I mean how is possible to turn code into physical form like a chip?
In: Technology
There are a few different things that can mean. A microchip, also known as an integrated controller or IC, can be designed to do a specific job, like converting an analog signal into digital, or making a series of voltage pulses at a certain rate, or anything else the designer needs.
Often when designing a very complicated IC, engineers will use a “hardware description language” such as VHDL. This means they’re writing code, in something very much like a programming language. Some software can then “compile” that code, into a design for a microchip. That design, if it is etched onto a little bit of silicon in just the right way, will be a chip which does what the designer wanted.
So that’s one way of putting code into a chip. Writing code which literally describes how the tiny little etched-in components should be hooked up to each other, and how they should be laid out on the silicon.
Then, there’s microcontrollers. Microcontrollers are IC’s which don’t do a *specific* job, they’re designed to be able to run software which can tell it to do all kinds of different jobs. A microcontroller usually has some rewritable long-term memory in it, which can hold a program.
Instead of designing a brand new IC from scratch, in order to build an electronic device many engineers will elect to write code for a microcontroller. In this case, after writing the code, the designer will then “flash” the microcontroller, which is slang for writing their program into that long-term memory. This can be done using a device which plugs into your computer’s USB port, and has a socket to plug the controller into. Once the chip has been flashed, then it can be removed from the programmer device and installed into whatever you’re using the chip for.
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