how does a computer work?

Question

I know how to use a computer, but how does it actually work? What are the basic components of a computer that allow it to compute, store information et cetera, and what does it do to do this?

I am talking about the fundamental components of a computer such as 'circuit boards' et cetera. is that what they are called? Does it use fibreoptic cables to transfer information? et cetera.

Furthermore, what is the dofference between RAM and your processor? They both "speed up" your computer, but what is the differnece in relation to how they do it?

Answer 1

First off, to really know the subject it will take a lot of studying, there is way more then you could ever imagine going on inside your computer.

A good starting point is the howstuffworks link below.

Just to clear up the Process vs RAM question. Processors are your computer workhorse, they handle all the computations (add/subtract/multiply) that your computer does. Processor speed (e.g. 2.4 ghz) refers to the clock speed of that processor. Basically, the higher the clock speed, the faster operations can be done which is why they perform faster and get better performance.
RAM is the memory used by your computer, it is what the processor uses to get and store information. RAM is a fast medium for storage which is good for interaction with the processor, the problem is that RAM is cleared when the computer turns off. This is where hard drives come in, they are able to store information even when powered off. They also can store much more data then RAM, a new computer today may have 4gb of RAM but 500gb of hard drive space.
The problem with hard drives are they are SLOW, extremely slow. (Theoretical example) If it takes the processor 1 second to read from memory, it takes the processor 3 weeks to read from disk. RAM is important to be a buffer for the two, otherwise your processor would spend all of its time waiting for the hard drive.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but as more questions arise ask away.

Answer 2

The answer to this question has filled volumes, but to sum it up :

The main components of a computer are :
- the processor (performs most computations)
- volatile memory (RAM - anything that the computer "works" on must be moved to RAM first)
- persistent storage (most often a hard drive - used to store all the info needed by the computer, your programs, files, etc)
- motherboard (the mobo is like the "internal network" of the computer; it carries information and hardware requests to and from the various peripherals, ike the monitor, the mouse, keyboard, DVD drive, etc)
- fan (procs run very hot - gotta have a fan to keep em cool)
- power supply (used to convert 110 power down to usable power for computer)
- OS (the OS, or Operating System, is what most people think of as the actual "computer"; without it, everything wouldh ave to be done by the command line; popular OS's are Windows and Linux)
- software (without some kind of software, a computer is virtually useless to most people; software can be games, office aplications, email clients, internet clients, etc)
- YOU AND ME - hey, without us, what good would they be, right?

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

ram is memory
processor is the brain

the information that you input is processed (sorted) by the processor and stored in the ram (random access memory)

Answer 4

I know how a computer works, but it would take me far too long to write here, so I have given a link to an easy-to-understand website that will tell you what you want to know:

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0774696.html