Understanding the Digital World

The popular introductory textbook that explains how computer hardware, software, and networks work—now fully updated for today’s fast-changing digital age

Understanding the Digital World has established itself as the essential computer science textbook for nonmajors and a must-read for anyone who wants to know more about computers and communications. It explains how computers are built and how they compute, what programming is, how the Internet and the web work, Python programming, AI and machine learning, the inherent limitations of computers, and much more. Now completely updated, this informative and accessible book covers all facets of the digital world, revealing how computers affect security, privacy, property, and many other vital social, political, and economic issues.

• Now covers large language models and chatbots like ChatGPT
• Features timely new discussions of how LLMs are changing how we live and work, including how the use of AI is transforming programming itself
• Gives updated examples of new technologies like self-driving cars and how they affect us
• Provides added coverage of data breaches, facial recognition and biometrics, tracking, and other privacy issues
• Offers expanded coverage of hardware like multiple cores and GPUs
• Additional historical discussions cover topics such as Leibniz’s work on binary numbers
• Includes suggestions for further reading and a glossary of technical terms and buzzwords