How Does A Computer Process Information

We all use computers for different purposes and in different ways. Some of us write articles or books on them, other design houses or even cities. Some control totally disruptive weapons that could destroy the planet, other strive to make people, the general public, aware of the danger these weapon are posing. Some try to understand the universe other try to explore it. It all happens on computers. We do all these things with our computers and they help us explore parts of our personality that make us better.

But have we ever wondered how does computer do all these things we ask of it? How does it actually work? How does it process all the input we provide it with? Granted, we don’t have to. We can easily work on computers and leave the processing of data to computer geeks.

If we still wish to know how does a computer process information (and we really should take some interest in this aspect which could help us understand what we can ask or what we cannot of our machines), here are some steps, some stages the computer goes through in order to get  the information processed.

The first step the CPU takes when demanded to execute an operation is to access memory in order to locate the program that needs to be opened or worked on. CPU uses the program’s counter number to find it.

As soon as it located the program, CPU begins decoding it. CPU does not see the program as we see it, but as a code. CPU deciphers the code in a programming language that it understands. To that effect, CPU must ascertain which language the program is written in, and then to decide to decode, so that it may read the instruction the program requires.

After the CPU has deciphered the code and has found the order of execution, the execution itself is the next step of the processing. The program is loaded and made ready to use.

The final step is the writeback. The CPU records feedback as the processing advances, to the purpose of making sure some of the problems may occur during the execution. That happens even when everything loaded perfectly. When the Windows doesn’t start properly it must be restarted. CPU writes the error that caused the restart into memory. When Windows finally starts, CPU sends the owner a message containing the feedback from the last attempt that resulted in an error.

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