Read 06.18.17

"If you ask 100 different people to write a program that prints out prime numbers, you'll get 100 different solutions. Even those programmers who use the Sieve of Eratosthenes won't implement it in precisely the same way that I did. If programming truly were a science, there wouldn't be so many possible solutions, and incorrect solutions would be more obvious. Occasionally, a programming problem incites flashes of creativity and insight, and that's the "art" part. But programming is mostly a designing and building process not unlike erecting a bridge" - pg. 360.

 In the summer of my college freshmen year, I tried to learn a bit of programming. This decision was mostly in reflection of the popularity of computer science, especially in the technological age we live in today. So I learned C++ and it was somewhat interesting. However, learning a programming language left me with more questions than answers. For one, if codes are read by the computer, how are computers taught to recognize these codes? How to computers differentiate various functions? I was more curious about the hardware and how it interacts with software than anything else. Unfortunately, I left this curiously unsettled— until I picked up this book. 

CODE explains the rise of computers, beginning with the rise of human language and progressing into the development of codes prior to the digital age. It does a great job at describing the essential concepts of what exactly a computer does and what allows it to do just that. Although the reading can be dense at times, I had a lot of fun trying to understand the provided logic models. For anyone interested in learning about the basic nature of computers, I would highly recommend this book. There are a few details that are more historic than necessary, but it was an informative read overall.