Wow this is awesome. Code was an eye-opening book for me as a child. I have a 2 year old, and have been wondering whether he could possibly appreciate camera film ISO codes (an early example of "a code" in the book), given that he'll likely never see a roll of film, or other things like that. An updated edition is great news.
“Code” 2nd Edition
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Re: “Code” 2nd Edition
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
The content is something we learn in universities, even deeper. I think it's good for self taught programmers
This ~$40 book was way, way, way more valuable education material than the many thousands of dollars I wasted on a university program.
Don't oversell it. Speaking as someone who has done VLSI layout of a 32-bit processor in my student days, Petzold's book is a solid popularization but it doesn't cover a tenth of what a computer engineering degree does.
Re: “Code” 2nd Edition
#63I majored in electronics (more than a decade ago) but always worked in software development. Does it still make sense to purchase it? I am eager to buy it, just need the push. :)
Buy it.
I finished my Electrical and Computer Engineering undergrad in 2008 and have been a software dev ever since.
You won't learn anything new if you had computer architecture and digital logic classes. But it's an excellent refresher. And so well written that it reads more like light fiction than a technical deep dive.
Re: “Code” 2nd Edition
#64Haha I like how the cover shifted to dark mode...
Re: “Code” 2nd Edition
#65I read the 1st edition while I was in high school. I knew I wanted to get into tech after reading that book. Many years later, I worked with Charles at Xamarin. For weeks after I joined, I thought of ways to get him to sign my book. One day I heard he was doing a book signing at an event, and I volunteered to go. He signed my book, "from bits to mobile", and now it lives on the top of my bookshelf.
Re: “Code” 2nd Edition
#66I am beyond excited. I have my worn out copy of the first edition perched near me. Petzold's Code is by far my favorite computer science and programming related book.
Re: “Code” 2nd Edition
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
This ~$40 book was way, way, way more valuable education material than the many thousands of dollars I wasted on a university program.
Don't oversell it. Speaking as someone who has done VLSI layout of a 32-bit processor in my student days, Petzold's book is a solid popularization but it doesn't cover a tenth of what a computer engineering degree does.
Fair point. I'm speaking about a computer science degree.
Re: “Code” 2nd Edition
#68This book was absolutely essential when I was first sinking my teeth into software programming. Things that seemed either arbitrary or completely mysterious suddenly made sense now that I had a contextual understanding of how computers worked . Without having that knowledge, I think my career would have been vastly more difficult and frustrating. While I understand many “get started programming” books/tutorials put a…
Uh, as someone with too many years of programming behind me to imagine that, can you mention some concrete things that you found arbitrary or completely mysterious, and that the booked cleared up for you? Thanks.
I often wonder: for someone with no understanding of how computers work; no idea about electricity and transistors, no idea about CPUs executing instructions, no idea about software and abstraction: what do they think about when they click a ‘play’ button in a music player, and the interface updates and music starts? Do they think about what is happening ‘inside’ the box? I think I do.
I suspect I have a completely different mental model than them - just a completely different casual understanding of it. I find it hard to imagine how they must see the modern world. It must seem like magic!
Note that I’m not at-all speaking about intelligence here. Just knowledge.
Anyway: for that person, I think that if they read ‘Code’, their entire understanding of the world would change, which is sort of amazing.
Re: “Code” 2nd Edition
#69I recommend this to anyone learning about programming or computers. That's usually kids. Last year, I went back to ready it again and it started with a story about trying to communicate with your friend next door. I thought "oh, this story isn't really relatable to kids today - they all have phones".
So I'm really glad there is a second edition and I'm wondering if there is a new story.
Re: “Code” 2nd Edition
#70This is by far the best book I've read that really made computers click for me.
I think it's especially good for people like me who work in software development but don't have a computer science degree or background. Going from scratch and the very foundations of telegraphy all the way through to what opcodes really are and how code actually works in memory was an eye opener for better understanding what coding really is.