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

A transistor is just a switch. It can either be closed, allowing current to flow through, or open, not allowing current to flow through.

Switches can be used to process logical instructions.

For example, if I wanted a machine that could say “if the input is on, the output should be off” You could design [a small circuit](https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/logic-log47.gif) using transistors to handle that.

A computer is, effectively, just a big, complicated bunch of circuits like that one that allow for a much more complex set of operations.

The difference between a pile of transistors and a computer is similar to the difference between a bunch of nails and planks of wood and a shed. The arrangement and structure connecting the individual pieces together is what separates them. The wood and nails become a shed when you combine them in a structure that allows it to function as a shed. Same with the transistors and the computer.

edit: for any aspiring programmers out there who want to really get a sense of the architecture of a computer and how it works, take a look at [nand2tetris](https://www.nand2tetris.org/). These guys wrote a textbook for intro to computer systems courses and then created this whole accompanying set of projects and software tools that are available for free. They walk you through creating most of the components of a simple, simulated 16-bit computer, writing an assembler and VM translator for it, and then writing a compiler for a simple Java-like language. You essentially build a fully functioning computer from the ground up. Even though I do data science and statistics for my career (so this is hardly ever actually useful for me in my work life), the course where we used nand2tetris was my favorite in my grad program.