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Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software Paperback – October 21, 2000

by Charles Petzold (Author)

392 customer reviews

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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 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.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Charles Petzold's latest book, Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, crosses over into general-interest nonfiction from his usual programming genre. It's a carefully written, carefully researched gem that will appeal to anyone who wants to understand computer technology at its essence. Readers learn about number systems (decimal, octal, binary, and all that) through Petzold's patient (and frequently entertaining) prose and then discover the logical systems that are used to process them. There's loads of historical information too. From Louis Braille's development of his eponymous raised-dot code to Intel Corporation's release of its early microprocessors, Petzold presents stories of people trying to communicate with (and by means of) mechanical and electrical devices. It's a fascinating progression of technologies, and Petzold presents a clear statement of how they fit together.

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 an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Charles Petzold has been writing about Windows programming for 25 years. 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.

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 edition (October 21, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0735611319
ISBN-13: 978-0735611313
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 8.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 392 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > AI & Machine Learning > Machine Theory
- #8 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Software Development
- #9 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases & Big Data > Data Processing

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Mike H.

Buy it, love it, share it.

September 13, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Seriously, if you are the kind of person who needs to understand where things came from to really understand them, this is a great book. It is truly a book on code, and not just "how to code" or "what to do with code" but "what on earth is code" and where did it come from. It explains computers and computing in more usable terms than more technical books on the same subject because it focuses on history and scope rather than technical depth. For a reader like me, who asked every teacher from elementary school through college "why do we count to 10" and clung to the best answer of "it's arbitrary - it's just how it's always been done" until reading this book (and who struggled to convert binary to base ten), this book was gold. Pure gold.

0Comment 70 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

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Dawn Caron

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware

June 26, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Added as an addition to my computer library. Fountains of in-depth information to stimulate your technical mind!

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Amazon Customer

Outstanding and easy to understand book about how computers work!

November 25, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I just finished this book and got way more out of it than I expected. I bought it hoping to learn about binary, but there's so much more information and the author does a great job explaining everything.

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MC Crouton

Nice and accessible read for most

June 12, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Fantastic book. Easy to pick up some new things here and there. Overall, I would recommend this for a casual read. It is not meant to be intensive and, for that reason, I would not recommend this to anyone as a "supplementary book" for a digital design class but rather a concise introduction for a young, curious mind. I've even recommended this to some older folk who have felt out-of-the-loop with technology. Most people have responded quite well to Code.

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W. Cheung

Now (I think) I know how a computer works

August 25, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Wow. Before I read this book, I already knew about logic gates, but I did not know (1) how electric and electonic devices can in the real world perform the function of logic gates and (2) how by arranging logic gates wisely one can perform addition and subtraction and (3) more complicated mathematical operations can be performed by doing "a lot of" additions and subtractions. Now I (kind of) know.

All these are gratifying.

Starting from Chapter 17, however, the speed and depth of the book changes gear quite a bit (at least to me). From that chapter onward, it is about the relatively detailed working of a modern computer - e.g. how integrated circuits (chips) work, what microprocessors are, etc. In Chapter 18, for instance, the author answered the question in the preface: "why can't you run Macintosh programs under Windows?". It is quite rewarding to understand why.

Different readers will have different views towards this book. By profession I am a physician and have no experience in serious computing, so I myself find Chapters 21 and 22 particularly difficult. But overall I think I have learned a lot from this book. Five stars.

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Ronal D

Very interesting!

August 4, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book takes a look at the most basic building blocks of modern technology.

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mmm

This book is a really great book. It goes from morse code to how ...

May 20, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Wow. This book is a really great book. It goes from morse code to how computers work in a sensible manner. I've always wanted to find a book that slowly works you in to how microprocessors work. This is that book. Great read.

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WMAARTUHT

My favorite book

September 3, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is one of my favorite books. I wish I should have discovered it earlier so my childhood would found building machines a lot accessible. I recommend this book to any parents who want their young children to learn how computer actually works. It is quiet enjoyable, especially the first few chapters. However, lately, there are still several books that do better job if you really want to learn more about machines.

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Most recent customer reviews

D. Lawrence

Clear and informative

Great explanations of the basic logic of circuits and computers. Clear and entertaining. It takes some work and time to fully digest the concepts but it's worth it.

Published 2 days ago

Albert Lin

Five Stars

One of the best technical books I have ever read.

Published 1 month ago

Karma Yoakem

This walked me through computers from concept to how the ...

This walked me through computers from concept to how the circuits work to how the different components work together.Read more

Published 1 month ago

Kenneth Fossen

Journey

Love the journey

Published 2 months ago

Josh

... should read this book it really gives you a great introduction on computers work

Everyone should read this book it really gives you a great introduction on computers work.

Published 2 months ago

Ryan

His approach of beginning with simple circuits and building up towards logic gates and eventually assembly language and the like is extraordinary

Stellar text, the information contained in this book singlehandedly has defined how a computer works.Read more

Published 3 months ago

Carl W Stevens

Four Stars

Gift for son.

Published 3 months ago

frederic dumas

this is "The" book. it makes the link between ...

this is "The" book. it makes the link between hardware and software in a very compelling and well written way.
It is the basis.Read more

Published 3 months ago

Artyom Yakovenko

Five Stars

An absolutely fantastic book! Highly recommended.

Published 3 months ago

Brian S.

Whether you want to code or not, read this book!

Doesn't matter how smart or stupid you think you are. You will better understand how most of the technology that moves our world works and how it evolved.

Published 4 months ago

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