What Makes a Computer, a Computer?

computers need to do few things:

1. take input
2. store information
3. proccess the information
4. output the result The first computers used to do all that using gears and mechanical parts made out of wood and metal, but when we reached the 1900s that changed, and started to use electrical problems, but either way they were very large (think room(s) scale) and very slow. They started as calculators, but as time went on their uses expanded exponentially. Although newer computers don’t look like the older ones, they still do the same four things.

A 1 is the same as true, the same being for 0 and false

Circuits and Logic

Every kind of data a computer reads, is fundamentally 1s and 0s, or what you could say is true and false, to proccess this data a computer uses millions of tiny electronic components, which form circuts. There is a few different kinds of circuts, like:

• A not circut, this circut flips the signal, if you give is a 1, it gives you a 0 and vice versa, hence the name.
• An and, which accepts two signals, it only returns 1 if both of the signals are also 1.
• An or circut, this one accepts two signals, and will give a 1 if either of the signals is also a 1.

So, why are newer computers faster? For the simple reason of, the smaller the circut is, the less distance electricity has to travel.

Hardware and Software

What is the hardware? basically, it’s what you see inside your computer, from circuts to wires to speaekers to plugs and whatnot. So then, what is software? it’s what you don’t see, it’s the code and the apps and the programs, you can’t see the code, only the result of it on the hardware.

So, how do they fit together?

First things first, the CPU, or the Central Processing Unit, which is the brain of the computer, the most important aspect about it is how it can decide which circut and parts to use and when. To tell the CPU what to do, you need to use code, which you can write in many different computer languages like

• Python
• JavaScript
• Ruby
• C++

and others.

How does a computer run all multiple programs all at once?

That’s the job is for the OS, or the Operating System, most notably:

• Windows
• OS X
• Linux

The OS manages how software gets to the hardware, it loads programs you run into memory and sometimes takes your input, so the program knows what to do. Computers have the potential, but without the hardwork of developers, it won’t do anything.

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