5 ms·

Retirement and Realignment

144 points by MikusR 8y ago

newscracker 8y ago
> I am making these decisions so that I can shift my full attention to a long-term project to write several books on various milestones in the historical foundations of computing, of which The Annotated Turing was the first and Computer of the Tides will (I hope) be the second. I wasn't aware of The Annotated Turing. Can't wait to read these. Must be awesome coming from someone who has taught and guided millions. > And who knows? Perhaps my best and most enduring work is yet to come! Of course, can't think of it any other way!
deleted 8y ago
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clarkevans 8y ago
I love Charle's book, Code. Thank you for writing it. http://www.charlespetzold.com/books/#code http://www.charlespetzold.com/books/#code
- robgering 8y ago
  Code is just phenomenal. For those who haven't read it, the book is essentially about how computers work, from first principles up to integrated circuits and high-level programming languages. What makes the book special is the excellent writing: it has an engaging, conversational style, and is accessible to a non-technical audience. If he's taking more time for himself (and hopefully, to write more books, as indicated in the post), that's awesome.
- jljljl 8y ago
  Code is a great book. I've also been supplementing it with the From Nand 2 Tetris course[1] in order to have some applied experience with the concepts. [1]https://www.nand2tetris.org/ https://www.nand2tetris.org/.
syndacks 8y ago
Congratulations. I think it's commendable you are going to spend the next phase of your life writing books for others to learn from.
ryandrake 8y ago
It’s hard to overstate how much of a critical resource Programming Windows was to this C programmer straight out of university with only Unix skills, needing to find a programming job (which, back then were ALL Windows). The spine on my copy disintegrated and I had it spiral bound, and probably still have it on a shelf somewhere, it having survived several apartment moves. I didn’t realize he was still at Microsoft. Jeez! I thought he’d be kicking it in the Caribbean living on royalties by now!
- taude 8y ago
  Lots of fond memories Programming Windows 95 with his book at my desk and the Codewright (I think that's what it was called) editor on my computer (pre-Visual Studio days).
- taneq 8y ago
  Same, I basically taught myself C from that book!
RickJWagner 8y ago
34 year career, WOOT! Good for the author. I hope retirement is fulfilling, long and well-financed.
lalos 8y ago
Congrats to Charles and loved his last sentence: "And who knows? Perhaps my best and most enduring work is yet to come!".
- barking 8y ago
  If he produces something better than either Code or The Annotated Turing he'll be doing very well. I'm almost tempted to buy that ancient Windows book he wrote except that I have more than enough things I ought to read already.
spenrose 8y ago
The Annotated Turing might be assigned in college classes 100 years from now. It is an excellent exegesis of a landmark in mathematical history—in history, period: http://theannotatedturing.com http://theannotatedturing.com
ww520 8y ago
I still remember the first Windows programming book I read. It's Charles Petzold's Programming Windows. It was amazing. Really showed how Windows work.
- chris_wot 8y ago
  Same here! The guy is amazing
baus 8y ago
I suspect many careers and projects were started by copying the event loop out of Programming Windows.
kwhitefoot 8y ago
Thanks for all the help your books have given me. Enjoy your retirement.

144 points by MikusR 8y ago

> I am making these decisions so that I can shift my full attention to a long-term project to write several books on various milestones in the historical foundations of computing, of which The Annotated Turing was the first and Computer of the Tides will (I hope) be the second. I wasn't aware of The Annotated Turing. Can't wait to read these. Must be awesome coming from someone who has taught and guided millions. > And who knows? Perhaps my best and most enduring work is yet to come! Of course, can't think of it any other way!

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

clarkevans 8y ago

I love Charle's book, Code. Thank you for writing it. http://www.charlespetzold.com/books/#code http://www.charlespetzold.com/books/#code

robgering 8y ago
Code is just phenomenal. For those who haven't read it, the book is essentially about how computers work, from first principles up to integrated circuits and high-level programming languages. What makes the book special is the excellent writing: it has an engaging, conversational style, and is accessible to a non-technical audience. If he's taking more time for himself (and hopefully, to write more books, as indicated in the post), that's awesome.
jljljl 8y ago
Code is a great book. I've also been supplementing it with the From Nand 2 Tetris course[1] in order to have some applied experience with the concepts. [1]https://www.nand2tetris.org/ https://www.nand2tetris.org/.

syndacks 8y ago

Congratulations. I think it's commendable you are going to spend the next phase of your life writing books for others to learn from.

ryandrake 8y ago

It’s hard to overstate how much of a critical resource Programming Windows was to this C programmer straight out of university with only Unix skills, needing to find a programming job (which, back then were ALL Windows). The spine on my copy disintegrated and I had it spiral bound, and probably still have it on a shelf somewhere, it having survived several apartment moves. I didn’t realize he was still at Microsoft. Jeez! I thought he’d be kicking it in the Caribbean living on royalties by now!

taude 8y ago
Lots of fond memories Programming Windows 95 with his book at my desk and the Codewright (I think that's what it was called) editor on my computer (pre-Visual Studio days).
taneq 8y ago
Same, I basically taught myself C from that book!

RickJWagner 8y ago

34 year career, WOOT! Good for the author. I hope retirement is fulfilling, long and well-financed.

lalos 8y ago

Congrats to Charles and loved his last sentence: "And who knows? Perhaps my best and most enduring work is yet to come!".

barking 8y ago
If he produces something better than either Code or The Annotated Turing he'll be doing very well. I'm almost tempted to buy that ancient Windows book he wrote except that I have more than enough things I ought to read already.

spenrose 8y ago

The Annotated Turing might be assigned in college classes 100 years from now. It is an excellent exegesis of a landmark in mathematical history—in history, period: http://theannotatedturing.com http://theannotatedturing.com

ww520 8y ago

I still remember the first Windows programming book I read. It's Charles Petzold's Programming Windows. It was amazing. Really showed how Windows work.

chris_wot 8y ago
Same here! The guy is amazing

baus 8y ago

I suspect many careers and projects were started by copying the event loop out of Programming Windows.

kwhitefoot 8y ago

Thanks for all the help your books have given me. Enjoy your retirement.