The Most Complex Machine: A Survey of Computers and Computing

This introduction to computers presents the fundamental ideas and principles on which modern computers are built. While used as a text for courses in computer appreciation as well as introductions to computer science, the book has found a wide audience among computer users who wish to understand the basis of the machines that form and transform our society.

What Computers Do · Teaching Silicon to Compute · Building a Computer ·†Theoretical Computers · Real Computers · Programming · Subroutines and Recursion · Real Programming Languages · Applications · Cooperating Computers · Graphics · Artificial Intelligence · Answers · The text is supplemented by a web site that gives access to other problems and projects.