How Computers Work

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.

• Table of ContentsIntroduction ...............................................................................................................xviiPart 1: What Makes a Computer a Computer 2Chapter 1: The Ghostly LEGOs of Computing .................................................................6How Waves Take the Universe on a Joy Ride .........................................................8How Information Rides the Waves ......................................................................10How Electromagnetism Is the Ghost in the Machine .............................................12How We Control Electricity ................................................................................14How Computers Create Our World Using Numbers .............................................16Chapter 2: How Computers Remember ........................................................................18How a Little Transistor Does Big Jobs ..................................................................20Writing Data to RAM ........................................................................................22Reading Data from RAM ...................................................................................24How Flash Memory Remembers When the Switch is Off ......................................26Chapter 3: How a Little Microprocessor Does Big Things ...............................................28How a Processor Tracks Numbers .......................................................................32How a Processor Does Math ..............................................................................34How a Processor Moves Data ............................................................................36How Multi-Core Processors Work .......................................................................38How Desktop CPUs Keep It Complex ..................................................................40How Mobile CPUs Keep It Simple .......................................................................41Chapter 4: How Motherboards Conduct a Symphony of Data .........................................42How a Motherboard Brings It All Together ..........................................................46How the Chipset Directs Traffic ...........................................................................48How PCI-Express Breaks the Bus Barrier ..............................................................50Part 2: Software—The Computer’s Own Poetry 52Chapter 5: How Words Are Stitched into Programs .......................................................64How a Program Is a Roadmap ...........................................................................68How Software Interpreters Generate Action.........................................................70How a Compiler Churns Out Software ................................................................72Chapter 6: How Applications Work So You Can Play ....................................................74How Text SHOUTS and Whispers ......................................................................76How Databases Track Everything .......................................................................78How Databases Pack it In ..................................................................................80How Databases Make Connections ....................................................................82How Spreadsheets Solve Formulas .....................................................................84How Numbers Become Pictures ..........................................................................86How Art Is Compressed to Save Space ...............................................................88How Imaging Software Paints by Numbers .........................................................90How Photo Editors Revive Old Memories ............................................................92How Apps Fuel Mobile Devices ..........................................................................94Chapter 7: How Games Create New Worlds ................................................................96How Computers Plot a 3D World .......................................................................98How 3D Gets Dressed .....................................................................................100How Shaders Control the World .......................................................................102How Games Populate New Worlds ..................................................................104Chapter 8: How Security Software Fights Off Invaders ................................................106How Computer Hackers Break In ......................................................................108How Spyware Reports Everything You Do .........................................................110How Viruses Invade Your Computer ..................................................................112How Viruses Hitch Rides in Your Email ..............................................................114How Antivirus Software Fights Back ..................................................................116How Firewalls Keep Hackers Out .....................................................................118How Spammers Find You .................................................................................120How Antispam Software Sniffs Out Phony Email ................................................122How Prime Numbers Protect Prime Secrets ........................................................124Part 3: How Computers Evolve 126Chapter 9: The Origins of Computer DNA .................................................................130Fossils of the Premobilian Era ...........................................................................132Persistent Relics: The Mouse .............................................................................134Persistent Relics: The Keyboard ........................................................................136How the Workaday Floppy Drive Ruled ............................................................138How the CRT Was the Grande Dame of Displays ...............................................140How the Impact Printer Was Right on the Spot ...................................................142The Unlikely Progenitor to the Internet: The Dialup Modem .................................144How Cabling Was Worse: Serial ......................................................................146How Cabling Was Worse: Parallel ...................................................................148How the Power Supply Hasn’t Changed ............................................................150How the iPhone Made It Slick ...........................................................................152Chapter 10: How Small Mutations Pay Off Big ............................................................154How USB Really Is Universal ............................................................................156How Little Bits Add Up to Big Changes ..............................................................158How File Compression Makes Files Smaller .......................................................160How Solid State Drives Command the Instant ....................................................162How Solid State Drives Take Out the Trash ........................................................163How PCs Use Light to Remember ......................................................................164How Optical Disc Drives Write with Light ..........................................................166Chapter 11: Honey, I’ve Shrunk the PC... ....................................................................168How Computers Get Smaller... and Better .........................................................170How iPods Dish Out Media ..............................................................................172How eInk Puts Words on Your eReader .............................................................174How All Those Smarts Got Packed into a Smartphone ........................................176How Google Glass Makes Us Cyborgs .............................................................178Chapter 12: Evolution of the Super Computer .............................................................180How Video Cards Break the Game Barrier ........................................................182How Overclocking Multiplies Time ....................................................................184How a PC Keeps Its Cool .................................................................................186How Advanced Cooling Refrigerates Your PC ....................................................188How Jailbreaking Frees Your Devices ................................................................190Chapter 13: How Cameras Capture Memories ............................................................192How Digital Cameras Capture the Moment .......................................................194How Autofocus Clears the Picture .....................................................................196How Cameras Choose an Exposure ..................................................................198Part 4: How Computers Expand Our Senses 200Chapter 14: How We Stay in Touch ............................................................................204How Your Smartphone Knows Where You Are ..................................................206How Devices Recognize Our Touch ..................................................................208How Glass Becomes Strong and Supple ............................................................209How Game Controllers Let You Play ..................................................................210How Game Controllers Let You Feel the Force ....................................................212How Smartphones Get Good Vibrations ...........................................................214How Devices Capture Light ..............................................................................216How a Flatbed Simplifies Scanning ..................................................................218How Codes Keep Track of Everything (Everything!) ............................................220How Optical Character Recognition Works .......................................................222Chapter 15: How a Computer Creates Visions ............................................................224How an LCD Creates Glowing Colors ...............................................................226How Plamsa Displays Glow .............................................................................228How DLP Spins Colors .....................................................................................230How OLED Lights Up a New Generation of Displays ..........................................232How 3D Makes You Duck ................................................................................234Chapter 16: How Computers Tickle Your Ears .............................................................238How Your Device Listens ..................................................................................240How Speakers Sound Off ................................................................................242How Digital Sound Tricks Your Ear ...................................................................244How 3D Audio Surrounds You .........................................................................246Part 5: The Little Net That Grew 248Chapter 17: How Networks Tie Computers Together ....................................................254How Computers Connect to Each Other ............................................................256How Data Travels Between Computers ..............................................................258How Wi-Fi Makes the Internet Portable .............................................................260How Bluetooth Keeps Devices Connected ..........................................................262How NFC Lets Smart Devices Make Close Calls .................................................264Chapter 18: How the Internet Brings Us the World .......................................................266How Broadband Crams in the Data ..................................................................268How DSL Turbocharges a Phone Line ................................................................270How Cable Brings the Internet to Your Neighborhood ........................................272How Fiber Optics Lights Up the Future ..............................................................274How Computers Make Phone Calls ...................................................................276How Cellular Evolved ......................................................................................277How Networks Talk with Each Other .................................................................278How Information Travels the Internet .................................................................280How Online Services Serenade You ..................................................................282How Movies Flow into Your Home ....................................................................284Chapter 19: How the Web Puts It All at Your Fingertips ...............................................286How a Browser Opens Pages ...........................................................................288How a Browser Displays Web Pages ................................................................290How Cookies Trade Crumbs of Data .................................................................292How Google Knows Everything ........................................................................294How eBay Sells Everything ...............................................................................296Chapter 20: How We Keep in Touch the Internet Way ..................................................298How Email Outraces Snail Mail........................................................................300How Facebook Lets Your Cat Go Viral ..............................................................302How Twitter Changes Communication ...............................................................304How Internet File Sharing Works ......................................................................306How BitTorrents Spread the Wealth ..................................................................308How Clouds Encompass Us All .........................................................................310Part 6: How Printers Put Data in Our Hands 312Chapter 21: How Black and White Printing Works ......................................................316How Printers Make Cookie Cutter Text ..............................................................318How Outline Fonts Set the Imagination Free ......................................................320How a Printer Writes with Light ........................................................................322Chapter 22: Printing Gutenberg Never Imagined ........................................................324How Printers Create Color ...............................................................................326Ho an Ink-jet Sprays Images ............................................................................328How a Printer Spits Out Photographs ................................................................330How a Laser Printer Creates in Color ................................................................332How a Solid Ink Color Printer Works ................................................................334How Printers Create in 3D ...............................................................................336Part 7: So, What’s Next? 3389780789749840, 10/31/2014, MF