Series
How Computers Work
Almost every explanation of computing starts somewhere in the middle. This series starts at the bottom — a wire, a switch, a voltage — and works upwards until the machine on your desk stops being a mystery.
The pieces are ordered, but they are not a syllabus. Each one is written to stand on its own, and you can start wherever your curiosity is.
Contents
2 published, 4 planned. Planned pieces are titles only.
What a logic gate actually is
Every explanation of computing hurries past the gate. It is worth stopping, because almost everything above it is the same trick repeated.
How a message crosses the internet
There is no route planned in advance and no single machine in charge. A packet is passed from stranger to stranger until it arrives, or does not.
- Planned
Electricity, switches and the idea of a signal
- Planned
Memory: how a machine remembers anything
- Planned
What a CPU does in one clock cycle
- Planned
Operating systems and the illusion of doing several things at once