BACKSTORY & WHY THIS BOOK IS SPECIAL

The book Code is wonderfully unique, and for that, Charles Petzold will forever be one of my heroes. Thank you, sir Charles (if you ever happen to read this) for thinking the way you do and for having been determined enough to write this book.

For those of you who are already entrenched in the industry and know this book, you may think I’m crazy for having started with this choice as an introduction to the technological realm. But, I must say, Charles Petzold’s book Code is my favorite not just for helping me with this learning journey, but because of the writing style and unique approach taken.

As mentioned in his preface to the paperback edition (which must be read, by the way) Petzold’s book takes a completely different approach than others because his main goal is to teach his reader how computers work from a granular perspective.

If you’ve read my very first “origin” post, then it should be noted that I picked up this book after I had already briefly dipped my toes into the programming world. I had known about Python, and a general understanding of computers, but nothing too in-depth. I had walked into the new Amazon Book store near the Empire State Building in Midtown, New York City, where I saw, sitting pretty on a tan shelf, the white and simple cover of Code. What drew me to the book (admittedly) was the cover because I recognized the braille and binary used underneath the title lettering. Immediately, I could tell that this book was special because it was making the connection between language and code, and connections like that are exactly what excite me.

As I continued to read Code, I felt like a bit of an imposter who was pretending to understand everything they were reading. Petzold includes many diagrams and visuals to accompany his examples. His examples tend to build upon each other, with many pointing to parallelism, so that way you develop an “all-encompassing” concept of code, as a whole. Most of it made sense, especially because of the wonderful way that Petzold is able to introduce his subject, zoom in, and then zoom back out at the end of the chapter to help draw together all of the concepts. Since I was a complete novice, as I continued to view the various charts and diagrams, some of the terms and ideas were beginning to feel unreal. Was I really grasping these concepts? Did these diagrams and new words really make sense to me or was I just lying to myself? Regardless, I continued to read. I made it a point to continue to read the book, even if I thought the concepts weren’t clicking for me yet.

Finally, I had completed my first read-through of the book. As time passed, I hoped that the concepts Petzold explained and how he explained them would stick in my mind, and I eagerly waited for the day when I would have proof that they did.

HOW THIS BOOK HELPED ME UNDERSTAND FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

I was gifted my first Raspberry Pi from a good friend. As I opened up the beginner’s kit and looked at all of the components, I was overcome with an odd sensation of confusion and understanding. Although I had never seen these parts before in person, I had an idea of their uses and functions. It was in these moments of assembling the Raspberry Pi when I realized that Petzold’s words and diagrams had clicked, because as I connected each piece I could recall familiar sections from the book.

Simply put, reading Petzold’s way of explaining this subject has not only helped me with my approach to computers and programming, but it has helped me intrinsically understand how basic things work, from my automated Glade Air Freshener dispenser, to the phenomenon as to why my light switches invert themselves sometimes.

I had a good feeling when I chose Code as my very first introduction to this subject, and I’m so excited to re-read it again in the future. Already through my Python studying, I find myself recalling sections from Code with a smile on my face. I’m very grateful to have begun my journey with such a wonderfully insightful perspective on this subject, and I’m sure Code will be a book that I continuously revisit and recommend. However, the largest take-away from reading Code for me was witnessing how wonderfully an expert can perceive, understand, and explain a subject by drawing connections to so many different real-life and historical examples. This book is a wonderful look inside the mind of a true technical virtuoso.