Despite the complex feelings and emotional histories that must have been at play, all the man really wanted was a simple yes or no. The man who requested that yellow ribbon wasn’t asking for elaborate explanations or extended discussion. The story was popularized in 1973 with a hit song, and since then, displaying a yellow ribbon has also become accustomed when family members or loved ones are away at war. In both versions of the story, the man arrived to see the tree covered with hundreds of these banners leaving no doubt of his welcome. He’s traveling by bus to his wife and he’s looking for a yellow handkerchief on an oak tree. In one version of the story, the man is traveling by train to his family, and he hopes to see a white ribbon on an apple tree in another. He doesn’t know if he’ll be welcomed back, so he requests a sign in the form of some cloth tied around a branch of a tree.

A story dating from at least in 1950s, tales of a man traveling home after a stint in a distant prison. Charles Petzold: Yes, I have excellent chapter 11, bit by bit by bit. And I believe that you have selected something. As we do in our tradition, here is for the author to read a passage from his book. And we were so lucky to have him with us here today to talk about the second edition of his book Code. In 2018, Charles retired from a 34-year career in writing, thinking, and speaking about programming.

Without that book, I definitely would’ve failed that class. Helped me greatly by teaching me all of the things about Windows programming that my professor completely glossed over during university. Charles Petzold is the author of over a dozen books, one of which Programming Windows Fifth Edition. Anyway, let me give you a quick bio of our author today. But the, you know, Coles Notes version of it is just be nice to everyone, treat people like you want to be treated, and I think we’ll all get along fine. You can check that out by going to /architect/architect and then look for the code of conduct.

Just want to let everybody know before we get started that this entire thing is covered under the architect code of conduct. Today we’re gonna be talking about Code, The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold, who is our guest today. Welcome to the November edition of the Begin Book Club.

Charles petzold's code