Table Of Content

How Things Work How Things Work Series Editor: Charles F. Bowman How Things Work: The Computer Science Edition Charles F. Bowman For more information about this series please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ How-Things-Work/book-series/HTW How Things Work The Computer Science Edition Charles F. Bowman First edition published 2022 by CRC Press 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 and by CRC Press 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN © 2022 Plenum Press, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, access www.copyright.com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. For works that are not available on CCC please contact [email protected] Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Names: Bowman, Charles F., author. Title: How things work : the computer science edition / Charles F. Bowman. Description: First edition. | Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, 2022. | Series: How things work | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021012185 | ISBN 9780367568375 (hbk) | ISBN 9780367567316 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003099567 (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: Computer science--Popular works. Classification: LCC QA76 .B686 2022 | DDC 004--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021012185 ISBN: 978-0-367-56837-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-56731-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-09956-7 (ebk) Typeset in Minion by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. Access the Support Material: https://www.routledge.com/9780367568375 Other Books by Charles F. Bowman Algorithms & Data Structures: An Approach in C Objectifying Motif Broadway: The New X Windows System The Wisdom of the Gurus For Florence, Your Melody Remains For Maria, The Sunrise of My Second Dawn For Nicole, Michael, and Charles, If Pride is Truly a Sin, I will Surely Burn in Hell For Amaya, Joseph, Nora, CJ, and Mathew, I Hope the Footprints I Leave, Lead You on the Right Path Contents Acknowledgments, xix Author, xxi Chapter 1 ◾ C omputers Are Everywhere 1 INTRODUCTION 1 MODERN TECHNOLOGY 1 OBJECTIVES OF THIS BOOK 2 ORGANIZATION 2 FORMATTING CONVENTIONS 3 Chapter 2 ◾ A Brief History of Computing 5 OVERVIEW 5 MAJOR ADVANCES IN COMPUTING 5 Abacus—2700–2300 BCE 5 Babbage’s Analytical Engine—1834–1871 6 The Advent of Software—1840s 7 Turing Machines—1930s 8 ABC: First Electrical Computer—1930s–1940s 8 ENIAC: First Digital Computer—1940s 9 The Advent of the Transistor—1940s–1950s 9 The First Commercial Computer—1951 10 The First Home Computers—1977 10 SUMMARY 12 Chapter 3 ◾ D igitization 13 OVERVIEW 13 WHAT IS DIGITIZATION? 13 Keyboard Characters 14 Digitized Images 14 ix