Paperback Edition What do flashlights, the British invasion, black cats, and seesaws have to do with computers? In CODE, they show us the ingenious ways we manipulate language and invent new means of communicating with each other. And through CODE, we see how this ingenuity and our very human compulsion to communicate have driven the technological innovations of the past two centuries. Using everyday objects and familiar language systems such as Braille and Morse code, author Charles Petzold weaves an illuminating narrative for anyone who s ever wondered about the secret inner life of computers and other smart machines. It s a cleverly illustrated and eminently comprehensible story and along the way, you ll discover you ve gained a real context for understanding today s world of PCs, digital media, and the Internet. No matter what your level of technical savvy, CODE will charm you and perhaps even awaken the technophile within.

Charles Petzold从1984年开始编写个人计算机程序，从1985年开始编写 Microsoft Windows程序。他在《Microsoft Systems Joumal》1986年 12月号上发表了第一篇关于Windows程序设计的杂志论文。从1986年到1995年，他为《PC Magazine》撰写“Environments”专栏，给读者介绍了Windows和OS／2程序设计的许多方面。

1994年5月，Petzold作为仅有的七个人之一（并且是唯一的作家）被《Window Magazine》和Microsoft公司授予Windows Pioneer奖，以表彰他对 Microsoft Windows的成功做出的贡献。