This text follows a bottom-up arrangement of subjects that progresses from the concrete to the abstract-an order that results in a sound pedagogical presentation in which each topic leads to the next. It begins with the fundamentals of information encoding, data storage, and computer architecture (Chapter 1 and 2); progresses to the study of operating systems (Chapter 3) and computer networks (Chapter 4); investigates the topics of algorithms, programming languages, and software development (Chapter 5 through 7); explores techniques for enhancing the accessibility of information (Chapter 8 and 9); considers some major applications of computer technology via graphics (Chapter 10) and artificial intelligence (Chapter 11); and closes with in introduction to the abstract theory of computation (Chapter 12). //ir