James Steele

All things dotNet running through my veins

Charles Petzold - Code: This Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

I spent a couple of hours last night listening to an interview with Charles Petzold that was conducted by Carl & Rory on DotNetRocks. I particularly enjoyed the first 45 minutes or so where Charles talked about his interest in the history of the computer. Both Carl & Rory gave very high marks for his book (Code: This Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software)  discussing the inner working of computers. After reading some reviews and discussing the book with some of my colleagues that have already read it, I decided to order a copy of the book today. It sounds like this book should be a staple for anyone wanting to learn about how the guts of computers work.

Carl & Rory . You did a great job getting Charles to open up a bit. He did not seem like the easiest subject to interview. I especially enjoyed the story about how he was an accomplice in writing a virus and placing it on the PC of a senior editor (I think he was an editor anyway)  at PC Magazine. Hilarious stuff!

I highly recommend you all have a listen to the interview. This is truly a great interview with a quality individual.

Click on the book for details.

Comments

Scott Galloway said:

It is an excellent book...and strangely one of those you can give to someone who has no real knowledge of computers / coding and they can still find it valuable. What's really cool is the way it takes you from concepts like braille and barcodes right through electronic circuits up to modern programming languages...
# August 25, 2004 1:03 PM

James Steele said:

Scott. Thanks for the comment. The more I hear the more I am anxious to have my book arrive!!!
# August 25, 2004 1:36 PM

Tuomas Suikkanen said:

I got this book off amazon two weeksago

and my god ive read this book more times then possible

my most favourite book by far

# May 8, 2008 8:29 AM
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