How Computers Really Work

<b>An approachable hands-on guide to understanding how computers work from low-level circuits to high-level code.</b><br><br><i>How Computers Really Work</i> is a hands-on guide to the computing ecosystem: everything from circuits to memory and clock signals machine code programming languages operating systems and the internet.<br><br>But you won't just read about these concepts you'll test your knowledge with exercises and practice what you learn with 41 optional hands-on projects. Build digital circuits craft a guessing game convert decimal numbers to binary examine virtual memory usage run your own web server and more.<br><br>Explore concepts like how to:<br><li>Think like a software engineer as you use data to describe a real world concept</li><li>Use Ohm's and Kirchhoff's laws to analyze an electrical circuit</li><li>Think like a computer as you practice binary addition and execute a program in your mind step-by-step</li><br>The book's projects will have you translate your learning into action as you:<br><li>Learn how to use a multimeter to measure resistance current and voltage</li><li>Build a half adder to see how logical operations in hardware can be combined to perform useful functions</li><li>Write a program in assembly language then examine the resulting machine code</li><li>Learn to use a debugger disassemble code and hack a program to change its behavior without changing the source code</li><li>Use a port scanner to see which internet ports your computer has open</li><li>Run your own server and get a solid crash course on how the web works</li><br>And since a picture is worth a thousand bytes chapters are filled with detailed diagrams and illustrations to help clarify technical complexities.<br><br><b>Requirements: </b>The projects require a variety of hardware - electronics projects need a breadboard power supply and various circuit components; software projects are performed on a Raspberry Pi. Appendix B contains a complete list. Even if you skip the projects the book's major concepts are clearly presented in the main text.