I just don't understand how they can actually store information. I get how we can write programs to do different things, I just dont get how a circut board can actually understand what the programs want it to do. Also WTF is the internet? mind blowing as well
People laugh at the 'series of tubes' thing but that is kind of what it is. All the internet is is a system of cables, satellites, or anything that can transmit information coupled with servers and clients. Your computer is a client, the GrassCity forums are a server, and anything that connects your computer to their computer is the internet. I mean that is what it is if you are talking about infrastructure... The internet is also hyper text transfer protocol software, or HTTP. Some servers use file transfer protocol software, or FTP. A lot of different servers/clients use a lot of different kinds of software to communicate over the internet. As far as how a computer works? I mean, a lot goes into a computer, but if you want to know about memory (which is what tells the computer what to do) you have to understand transistors and capacitors. The capacitor in a memory cell on an integrated circuit holds one bit of information, 0 or 1. The transistor measures whether the capacitor is representing a 0 or 1 and allows it to change states, from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0. There are tons of memory cells in most modern day computers, so programs can be pretty profound, but they all stem from this basic system. You can make a computer do anything you want as long as you have a way to decipher these 0s and 1s. I don't know a ton about how they write operating systems or kernels or much about binary at all, actually, so I can't really help you out from here.
Thanks man that actually answered most of my question lol +rep if anyone else wants to chime in feel free
inside every metallic cube that we call a "computer" has a single strand of Steven Hawking's DNA. Yea... that's how...
I have heard it said by scientists that the internet concept was created indirectly as a necessary tool within the LHC project. The massive amounts of information that come from the large hadron collider could only be interpreted in a reasonable amount of time by splitting up the work load among many any scientists. Instead of faxing and mailing these huge amounts of information, they sent it electronically through a network of interconnected computers. The only problem i have with this idea is believe that nobody had created a network of computers before this time. All the internet really boils down to is networked computers sharing information.
When you break it down to the smallest levels it's really simple. Every bit of software you run is a series of numerical codes and data. It's fed to the CPU in your PC. Each instruction is executed one by one, using the data that is provided. In this manner the hardware of the PC follows a 'recipe' given to it by the Operating System and the Application(s). When separate computers use some sort of medium to send information back and forth it's called a network. The Internet is a large collection of separate networks that can send information between each other. This information is just streams of 1's and 0's that is then interpreted by whatever application is on the receiving end.
What a concept. The instructions are held in memory. And for any of you programmers out there, remember, little endian.......
Memory... Random-access memory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia You didn't get a very good education for your money, Mr. CS degree. EDIT: This is just to go along with the 'series of tubes' shit... http://www.ralphmag.org/BP/cable-end296x279.gif This is a depiction of a cross section of one of the first transatlantic cables (by now there are a couple of fiber optic cables spanning the Atlantic). Just goes to show you how the internet is kind of a 'series of tubes'.
Each computer is connected together to create an omniscience being known as the internet, or, your God.