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
