Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software is a book by Charles Petzold, published in 1999. The book aims to be an introduction to the design and workings of computers and software with no prior knowledge required.

The book intends to show a layman the basic mechanical principles of how computers work, instead of merely summarizing how the different parts relate. He starts with basic principles of language and logic and then demonstrates how they can be embodied by electrical circuits, and these principles give him an opening to describe in principle how computers work mechanically without requiring very much technical knowledge. Although it is not possible in a medium-sized book for layman to describe the entire technical summary of a computer, he describes how and why it is possible that elaborate electronics can act in the ways computers do. In the introduction, he contrasts his own work with those books which "include pictures of trains full of 1s and 0s."

External links

• The book's website, with corrections
• Interview with Charles Petzold about Code