How many of us actually know how a computer works....?

[minibois]

Well I know that if I press that button on my PC box, it turns on. Pretty great actually.

/jk

 

I have a small idea of how it works, but can't say I'm a professional.

[Solarisfire]

Most instruction sets have a multiply function these days, unless you are working on a really crappy chip, then you can usually just use a shift-and-add...

[AstroBenny]

I'm learning about this right now.

 

Fun fact, computers can't do decimal numbers natively

How difficult is it?

[VulsaviiK]

or multiplication or division or...

 

I could have explained that a little better, I didn't want to bore everyone to death with floating point mathematics or boolean algebra

 

 

How difficult is it?

 

It's only the intro classes for that stuff. It's not too bad. Just a lot of math they expect you to be able to do to be able to demonstrate concepts, or did you mean decimal numbers? That would be the floating points I was talking about

[Ceatra]

in what? I have no idea what you're talking about

 

 

Me neither :rolleyes:

[flibberdipper]

 

That's the point.

 

in what? I have no idea what you're talking about

 

 

Me neither :rolleyes:

sssssshhhhhhhhh.......

[Hunter7263]

I only know basics now, but I'll be taking some classes soon that will show how.

Computer engineering is such a boring field to be honest. I tried it for a semester and when back into Computer Science. The technical details about how logic gates work and all of the electrical engineering stuff wasn't lost on me but omg was it hard to pay attention to when all I really wanted to do was programming and assembly of a computer. I decided I don't need to know the technical detail of how a computer actually does it's thing. I just treat individual components like black boxes. I know that if I put this input in I can expect X input out based on reviews and comparisons.

[s3ns3]

i have no ideea man. all i know is that cpu goes into mobo and stuff like that

[Statecat]

And the motherboard is the backbone

Or the loving mother of electronics that holds her young close to her.

[Statecat]

CPU is a brain, RAM is a brain, storage is a brain, the entire computer is a brain lol

Very true.

[You_are_a_cunt]

o/

 

Computer Science nerd here. I can find my way around a computer's guts pretty easily. Also electronics nerd, which also helps.

[CyberAmplified]

I understand how all the inners of a PC work. From the pins going from the Power button to the motherboard Setup1 onboard. To the CPU running on North Bridge, while the two PCI-e operate on either North or South Bridge.

 

The PCI-E closest to the CPU operates on the North Bridge (A Bridge that communicates with peripherals like Memory, CPU, L2 Cache, PCI, and AGP activities) seperated by two PCI which slower than PCI-e much like DVI running slower than HDMI. and coming in at last is the second PCI-E that could also run on the North Bridge but usually is located on the South Bridge chipset. (The South Bridge controls hard drives, optical drives, power regulation, I/O, and Serial Buses like USB 2.0.

 

Behind the Motherboard, is the chipset. Which is an integrated number of circuitry that operates the entire motherboard and all peripherals connected to it. It connects everything to everything, and operates mainly in distinctive bridges. (As I've mentioned earlier) 

 

A Motherboard houses many pin receptacles (Some for main ATI Power, some for HD audio input some for H.D.D. LEDS and Power.) These receptacles can operate on a faster bridge (At least the Power). But usually fall under South Bridge where it transmits data between the Pin and the attune.

 

I could go on..but it's a very long explanatory process which I am not up for. But, I hope this kind of helps give you an idea of how I believe the computer works.

 

Citations: Knowledge and Experience.

 

Regards,

Cyber 

 

 

[Makarov_9mm]

Having a computer science minor helps. Although, honestly I learn more about computers from Linus and Luke than I did in college. I know a lot of the low-level activity that happens. I've designed logic and circuit diagrams and designed the circuitry for a simple computer, but that sort of knowledge isn't terribly useful unless you want to build a computer from absolute scratch. 

[TEC]

See you have this thing called a CPU and it has lots of very small things inside of it which turn on and off, then your OS thinks, "Eh! That is doing stuff" Then it talks to his buddy the GPU to display something on the screen. (_{most likely porn, shh... don't tell mom}).

[Guest Johnny5g]

i wish i had that old apple computer.

[AstroBenny]

Having a computer science minor helps. Although, honestly I learn more about computers from Linus and Luke than I did in college. I know a lot of the low-level activity that happens. I've designed logic and circuit diagrams and designed the circuitry for a simple computer, but that sort of knowledge isn't terribly useful unless you want to build a computer from absolute scratch. 

How difficult are the concepts to grasp?

[Hunter7263]

How difficult are the concepts to grasp?

It is a very logic intenstive. You have to be really solid on that. For most people including programmers its just going to be confusing.

[LamboLaddy]

Most people that drive a car have little concern for how it works, so long as it does work.

[AstroBenny]

Most people that drive a car have little concern for how it works, so long as it does work.

True but most people don't build their cars

[LamboLaddy]

True but most people don't build their cars

Most people don't build their computers or phones.

[SpaceNugget]

It depends on how far you want to take the question, there is no one person in the world who knows every single step to making a computer from scratch. That is the beauty of humanity, cumulative knowledge and experience. since we can all specialize in our own little areas, when we work together we can make some pretty amazing things.

[Makarov_9mm]

How difficult are the concepts to grasp?

Not very. The basics are very simple to follow. The more complicated circuitry can be a little confusing but if you can see how they're laid out and used, it's fairly easy to understand. It's when you start getting circuits to work together to actually make a computer that things get a little complex. If you wanna try making circuits, there's a program we used called Logisim.

 

http://www.cburch.com/logisim/

 

They have tutorials and stuff if you need it and I'm sure YouTube has video tutorials too

 

http://www.cburch.com/logisim/docs/2.1.0/guide/index.html

[Darkman]

To quote Joel from Vinesauce...

 

Basically, electric shenanigans.

I fucking love Joel

 

Yes I know this is a late reply to something, but Joel is awesome.

[Thunderjolt]

I used to know how the fetch execute cycle went on a CPU but that was only for my computing AS level. Dropped it so yeah it's been a year since I've ever needed to remember how it works.

[Stuff_]

The whole thing? That would take someone with close to a PhD in Computer Science, along with years and years of knowledge. I doubt anyone here is at that level.