TABLE OF CONTENTS
ix
Chapter 6: How Applications Work So You Can Play ....................................................74
How Text SHOUTS and Whispers ......................................................................76
How Databases Track Everything .......................................................................78
How Databases Pack it In ..................................................................................80
How Databases Make Connections ....................................................................82
How Spreadsheets Solve Formulas .....................................................................84
How Numbers Become Pictures ..........................................................................86
How Art Is Compressed to Save Space ...............................................................88
How Imaging Software Paints by Numbers .........................................................90
How Photo Editors Revive Old Memories ............................................................92
How Apps Fuel Mobile Devices ..........................................................................94
Chapter 7: How Games Create New Worlds ................................................................96
How Computers Plot a 3D World .......................................................................98
How 3D Gets Dressed .....................................................................................100
How Shaders Control the World .......................................................................102
How Games Populate New Worlds ..................................................................104
Chapter 8: How Security Software Fights Off Invaders ................................................106
How Computer Hackers Break In ......................................................................108
How Spyware Reports Everything You Do .........................................................110
How Viruses Invade Your Computer ..................................................................112
How Viruses Hitch Rides in Your Email ..............................................................114
How Antivirus Software Fights Back ..................................................................116
How Firewalls Keep Hackers Out .....................................................................118
How Spammers Find You .................................................................................120
How Antispam Software Sniffs Out Phony Email ................................................122
How Prime Numbers Protect Prime Secrets ........................................................124
Part 3: How Computers Evolve 126
Chapter 9: The Origins of Computer DNA .................................................................130
Fossils of the Premobilian Era ...........................................................................132
Persistent Relics: The Mouse .............................................................................134
Persistent Relics: The Keyboard ........................................................................136
How the Workaday Floppy Drive Ruled ............................................................138
How the CRT Was the Grande Dame of Displays ...............................................140