Thursday, October 29, 2015

Bits, Bytes, Compilers, and Interpreters

      Every character shown right now on this post is represented by a byte, a form of a computers memory. A byte is made up of 8 bits, which are placeholders of a binary system. The binary system comprises of 0s and 1s representing off and on respectively. The character "z" for example is made up of strings of 0s and 1s like "01001101"(Not actual value). When you press "z" on the keyboard, it sends a message to the computer to display "z" on the screen or monitor. The compiler takes the signal and compiles the value to be whatever it is. An interpreter does the same thing except line by line. Say the value of the character "z" is "01001101"(Once again, probably not real value). When the compiler receives the value "01001101" it is able to send a message to display a certain combination and pattern of pixels on the screen to make up the character "z." All of this happens in milliseconds which is why we are able to type the characters on screen almost instantly after we typed them. It only takes a 16-bit computer to store over 50,000 numbers(65,536 to be exact). Later, languages were invented and the rules of these languages were also established. The computer languages make it easier to interact with the computer.

My Perspective on Computer Architecture

Computer architecture to me seems like the layout, hardware and software, of a computer. In hardware some of the parts of a computer I know of and their functions are:

  • Core processor: The chip that processes the binary and interaction between functions in a computer, the fastest I know is an i7 intel core
  • RAM: Auxiliary memory in a computer

Computers use the sensors under the keys, binary, screen, and compilers to show the message. The keys give the signal to display a character, which is represented as a binary byte, and the compiler converts the binary into on-screen text made up of pixels