How Computers Work, 10th edition
Published by Que Publishing (December 8, 2014) © 2015
- Ron White Senior Editor, Sm@rt Business
- Timothy Edward Downs
- A print text (hardcover or paperback)Â
- Free shipping
- Also available for purchase as an ebook from all major ebook resellers, including InformIT.com
How Computers Work is a fully illustrated guide to the entire world of computing, from the bulky PC on your desktop, to your business laptop, to your ultra portable tablet, to the smartphone you use to catch up on important email and avoid getting lost on the road. It covers all the ways people use their tech, explaining everything from how Windows manages data, to how your browser streams video, to how game makers create 3D worlds. It covers virtually everything related to home networking and the Internet, how viruses and spyware can infiltrate your computer and how firewalls and antivirus programs prevent them, and how Facebook has changed how we stay in touch. This is a book that shows exactly how computers, in all their wondrous incarnations, have infiltrated and improved our lives, from the bulkiest desktop right on down to the most humble of eReaders and smartphones. There is no stone left unturned.
- Lush, full-color illustrations on every page make learning about PC technology fun and easy
- One of the bestselling, longest-running PC books every written, revised!
- Completely updated with many all new illustrations and topics, including smartphones, social media apps and the hottest new game systems
Now in hardcover with lush, coffee table book paper quality!
More than ever before, How Computers Work emphasizes the world of computing. The desktop PC may not be the center of your digital world anymore, but the underlying tech is as pervasive as it's ever been. This new edition completely refocuses its coverage of technology, with a reorganized table of contents, coverage of entirely new topics, and a boatload of revised, rewritten, and re-drawn content to make this book more relevant to a society that does as much of its computing work on a smartphon or tablet as it does on a desktop or tablet. New topics include:
- eReaders (Kindle and Nook)
- Tablets (iPads)
- Advances in Windows
- Mobile operating systems (Android and iOS)
- How flash memory and low power-consumption chips make mobile devices possible
- Touchscreens
- eInk displays
- LED LCD tech
- Fiber Internet
- Skype
- Texting
- Twitter and Facebook
- Multiplayer gaming
- And, of course, all the existing coverage of computer hardware, from processors, to hard disks, to memory, are updated to reflect the current state of their respective techs.
Table of Contents
Introduction ...............................................................................................................xvii
Part 1: What Makes a Computer a Computer 2
Chapter 1: The Ghostly LEGOs of Computing .................................................................6
   How Waves Take the Universe on a Joy Ride .........................................................8
   How Information Rides the Waves ......................................................................10
   How Electromagnetism Is the Ghost in the Machine .............................................12
   How We Control Electricity ................................................................................14
   How Computers Create Our World Using Numbers .............................................16
Chapter 2: How Computers Remember ........................................................................18
   How a Little Transistor Does Big Jobs ..................................................................20
   Writing Data to RAM ........................................................................................22
   Reading Data from RAM ...................................................................................24
   How Flash Memory Remembers When the Switch is Off ......................................26
Chapter 3: How a Little Microprocessor Does Big Things ...............................................28
   How a Processor Tracks Numbers .......................................................................32
   How a Processor Does Math ..............................................................................34
   How a Processor Moves Data ............................................................................36
   How Multi-Core Processors Work .......................................................................38
   How Desktop CPUs Keep It Complex ..................................................................40
   How Mobile CPUs Keep It Simple .......................................................................41
Chapter 4: How Motherboards Conduct a Symphony of Data .........................................42
   How a Motherboard Brings It All Together ..........................................................46
   How the Chipset Directs Traffic ...........................................................................48
   How PCI-Express Breaks the Bus Barrier ..............................................................50
Part 2: Software—The Computer’s Own Poetry 52
Chapter 5: How Words Are Stitched into Programs .......................................................64
   How a Program Is a Roadmap ...........................................................................68
   How Software Interpreters Generate Action.........................................................70
   How a Compiler Churns Out Software ................................................................72
Chapter 6: How Applications Work So You Can Play ....................................................74
   How Text SHOUTS and Whispers ......................................................................76
   How Databases Track Everything .......................................................................78
   How Databases Pack it In ..................................................................................80
   How Databases Make Connections ....................................................................82
   How Spreadsheets Solve Formulas .....................................................................84
   How Numbers Become Pictures ..........................................................................86
   How Art Is Compressed to Save Space ...............................................................88
   How Imaging Software Paints by Numbers .........................................................90
   How Photo Editors Revive Old Memories ............................................................92
   How Apps Fuel Mobile Devices ..........................................................................94
Chapter 7: How Games Create New Worlds ................................................................96
   How Computers Plot a 3D World .......................................................................98
   How 3D Gets Dressed .....................................................................................100
   How Shaders Control the World .......................................................................102
   How Games Populate New Worlds ..................................................................104
Chapter 8: How Security Software Fights Off Invaders ................................................106
   How Computer Hackers Break In ......................................................................108
   How Spyware Reports Everything You Do .........................................................110
   How Viruses Invade Your Computer ..................................................................112
   How Viruses Hitch Rides in Your Email ..............................................................114
   How Antivirus Software Fights Back ..................................................................116
   How Firewalls Keep Hackers Out .....................................................................118
   How Spammers Find You .................................................................................120
   How Antispam Software Sniffs Out Phony Email ................................................122
   How Prime Numbers Protect Prime Secrets ........................................................124
Part 3: How Computers Evolve 126
Chapter 9: The Origins of Computer DNA .................................................................130
   Fossils of the Premobilian Era ...........................................................................132
   Persistent Relics: The Mouse .............................................................................134
   Persistent Relics: The Keyboard ........................................................................136
   How the Workaday Floppy Drive Ruled ............................................................138
   How the CRT Was the Grande Dame of Displays ...............................................140
   How the Impact Printer Was Right on the Spot ...................................................142
   The Unlikely Progenitor to the Internet: The Dialup Modem .................................144
   How Cabling Was Worse: Serial ......................................................................146
   How Cabling Was Worse: Parallel ...................................................................148
   How the Power Supply Hasn’t Changed ............................................................150
   How the iPhone Made It Slick ...........................................................................152
Chapter 10: How Small Mutations Pay Off Big ............................................................154
   How USB Really Is Universal ............................................................................156
   How Little Bits Add Up to Big Changes ..............................................................158
   How File Compression Makes Files Smaller .......................................................160
   How Solid State Drives Command the Instant ....................................................162
   How Solid State Drives Take Out the Trash ........................................................163
   How PCs Use Light to Remember ......................................................................164
   How Optical Disc Drives Write with Light ..........................................................166
Chapter 11: Honey, I’ve Shrunk the PC... ....................................................................168
   How Computers Get Smaller… and Better .........................................................170
   How iPods Dish Out Media ..............................................................................172
   How eInk Puts Words on Your eReader .............................................................174
   How All Those Smarts Got Packed into a Smartphone ........................................176
   How Google Glass Makes Us Cyborgs .............................................................178
Chapter 12: Evolution of the Super Computer .............................................................180
   How Video Cards Break the Game Barrier ........................................................182
   How Overclocking Multiplies Time ....................................................................184
   How a PC Keeps Its Cool .................................................................................186
   How Advanced Cooling Refrigerates Your PC ....................................................188
   How Jailbreaking Frees Your Devices ................................................................190
Chapter 13: How Cameras Capture Memories ............................................................192
   How Digital Cameras Capture the Moment .......................................................194
   How Autofocus Clears the Picture .....................................................................196
   How Cameras Choose an Exposure ..................................................................198
Part 4: How Computers Expand Our Senses 200
Chapter 14: How We Stay in Touch ............................................................................204
   How Your Smartphone Knows Where You Are ..................................................206
   How Devices Recognize Our Touch ..................................................................208
   How Glass Becomes Strong and Supple ............................................................209
   How Game Controllers Let You Play ..................................................................210
   How Game Controllers Let You Feel the Force ....................................................212
   How Smartphones Get Good Vibrations ...........................................................214
   How Devices Capture Light ..............................................................................216
   How a Flatbed Simplifies Scanning ..................................................................218
   How Codes Keep Track of Everything (Everything!) ............................................220
   How Optical Character Recognition Works .......................................................222
Chapter 15: How a Computer Creates Visions ............................................................224
   How an LCD Creates Glowing Colors ...............................................................226
   How Plamsa Displays Glow .............................................................................228
   How DLP Spins Colors .....................................................................................230
   How OLED Lights Up a New Generation of Displays ..........................................232
   How 3D Makes You Duck ................................................................................234
Chapter 16: How Computers Tickle Your Ears .............................................................238
   How Your Device Listens ..................................................................................240
   How Speakers Sound Off ................................................................................242
   How Digital Sound Tricks Your Ear ...................................................................244
   How 3D Audio Surrounds You .........................................................................246
Part 5: The Little Net That Grew 248
Chapter 17: How Networks Tie Computers Together ....................................................254
   How Computers Connect to Each Other ............................................................256
   How Data Travels Between Computers ..............................................................258
   How Wi-Fi Makes the Internet Portable .............................................................260
   How Bluetooth Keeps Devices Connected ..........................................................262
   How NFC Lets Smart Devices Make Close Calls .................................................264
Chapter 18: How the Internet Brings Us the World .......................................................266
   How Broadband Crams in the Data ..................................................................268
   How DSL Turbocharges a Phone Line ................................................................270
   How Cable Brings the Internet to Your Neighborhood ........................................272
   How Fiber Optics Lights Up the Future ..............................................................274
   How Computers Make Phone Calls ...................................................................276
   How Cellular Evolved ......................................................................................277
   How Networks Talk with Each Other .................................................................278
   How Information Travels the Internet .................................................................280
   How Online Services Serenade You ..................................................................282
   How Movies Flow into Your Home ....................................................................284
Chapter 19: How the Web Puts It All at Your Fingertips ...............................................286
   How a Browser Opens Pages ...........................................................................288
   How a Browser Displays Web Pages ................................................................290
   How Cookies Trade Crumbs of Data .................................................................292
   How Google Knows Everything ........................................................................294
   How eBay Sells Everything ...............................................................................296
Chapter 20: How We Keep in Touch the Internet Way ..................................................298
   How Email Outraces Snail Mail........................................................................300
   How Facebook Lets Your Cat Go Viral ..............................................................302
   How Twitter Changes Communication ...............................................................304
   How Internet File Sharing Works ......................................................................306
   How BitTorrents Spread the Wealth ..................................................................308
   How Clouds Encompass Us All .........................................................................310
Part 6: How Printers Put Data in Our Hands 312
Chapter 21: How Black and White Printing Works ......................................................316
   How Printers Make Cookie Cutter Text ..............................................................318
   How Outline Fonts Set the Imagination Free ......................................................320
   How a Printer Writes with Light ........................................................................322
Chapter 22: Printing Gutenberg Never Imagined ........................................................324
   How Printers Create Color ...............................................................................326
   Ho an Ink-jet Sprays Images ............................................................................328
   How a Printer Spits Out Photographs ................................................................330
   How a Laser Printer Creates in Color ................................................................332
   How a Solid Ink Color Printer Works ................................................................334
   How Printers Create in 3D ...............................................................................336
Part 7: So, What’s Next? 338
9780789749840, 10/31/2014, MF
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Ron White has been writing How Computers Work for 20 years, during which time he’s also been executive editor at PC Computing magazine, BYTE.com, and groovyPost.com. He’s been a computer columnist for Windows Sources and 80 Micro. How Computers Work was named best nonfiction computer book, and his writing has been honored by the Maggie Awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, and The National Endowment for the Humanities. He and his wife, Sue, have bounced back and forth between Boston and San Francisco before finally ending up in San Antonio.
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