For instance, I have a programmable watering system for outside. It has knobs for frequency and duration. Is it really computing anything, or is it full of non-computing electronics?
In: Engineering
Computers are special in that they have general purpose processors that are capable of a large array of functions that allow them to do just about any sort of work. The downside is that they are more expensive and often not as fast as a more specialized processor what be at do a specialized task. You could straight program a computer to run your sprinkler system but ut would be overkill by a large margin.
Your programmable sprinkler system likely is using a much more rudimentary processor of some sort that is specialized for the task. The trade off being that it’s far cheaper then a general purpose processor but much more limited capability. You won’t be running a cyberpunk on this for example.
In some cases you can forgo a processor altogether and just use some cleverly designed circuits to get something done which would be even cheaper but also again even less flexible such circuits would only be good for exactly the thing they were designed for and nothing else.
So it’s a matter of how complex and capable you go.but all qualify as electronics. When you use electricity to drive some sort if circuitry you got electronics.
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