Answer my noob questions please.

[xisnotx]

So yeah, I have questions..and no answers. I'm guessing thats where you guys come in.

I'm having trouble understanding how something like "memory" can be "put" or "found?" or "stored" in something that is physical..and not living. Can "memory" be put in anything? How is memory put in anything in the first place? How is data "stored"..it can't be in "electronic form"..because electricity switches off. Are certain materials better "memory storers"? It's almost magical lol. Is it the chips? But what in the chips? It's really perplexing..

I don't understand how the "mental process" of "mathematics" that is "binary code"..is understood by and interpreted in to the real computer programs we use. Binary, that is, on/off...must have something to do with electrical circuits, right?

I can understand the logic of computer programs..the binary code makes sense to me, and why it works logically makes sense to me, and all the other logical structures make sense to me. The logic makes sense. But it's logic...how can a computer take human logic..and display it back to us in program form? I don't understand that at all.

Basically, I guess my questions can be summed up like this.

Whoever created, or understood, the mathematical system of binary...how did he go from that to having physical objects do those calculations for him? Could you describe that in detail? (and as non technically as possible?) How did he go from a pen and paper understanding of a simple number system to having something outside his physical mind understanding that system, better and faster than he ever could?
eg
3*3=01010*010101=010101010=9

How did we go from the mental (blue) understanding of mathematics to having that be done outside our minds so that now all we have to know is how to type 3 x 3 into a computer program (a calculator) and let the calculator do it's thing (and what is it doing, exactly, in the physical real sense, electric impulses?) and get an output of 9?

Also, and this is just a guess..
is a computer language simply a progression of the binary system into a medium that is more able to be understood and manipulated by humans? that is;

computer language->binary->computer does it's thing (very mysteriously to me)->binary->output (which then is turned into a program, smh) (probably my next set of questions, especially as it pertains to the physicalness of computers)

Also..please assume im mentally retarded while you explain..it makes things easier for me.

 

[TrainTrackHack]

The topic is so broad and deep, there is no way to adequately compress it into a forum post, you'd really have to read a book.

So here's one. Yes, it's titled "Art of Assembly" which sounds scary, but read it anyway (at least the first few chapters). It's a fantastic intro to boolean logic, circuit design and computer architecture, even if you don't care about or even know what assembly is the first handful of chapters are worth a read.

 

[jonnyp11]

for the memory some of that can be better explained depending on whether you mean on a hdd or ram, and for the rest, your comment on being magical is correct, a wizard somewhere goes bibidy-bobidy-boo and boom, you're doing what we're doing now, that wizard was Dennis Ritchie (unless you've got no life or don't look at the lol thread you won't get the name part.)

 

[2048Megabytes]

Processors are what infatuate me the most in a computer. I have no real desire to know the exact science of exactly how they work. But here are the very basics below:

The central processing unit (CPU) is also called the processor or microprocessor. As its name implies, this device is central to processing done by the the computer. It is the brain of the computer. It is the component in which most processing takes place.

Three basic components of a Central Processing Unit:

● Input/Output (I/O) Unit
● Control Unit
● One or more Arithmetic Logic Units (ALU)

Arithmetic Logic Units do all comparisons and calculations in the processor.

Registers are high speed memory that hold data the ALU is currently processing.

The control unit is the circuitry that controls the flow of information through the processor, and coordinates the activities of the other units within it. In a way, it is the "brain within the brain", as it controls what happens inside the processor, which in turn controls the rest of the personal computer.

The Input/Output (I/O) Unit manages data and instructions entering and leaving the processor.

Inside the processor housing, data, instructions, addresses, and control signals travel on the Internal Data Bus.

Central processing units have so much Direct Current running through them that they need a heatsink to pull heat away from the processor.