The why of tech
The why of tech
Think of your computer as a restaurant. It is a system of parts designed to give you something you need -- only instead of food, it is information. In the case of the computer, the major components are the operating system, hard drive, processor and memory. Digesting the parts
of a computerThe operating system is the waiter. Giving customers direct access to a kitchen would be bad, causing pandemonium, so it is the operating system's job to act as an interface between you and the stuff in the back.
In a restaurant you sit down, look at the menu, decide what you want and tell the waiter. He then goes back into the kitchen, tells the cooks what to make, assembles your meal and brings it to you. That is exactly what the OS does. Microsoft Windows, Mac OS 9, and Linux are the three most popular operating systems.
The hard drive and memory are often confused. That is because they both store information and their capacities are measure in bytes. The big differences between the two is retrieving information from memory is MUCH faster; memory only stores information when the computer is on; and it is MUCH more expensive. Therefore memory is only used for temporary use.
A waiter's duty can clear the distinction between the two. A good waiter has a lot of memory capacity. He can remember what all his tables ordered without writing it down. This is not only impressive, but it makes things run a lot smoother and faster. No repeating orders, no mixed up dishes, no forgotten beer. The same with a computer -- lots of memory, everyone is happy.
A bad waiter has to write the orders down. The hard drive is where the OS would write these things.
Memory is for the short-term stuff to make things go faster. Hard drives are for the long-term stuff that you want to save. Whenever you save a file, it goes on the hard drive. Whenever you are working with a file, it gets loaded into memory.
Finally, there is the processor. It is akin to the efficiency of the staff. A good staff can take an order, get it cooked and serve it in the least amount of time. No waiting for checks, no waiting for water. The faster the processor, the faster it can fill your orders.
But, just like with a restaurant, most of the time you sit at a computer, you don't need the staff running around. Most of the time you are doing work. That is the big lie about faster processors.
Steve Jefferson is a Honolulu-based freelance writer
and section editor for InfoWorld. He can be
reached at: stevej@lava.net