“Amazing . . . I highly recommend it if you don’t have a very ‘computer science’ background, like me.”
—Tony Messias, tonysm.com
“This book was truly a good companion to the start of my CS degree. It gave me background in the computer engineering sphere and a solid foundation in many CS topics, and I am already starting to experience many of the lessons this book gives.”
—Ben Miller, Goodreads Reviewer
“This book is amazing. I bought it to refresh my programming basics for courses I teach programming on industrial PLC computers, from beginner to expert. It delves into so much more. Humorous and informative. I highly recommend.”
—Gil Cabrera, Amazon Reviewer
“If you are just learning to code, or if you are a developer who wants a deeper understanding of how your code interacts with the machine, highly recommend!”
—Carmen H. Andoh, @carmatrocity
“If you are looking for a wonderfully complete tour through how a computer actually works from first principles all the way through running a piece of software, The Secret Life of Programs from @nostarch is the way to go.”
—Nick Maxwell, @CodiferousCoder
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Internal Language of Computers
Chapter 2: Combinatorial Logic
Chapter 3: Sequential Logic
Chapter 4: Computer Anatomy
Chapter 5: Computer Architecture
Chapter 6: Communications Breakdown
Chapter 7: Organizing Data
Chapter 8: Language Processing
Chapter 9: The Web Browser
Chapter 10: Application and System Programming
Chapter 11: Shortcuts and Approximations
Chapter 12: Deadlocks and Race Conditions
Chapter 13: Security
Chapter 14: Machine Intelligence
Chapter 15: Real-World Considerations