Code - Charles Petzold
Published in 1999, Code is an exploration into the history of programming and computer architecture. Petzold begins by explaining communication techniques such as braille and Morse code, the creation of telegrams and relays, and starting in chapter 8 Alternatives to Ten, how to count in binary.
After this point the book goes into a deep dive of computer architecture explaining topics such as logic gates, memory, constructing simple ALUs, and command interpretation. While the book is not as intensive as a university course or a denser textbook (it was also never meant to be), the way that Petzold presents information is so elegant that anyone who makes their way through this book’s 25 chapters will have a good understanding of how modern computers are capable of what they do.
In many chapters the information presented is more closely relateable to a history lesson rather than computer architecture. However, even if you’re beyond this book’s intended audience, the history that Petzold presents is worth the read to any well rounded computer scientist / engineer. For professionals already in this field it’s always good to remember how we got to where we are now and the people who made it possible for use to do what we do today. The history presented is also a great way to ease incomers into the complexity of this field.
I commend this book for its ability to so elegantly explain such a complicated topic, and highly recommend it for it’s history and ease of reading.