How does a digital software modify a physical integrated circuit?

447 views

How a program -something digital- can modify something physically?

In: 3

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It can’t. A program is just a *representation* of a physical system (of switches).

What the computer is actually doing is entirely physical…flipping switches on and off, charging and discharging capacitors, etc. Through clever wiring, we make the actions of some switches and capacitors and such influence the state of others. And we (the programmers) attach meaning to patterns of switches but the computer has *no* idea of any of that…it just does what the combination of switches and wiring dictates.

When you load a program you’re setting a whole bunch of switches and hitting the “Go” button.

You are viewing 1 out of 5 answers, click here to view all answers.