Behind The Interface

Eight brief, jargon-free lessons for a strong computer science foundation!

Our daily lives are full of interactions with computers, their software applications, the internet, databases, and more recently, AI. However, most of us lack a deep conceptual understanding of their internal mechanisms. How does an inanimate machine, essentially a rock, understand our commands? How do billions of such machines seamlessly communicate with each other? And they are achieving human-like intelligence? Their inner mysticism promotes fear and underconfidence - sometimes even in those with a formal computer science education.

Fortunately, you don't require a multi-year degree to understand the fundamentals. This 280 page book, without jargon, details the inner workings of computers and their related technologies. Uncover the hardware that makes a computer, learn how programming languages function, demystify the internet and cloud, understand data storage, machine learning and more. With clear explanations and historical perspectives, this comprehensive guide empowers even non-technical readers to navigate the landscape of computer science confidently. It provides a conceptual foundation for anyone wanting to understand the internals of computers and related technologies that permeate our daily lives.

The book is structured into four sections with two chapters each.

1. Computers
2. A Computer's Architecture
3. Computer Hardware
4. Software
5. Operating Systems
6. Programming Languages
7. Computer Networks
8. The Internet
9. World Wide Web
10. Data
11. Data Storage
12. Machine Learning