[flor1s]

I used to think the same way about the CPU, even after getting a masters in Computer Science! About a year ago I read the book Code by Charles Petzold and watched some lectures about Computer Science by Robert Sedgewick which really opened up my mind.

[shostack]

I am partway through Code (can't seem to get through some of the heavy combinatorial math just by reading...it's somewhat of a slog), but it oddly enough made me think of coding as even more magical.

We harness mana (electricity) to run it through circuits (runes), and craft spells (code) that generate effects (magic).

Just reading the start of it is humbling because it makes you realize that people had to come up with these principles in the first place, and figure out the initial abstraction layers that let everything else click into place.

[ignoramous]

Are those lectures in the public domain? If so, could you pls link to them? Thx.

[flor1s]

In the case of the Computer Science course from Sedgwick, I have only been able to find it on Safari Books and InformIT (30$) http://www.informit.com/title/9780134493831

If you happen to be a member of ACM, you actually get free access to Safari Books through http://learning.acm.org