Because electrical switches can either be off or on, transistors and then silicone chips were able represent information with a series of on and off switches. A single piece of information, like say the letter “a”, can be represented by something like 8 bits of “off and on” settings. They call that single bit a "byte" of information. Computers compile bytes and can do pretty much anything with the information. Bytes are so small, that most information consists of at least some kilobytes (thousands of bytes). The next unit of measurement is megabyte (millions of bytes), then gigabytes (billions of bytes) and terabytes (trillions of bytes)...and higher.
Every computer has to have the following components to be able to function:
CPU (Central Processing Unit): the “brain of the computer". The CPU is usually in the box and has the circuits and chips that do the calculations (the heavy lifting) and control all the functions of the computer.
Storage: Information has to be saved by the computer and the ways computers have stored information and the amounts of information has changed a lot too. Today there are quite a few different ways. Most computers have what is called a hard drive. That’s like a super fast tape recorder (but works on round magnetic discs, rather than tape). The hard drive is usually built into the computer. It holds all sorts of information. There’s a different type of storage that all computers have called RAM (random access memory). This solid state memory storage on silicone chips is much faster than hard drives (which have to spin for the computer to find the data on them). It is used by the computer to put information that programs need quickly. Then there’s removable storage. This is sometimes just written to and once written, it can be read, but not re-written to. This is often CDs, DVDs and BluRay disks. They hold varying amounts of data that can also be music or movies.
Input Devices: these are way for your to put information into the computer, keyboards, mice and today there are lots of others like scanners, which take a picture of a piece of paper, or cameras, which bring photos and movies into the camera.
Output Devices: are used to get information out of the computer. The monitor is a very important one, it allows you to see what you’re inputting. Today there are many others. Printers, projectors. I have some very nice speakers attached to my computer. there are two on my desk facing me and under the desk a 40 lb. sub-woofer for powerful bass. If I’m in the mood, I have all of the music I love on my computer and I can play it loud enough to almost shake my house (which to me is the only way to listen to music, if you’re going to listen).
I’ve just explained the basics of the hardware portion of a computer very simply. Today most people in the US carry Smartphones (I use and prefer iPhones). Smartphones are amazingly powerful computers that can do most of the things desktop computers can do, including making telephone calls and so much more with a GPS (Global Positioning System) chip in them. This chip allows you to know exactly where you are by triangulating with satellites that orbit the earth. More on this later too.
Software: is information that controls the hardware and tells the computer what to do.
There are two types of software:
Operating systems: The OS controls everything and lets it all work together. There are many different operating systems. Because they're different, they're like the different personalities of people.
Microsoft made the first operating system to get worldwide acceptance, before Windows, it was called Disk Operating System, or DOS. That first one (and the one I used on my first typesetting computer) was completely command based. There were no graphics, only words on a monochrome screen. You had to type words to get anything done.
Xerox had an amazing research center in Palo Alto, California (called PARC for Palo Alto Research Center) and in the early 70s they invented the Graphical User Interface, or GUI. This was a computer operating system that had pictures and images you could move and interact with using a mouse. This made it much easier for a normal person to operate a computer as they didn’t need to type in complex code. They showed it to some young computers geniuses back then and one of them used it to create first GUI that was accepted universally. That was Steve Jobs of Apple and he made first the Lisa then the Macintosh Computer. It was a very important early change in computers. Shortly thereafter Bill Gates pretty much used the same idea again, and created the first version of Windows, which was a GUI as well (and it didn’t work half as well as the one Apple did, Apple later sued Microsoft for stealing the software idea that Xerox gave them both, I don't think they won). Microsoft and Bill Gates did a better job of selling their operating system and it’s by far the most dominant one in the world today. Probably 90% of all personal computers run some version of Windows.There are other operating systems like Unix and Linux, but they're way less mainstream.
Windows can be run on many different brands of computers like Dell, HP, Acer, etc. Apple’s OS on the other hand will only run on Apple computers. For that reason, they’re quite a bit more expensive, but they also run better in general, in my opinion anyway. Additionally, with special software you can also run Windows on Apple computers, but not the other way around. I hope his explains operating system software somewhat.
Another type of software is application software or apps as they’re called today.
Applications: are programs (software code) that “teach” the computer special tasks. If the CPU is the physical brain, and the Operating System is the personality, then apps are like thoughts or thought processes. Sort of like using one to play sports, another to write books, etc.
I use a page layout software program, called Indesign that is used to assemble type and graphics into pages for printing or other things. I prefer it for letter writing as well, although there are many programs just designed for “word processing”. As I type, words that are misspelled will be underlined in red and I can either let the computer correct them or make the choice myself. I can make this type bold, italic, bold italic, smaller, larger and so on... I can put pictures in here:
My grand kids
There are apps for just about anything. I have one that I use for editing photos, one for doing illustration. I have one for doing math, another for my checking account. I manage my music with one, another for watching video or movies. There’s little I can think of that there isn’t some sort of software for.
You can connect your computer to another computer or computers through a network (most of the large companies I’ve worked for have their own networks, so that everyone is connected to each other there). They figured out how to have computers that anyone could connect to, and that became the World Wide Web, or Internet. You use special software on your computer to view those other places and there are probably trillions of them by now. Now you can send and receive electronic messages to others called email. You can attach pictures, movies, files, etc. as well.
The Internet: has evolved amazingly fast since if first became mainstream in the mid 90s. Many people don’t really use their computers to do much more than “surf” (means to look at places) on the Internet. Today you can buy and sell just about anything from your computer. You can place ads with pictures of your stuff and have people bid on or just buy it. Then you can either ship it or have them pick it up. There’s an amazing company called Amazon.com, that started selling books and now sells anything you can possibly imagine online. I bought the 24” monitor I use with my computer through them, as they had a good price. You can access a tremendous amount of information online today.
When Apple invented the iPhone they made a “smart” phone that could access the Internet easily and fit in your hand. The uses of smartphones are really right out of Star Trek. With the GPS chips in them, they really are astounding devices. I can use an App on my phone to give me directions, on a map, to go anyplace. If I have to visit someone in another city, like say Houston, I can have my phone direct me there. I have a little holder with a suction cup that holds my phone to the inside of the windshield of my car, at eye level. I get in the car and after “telling” the phone where I want to go, it actually speaks and says “turn right on highway 10”. And so on and so forth. It will help me avoid traffic and tolls if I want it to. Because it speaks as well as shows me on a map, it’s incredibly handy on my motorcycle, when I can’t look at a map. I plug in earphones and listen to the directions. I can glance down at the phone which I have on my handlebars with a little rig I put together with Velcro.
The first computer I had had a 5 megabyte (5,000,000 bytes) hard drive. Now I have a 3 terabyte 3,000,000,000,000 bytes) hard drive. The amount of data that computers routinely process and manipulate quickly increases by orders of magnitude every few years. Because they’re so much more powerful, they can do many more things.
The things a person can do with a smart phone are miraculous. Out of all the technology I’ve been fortunate enough to use over the 35 years I’ve been using computers, nothing has changed the way I interact with the world more than smart phones. It allows me to do my job remotely. I work from home, but can do a lot while out and about.
In terms of available information it’s incredible. My wife and I were watching a movie the other night and we were curious as to how old the actor was. I actually asked my phone and got the answer. Today phones and computers can hear and understand speech pretty well. They can also talk back to you, with artificial but very understandable voices. This is very handy when you’re driving and don’t want to take your eyes off the rode.
You can listen to music, watch movies, read books and the newspaper on your phone. My Wife and I share our location information with each other and I can look her up on a map and see how close she is to home in the evening. Same with me, but not good if you’re lying about where you’re supposed to be. Same for my Grandson, and that’s handy if we want to see where he is. I can take pictures and movies with my phone and send them to anyone, instantly. I can do video phone calls with others like in a science fiction movie (it surprising how rarely I ever do this though). I can take pictures of codes on packages and check prices at other places. I get great weather information (important for playing tennis outdoors). Check my bank balance, take pictures of checks I receive and deposit them in the bank from my phone! Get sports scores, use the built in camera flash as a flashlight.
At home I have a laptop computer, with Windows on it that my company gave me to use (it belongs to them and I have to give it back if I quit or get fired). I have it hooked up to a second monitor so that I have 2 screens to use (see the picture below).
I also plug it into a full size keyboard that I prefer to type on. When I go someplace, I can take it with me and use it remotely. I have another laptop computer that my 12 year old stepson mostly uses (to play games, and there are some amazing games out there, but I don’t bother with them, too many more interesting things for me to do with computers).
I also have an Apple computer that I prefer to use for most everything. I recently got it and I love it. I have to use my work computer for some things as it has an encrypted hard drive. There are some applications that I have to use over the Internet for work that require greater than average security. My Apple Macintosh computer however is beautiful, with a 24” monitor, great speakers and is smoking fast with a powerful CPU and lots of extra RAM. For the work I do, it’s the best. I do a lot of graphic layout work on it and move it over to my work laptop for sending and storage. I also keep my personal stuff on it too.
I hope this explains computers a little, thanks for reading.
