Published
Computer Science for All Ages
The Computing Hour
The computing hour at the table is the whole program: a device to look at, a file to save, a try that might not run. A parent who is not a computer scientist can take a child from first-grade looking-at-devices through hardware, operating systems, networking, first programs, and AI as a topic — if the child holds the keyboard and the parent can hear “the computer is thinking” as a mix-up, not a compliment.
Editorial principle
Look at the machine before the myth. Try before the model. Place by skill, not by birthday. The child holds the keyboard; the parent holds the key.
- Chronology
- 2026
- Length
- ~65,000 words
- Reading time
- ~4 hours · 202 pages
Authors
Michael Gannotti
The voices
1 figures across 2026. Each speaks in their own voice, through their own texts.
The parent-teacher
nowComputing hour
Core question: Can you hear a wrong explanation?
One adult, a keyboard on the table — not a lab down the hall.
Chapters
14 chapters. The disagreement is not resolved.
- Complete
Welcome
Welcome
What is the computing hour still for?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
How to Use
How to Use This Book This Week
What can you run on a Tuesday?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Five Things
If You Only Remember Five Things
What must hold if the rest is ignored?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
The Hour
The Computing Hour
What does a session with a device actually look like?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 1
Hardware
What is the machine, before the myth?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 2
Operating systems
What is the layer between the child and the metal?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 3
Networking
What is a network, and what is a cable with a story?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 4
The internet
What is the internet, and what is a site?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 5
Documents, typing, and slides
What still has to be the student’s file?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 6
First programs
What is a program, and what is a recipe the machine follows?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 7
Artificial intelligence as a topic
Is the computer thinking, or completing a pattern?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 8
Choose and sequence
What comes first: use, or science?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 9
Records
What still has to leave the house?
Voices: parent-teacher
- Complete
Chapter 10
Resources
Which program fits this hour, and which does not?
Voices: parent-teacher