Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold

From the Publisher

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 provides non-programmers 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 that 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.

ercb.com - Dan Lewis

Code, The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, by Charles Petzold, is the clearest presentation I have ever encountered about what really goes on "under the hood" of the computer. It is a truly masterful presentation of how computers work at the level of electronic circuitry and machine language. Although targeted to the layperson, most techies will find it eye-opening. Programmers who have no experience with assembly-language programming will surely discover a deeper understanding of their craft, and even those who do have such experience will learn quite a bit.

I have just a couple of criticisms. The first is that the author should have expanded on the Turing (aka Church-Turing or Church-Markov-Turing) thesis. This would show that a computer as conceptually simple as the one developed in the book (which has a very small and simple "instruction set") can, theoretically, compute anything that can be computed (except for constraints of memory), and in this sense is every bit as "real" a computer as the one in the Data Center or on the desktop.

I also would have liked a discussion of software layering or structured computer organization, to show how we can start with bare bones hardware, write a few routines to add a little functionality, use those routines to build ever more complex and higher-level functions, and in this way, bootstrap ourselves to a fully functioning computer such as those we use every day. These criticisms are quite minor in the context of Petzold's brilliant presentation of the fundamentals.

Code is mostly an easy and entertaining read, with a bit of tough going in areas. I recommend it to the curious layperson as well as the seasoned software professional and, especially, to the student.

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Table of Contents