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Making Software

makingsoftware.com

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Re: Making Software

#61

Post by berelig »

tenacious_tuna wrote: post #56

This reminds me aesthetically of The Way Things Work [1] which was one of my favorite books as a kid. Having a similar wordly reference as an adult has been a goal for a while. [1] https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-way-things-work-newly-revise...

I've been looking around for a book like this that has scientific/engineering topics presented in a bite-sized fashion so a teenager (or even adults) can discover which ones pique their interests and are worth a deeper dive.

Would this book work or is it a bit too simple? Does anyone have another book to recommend?

Re: Making Software

#62

Post by tenacious_tuna »

berelig wrote: post #61
tenacious_tuna wrote: post #56

This reminds me aesthetically of The Way Things Work [1] which was one of my favorite books as a kid. Having a similar wordly reference as an adult has been a goal for a while. [1] https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-way-things-work-newly-revise...

I've been looking around for a book like this that has scientific/engineering topics presented in a bite-sized fashion so a teenager (or even adults) can discover which ones pique their interests and are worth a deeper dive. Would this book work or is it a bit too simple? Does anyone have another book to recommend?

it's been a couple decades since I've read it, but I'd buy it again as an adult. Like the peer comment says, "Engineering in Plain Sight" purports to be similar and I bought my dad a copy last christmas. Planning to spend some of my professionial development stipend on a copy this year.

Re: Making Software

#63

Post by Acrobatic_Road »

tenacious_tuna wrote: post #56

This reminds me aesthetically of The Way Things Work [1] which was one of my favorite books as a kid. Having a similar wordly reference as an adult has been a goal for a while. [1] https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-way-things-work-newly-revise...

I had the same thought. I don't remember if it was exactly this book, but I remember reading a book that explained all kinds of engineering concepts for my kid brain. And I remember the latter part of the book had some computer science content like how compression works.

Re: Making Software

#64

Post by vunderba »

Acrobatic_Road wrote: post #63
tenacious_tuna wrote: post #56

This reminds me aesthetically of The Way Things Work [1] which was one of my favorite books as a kid. Having a similar wordly reference as an adult has been a goal for a while. [1] https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-way-things-work-newly-revise...

I had the same thought. I don't remember if it was exactly this book, but I remember reading a book that explained all kinds of engineering concepts for my kid brain. And I remember the latter part of the book had some computer science content like how compression works.

If it had an abundance of woolly mammoths then it was likely this book. Highly recommended - covers everything from reactors to pin tumbler locks.

Re: Making Software

#65

Post by vunderba »

dsego wrote: post #30
dimal wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, it's aesthetically beautiful. It should be a coffee table book. But for the web, it has terrible usability. Really, really terrible in multiple ways. My comments will be harsh, but since the creator is obviously very skilled, he should know better. Why multicolumn text? So it looks like an old printed manual? At first view, it's not clear where the first column ends. This is not something we see on the web (b…

> Justified text is bad on the web. Is there any reason why justified is okay printed but not on the web.

I'd like to see some sources on this. I've seen good and bad examples of justified text, and it's also highly dependent on the font as well.

Re: Making Software

#66

Post by kridsdale1 »

tenacious_tuna wrote: post #62
berelig wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been looking around for a book like this that has scientific/engineering topics presented in a bite-sized fashion so a teenager (or even adults) can discover which ones pique their interests and are worth a deeper dive. Would this book work or is it a bit too simple? Does anyone have another book to recommend?

it's been a couple decades since I've read it, but I'd buy it again as an adult. Like the peer comment says, "Engineering in Plain Sight" purports to be similar and I bought my dad a copy last christmas. Planning to spend some of my professionial development stipend on a copy this year.

The Way Things Work is up to date. I loved it in the mid 90s and just bought a new copy for my kid this year. It has SSDs, OLEDs, Gravity Wave Detection, etc.

Re: Making Software

#67

Post by khaledh »

gecko6 wrote: post #53
khaledh wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's not it unfortunately. It was a single page with a style of diagrams that shows a high-level format of something, with arrows to a zoomed-in version that details the structure of the fields. I remember its colour scheme being dominated by light blue and green, IIRC.

Could this be it? TLS 1.3 connection, with every field in the packets labelled: https://tls13.xargs.org

No, not that one either. The page was static and full of high quality images dissecting the format structures.

Re: Making Software

#68

Post by khaledh »

truetraveller wrote: post #55
khaledh wrote: post #11

Very nice. The design reminds me of a website that I forgot to bookmark a long while ago, it was about explaining network protocols at the wire level, and it had some of the most amazing visuals that I ever saw. It's a shame that I forgot what it was, and googling doesn't help. If anyone knows what I'm talking about please share the link.

Where the visuals interactive or static?

Static.

Re: Making Software

#69

Post by kmoser »

The illustrations are definitely the secret sauce that makes this so engaging and informative. I'd also like to see links to where I can learn more about particular topics online. For example:

> Or maybe you’ve wondered why we call it a Gaussian blur?

Nowhere is Carl Friedrich Gauss mentioned, which is unfortunate. This should really link to the Wikipedia entry for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_blur.

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