COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE AND LOGIC

How A Computer Works

Computer Architecture & Logic

I watched 6 YouTube videos about how computers work. Below is a compilation of the information that I found.

What Makes A Computer A Computer?

Computers have to perform 4 different tasks with information: input, storage, processing & output.

• Input: how information is entered into a computer.
• Storage: information taken from input is stored in memory.
• Processing: takes stored information, changes it with algorithm & does it again until its ready to be output.
• Output: how a computer outputs information depends on what it’s meant to do. It can output the information via screen, text, photos, interactive games, signal & more.

Binary & Data

Inside a computer are wires & circuits that carry all the information in for form of bits. Bits can be described as yes or no, true or false, 1 or 0. With more wires & bits you can represent more complex information. In the decimal number system we have 0-9, in binary we only have 0 and 1. With these 2 digits we can count up to any number. Each positioning of each number can carry a value. For example, in binary 1001 = 9. Text, images and sound can all also be represented with numbers. Pictures are made up of pixels & pixels are made up of rgb numbers.

Circuits & Logic

Every input or output of a computer is effectively a type of information that can be represented by on or off electrical signals, or 1s and 0s. A computer uses millions of tiny electronic components that form together to make circuits. Complicated circuits take multiple signals and combine them to give different results. Electricity moves at just about the speed of light so modern circuits can perform billions of calculations per second.

CPU, Memory, Input & Output

CPU is the central processing unit that calculates information. CPU requests step-by-step instructions from the memory, runs them & stores the results. Modern computers often have multiple CPUs to process more complex information & more GB of memory to store it.

Hardware & Software

Inside a computing device is a bunch of circuits, chips, wires, speakers, plugs & stuff. This is called the hardware. What you don’t see is the software which is the computer programs or code running on the machine. This includes apps, games, websties, maps & more. The CPU is the master chip that controls all the other parts of the computer. Software tells the CPU what to do. The operating system (OS) is the master program that manages how software uses the hardware of a computer.

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