How a Computer Works

 
Thank goodness for computer tech support. Without computer tech support we would be left to fix every little niggle and problem with our computer ourselves and this would be a highly complex and difficult process - and something that the majority of us simply wouldn't be able to do in the majority of cases.
The problem is for many of us, that we simply don't know how a computer works. When you think about it then chances are that this includes you, and most of us have a very basic understanding at best of how a computer actually processes information and displays an output that we understand. While computer tech support means that we don't actually need to know how to use a computer for the most part, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't understand how they work. We use computers almost every single day and for a variety of the most mundane and normal tasks - so the idea that we should not understand how they work seems wrong. Here then we will have a little look at the basic concept.
Essentially a compute is an input output device that does maths and displays the output on a screen. It does this through the use of electrical circuits that are devised in such a way that they can represent basic ideas in logic. These layouts are what are known as logic gates, and these logic gates provide the basis for not just computers but also for all devices that need to do maths and other calculations.
These logic gates then represent statements that are used in programming and those statements are 'AND', 'IF', 'OR', 'THEN' and other similar ones. If we imagine a basic 'AND' gate, then we can visualize a circuit that goes in a strait line. Then this circuit has two switches on it, one after the other on the linear line so that both need to be switched on for an LED at the end of that circuit to come on. This is an 'AND gate' because the circuit need switch one AND two to be on in order for it to work. An 'OR' gate on the other hand would branch off into two routes that would run parallel and then reconnect before meeting the LED at the end. Each of the two parallel branches has a switch on it, and the current can take either route to get to the light. This is an OR gate because either switch one OR two can be turned on in order to light the bulb.
The computer is made of millions of these logic gates which are inside the microprocessor. Because of 'miniaturization' these microprocessors can be unbelievably tiny and yet still contain almost endless different combinations and that then allows for all of the possibilities of computing.
This is of course only one small facet of how computers work - it is the basics of how the computer does basic maths, but it does not explain how wireless internet works (electromagnetic fields) or CDs (lasers) and it doesn't explain the workings of software. In other words then there is still plenty of work for the computer tech support companies.
This is just a very brief introduction to how computers work. Computer technical support has a far fuller understanding and can solve a huge range of problems that most of us would not intuitively understand