the mystical beast that is a computer

8/2/2019 The Mystical Beast That is a Computer

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The inside and outside of the computerBy: Jasmine Lessard and Michelle White

October 3rd 2011


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The inside

The inside of the computer is something slightly more elaborate.We took apart the various compontents of a computer in order tolearn more about it:

Overview


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CPU/Microprocessor

The CPU is the brains of the operation. It carries out everyinstruction given to it. They are made of silicon and gold. The CPUhas three simple steps in performing the action: Fetch,Decode, Execute.


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RAM (Random Access Memory)

RAM is the data that you need to save when you close yourcomputer (if not it will be lost).


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The Network Card

The network card is used to connect to networks such as theinternet.P.S: Embedded Processor: a chip designed with a set of

instructions. The user cannot change them.


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CD player inside and out

The CD player is where you insert the CD you want to use.If your computer ever breaks down, you can use the end of apaper clip to open the DVD/CD case. All you have to do is insertit in the tiny hole under the opening.


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ROM (read only memory)

Something a computer was programed to know. EX: usraising our arms, it comes naturally.P.S: Pixel- Short word for picture. Smallest unit of visualinformation. They are made of tiny squares.


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Mother Board

The CPU, the hard drive, the memory and the periferals allconnect to the Mother Board. The Mother Board iswhat connects everything and makes it all work.


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THE FAMILY


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Transistors & Microprocessors

Transistors are on the microprocessors themselves. Computershave many, many miniscule transistors. They turn on and offmillions of times in a second. Microprocessors are made ofsilicon. Silicon is made of sand, and silicon is a semi-conductor

of electricity which is why it is used frequently when makingcomputers. The steps given to microprocessors are performedby transistors. The more transistors are in a microprocessor, themore efficient the microprocessor. The steps in making amicroprocessor:1) The architechitural design stage: the layout-skeleton.2) Logic stage: They build the microprocessor.3) Circuit design stage: connecting the transistors to the chip.4) Mark design: making sure the chips work with the computer.


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Binary (Latin word for 2)

Binary is a series of 1's and 0's. Humans count in tens becausewe have ten fingers, but computers count in 1 and 0 to representimages, words, videos, etc... 1's and 0's are used to express theflow of electricity through a transistor. The Video Graphic Array(VGA) translates the binary coded information into its given

formula. The ASCII (American Standard Code For InformationInterchange) uses eight-bit codes to represent an image, letter ornumber or puctuation mark. It is based on the englishalphabet.The letter U is represented as: 01010101 in binary

coding.

Yes/On =1No/ Off =0The old binary coding used dashes instead of numbers.


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FAB

FAB (Fabrication Facility) is a clean room where waffers and chips aremade. Cleans rooms are 10,000 times cleaner than a hospital room.Dust is incapable of entering. The largest FAB is in Rio Rancho, NewMexico. The process in making a microprossecor is very simple.Layer 1) Conductor or insulatorLayer 2) Photo resistLayer 3) Mask. Special light is transmitted from the mask to make dentsin the photo resist.Layer 4) You remove photo resist and repeat several times.UV light is used to show patterns on the microprocessor.

P.S: BPS- bits per second. Eight bites = 1 byte


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Part 2:

The Internet Society and computers History of computers


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The Internet

The Internet is the largest global network, it was originally made for the

American military to use.

HTML: Hypertext Markup Language HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol- data communication with the W3 WWW: World Wide Web= many sites connected together (spider web)

LAN: Local Area Network WAN: Wide Area Network ARPA: Advanced Research Projects Agency (founded by DARPA) Worlds

first packet switching network+ took part in it composing the internet. ISP: Internet Service Provider =company that provides access to the net Network: Group of interconnected computers

Router: Connects the computer to the network in the most efficient way. Bandwidth: Amount of data a cable can carry- how many BPS are processed

in a given unit of time


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Society and Computers

Can you imagine your life without a computer?We rely on technology for everyday purpouses. It save lives, speeds upthe pace of business, spreads news, helps science advance, helpsrescue teams, technology can really save the day sometimes.

Americans spend more than 35% of their time sitting in front of a screen.

Athleats use technology to improve their moves.

Phones: 38 years to take over 30% of US homes (started in 1876).Television: 17 years to take over US homes.PC: just 7 years.

Moore's Law:Gordon Moore predicted in 1965 that every 18 months, the number oftransistors on a chip would double. He has been right until today. GordonMoore was also an engenier at Intel. Intel's first microsprossecor, in1971, had 2300 transitors, compare it to Xeon Nehalem-EX had 2.3

million transistors on the CPU chip.


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The history of computers

From Z1 to MacBook Air:The earliest computer that is close to what we are used to today is the Z1by Konard Zuse in 1936. It did binary, so it could be referred to as aprimitive computer.In 2008, the MacBook Air came out. In between those 72 years, many

computer companies were created and died out.P.S: Artificial intelligence (AI)- branch of computer sciences thatsimulates parts of the human intelligence, the ability to learn fromexperiences and to use reason to solve problems.

Are computers or humans smarter? If you define smart by: speed:

computers win, good memory: computers win again, well-reasoneddecisions: humans win, original thoughts: humans win.

A computer is only as smart as the software we create for them.


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Conclusion

Computers are a major part of our society.Most of us can't imagine what we would do without computersbecause our society has adapted so greatly to having technologyin our everyday lives. So, every bit of a computer counts.Yes, even the microscopic parts.SITES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpanet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII

the mystical beast that is a computer

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