How Computers Really Work

by Matthew Justice

An approachable, hands-on guide to understanding how computers work, from low-level circuits to high-level code.

How Computers Really Work is a hands-on guide to the computing everything from circuits to memory and clock signals, machine code, programming languages, operating systems, and the internet.

But you won't just read about these concepts, you'll test your knowledge with exercises, and practice what you learn with 41 optional hands-on projects. Build digital circuits, craft a guessing game, convert decimal numbers to binary, examine virtual memory usage, run your own web server, and more.

Explore concepts like how

The book's projects will have you translate your learning into action, as

And since a picture is worth a thousand bytes, chapters are filled with detailed diagrams and illustrations to help clarify technical complexities.

The projects require a variety of hardware - electronics projects need a breadboard, power supply, and various circuit components; software projects are performed on a Raspberry Pi. Appendix B contains a complete list. Even if you skip the projects, the book's major concepts are clearly presented in the main text.

Genres: Computer Science, Programming, Computers, Technology, Nonfiction, Reference, Technical

392 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2020

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the evergreen material in the first half of this book, which takes us from transistor logic to high-level programming. As for the second half, I can't really disagree with the choice of the "cloud" and "app" material since that's what people probably think of in terms of modern computing...but it felt insubstantial and fad-ish compared to the earlier material. (Because it IS insubstantial and fad-ish!)

The really stand-out feature are the activities. This book covers a vast scope of material and being able to put ALL of it into hands-on practical experience is a brilliant move.

I bought this book to read to my kiddos (and that's exactly what I did - it came after the regular bedtime story). I think it's an amazing resource for young audiences. I would have given my right arm for this breadth of coverage when I was at the right age for it. But really, this would be incredible for anyone with a curiosity about computers.

I'm still a huge, huge fan of "The Pattern on the Stone" by Hillis, which packs an incredible amount of lucid explanation in a tiny package. But now I also have a book to recommend with practical exercises. I also think the use of the Raspberry Pi is right on the mark - I love the idea that we have a cheap, common teaching instrument that is a REAL computer that is itself available for less than the price of a book. It's a perfect combo.

[Mahshid Parchami · Rating 5 out of 5]

یه کتاب عالی برای درک عملکرد کامپیوترها؛ از صفر و یک تا ترانزیستور، مدار منطقی، زبان ماشین و مباحث زیاد دیگه
حدود یک سوم کتاب پروژه های عملیه که من انجام ندادم. الان تا حدی میفهمم که کامپیوتر چطور صفر و یک رو میخونه و دستورات رو میفهمه و انجام میده :) البته تقریبا

[jhenu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m an Engineer, this book is the missing link between theories learned in your curriculum and work.

[Renato Pires · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I learnet a lot about computers behind the screen!

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and with a lot of good exercises to do, but I felt it skipped over the part of how computers really work that's most mysterious -- how do you actually make them programmable? The description of the basic logic gates and how they can be implemented with transistors is very clear, but it then jumps straight to "the CPU pulls an instruction from memory and implements it" -- how does it do that? We go straight from something that's 100% hardware to something that seems disconnected from it. This isn't a flaw unique to this book, of course, but it promises to go from amps to apps and that's a big hole in enabling the reader to fully understand how computers actually work.

(Also, the discussion of voltage drops and high-low measurements raises a question the text doesn't answer. Say 5v is high and 0v is low and you have a circuit with three gates in it. Then for all three gates to indicate high you need a total of 15v in the circuit. But if only one is high, and the voltage drop across that gate is 5v, where do the other 10v go that were present if the other two gates were high? Do we need a "mirror circuit" of some sort that manages the voltage that isn't being used to represent information in the main circuit? This isn't a topic I really know anything about but it would have been good for the question to be addressed).

[Antoni Heba · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is gold. Ideal for someone interested in computers, without formal computer science education, and willing to make a deep dive. I fit the description and I enjoyed every page of it.

The subtitle say it all: 'a hands-on guide to the inner workings of the machine'. It's a guide because it starts from the basics like binary and logic, then goes to electronics, building on every chapter till it closes with modern computing. The style is simple, clear, and concise.

It's hands on because almost every chapter ends with projects to put knowledge to work and get hands dirty. It was with great pleasure that I build elecritcal circuits, adders, couters, and then moved to coding basics: assembly language, C, Python, HTML, CSS, Javascript. It also made me discover Raspberry Pi.

Rarely do I sumble upon the book I was just looking for. It reignited my interest in the machine.
Highly recommended.

[Davy Liebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Computers Really Work is a well-structured and informative book that provides an accessible introduction to the inner workings of computers. It breaks down complex concepts into digestible explanations, making it a valuable resource for beginners or those looking to refresh their knowledge.

However, the writing style occasionally detracts from the experience. The author frequently uses phrases like “if you look at,” which can feel repetitive and, at times, disrupt the flow of the text. While these phrases aim to guide the reader, their overuse might make the explanations seem more drawn-out than necessary.

[ピピ · Rating 2 out of 5]

tl;dr It's the Noam nand2tetris book, but uses Python instead.

I can't get through this book. It's the logic chapters in the beginning. There a bunch of these nand2tetris type books.

This book is if you wanted to use Python instead of Java in the Noam book, which I also couldn't get through the logic chapters.

[Ricky Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent text that achieves the goal set out by it: to be an easy entry into some big topics around computers. I especially enjoyed the exercises in this text. I would say the exercises don't pose much of a challenge, except for when an additional challenge is tacked on and left to the reader; the exercises are more of a "follow along" kind of ride.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep down, from my years of schooling, I knew all of this book's details.
But, it is put together so well! It was a fun refresher and an interesting book.

Would recommend to learn about the innerworkings of a computer!

4.8/5

[Tomi J. Astala · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides introductions to a wide variety of topics: electronics-, logic-, machine language and assembly-, programming-, and networking of computers.

This is a good read if you want to know simple basics and what topic(s) to learn more about.

[Sinan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grokked this thing over the weekend.

Very clear, concise and informative! Although we’re left asking for more depth at times, the author has covered a great breadth of fundamental computer science/engineering topics.

New edition with machine learning/AI coverage could be interesting!

[Anoop Shetty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read for beginners. The way in which the author explains every topic is superb. A must read for those who are interested in computer science

[Zi How · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for beginners

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's easier than ever to find and use computers, but few people today really understand how computers work.

[Anna Xu · Rating 5 out of 5]

the last computer science book i will read in a while, hopefully.

[byte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to find a beginner book for a starter newbie friend of mine. Judging by the cover I thought it would be a very basic surface level read. But I was wrong completely and I'm so glad. Everything was written simply, concisely, to the point. Also there are some questions, projects, ideas and exercises accompanying the chapters. I wish we started it all with books like this. We scraped the shitty web, old books, no mentors and unhelpful professors in order to get here.

[Justin Dittburner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of foundation topics. A solid refresher after college.