How do computers work?

Maynehead

maltingsaudio said:

Maynehead said:

In a nutshell...

Processors are made of multiple transistors, which are used to construct logic gates (AND, OR, NOT etc.), which are in turn used to perform binary operations such as addition or subtraction.

The input data arrives at the processor through the data bus as a set of bits (how many depends on the bus width). The CPU then runs these bits through the logic gates on the next clock tick, and produces a different set of bits representing the result of the operation. The output bits are then sent through the data bus and stored in memory.

So how does the CPU determine which operations to perform on the data? Well that’s where software comes in. The code that software developers write gets compiled into machine code, which ends up on the instruction register of the CPU.

Of course this is a very simplistic view, but at the core (no pun intended), it is how computers work.

Brilliant but would your granny understand that lot?

Probably not, but I wasn’t targeting my answer at someone with the cognitive ability of my (deceased) grandmother.

maltingsaudio

@Maynehead ;; Ah yes, I take your point, and thank you for your explanation but in my head the point of the thread was when I was first introduced to computers not having seen one befor back in the early 80's end of 70's that was the standard spiel we were given because we had no idea what they were all about. 

I do wonder if in this day and age our school kids are ever given an explanation of what happens under the hood

Danny1969

maltingsaudio said:

@Maynehead ;; Ah yes, I take your point, and thank you for your explanation but in my head the point of the thread was when I was first introduced to computers not having seen one befor back in the early 80's end of 70's that was the standard spiel we were given because we had no idea what they were all about. 

I do wonder if in this day and age our school kids are ever given an explanation of what happens under the hood

No I don't think so, I think today's generation are less "hardware" computer literate then before because everything that side is taken care off ..... previously installing a soundcard meant configuring a spare IRQ and actually installing a CPU  meant setting the bus speed and multiplier .... getting your CD rom drive to work meant writing an entry into your auto exec bat and config,sys  ..... even adding another drive on an IDE bus meant sorting master \ slave \ CS etc

There's a lot of limitations to today's binary computers ... all the most powerful ones can really do is move the contents of one register to another ........ quantum computing, where a bit can be a 1, a 0 or both at the same time in 2 different places is where the future action is ...

@Phil_aka_Pip couldn't agree more .... we are just spending money upgrading not to get things done faster but to try to offset how bloated the software is 

Myranda

Yes.

1s and 0s...

64 at a time (per core for most CPUs) and about 3.5 billion times per second

So even a cheap PC could look at nearly a trillion binary bits per second. 

As for what they do with the bits depends on whether it's a Harvard or Von Neumann, big endian or little endian, RISC or CISC...

Then that's only the machine itself... So then you need some form of BIOS so the hardware can talk to the software... 

Then an Operating system, which could be Unix, BSD, Windows, GnuLinux...

But... Fundamentally... Yes. 1s and 0s

There's also microprocessors vs microcontroller (arguably a computer but very different)... 

Hope that simplifies things

Myranda

Danny1969 said:
There's a lot of limitations to today's binary computers ... all the most powerful ones can really do is move the contents of one register to another ........ quantum computing, where a bit can be a 1, a 0 or both at the same time in 2 different places is where the future action is ...

I'd disagree... Quantum computing is rubbish at a lot of what binary is good at...

It's very fast for some complex maths... And probability type problems but is bad at absolute answers.

It also needs to be as close to absolute zero as possible, in a vacuum, with vibration damping and many layers of emf shielding... The sort of things that will make it virtually impossible to miniaturise... So it won' b the future for us

Winny_Pooh

Diamond vapour deposit cpus & boards are one obstacle to speed/heat limitations, is that correct?

Myranda

Winny_Pooh said:

Diamond vapour deposit cpus & boards are one obstacle to speed/heat limitations, is that correct?

In quantum computing? No. 

We're talking about an operating temperature in the 80mK range... No matter what you make it out of you still need mega cooling

In normal computers... To an extent... But there are physical laws which apply to computers - changing a 0 to a 1 requires energy... So even reducing each transistor to a single atom won't eliminate heat issues completely... There is a fundamental limit (can' rrecall what it is, but at a certain number a CPU would require more energy than is in the observable universe... It's not even silly numbers from where we are - with double complexity every couple of years it wouldn't take forever...) 

Sporky

We should probably switch to nanotech difference engines.

Phil_aka_Pip

I think that making more efficient use of the hardware we've got would be better. Or instead of inventing totally new cpus every few years just use better techniques to implement existing designs. The 68000 was a brilliant machine and anything the 32 bit Intel could do, it could do way better. But where is it now? A faster one maybe with bigger registers and wider buses would be a Very Good Idea but I bet nobody wants to do it.

Axe_meister

I believe 5nm is the smallest we can physically go with traditional computers (we are already at 12nm) so Moore's law will truly be at an end in the next 10 years.

Clarky

scrumhalf said:

Where does the killing aliens bit come into it?

alive = 1
dead = 0

in binary coded hex, the aliens can have 16 possible states that number 0 through to F
this is because they are aliens and therefore really odd

Clarky

the interesting thing is that when computers were being introduced to the office, they were supposed to make the office paperless and more efficient thereby making the worker more productive..
this was supposed to lead to more leisure time for the worker because the same amount of work could be done more quickly and easily...

thinking back to all of those points that were made back then..
"like fk" is what I thought at the time...
and "like fk" is what I continue to think today..

Axe_meister

Now you can use a computer to give you more free time, just don't tell anybody you've created your own tool to do so until the time is right, I.e. during your annual appraisal.

Clarky

Axe_meister said:

Now you can use a computer to give you more free time, just don't tell anybody you've created your own tool to do so until the time is right, I.e. during your annual appraisal.

the more I think on it, the more I reckon that

computers enable people to put far more effort into achieving less..
and also find innovative ways to fill their lives with absolutely nothing of real value
they are then able to use spreadsheets to illustrate this graphically and power point to deliver a presentation on it

Axe_meister

My tools create spreadsheet and PowerPoint so I don't have to ;0).
So Clarky how much time have you spent programming your FX rigs vs the time you have saved tap dancing with pedals on stage

Clarky

Axe_meister said:

My tools create spreadsheet and PowerPoint so I don't have to ;0).
So Clarky how much time have you spent programming your FX rigs vs the time you have saved tap dancing with pedals on stage

spent months designing and refining the Axe config
then spent years never having to touch it again and just go play the gig

maybe I need to spreadsheet and power point my Axe config... lol..

Axe_meister

That's the thing both you and me know how to use the tools of our trade to make life easier, most don't they get handed a tool to make them more productive (I.e work more).

Phil_aka_Pip

Clarky said:

scrumhalf said:

Where does the killing aliens bit come into it?

alive = 1
dead = 0

in binary coded hex, the aliens can have 16 possible states that number 0 through to F
this is because they are aliens and therefore really odd

they can only be odd if BIT0 = 1

scrumhalf

Clarky said:

the interesting thing is that when computers were being introduced to the office, they were supposed to make the office paperless and more efficient thereby making the worker more productive..
this was supposed to lead to more leisure time for the worker because the same amount of work could be done more quickly and easily...

thinking back to all of those points that were made back then..
"like fk" is what I thought at the time...
and "like fk" is what I continue to think today..

Paperless office - which sage wit came up with that one.

All of that free time started to disappear when people could fax things over, became worse when "I'll bike a disk over to you" followed and completely disappeared with "I'll email it over, let me have your revised version back before close of business".

57Deluxe

so, why do I get 5 loud angry beeps on bootup from the BIOS since I put my new Motherboard in my Dell Studio laptop?