How Computers Really Work: A Hands-On Guide to the Inner Workings of the Machine

I enjoyed this book and learnt a lot from it. Matthew writes clearly, includes real-world examples, gets into the technical details, and provides interesting stories of his time working on software engineering at Microsoft. The equipment to complete the practical exercises will cost about $100. Here is a summary of each chapter: Chapter 1: explains decimal number system (which we use in everyday life) and the binary and hexadecimal number systems used in computing. Chapter 2: encoding: now that you know about binary numbers, how do we represent the alphabets of the world in binary numbers? Logical operators (AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR) are also explained. Chapter 3: fundamentals of electric circuits. Voltage, current, and resistance. How these three relate to each other, described in Ohm's law. Chapter 4: how to build logical operators in the form of electrical circuits. Transistors explained. Integrated circuits explained. Chapter 5: arithmetic of binary numbers. How binary arithmetic can be carried out by electrical circuits built with logical operators. Chapter 6: how a bit can be stored in an electrical circuit called an SR Latch. Sequential logic circuits. How clock signals advance a sequential logic circuit. Chapter 7: the primary hardware components of a computer and how they work together to perform instructions provided by software. Chapter 8: how hardware must receive instructions in the form of machine code. Different examples of machine code and what instructions they convey. Assembly language is a more human-readable form of machine code. Chapter 9: how high-level programming languages (C, Python, etc.) are based on machine code. The advantages of writing in a high-level programming language as opposed to machine code. Various other concepts important in high-level programming. Chapter 10: on operating systems. How an operating system manages the computer's hardware, allowing multiple applications and programs to run at the same time. The major OSs, the types of hardware they typically manage, and their history and common origins. Chapter 11: the internet. A description of the physical components of the internet and the protocols they use to communicate. Chapter 12: how people use the infrastructure provided by the internet to create web pages and web services. The markup languages, programming languages, and data structures that are most frequently used to create web pages and web services. Chapter 13: a brief description of emerging computer technologies: Apps, Bitcoin, cloud computing, virtual reality and augmented reality.

Here is my quick review about this AWESOME book, but first here's a caveat: You have to be interested in learning the material. I mean, that's why you are thinking about purchasing this book, right? Here is what I have to say about this book... "IT DESERVES TO BE CARVED IN STONE OK, OK; IN THIS DAY AND AGE IT CAN BE LASER ENGRAVED ON METAL PLATES." enough said? Buy the book, you'll love it. It's in my Top 10 favorite books of all time. An enormous thank you to the author Mathew, Justice for undertaking the task of writing this very comprehensive book. A huge thank you to his parents, wife and his daughters for the support they provided him. And also a big thank you to the entire team at No Starch Press for supporting the publication of this book for it has literally changed my life! :)

This is the book I wish I read before I took my Computer Architecture classes back in college.

I liked the hands on approach the author uses to get the reader involved in the topics discussed in the book!

Very good book. Covered a lot topics

I whimsically developed a desire to learn about computers and this book has been great. It starts at the barebones fundamentals and explains things clearly for beginners. Love the hands on experiments as well.

This is the most clear, concise, objective, yet comprehensive book on computer basics that I have encountered so far. Additionally, the hands on projects and exercises are very well balanced in terms of difficulty.

Matthew Justice has a profound knowledge of computers and does a great job of explaining how they work. The author does not gloss over details and carefully defines terms such as "address space", "threads", "virtual memory" and so on. This is an eminently readable book.

Riveting

Por algum motivo, o livro veio sem plástico, com um pequeno amassado, achei estranho, pois o livro que pedi é novo e deveria ter vindo lacrado... Quanto ao livro, acredito ser uma boa referência.

I think I will have to re-read this book, or at least parts of it to fully grasp everything. It starts out with the low level stuff like binary arithmetics, boolean algebra and electric and switching circuits. In the beginning everything is very basic, but soon turns pretty complex and a lot of it went over my head to be honest. I feel the author may have rushed a bit here, or maybe I’m just a slow learner. To get the most out if this book you will need to get the proper electronic components and a Raspberry Pi so you can do all the exercises and projects. The answers and solutions to all of these are at the end of the book. You’re also being introduced to assembly language, C, Python and basic web development. I liked the later chapters that are about operating systems, the Internet, WWW and modern computing. I learned quite a few new things there. This is a good and well written book that I can recommend, but No Starch Press have other books that seems to cover much of the same topics like ”Introduction to Computer Organization” and ”The Secret Life of Programs”. You may want to consider them also.

I have been a software developer/engineer for the last 3-4 years. I didn't study computer science at university, but I always had a nagging feeling that I needed to learn more about the fundamentals of computers and computer science. I've read textbooks, did the Harvard CS course, and picked up pieces here and there. But it was only after reading this book that that feeling went away, and in its place is more confidence and a continued desire to learn more (because it's an enormous and fascinating field). I cannot recommend this book highly enough for someone who wants to see how the various aspects of computers "glue" (not literally) together. Justice starts from binary/hexadecimal, binary math and Boolean logic, showing how these can be represented in electrical circuits. There is a section on computer organisation before it turns to software, programming, operating systems, and networking. There is a chapter on the web and then one on various other interesting developments. The explanations are fantastic, with clear examples. It is also chock-a-block with exercises and projects, which are well worth doing (buying the electronics etc will cost 100-200 quid but are a great investment), ranging from building circuits to doing port scans on a Raspberry Pi. They help you really see what is happening. After finishing this book I feel far more prepared to do a deep dive on some of the topics covered. Great job, Matthew Justice.

Arrived quickly (before than expected), I find it easy to read and it’s a good book :) Good stuff