DataX - How computers work

Analytical Machine: The Input to Output Machine

• Input: keyboard, Camera, sensor, internet
• Output: printer, monitor
• Input is provided for the computer and the software processes the input from the hardware and gives an output
• proposed by Charles Babbage in 1837

How do computers map reality to 0’s and 1’s?

Computer as a machine consisting of billions of small electronic transistors (switches) – on or off. Computers only
know 0 and 1.

• Representing number with decimal numbers (Positional notation: Every place. Every digit has a specific value 1.
Digit goes for the 1’s, second goes for the 10’s…) and binary Numbers: Positional notation with basis 2.
Examples: 37510 = 3*102+7*101+5*100 or 11012= 1*23+ 1*22+0*21+1*20= 8+4+0+1= 13
• Representing text with ASCII (American Standard Code for international interchange): letters and digits and
symbols are converted to numbers (128 different symbols)
• Representing images using RGB (Red, Green, Blue):
- Enables us to record an image and convert it to a sequence of numbers
- Each pixel can be identified by a specific height and width, so pixels are count and put into a sequence ->
Each pixel is represented by 3 numbers (0/0/0 = black, 230/0/0 = red, 255/255/0 = yellow)
• Also used for videos, just the pixels that are different are looked at so that storage is conserved
• Representing sound with air pressure: sampling frequencies (Abtastfrequenz/Amplitude)
- Convert the measurement to a specific set of numbers (values)
- Not only sounds but all types of continuous signals could be sampled liked that

How do computers process the 0/1-data? - Von Neumann-Architecture

CPU: Control Unit (CU) and Arithmetic / Logic unit (ALU)
• The control unit loads commands and coordinates the command processing which is done by the arithmetic unit
from the memory unit, it tells the arithmetic unit what to do, the commands are executed by it and it keeps
track of the processes in the CPU and computer
• The ALU has limited set of commands that it can execute:
- Arithmetic operations (+, -, *, /)
- Logic operation -> Combining numbers (and, o, not, shift bitwise)
Communication Bus
• connects the different parts of the computer
• Communication between CPU, memory unit and Input/output devices
• enabled by 3 communication channels (=bus)
- Data bus: Transport of the actual data
- Address bus: What part of the memory should be accessed and where is the data stored?
- Control bus: What should be done with the data?

Memory Unit (MU)

• Memory (storage) has 2 different types:
- Data representing real world phenomena: e.g.: images,
surveys or music (real world stuff)
- Data representing programs that tell the computer what to do
(program data)

Key Concepts (storing & control flow)

• Storing data: representing real world phenomenals in 0s and 1s
• Basic operations: what the control unit and ALU execute (arithmetic and logic operations)
• Control flow: A program is executed step by step (sequential)
• key concepts are used all programming language together with some level of abstraction