is showing you how to build a computer from the raw circuitry (and all the concepts that come along with) to 8080 microprocessors, including along the way the development of assembly language, how memory works at the raw circuitry level (and, again, how to build a piece of memory), how to build adder circuitry any size numbers you'd like, and on to things like how a bus works.
It's a really well structured, brilliantly written book covering the history, evolution of, and basic structure of just about every part of the computer. Even if you know just about everything in the book, it's still really worth the read as it might relate the topics to you in a way you haven't thought of before, and it's just very orderly and complete. I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it for laymen, experts, or just someone looking for something good to read.
I just finished it today and thought it was a really awesome book.
It starts out with the evolution of code throughout history - Morse code, Braille, barcodes, etc. Analyzing how the various systems of communication were started, how they're read, and the good and bad aspects of each system.
It then continues on to basic circuitry, Ohm's Law, boolean algebra and how you can use circuitry with boolean algebra to express logic through electrical circuits (of course covering how OR, XOR, AND, etc gates are constructed, why they're important, etc), along with the evolution of the elementary unit (electromagnetic relays, vacuum tubes, transistors). And touches upon numbering systems and why base-10 is the norm for humans, and why binary is THE system for computers (computers didn't start with binary, that was actually a relatively recent fundamental change that has allowed computers to become what they are today).
Basically, throughout the whole book, Petzold is showing you how to build a computer from the raw circuitry (and all the concepts that come along with) to 8080 microprocessors, including along the way the development of assembly language, how memory works at the raw circuitry level (and, again, how to build a piece of memory), how to build adder circuitry any size numbers you'd like, and on to things like how a bus works.
It's a really well structured, brilliantly written book covering the history, evolution of, and basic structure of just about every part of the computer. Even if you know just about everything in the book, it's still really worth the read as it might relate the topics to you in a way you haven't thought of before, and it's just very orderly and complete. I really enjoyed the book and highly recommend it for laymen, experts, or just someone looking for something good to read.