Understanding the Digital World

Now available

A compact but detailed and thorough explanation of how computers and communications systems work, for non-technical readers who want to better understand the world they live in. A great source for technical readers who want a book that will help their friends and family learn about digital systems.

• Order now: only $22.95. (238 pp, hardback, color)
• (ebook edition available)
• Amazon link: Understanding the Digital World: What You Need to Know about Computers, the Internet, Privacy, and Security

Books by Brian Kernighan

• D is for Digital
• The C Programming Language (2nd edition)
• The Practice of Programming
• The Unix Programming Environment
• The AWK Programming Language
• AMPL: A Modeling Language for Mathematical Programming (2nd edition)
• The Go Programming Language
• Hello, World! Opinion columns from the Daily Princetonian

Links

• Toy simulator
• Princeton course website
• Author's website
• Original D is for Digital page

Understanding the Digital World

This book explains how today's computing and communications world operates, from hardware through software to the Internet and the web. It includes enough detail that you can understand how these systems work, no matter what your technical background. The social, political and legal issues that new technology creates are discussed as well, so you can understand the difficult issues we face and appreciate the tradeoffs that have to be made to resolve them.