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 — Charles Petzold Copy Share Image
“In 1948, while working for Bell Telephone Laboratories, he published a paper in the Bell System Technical Journal entitled "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" that not only introduced the word bit in print but established a field of study today known as information theory. Information theory is concerned with transmitting digital information in the presence of noise (which usually prevents… — Charles Petzold Copy Share
MIDI made a natural transition to the PC. The MIDI messages that make up a musical composition can be saved as MIDI files, which… — Charles Petzold Copy Share Image
All modern MIDI synthesizers are capable of polyphony, which means they can play more than one note at a time and more than one… — Charles Petzold Copy Share Image
Computer monitors can operate in many different video modes. In most cases, the decision about how many pixels and colors to display is yours… — Charles Petzold Copy Share Image
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… — Charles Petzold Copy Share Image
Many MIDI files contain entire musical compositions. Because MIDI supports only 16 channels, however, no more than 16 different instruments can play at any… — Charles Petzold Copy Share Image
I felt more like a scientist exploring nature, and Windows was my environment. You don't pass judgment on nature; you just explain how it… — Charles Petzold Copy Share Image
Some programs - especially games - require that your system be set to a particular color depth and resolution. Often such special settings are… — Charles Petzold Copy Share Image
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… — Charles Petzold Copy Share Image
