Product Description

Having sold more than 2 million copies over its lifetime, How Computers Work is the definitive illustrated guide to the world of PCs and technology. In this new edition, you’ll find detailed information not just about every last component of hardware found inside your PC, but also in-depth explanations about home networking, the Internet, PC security, and even how cell phone networks operate. Whether you’re interested in how the latest graphics cards power today’s most demanding games or how a digital camera turns light into data, you’ll find your answers right here.

Ron White is a former executive editor and columnist for PC Computing, where he developed the visual concept behind How Computers Work. Founder of one of the

earliest PC user groups, he has been writing about computers for 25 years and is known for building wildly extreme computers.

Timothy Edward Downs is an award-winning magazine designer, illustrator, and photographer. He has directed and designed several national consumer, business, technology, and

lifestyle magazines, always infusing a sense of “how it works” into every project.

A full-color, illustrated adventure into the wonders of TECHNOLOOGY

This full-color, fully illustrated guide to the world of technology assumes nothing and explains everything. Only the accomplished Ron White and award-winning Tim Downs have the unique ability to meld descriptive text with one-of-a-kind visuals to fully explain how the electronic gear we depend on every day is made possible. In addition to all the content you’ve come to expect from prior editions, this newly revised edition includes all-new coverage of topics such as:

•    How tablet PCs put the power of a PC quite literally in your hands

•    How Windows Vista makes your Windows desktop translucent and makes your PC more secure

•    How advances in optical disc technology such as dual-layer DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray discs continue to push the envelope

•    How Apple’s new iPhone is revolutionizing what cell phones can do

•    How BitTorrent technology enables anyone to share information with everyone

For a decade, How Computers Work has helped newbies understand new technology, while at the same time hackers and IT pros have treasured it for the depth of knowledge it contains. This is the perfect book about computing to capture your imagination, delight your eyes, and expand your mind, no matter what your technical level!

Category: General Computing

Covers:    PCs/Hardware

User Level:    Beginning–Intermediate

The book has incredible depth, explaining everything you could want to know about your computer, with each piece of hardware being given full treatment over two to five pages. (Macintosh and UNIX users should be aware, though, that the book's model is the "Wintel," a Windows PC with an Intel microprocessor.) The book is well-structured and can easily be used as a reference resource beyond the first reading. --Jennifer Buckendorff ... Read more

Customer Reviews (94)

If you think you know computers, think again! You will learn!
The layout & photos just make this book EXCEPTIONAL!
Great detailed information & history.
This is the best book for all levels of PC knowledge.
Can't say enough good things about it!

Must be an Impulse Buy
I suspect many of those who buy this book never finish it. Despite the enticing illustrations and efficient short, numbered paragraphs, it soon becomes apparent this is a professional writer's superficial treatment of a vast landscape of information, compiled from easily available sources, rather than an expert's distillation of that information for a general reader. That would be OK except so much of the basic science is wrong that, after a while, it becomes annoying.

Good starting place
Very graphic heavy for easy-to-understand layouts. A good place to start with understanding computers. If you are looking for a more systematic approach, this book might frustrate you a little. It gives you snippets of information without providing a "roadmap" to know how this fits and where we are going. But overall, a really good resource for the general public.

Shipping not Intellectual Content
The product arrived as stated in the shipping terms.
The product was in it's original wrapping, and in pristine condition.

I cannot rate the intellectual content of the book. It is simply for a class of mine and I have no other books to compare it too.

I enjoy purchasing from Amazon, especailly since the price is ALWAYS significantly lower than that of the school's bookstore.

Quick service
The item came quick and was in good condition. Exactly what I was looking for. ... Read more

Product Description
In the 1990's it was realized that quantum physics has some spectacular applications in computer science. This book is a concise introduction to quantum computation, developing the basic elements of this new branch of computational theory without assuming any background in physics. It begins with an introduction to the quantum theory from a computer-science perspective. It illustrates the quantum-computational approach with several elementary examples of quantum speed-up, before moving to the major applications: Shor's factoring algorithm, Grover's search algorithm, and quantum error correction. The book is intended primarily for computer scientists who know nothing about quantum theory, but will also be of interest to physicists who want to learn the theory of quantum computation, and philosophers of science interested in quantum foundational issues. It evolved during six years of teaching the subject to undergraduates and graduate students in computer science, mathematics, engineering, and physics, at Cornell University. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

elegant explanations
Mermin is perhaps best known as theco-author of 'Solid State Physics', a longstanding text of its subject. But his interests are diverse, and one of these is presented here. He explains the intriguing use of quantum computing. Starting with the concept of a Qbit.

The text assumes you've done some non-relativistic quantum mechanics. After all, the entire subject is based on quantum effects producing different results than traditional computing. You should know the bra and ket notation, that was first introduced by Dirac. This notation is amazingly concise and pervades the text. It is probably fair to say that 90% of the discussion uses this notation.

The derivations are elegant and surprisingly simple, compared to the intricacies of other applications of quantum mechanics. There is relatively little discussion of experimental methods. This is primarily a theoretical text.

One conclusion is that this field is young. No serious computations are yet capable, compared to those on computers using traditional classical physics. ... Read more

Product Description
The importance of computer security has increased dramatically during the past few years. Bishop provides a monumental reference for the theory and practice of computer security. This is a textbook intended for use at the advanced undergraduate and introductory graduate levels, non-University training courses, as well as reference and self-study for security professionals. Comprehensive in scope, this covers applied and practical elements, theory, and the reasons for the design of applications and security techniques. Bishop treats the management and engineering issues of computer. Excellent examples of ideas and mechanisms show how disparate techniques and principles are combined (or not) in widely-used systems. Features a distillation of a vast number of conference papers, dissertations and books that have appeared over the years, providing a valuable synthesis. This book is acclaimed for its scope, clear and lucid writing, and its combination of formal and theoretical aspects with real systems, technologies, techniques, and policies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

5 stars
Great Book! I had to buy for my class ... happy that we are using this :-)

Comprehensive Discussion of Computer Security
Excellent book describing both the technical aspects of Computer Security as well as the heuristic methods used to secure computer networks. Helpful to everyone who is trying to understand how computer security works.

Fails as an Intro book for Students
This book was used in my Intro to Computer Security class, which I thought was going to be an interesting until I had to read the book. This book is suited more for those already in the field or have knowledge about computer security.

The way the book is writen makes it a hard read as it is full of theory and hardly any application. Complex theories are not explained in a way that allows somebody new to the field the chance to understand them.

Examples are more or less useless as they are either complex or not explained in full. Most of the examples cause more confusion then understanding. This is not just my opinion but the majority of my the class.

A Service to Duplicate!
Excellent service! The book arrived within five days of placing the order, and I was totally blown away when it arrived, considering the fact that it was a text book that I needed to have in a timely manner. Thanks again Amazon! I'm now hooked more than ever, and I'm telling my friends about the wonderful shopping experience.

Very detailed reference
I used this book for a graudate-level introductory computer security class and it was very detailed and explained concepts well. I took a security and privacy course in undergrad and Bishop's book is much better than the book I used last fall. If you have strong math skills and strong coding skills, this is the book for you. It is even helpful to people studying for the CISSP and Security+ certifications in information security. ... Read more

Product Description
Designed for a course in file processing, this text provides students with a comprehensive introduction to file organization and structures. The approach is systematic, providing quantitative analysis of application and design issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A classic
Nobody ever got into the tradeoffs, the math, the complexity of different file organizations like Gio Wiederhold. This is a must-read for those who need to understand the fundamentals of today;s file systems and their history. ... Read more

Product Description

John Vince explains a wide range of mathematical techniques and problem-solving strategies associated with computer games, computer animation, virtual reality, CAD, and other areas of computer graphics.

Covering all the mathematical techniques required to resolve geometric problems and design computer programs for computer graphic applications, each chapter explores a specific mathematical topic prior to moving forward into the more advanced areas of matrix transforms, 3D curves and surface patches. Problem-solving techniques using vector analysis and geometric algebra are also discussed.

All the key areas are covered including: Numbers, Algebra, Trigonometry, Coordinate geometry, Transforms, Vectors, Curves and surfaces, Barycentric coordinates, Analytic geometry.

Plus – and unusually in a student textbook – a chapter on geometric algebra is included.

Customer Reviews (2)

Broad but cursory
This give a very broad overview of many topics from matrix transformations to analytic geometry, but in a paperback less than a half inch thick, the topics are only given a cursory introduction.

not a book to learn new material from
Vince takes you through what is hopefully a revision course on maths that you will need if you are going to program graphics. The topics include matrix algebra. (Of course.) This gives the essence of translation and scaling in a three dimensional space. Then analytic geometry and B splines are covered.

The book has no problem sets. Though it does have one chapter at the end devoted to sample problems with their answers. It is not a book to learn new material from. ... Read more

Product Description
The second edition of this elemental handbook reviews the current state of theory and practice in the field while emphasizing a more practical/applied approach to IT topics such as information management, net-centric computing, and human computer interaction. With a complete revision of its sections on software engineering, architecture, and operating systems, this now thoroughly up-to-date manual is as cutting-edge in the new millennium as it was in the nineties. The Computer Science Handbook, Second Edition includes new information on Web-based software, speech recognition, data mining, cryptography, and distributed objects computing as well as references and sources for further information. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Awesome
This book was a surprise to me. I was expected something less than what I have received. Now I can look further into the theorethical foundations of turing machines, and data structures. Just the 2 first chapters are very interesting. I hope to found more in the remaining chapters.

An excellent and complete reference
This book provides a single substantive and comprehensive reference for practicing engineers and computer scientists, as well to other professional with strong computer experience and interest.

The handbook cover all mayor fields of CS&E, including algorithms and data structures, architecture, artificial intelligence and robotics, computational science, database and information retrieval, graphics, human-computer interaction, operating systems and networks, programming languages and software engineering.

An exceptional review of core CS material
I'm using this book to relearn core CS material in preparation for the CS GRE after several years in the industry. I can't recommend it highly enough.

This is not a book from which to learn concepts for the first time. If you've never heard of (e.g.) "undecidability", don't get this book intending to learn about it. However, if you know enough to know what you don't know, this book will efficiently fill in the gaps.

The book consists of over 100 chapters covering material across nearly major area of computer science. Each chapter is 20-30 pages long and is geared to someone who has seen the material before but is in need of a review and summary of core terminology and historical context. Someone experienced in one field who wants to be able to read current technical material in another field will also find it useful.

Most of the authors are academics; the remainder are members of major research labs. Some of their chapters, like James Feldman's piece on Digital Logic, are truly extraordinary. Most others range from solid to exceptional. The material isn't just that of concern to traditional academic CS; I was pleasantly surprised to see an entire section (8 chapters worth) on practical software engineering topics (development process and lifecycle models, requirements and specification, design, validation, tools, testing, project management, etc). The material was authored around 1995 or 1996, and nearly all of it is still relevant and as up-to-date as is appropriate for this sort of collection.

One minor weakness is there's no cross-chapter index or glossary. The book is organized as a collection of papers, and each paper includes its own index, bibliography, and glossary. To find material about the web, for instance, you have to hunt through the (excellent) 20-page table of contents for the relevant subsections scattered throughout. This weakness is far from fatal, however. Should the next edition add an index, it will only add value to an already exceptional collection, by making it easier to locate references to material that spans subfields.

Again, highly recommended for targeted learning.

Alot of info.....A little unreadable
There is a wealth of information in this book.Many engineers will enjoy having this reference.However, if you are not in the industry, or still a little low on the mathmatics totem pole.This book will appear to you asthough it is written in Greek!It practically is with all of thedifferential notation.When I am finished with my CSE degree, I will tryto read it again.Until then, it will stay on the shelf.Definitely NOTlight reading! ... Read more

Product Description
The third edition of Computer Science: A Structured Programming Approach Using C continues to present both computer science theory and C-language syntax with a principle-before-implementation approach. Forouzan and Gilberg employ a clear organizational structure, supplemented by easy-to-follow figures, charts, and tables. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

CS book review
This book has a lot of examples and you can get practice before going to an exam or developing your own program.It is easy to understand and easy to read and go along with.

Great Book.
Great product, required for my computer coding class. Very informative. Great book to skim since there's a lot of useful information. If your having trouble on the homework, just whip this book out and you will almost always get an example similar to the problem.

Good Book!!! A+
This is a good book. I used for my freshman year in engineering. I sold it when the semester ended. However, I bought it again because I needed to review some material and I knew it was a good source. Recommended!!!

A bad book for learning C
I bought this book since the University website here in India "Recommends" this book for C and Data structures course. Since I myself have not done a Computer Science course as my major was Electronics, I tried to go through this book as my guide for C.

As it turned out this book is an utter Junk. It has 1000+ pages which will take you some time completing it and once you are done with it you will still not be able to solve a single problem in a more advanced C book -- Such as say K&R C.

The explanations of the concepts about the language is very bad and the Authors look like they have no background in C programming.

In all, there are better books out there for C. Save your money and do not buy this book.

Textbook, not a quick reference
I bought this for a textbook. It is not a quick read. However, it has a lot of examples and the summary pages and tips at the end of the chapters have been useful for class. The index is complete enough you can use it to find stuff. Whether you understand the explanation is another matter. The author can be quite verbose and attempts to cover everything. Good for a text, not so good for a reference. I'm sure there are more concise treatments, but this isn't a bad book and I am getting used to the format. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

APCS study guide
This book is my review bible. It is great. It goes with our AP Computer Science book. ... Read more

Product Description
Master the fundamentals of discrete mathematics with DISCRETE MATHEMATICS FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE with Student Solutions Manual CD-ROM! An increasing number of computer scientists from diverse areas are using discrete mathematical structures to explain concepts and problems and this mathematics text shows you how to express precise ideas in clear mathematical language. Through a wealth of exercises and examples, you will learn how mastering discrete mathematics will help you develop important reasoning skills that will continue to be useful throughout your career. ... Read more

Product Description
Provides a solid introduction to computer science that emphasizes software engineering and the development of good programming style. Covers the language of C. Paper. DLC: C (Computer program language) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (32)

Too bad printing...
I was frightened when I opened the book... The characters in the book look like a copied-material of a very very old 8-pin dot-printer output...

Teaches "Roberts," not C
This book is annoying with the way the author asks the user to write programs using his custom library functions, as opposed to the standard C commands.Because of this, I did not learn about scanf until probably the 7th or 8th week of the C programming course I was in.I feel like that alone warrants a 1-star rating.If you buy this book, you will be learning to program in "Roberts," not C.

Two great books
I have read and worked through both of Eric Roberts books on C.
Of all the programming books I have read, and there are many, his two are the best.

My only regret is that he has not written books on C++.

The Art and Science of C
I thought this was a wonderful beginners book. It gave me the basics and then allowed me to go on and try new things by myself. By the end I really felt like I could write my own programs in C.

I only gave it four stars because I think five would have to be a textbook that really brought the information to life, while this one was rather dry.

The Art and Science of C
I borrowed this book from library and believed I had made a right decision.

Quoted from the book, Mr. Roberts have been teaching computer science for over 20 years, I'm not sure how long he has taught C language but I suppose this book is written in a way that he believes is most beneficial to the readers, based on his teaching experience.

C is a cryptic and complex language, so the author teaches in a stepwise manner, he hides the complexity by introducing his private libraries and data abstractions. So the readers implement the functionality of C, which is independent from the complexity of C; once the readers have enough grasp at C, they may move on to explore the complexity of C.

The author have done these with good intention because data types in ANSI C are limited in size, for example, the data type int is different from our perception of integer indaily life. The address operator & may be confusing as well.

How did I use the book? I rewrited all the examples presented in book without his private libaries. I did the exercises in the book without his private libraries as well. Instead of copying all his codes and getting them work, I tried to make errors: for example, in the simple hello world program, omitted the preprocessor operator #, then read the error messages. I also tried to improve the efficiency of my algorithm.

This maybe a good introductory book for people who have experience in programming in languages other than C since the syntax of C may confuse them, but owning it is not recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
The mathematical knowledge needed for computer and information sciences­­including, particularly, the binary number system, logic circuits, graph theory, linear systems, probability and statistics­­get clear and concise coverage in this invaluable study guide. Basic high school math is all that's needed to follow the explanations and learn from hundreds of practical problems solved step-by-step. Hundreds of review questions with answers help reinforce learning and increase skills. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Well written but all over the map as far as subject matter
I found this Schaum's outline to be a very well written book on a variety of elementary mathematical subjects probably most suitable for someone who has just graduated high school and is a freshman starting some kind of technical degree. However, beyond that, I am not sure exactly who the target audience is supposed to be. The book contains some information on the very basic computer math that a college freshman engineering or ITstudent would need to know such as binary number systems and computer codes and math. However, some of the other material is very much oriented towards the aspiring computer engineer but is not really mathematical such as the sections on logic, flowcharts, sets and relations, and logic gates. Other sections are mathematical but don't necessarily have anything to do with computers and could be just as helpful to a student of applied mathematics such as the sections on linear algebra, linear equations, statistics, and graph theory.

Thus my recommendation would be that if you need a good tutorial on a variety of mathematical and pseudo-mathematical topics that tie in well with a technical degree of any kind, the low price of admission on this odd little outline is probably worth it. Just don't expect it to rescue you in any one course in particular. It will more likely rescue you in particular sections of several courses instead.

Great book which helped me tremendously
This book tremendously helped me understand computers and their relationship to mathematics and helped clear about doubts all through the semesters in college that I studied computer science. I strongly recommend this book to anyone majoring in computer science, information technologies, computer programming, etc ... as this book serves as a pillar to understanding the fundamentals of computer hardware and software.

A cheap and good book
The book is pretty much suitable for students who has finishedhigh school maths but requires revision on maths for computing. A few chapters are simple enough for students to run over quickly. There is asupplementary questions and solved questions with working for student tounderstand and practice on. Overall the book is good enough to refresh yourmemory on computer maths.

very poorly structured
For a start this book is never intended to be used by itself but as a supplement,so any attempt to use it as a textbook will only reslut in frustartion. Furthermore its not geared to teach as many VERY importantconcepts are simply ommited and the author makes far too many assumptionswhich all results in an incomplete book. The book attempts to cut studytime but also ends up cutting too much in clear and sufficent explanations.Use this book once you have completly mastered whathever topic you areinvolved in,and even then its only good for the practise problems at theend of each chapter. All in all DONT buy this book if you are trying tolearn something...use it ONLY for reviwing and just as a supplement. ... Read more

Product Description

A Balanced Introduction to Computer Science, 3/e is ideal for Introduction to Computing and the Web courses in departments of Math and Computer Science.

Customer Reviews (4)

GETTING THE BASICS DOWN!
This book was required for a college course.It is a great book to learn about Computer Science in general.The book focuses on the internet and creating basic Web-pages.You will learn how to work with JavaScript and HTML code.You gain the knowledge to generally understand how to possibly make a Forum website.The book stresses text/number input, manipulation of text/numbers, and then output of text/numbers in various ways.You will learn about the history of the internet, the difference between what the Internet is and the World Wide Web.Yes, there is a difference!The drawback to this book is that there are a lot of type-o's in the code examples.You will learn enough in the book to be able to proof read the example, but it may cause you some headaches.

Well rounded computer science book
This book has a well balanced approach to explaining the topic of computer science. The author covers the history of computer science along with real world applications. The book breaks down key computer science topics with good diagrams and easy to understand language in addressing issues like the internet, networking, the internal workings of computers, and application development. In addition, the book provides thought provoking questions and introduces example programs that help the reader solidify their understanding of the concepts. I recommend this book to anyone trying to grasp the world of computer science.

many mistakes, poor formatting
I was asked to grade students' homework based on Chapter 10 of this book. I found that this book contains a lot of mistakes and complicates the subject greatly. Moreover, some side-notes miss the right-most part of the text, i.e. you cannot read those side-notes without guessing what letters are missing.

For example, in the aforementioned Chapter 10, there is a diagram, which shows that public-key encryption involves the following: the sender first encrypts the message with private key, then with public key; the recipient first decrypts the message with private key, then with public key. This sounds quite complicated, and looks like they have tried to present encryption and signature-verification at the same time, but call it "public key encryption". Clearly, it should not have been this complicated, or at least it should have been called appropriately.

As one more example from Chapter 10: they say that for LANs Ethernet technology is used. They claim that this technology uses Ethernet bus, and when one computer sends a message to another computer, all computers receive the message and check the intended recipient of the message, and discard the messages that they are not intended to receive. (Clearly, this describes how Ethernet Hubs work, which can be found rarely these days as opposed to Fast Ethernet Switches.) However, later on they say that the speed of the aforementioned Ethernet is 10, 100, or 1000 Mbits per second. This is where the problem begins -- I have never saw a Gigabit Ethernet Hub (as opposed to Switch), and I don't think that Fast Ethernet Hubs were popular either. Clearly, this is one more instance of confusing the reader and presenting false information.

I would never recommend this book to anyone. If the author wanted to keep the subject simple, he should have avoided the technical details all together. If he wanted to present some technical detail, then he should have made sure that they don't contradict each other and are not missing important points and updates.

Suitable for an introduction to computer science course
There are generally two courses for beginners in computing. "Introduction to Computers" is usually designed for people who know very little about computers and are interested in using them in their daily life. While "Introduction to Computer Science" covers some of the same material, it is designed for those who want to know how computers work, and perhaps even take some courses in computer science. This book is written for the second type of course.
Programming is introduced via HTML, which is in complete agreement with what I tell everyone who expresses an interest in learning to program. HTML is easy to understand, demonstrates some of the ideas of advanced programming and the feedback is immediate. Furthermore, initial programs can be small and since the student will most certainly be familiar with surfing the web, the results will make sense to them.
What most people consider to be true programming, writing code with variables, functions, if constructs, loops and user interaction, are introduced with JavaScript. This is also a sound decision, JavaScript is powerful enough to introduce the basics of programming, builds on the previous HTML coding and is freely available. Other chapters cover a brief history of computing, how data is represented in computers, the fundamentals of digital logic and the impact computers are having on society. A large number of images are used to reinforce the text, and exercises are embedded inside the chapters with another set at the end of the chapter.
If you are in the queue to teach an introduction to computer science course, then you should examine this book. It is well written and the level of presentation is appropriate for the typical student taking such a course. It could also be used for self-study.
... Read more

Product Description
A presentation of the central and basic concepts, techniques, and tools of computer science, with the emphasis on presenting a problem-solving approach and on providing a survey of all of the most important topics covered in degree programmes. Scheme is used throughout as the programming language and the author stresses a functional programming approach to create simple functions so as to obtain the desired programming goal. Such simple functions are easily tested individually, which greatly helps in producing programs that work correctly first time. Throughout, the author aids to writing programs, and makes liberal use of boxes with "Mistakes to Avoid." Programming examples include: * abstracting a problem; * creating pseudo code as an intermediate solution; * top-down and bottom-up design; * building procedural and data abstractions; * writing progams in modules which are easily testable. Numerous exercises help readers test their understanding of the material and develop ideas in greater depth, making this an ideal first course for all students coming to computer science for the first time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great intro to Computer Science, not just to programming
The first part of this book will give the basic programming `how to' knowledge: Common abstractions and basic program design.

The second part introduces Computer Science and will show you what others have been doing with the techniques explained in the first part. It will give a panoramic view of modern CS: databases, operating systems, artificial intelligence, compilers, `soft-computing', etc...

Only the chapter on compilers seems a bit confusing, everything else is clearly explained.

You won't need a good background in maths to follow it.

excellent university teaching tool
I was a former teaching assistant this past summer for a lower divisioncomputer science course at UC Berkeley. We used this book as our primarytext. From several semesters of teaching introductory computer sciencecourses I can say that this book has proven to be an indispensible item forme. Ranging from concise writing to thought provoking questions, it is anexcellent introduction to future computer scientists. I recommend this toanyone. ... Read more

Product Description
Mathematics textbook specifically geared towards the topics most important to computer science, featuring theorems and proofs, as well as sound logic. Topics covered include propositional calculus, predicate calculus, resolution, hoare logic, and temporal logic. Also features a companion Website. Softcover. DLC: Logic, Symbolic and mathematical. ... Read more