Overview

All a computer can do under the hood is store and process ones and zeroes. How is it that we can do so much more with them? In this course we learn about how computer work.

Computers can perform numerous tasks for us. To name only a few: We can use them to perform almost any calculation very fast, we can use them to process text, we can use them to listen to music or stream videos, we can chat with other people anywhere in the world, and they can even recognize faces or understand voice commands.

The breadth of tasks computers can perform is already astonishing by itself, but it becomes even more breathtaking when we consider that really all a computer can do is turn simple switches on and off.

To understand how computers work, we must understand how a number system with only ones and zeroes works:

The Binary System

Understanding code systems gives us an idea how computers represent other things than 0 and 1.

Code Systems

Now that we know how computers represent different things, let's learn how they can process information. For that, we need a few small and simple devices

Logic Gates

How can computers perform arithmetic with only simple logic gates?

Binary Addition