Computers are everywhere. Even a smartphone is a mini computer. With digital technologies so prevalent in today's world, it's important for young learners to know how they work. This book introduces kids to the design and function of the hardware and networks that digitally connect us. Utilizing colorful infographics and simple language, this book discusses the history of the first computers, different types of computers, and the important parts that make a computer run. It makes learning about computers easy for young readers, and it will inspire your budding engineers.
This book thoroughly explains how computers work. It starts by fully examining a NAND gate, then goes on to build every piece and part of a small, fully operational computer. The necessity and use of codes is presented in parallel with the apprioriate pieces of hardware. The book can be easily understood by anyone whether they have a technical background or not. It could be used as a textbook.
How Computers Make Books explores the elegance of modern digital printing, from how a computer knows where to place ink to reproducing shades of grey and laying out paragraphs on the page. From graphics rendering, search algorithms, and functional programming to indexing and typesetting, the book introduces what is wonderful about computer science.
Take a trip through the neural pathways and vital organs of your personal computer with the newest edition of this long-standing bestseller. Glorious full color illustrations make even the most complex subjects easy to understand. Follow PC/Computing senior editor and computer expert Ron White as he shows you the cutting edge technologies, including the Internet, multimedia sound and video, Pentium processors, local bus architecture, Plug and Play, CD-ROM, digital cameras, color printing, and more in new chapters on the hottest, and coolest, PC components.
A guide to understanding the inner workings and outer limits of technology and why we should never assume that computers always get it right. In Artificial Unintelligence, Meredith Broussard argues that our collective enthusiasm for applying computer technology to every aspect of life has resulted in a tremendous amount of poorly designed systems. We are so eager to do everything digitally—hiring, driving, paying bills, even choosing romantic partners—that we have stopped demanding that our technology actually work. Broussard, a software developer and journalist, reminds us that there are fundamental limits to what we can (and should) do with technology. With this book, she offers a guide to understanding the inner workings and outer limits of technology—and issues a warning that we should never assume that computers always get things right. Making a case against technochauvinism—the belief that technology is always the solution—Broussard argues that it's just not true that social problems would inevitably retreat before a digitally enabled Utopia. To prove her point, she undertakes a series of adventures in computer programming. She goes for an alarming ride in a driverless car, concluding “the cyborg future is not coming any time soon”; uses artificial intelligence to investigate why students can't pass standardized tests; deploys machine learning to predict which passengers survived the Titanic disaster; and attempts to repair the U.S. campaign finance system by building AI software. If we understand the limits of what we can do with technology, Broussard tells us, we can make better choices about what we should do with it to make the world better for everyone.
The classic guide to how computers work, updated with new chapters and interactive graphics "For me, Code was a revelation. It was the first book about programming that spoke to me. It started with a story, and it built up, layer by layer, analogy by analogy, until I understood not just the Code, but the System. Code is a book that is as much about Systems Thinking and abstractions as it is about code and programming. Code teaches us how many unseen layers there are between the computer systems that we as users look at every day and the magical silicon rocks that we infused with lightning and taught to think." - Scott Hanselman, Partner Program Director, Microsoft, and host of Hanselminutes Computers are everywhere, most obviously in our laptops and smartphones, but also our cars, televisions, microwave ovens, alarm clocks, robot vacuum cleaners, and other smart appliances. Have you ever wondered what goes on inside these devices to make our lives easier but occasionally more infuriating? For more than 20 years, readers have delighted in Charles Petzold's illuminating story of the secret inner life of computers, and now he has revised it for this new age of computing. Cleverly illustrated and easy to understand, this is the book that cracks the mystery. You'll discover what flashlights, black cats, seesaws, and the ride of Paul Revere can teach you about computing, and how human ingenuity and our compulsion to communicate have shaped every electronic device we use. This new expanded edition explores more deeply the bit-by-bit and gate-by-gate construction of the heart of every smart device, the central processing unit that combines the simplest of basic operations to perform the most complex of feats. Petzold's companion website, CodeHiddenLanguage.com, uses animated graphics of key circuits in the book to make computers even easier to comprehend. In addition to substantially revised and updated content, new chapters include: Chapter 18: Let's Build a Clock! Chapter 21: The Arithmetic Logic Unit Chapter 22: Registers and Busses Chapter 23: CPU Control Signals Chapter 24: Jumps, Loops, and Calls Chapter 28: The World Brain From the simple ticking of clocks to the worldwide hum of the internet, Code reveals the essence of the digital revolution.
The revolution in accessible computer technology was fueled by disability activism, the interactive nature of personal computers, and changing public policy. In 1974, not long after developing the first universal optical character recognition technology, Raymond Kurzweil struck up a conversation with a blind man on a flight. Kurzweil explained that he was searching for a use for his new software. The blind man expressed interest: One of the frustrating obstacles that blind people grappled with, he said, was that no computer program could translate text into speech. Inspired by this chance meeting, Kurzweil decided that he must put his new innovation to work to “overcome this principal handicap of blindness.” By 1976, he had built a working prototype, which he dubbed the Kurzweil Reading Machine. This type of innovation demonstrated the possibilities of computers to dramatically improve the lives of people living with disabilities. In Making Computers Accessible, Elizabeth R. Petrick tells the compelling story of how computer engineers and corporations gradually became aware of the need to make computers accessible for all people. Motivated by user feedback and prompted by legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, which offered the promise of equal rights via technological accommodation, companies developed sophisticated computerized devices and software to bridge the accessibility gap. People with disabilities, Petrick argues, are paradigmatic computer users, demonstrating the personal computer’s potential to augment human abilities and provide for new forms of social, professional, and political participation. Bridging the history of technology, science and technology studies, and disability studies, this book traces the psychological, cultural, and economic evolution of a consumer culture aimed at individuals with disabilities, who increasingly rely on personal computers to make their lives richer and more interconnected.
Learn about computer science by exploring the fascinating journey it took to make this book! How Computers Make Books introduces what’s wonderful about computer science by showing how computers have transformed the art of publishing books. Author and publishing software developer John Whitington reveals the elegant computer science solutions invented to solve big publishing challenges. In How Computers Make Books you’ll discover: How human descriptions are translated into computer programs How a computer can understand document formatting How a program decides where to print ink on a page Why computer science is so interesting to computer scientists, and why it might interest you …and much more! How do computers represent all the different languages and letters used by humans? How do we compress a book’s worth of complex information so it can be transferred in seconds? And what exactly is a computer program? This book answers all those questions by telling the story of how it was created! About the technology Computers are part of every step in creating a book, from capturing the author’s words as a digital document to controlling how the ink gets onto the paper. How Computers Make Books introduces basic computer science concepts like file formatting, transfer, and storage, computer programming, and task automation by guiding you through the modern digital printing process. About the book This book takes you on a journey from the plain white page, weaving through typesetting, making gray images from black ink, electronic file formats, and more. It makes computer science come alive as you see how every word, illustration, and page has its own story. You’ll even learn to write your own simple programs and discover hands-on what’s so intoxicating about computer science. What's inside How human descriptions are translated into computer programs How a digital computer thinks about print documents How a program decides where to print ink on a page How the history of typesetting shows up in modern books About the reader For the curious-but-clueless about computer science—and anyone interested in how computers make books! About the author John Whitington is the founder of a company that builds software for electronic document processing. He has studied and taught Computer Science at Queens’ College, Cambridge. Technical editor on this book was Bojan Stojanovic. Table of Contents 1 Putting marks on paper 2 Letter forms 3 Storing words 4 Looking and finding 5 Typing it in 6 Saving space 7 The sums behind the screen 8 Gray areas 9 A typeface 10 Words to paragraphs 11 Out into the world
