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Contents

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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