How Does a Computer work?

Computers have become such a common part of our lives in the 21st century that many people have stopped wondering how they work. At one time it was quite common for people to express amazement about computers and the strange and wonderful things they do. But this is hardly the case today.

Even so, there is enough curiosity among human beings to prompt computer and electronic experts to explain how computers work, using language that most of us can understand. Sometimes the technical terms get in the way but for the most part we can provide a guideline that lets us get a look inside the world of computers.

First of all, a computer is really just a non-thinking box of plastic, metal and a few other basic materials. What makes them so important to us is the way in which all these individual parts and materials are connected and assembled. Computers are meant to receive, store and send out information as the individual requests it. The information can be data such as words and numbers, or it can be photographs, cartoon graphics and music.

All of this information must be reduced/converted to terms known as bits and bytes – strings or collections of 0s and 1s that make up the digital information a computer can use. This is called the binary number system.

0 = 0
1 = 1
2 = 10
3 = 11
4 = 100

and so on. One of the keys to computer basics is the ASCII character set, in which values from 0 through 127 represent a particular character.

We have to get our information into the computer somehow so we use a keyboard, a mouse or other input device. The information is then stored in the memory section of the computer in various combinations of 0s and 1s. The memory section of a computer can include the disc drive or hard drive, the random-access memory (RAM), the read-only memory (ROM) and other devices such as external flash drives.

When we want to get information from the computer we use applications such as word processors (typing programs), browsers that will show us Web pages etc. Speakers can allow us to hear music or voices stored as digital information on the computer. Printers let us get “hard” copies of the information that is held in the memory sections. The electronic Os and 1s of the binary system are converted to whatever form we are using – printed words in English, Spanish etc., photos, music etc.

That is a quick overview of what computers do for us and how they work for us, but the key to understanding the question in our title lies inside the central processing unit or CPU. The main circuit board or motherboard connects the many other internal parts. There is also the hard drive, which is usually the main storage device. A computer also has a power supply that helps it use the electrical power from our home or business system.

To make all this function properly, the computer uses an operating system. This is the basic form of instructing the computer as we provide the commands through the keyboard, mouse etc. Operating systems in common use include Microsoft Windows (various versions), Macintosh operating system and UNIX. These main software programs manage all the operations.