Main content
Computers and the Internet
Course: Computers and the Internet > Unit 2
Lesson 1: Introducing computersWhat makes a computer, a computer?
Inventor and designer May-Li Khoe and virtual reality designer Nat Brown introduce the four features that all computers share.
Want to join the conversation?
We know from this video see2:56the 4 functions could these 4 functions apply to the same way the brain works for example the 4 are
Input -Study Environment, senses , emotions etc.
Storage -Short Term Memory, Long Term Memory
Processing- Thinking , Problem Solving and Developing
Output- Through these functions we perform our actions given for example homeworks, build ,create or do something.
Doesn't this means the computer is almost like a Brain and how it functions?(29 votes)
A computer is similar to a brain because a brain also receives, stores, processes and outputs information. However a brain has a conscience and thinks about how there output will effect themselves and others.(27 votes)
- is this portion of khan academy instructional videos only? i see no exercises(10 votes)
There are now exercises available in the AP CSP course, which uses these videos: https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/ap-computer-science-principles/computers-101(4 votes)
- The 2nd task of all computers, as you mentioned was "storage", is that referring to the cache of the processors or actual bulk storage mediums? I would assume it would mean temporary storage areas, such as the cache, because that is where the input has to go before it gets processed. Let me know if my assumption is wrong. But then where in the cycle does the bulk storage area fit in? Would it also be part of the output category, since data can be inputted, stored in the cache, processed, and then outputted, into a file that lies on a drive (bulk storage device)? For example, rendering a video, since the output is saved onto the drive, would it be considered as output?(3 votes)
For computers, storage is just somewhere you can load data from and store data to.
So storage would include cache memory, main memory, hard drives, tapes, and other methods of storage that haven't even been invented yet.
The original concept of storage (back when computers were an idea and hadn't been built yet) was an infinitely long strip of tape that the read/write head could move back and forth on. To find out more about this device, called a Turing machine, check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine(7 votes)
- Can we have 'processing cycle' (timestamp3:43) that includes input, processing, storage and output, but also 'communication'? How would communication fit into the processing model? Is it the same as output or is it the result of output? And presumably communication in a network becomes input to other computers - or even feedback that becomes input to the computer that generated the output / communication in the first place?(2 votes)
Communication is simply an application of input / output. A computer takes input from another device, maybe processes that, and sends it as output to another connected device.(4 votes)
In some textbooks I've seen they said that storage and memory were two different things but in the video the man seemed to use it interchangeably. Are the two different?(1 vote)
No, the term 'storage' and 'memory' are the same things in computer language. They both store and retain digital data,The central processing unit of a computer is what manipulates data by performing computations.(4 votes)
- How do these things do exactly what it needs to do?(3 votes)
How can the input of one computer become the output for another (and vice versa)?(1 vote)
The process is relatively complex, but it should not be too difficult to understand the basics. Let us break it down, step by step:
First, let us consider that you are running a chat application on your own computer. You open up a new chat with your friend, Jeremy. You want to say "hello" to Jeremy, and therefore you input "hello" using your keyboard. The computer reads "hello" as a string of characters, and therefore reads your message as 'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o'. These characters are then converted to binary (0s and 1s) using ASCII encoding (you can search this term).
Second, once the characters have been converted, they are sent across a network connection to Jeremy. This network connection can be through physical wires (Ethernet cables), WiFi, or otherwise. The message will be routed through various different computers on its way to Jeremy, unless of course you are directly connected to Jeremy's computer (e.g. you two are in the same household and are connected via a singular Ethernet cable).
Third, Jeremy's computer will receive the binary encoding of "hello." Jeremy's computer will decode each letter of the message, and print each letter to Jeremy's screen in succession on the chat application. Therefore, "hello" will print onto Jeremy's screen via the chat application and he will then have the opportunity to respond.
The complicated parts of this process are entailed in the sending of the message across the network that connects both you and Jeremy, and the conversion process that converts the message to binary. Other factors must be considered such as the endianness of the binary encodings and otherwise, but these can be left out as they are not necessary to understanding the basic process.(4 votes)
- Why is a computer made of so much parts??(2 votes)
- A computer is a device that can be instructed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically via computer programming.
If anyone face printer issue gets help from this https://www.epsonsupport247.com/steps-to-fix-epson-printer-error-code-0x9a/(2 votes) 
how did the old mechanical computers work?(2 votes)
Start by looking at the abacus. That helped people do maths by manipulating beads. Advance that to old style adding machines where you punch in some numbers and pull a lever to enter that number. One adaptation of that was the old style cash register that used motors to 'pull the lever' when an Enter key was pressed.
Those were all mechanical analog devices, then when the vacuum tube was made available, there were a few attempts at electrical analog devices, but digital (on/off) circuits were more reliable and they became the norm.(1 vote)
2:56
Video transcript
(upbeat music)
- One, two, three, four! - My name is May-Li Khoe and
I'm a designer and an inventor. So, some of the things I've
designed have been at Apple, and now I design products for kids to use so that they can have an
easier time in school. My other jobs include DJ'ing and dancing. (upbeat, bouncy music) Computers are everywhere. They're in people's pockets, they're in people's cars, people
have them on their wrists, they might be in your backpack right now, but what makes a computer a computer? - What does make a
computer a computer anyway? - And how does it even work? (upbeat guitar music) - Hi, I'm Nat. I was one of the original
designers of the Xbox. I've been working with
computers since I was, maybe, seven years old and now I
work on virtual reality. (fast, jazzy music) As humans, we've always built tools to help us solve problems. Tools like a wheelbarrow, a hammer, or a printing press, or a tractor trailer. All of these inventions
helped us with manual work. Over time, people began to wonder if a machine could be designed and built to help us with the thinking work we do. Like solving equations or
tracking the stars in the sky. Rather than moving or
manipulating physical things, like dirt and stone, these machines would need to be designed
to manipulate information. - As the pioneers of computer science explored how to design a thinking machine, they realized that it had to
perform four different tasks. It would need to take
input, store information, process it, and then output the results. Now this might sound simple, but these four things are
common to all computers. And that's what makes
a computer a computer. - [Nat] The earliest
computers were made out of wood and metal with
mechanical levers and gears. By the 20th century though, computers started using
electrical components. These early computers were
really large and really slow. A computer the size of a room might take hours just to do a basic math problem. - [Announcer] These machines
are things of gleaming, varied colored metal and numerous flashing lights. - Computers started out
as basic calculators, which was already really
awesome at the time and they were only
manipulating numbers back then. But now we can use them
to talk to each other, we can use them to play games, control robots, and do any crazy thing that you could probably imagine. - Modern computers look nothing like those clunky old machines, but they still do the same four things. (funky, upbeat music) - First, we're gonna talk about input. This is my favorite because what input is, is the stuff that the world does, or that you do that makes
the computer do stuff. You can tell a computer what
to do with the keyboard, you can tell them what
to do with the mouse, the microphone, the camera, and now if you're wearing
a computer on your wrist, it might listen to your heartbeat, or in your car it might be listening to what the car is doing. And a touchscreen can
actually sense your finger and it takes that as
input on what it's doing. - All these different inputs
give the computer information, which is then stored in memory. A computer's processor takes
information for memory, it manipulates it or changes it using algorithm, which is
just a series of commands, and then it sends the process information back to be stored in memory again. This continues until the processed information is ready to be output. How a computer outputs information depends on what the
computer is designed to do. A computer display can
show texts, photos, videos, or interactive games,
even virtual reality. The output of a computer may even include signals to control a robot. And when computers
connect over the internet, the output from one computer becomes the input to another, and vice versa. - The computers we use today look really different from the
earliest thinking machines. And who knows what the computers
of tomorrow will be like. My hope is that you get to help decide what you want the computers
of tomorrow to look like. But across all computers, regardless of the different types of
technology they use, they're also doing the same four things. They take in information,
they store it as data, they process it, and then
they output the results.