How do you move from it being a collection of transistors to it being a fully functional computer?

Question

How do you move from it being a collection of transistors to it being a fully functional computer?

In: 20

Answer 1

There are several abstraction levels between a transistor and a computer.

You combine transistors to make simple logical devices like NOT, OR, XOR, AND.

You combine simple logical devices to create a bit more complicated devices like multiplexers.

You combine those devices to create even more complicated devices like ALUs.

You make a processor from ALU, memory and other parts.

You make a computer from processor, memory, disk memory, pipelines to connect it all and vola.

It may seem like the complexity is growing with each level, but the beautiful thing about abstraction is that from each level to the next the complexity of the design actually doesn’t increase. Why’s that? Because when you take a device from previous abstraction level you don’t need to concern yourself with it’s internal structure – you care just for input and output rules of that device. In this way one department can design simple logic devices, while another department can just take those and make the next level.