How computers work Videos

+Dylan Walsh Thanks!

+Jaheim Walker you suck

+Jaheim Walker Can't please everyone I guess. :)

+Ryan R Some complexity is necessary to make the circuit scalable - ie. combine to handle numbers > 1. Basically, it all depends on whether you want to make it usable in a general purpose programmable computer, or, merely make a 'toy' for a hobby or very specific application.

Ah, the process you are looking for is called Photolithography.  I'm not familiar with the process, so I'd suggest looking it up online and seeing what you find.  But my simplistic understanding would suggest that a stencil is made at a workable scale, for each of the layers of the circuit (it's built up in 3 dimensions using multiple 2D layers).  Some kind of light is used, in combination with lenses to shine the pattern of the stencil on to a much smaller silicon wafer.  This etches out or modifies the surface of the wafer, but only where their are corresponding holes / transparent regions within the stencil.  Repeating the process, it's effectively possible to etch very small circuit components in 3D into a silicon wafer.  As I said, it's a simplistic explanation and I'm not really familiar with the process, but hopefully it helps to illustrate what's possible.  It's kind of like how photographs are enlarged, except in reverse, and the light itself is used to make physical changes to the surface (think of photographic film or lasers.)  Hopefully that goes some way to answering your question!

Hi, sorry for the late reply.  It really depends what you're trying to achieve.  If you want a better understanding of how computers work, however, then I'd highly recommend doing a little assembly programming just to get a taste of it.  If you're programming business applications, it's probably a waste of productive programming hours.

I was looking for a video to cover some computer basics for a college course. I don't think this one is going to be too helpful, but it's so entertaining and reminds me of how thrilled I was to discover that a program could be stored on this "Floppy disk" thing that you could stick inside the little black-and-white macs we used. Oh, and their clothes... :D

I can't believe the sexism and racism of this video. The blacks and girls have all the right answers and the white kid is just a hulligan. We all know that he Asian kids build all this stuff and they don't get a look in. [I'm not an American so I understand irony]

there is no continent called "Middle America". North America includes every country from Canada to Panama. This is why I home school my children because the pubic fool system does nothing but produce functional illiterates and retards.

I remember that thing quite well! The silver wall inside the entrance, at left, is supposed to represent the power supply. And blended in w/ it, there was a door -- this led to the men's room. Think it's visible around 24:04.

wow a flashback to the 80's. I found it funny at the end when he said about putting the computer back together again. I dont think the hard drive would work after being opened or the CPU being touched by everyone.

Hhhhahahaha! In High School my Computer's teacher played this video for my class. It was so state of the art! Pretty much it's all the same today, but on an even smaller scale and processes can go even faster.

man, I can't believe we used to dress like that. I'm surprised that there aren't any mushroom cuts :P oh, the 90's the music and video games were awesome, but we dressed like tools

yeah this computers old but its still a computer and can give you a good idea on how these things work. How much space and ram you think was on here like 5GB and 30MB rofl

the golden age of the computer scientist.. i'm a CS student but i don't get much a lesson like this, mostly programming and the abstraction in a pseudocode

The computer set up is kind of similar but computers are far more better than 1990. I don't think internet was that popular or releast to the public.

Finally! "How Computers Work" in layman's term! I don't care that this is old info, the concepts are basically the same. Thumbs up for simplicity!

If they had offered me the walkthrough computer I would have taken it. I'm sure with a little work it would have handled Windows like a boss.

This video is over 20 years old yet everything for the most part is still relevant and virtually unchanged. This stuff always amazes me...

Sesame Street performed a song about computers named "My New Computer." It is located at which is at youtube.com/watch?v=CrR3KOCWklQ

@briancalibergbmd Wow man. I was born in 1990 so I'm currently 21. I bet that kinda scares you? Hope not though. Haha.

i was next gen at school handing in a report that i'd typed in word perfect and printed off on my dot matrix...BOOM

The basics haven't changed. It's a beginner video, and a very good one. Yes, it is dated; it was filmed in 1990.

"Girls trying to learn about computers, LOL." "Niggers trying to learn about computer, LOLOLOLOLOLOL"

+Joshua Hawcroft very informative....i like how you explain in simple language....how simple life would be if all the books were written in such simplicity

10/10 answer. impressed by promptness. you're a gun bloke

+hornygoatify Thanks for the kind words mate! :) Yes, 'overclocking' or pushing the processor beyond it's rated speed is generally not a great idea - unless you know what you're doing. There are some caveats. There are two main problems as I understand it. 1) Heat. Increasing processor speed tends to increase the amount of power used (as you have suggested) and that energy has to go somewhere. Basically the energy you put into the processor ends up being radiated as heat. If the processor is not sufficiently cooled, you will cook it. There will also be temperatures above which you shorten the life. If you want details I would suggest looking at Intel processors, which have been the workhorses of most PCs for decades. 2) Speed cannot be increased beyond a certain point because it is physically impossible for the signals to propagate around the processor fast enough. This ceiling depends on the precise configuration and fabrication of the chip. Gates do not switch on/off instantly - although it may seem like it to us humans. Likewise, electricity isn't instant. Push a processor above this ceiling and it will become dysfunctional at least until you reduce the speed - it will behave like an insane person. Hope that helps!

also, i heard somewhere its possible to speed up the processor clock to increase processor speed, at the expense of sucking more juice from the power supply. could this be detriment to the longevity of my machine? and could you quickly explain, or link me, to some information that could show me how? thanks joshy

thank you very much, i am glad that i have 64-bit system :)

Hi.  It depends on a great many factors, but the simple answer is that a 32-bit processor of an identical architecture to a 64-bit processor would necessarily take longer to perform a 64-bit calculation, since it would have to be performed in separate steps/operations.  In reality, there are more factors at play, such as pipelining, clockspeed, architecture, scale, etc.  So yes, the 'bitness' of a processor has quite a lot to do with the size of the numbers it operates on natively.

Thanks Joshua. I found your videos useful in building my understanding about computers. I am studying for Compita A+. I already have my Network Plus. Thanks again. 

Hi Jody,Sorry, the website address was out-of-date.  The current address is joshhawcroft.org/HowComputersWork.cheers.