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Charles Petzold Biography

Charles Petzold

Charles Petzold (born February 2, 1953, New Brunswick, New Jersey) is an American programmer and technical author on Microsoft Windows applications. He is also a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and was named one of Microsoft's seven Windows Pioneers.

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Charles Petzold Quotes

Code is not like other how-computers-work books. It doesn't have big color illustrations of disk drives with arrows showing how the data sweeps into the computer. Code has no drawings of trains carrying a cargo of zeros and ones. Metaphors and similes are wonderful literary devices but they do nothing but obscure the beauty of technology.

Arrows, Book, Code, Disk, Drives, Technology

I felt more like a scientist exploring nature, and Windows was my environment. You dont pass judgment on nature; you just explain how it works.

Environment, Felt, Judgment, Pass, Window, Works

NOP stands for (and is pronounced) no op, as in no operation. The NOP causes the processor to do absolutely nothing. What's it good for? Filling space. The 8080 can usually execute a bunch of NOP instructions without anything bad happening

Causes, Execute, Instruction, Instructions, Nothing, Space

You probably don't have much of a choice.

Choice, Choices, Probably

In some far-off distant time, when the twentieth century history of primitive computing is just a murky memory, someone is likely to suppose that devices known as logic gates were named after the famous co-founder of Microsoft Corporation

Corporations, Memories, Memory, Microsoft, Primitive

I started out with machine code and assembly language.

Assembly, Language, Machine, Machines

Computer monitors can operate in many different video modes. In most cases, the decision about how many pixels and colors to display is yours - but not always.

Color, Decision, Different, Operate, Video

Owning a computer without programming is like having a kitchen and using only the microwave oven

Computer, Kitchen, Like, Owning, Programming

The human species is often amazingly inventive and industrious but at the same time profoundly lazy. It's very clear that we humans don't like to work. This aversion to work is so extreme - and our ingenuity so acute - that we're eager to devote countless hours designing and building devices that might shave a few minutes off our workday

Aversion, Design, Eager, Humans, Lazy

To a programmer, an operating system is defined by its API.

Api, Defined, Operating Systems, Programmer, Programmers, System

Programming in machine code is like eating with a toothpick

Eating, Like, Machine, Machines, Programming

Free lunches don't come cheap.

Cheap, Come, Free, Free Lunch, Lunch, Lunches