How does a Computer Works?
We are in 21st Century where the basic needs of human life have got a new definition i.e. Food, Clothing, Shelter and the new arrival of ‘Technology’. When we talk about technology, isn’t COMPUTERS are the first and foremost thing which strikes our mind?? Lots of us irrespective of our technical or non-technical background would have often thought about, “How does a computer work? How does this wonderful human invention functions?” Well, all digital computers work in the same way — with basic Arithmetic and Boolean logic. If you’ve ever wanted to understand how those simple operations ultimately power our modern technology, this one is for you.
So let’s start exploring “WORKING OF A COMPUTER”
- Definition & History — A computer is an electronic machine which is used for storing, processing and producing the expected result. Several great-men had contributed for the advancement in the technological field. From using Abacus for calculation to inventing an analytical machine for complex calculations we can visualize an always upward moving trend for computer world. Further, use punch card for storing data which was replaced by diverting on magnetic tapes was another milestone for data sorting and storing. Finally use of transistors instead vacuum tubes boosted its growth from full size computers occupying almost a room to today’s modern generation laptops & desktops.
- Basic Working – A computer functions in binary language i.e. only using 0’s and 1’s. It uses electronic signals generated by transistors. The transistors provide active voltage at 1’s and no voltage at 0’s which helps computer to differentiate between 0 and 1. The 0’s and 1’s are generated by the C.P.U (Central Processing Unit) also known as Brain of Computer. It does all the calculations and data processing. It uses logic rules to generate logical 0’s and 1’s to deliver the expected output. Finally the output is stored in the machine in the storage.
3. Central Processing Unit — The C.P.U or the Brain of Computer reads our instructions to be executed and converts into binary format i.e. the format understandable by the computer .It has ‘registers’ which are used for storing values in them that can be accessed by the C.P.U to perform calculations at A.L.U (Arithmetic and Logical Unit). There is an E.D.B (External Data Bus) which accepts the instructions from R.A.M. (Random Access Memory) and takes it to the C.P.U for calculations and processing using the bridge or the path which links the C.P.U and R.A.M known as M.C.C (Memory Controller Chip). This chip act as an intermediate which grabs each next instruction from R.A.M and forwards it to the C.P.U with the help of E.D.B. Another Address Bus sends the address of next instruction from C.P.U to M.C.C. M.C.C looks for instructions at the specified address and grabs it for forwarding to C.P.U via E.D.B. CPU uses Cache memory to store the data or instructions which are frequently used thus reducing time consumption.
The CPU has an internal clock which is linked to a clock wire which sends an active voltage when a new calculation occurs, thus helps the CPU to understand that a new instruction set is being executed. There are thousands of such clock signals known as ‘Clock Cycle’. The clock cycle of a CPU is mentioned on the box when we buy it. It is calculated in GHz. e.g. 3.2 GHz that means 3 billion instructions per second.
It also has an Instruction Set which is a manually coded set of instruction which is used by CPU to translate human instruction to binary language.
4. Random Access Memory (R.A.M) — Random Access Memory is a temporary or volatile memory also known as Primary Memory. When we run a program, a copy of program is loaded in the R.A.M. Once the program execution is finished the RAM memory is cleared. The CPU communicates with RAM for instructions so that it can process it. The program in RAM can be randomly accessed by the CPU. RAM memory is measured in GB’s (gigabyte). For example 2gb, 4gb, 8gb, 16gb,32gb and even 64gb of RAM are available in modern computers.
This simply means this much size of programs can be handled by the RAM memory in the computer. Thus large amount of data processing and calculations can be performed by the CPU and we can expect faster result.
There are various RAM available like DRAM, SDRAM, and DDR-RAM. From which DDR-RAM (Double Data Rate RAM) is the fastest and has its further iterations like DDR1, DDR2, DDR3, etc.
6. Storage — The computer has a permanent storage in it for storing files and data permanently in it. It is known as Secondary Memory. When we run a program, software or a game which are stored in our Secondary Memory are loaded in the Primary Memory or RAM. The CPU executes the programs by accessing the RAM memory and thus we get the output for the program, results of software and the Game we play. Once we are done and we close the programs it is cleared from the RAM. This is why sometimes when we do not save a file while working with it or we do not save our game at a specific checkpoint and suddenly the PC shutdowns for x,y,z, reason we lose all our data because the program was running in the RAM memory which is temporary. Thus we need to save them in the secondary storage device. Some examples of secondary storage are Hard disks, Pen drives, CD/DVD’s etc.
7. Conclusion — This is how our pc works. One can dive deeper in this working. This is just a basic explanation for the working of computer which can be easily understood by technical as well as non-technical peers.
