How a computer processes information.

When data is input into a computer, the numbers or words we understand are translated into a binary numbers system. Binary is the language of computers. Everything we type, input, output, send, retrieve, draw and so on is converted to the computer’s native language: binary ( it uses only two symbols 0 and 1 to represent values).

In the binary system, each digit position represents a value of 2. Because computers use the binary system, powers of 2 play an important role. This is why everything in computers seems to come in 8s (2 to the 3rd power), 64s (2 to the 6th power), 128s (2 to the 7th power), and 256s (2 to the 8th power).

The work of manipulating, storing and processing the data takes place in the Central Processing Unit, the computer’s main memory. The CPU consists of an arithmetic and logic unit, or ALU, a control unit, and a set of registers.

1. The arithmetic and logic unit is the portion of the CPU where arithmetic and logical operations take place.
2. The control unit is the part of the CPU that supervises the general operations of the computer.
3. The registers are devices that hold data inside the computer’s memory long enough to execute a particular function, such as indexing, calculating, sorting or otherwise manipulating data. They are the CPU’s own internal memory.

The medium through which the data are transferred from one part of computer to another is called bus. The data are input into the computer and processed in the CPU. They travel along the bus to be stored in the computer’s memory. The amount of memory available is described in bytes of information, referring to the combination of bits representing characters. The higher the number of bytes the more memory the computer has. Today’s computers hold ‘megabytes’ or even ‘gigabytes’ of data. A megabyte is a unit of one million bytes; a gigabyte is one billion bytes, and a terabyte is one trillion bytes. If a computer has a memory of 64 megabytes, then it can hold 64 million bytes of information.