(The Cover is retrieved from Frobes’ website, http://www.forbes.com/sites/oracle/2014/04/22/the-3-layers-of-modern-marketing-data-analytics-activation/#5db036d72093)
(Retrieved from Mt. Pete’s presentation, https://www.icloud.com/keynote/04FfClm0yp5eeFd8YSioSOytA#History_of_Computing_Hardware)
We are using computers everyday. Right at this moment, I am composing a blog in front of my computer. Have you ever wondered how all those things work? How computers enable us to send emails, play games, or watching movies? I have. And today I get an answer.
Six Layers build up the computing systems in our magic machines.
layer 1: Information
It is hard to believe, but all the colorful images we see on our computer screens are actually billions and billions of zeroes and ones. Information is recoded and managed using 0 and 1, two simplest digits. Zeros and ones are fundamental particles of the computing world, the way how computers record information.
Layer 2: Hardware
Hardware is like organs of human beings, supporting computers to carry out functions and be alive. Think about devices such as gates and circuits. They are “blood vessels”of computers which control the flow of electricity. Central Processing Unit and memory are more like head of the computers, giving out orders and keeping information.
Layer 3: programming
The programing layer is about software. The hardware of computers is capable of solving problems, or computing, but they do not “know how”. Software are solutions, or instructions for hardware to follow. First generation of softwares used machine language, or binary language–simply zeroes and ones. Now, we have many high-level languages like Java to write programs that are much more user friendly.
Layer 4: Operating Systems
The first computer users were mathematicians and engineers, and they knew how to manage their computers, or make data, devices, and programs work properly themselves. Moreover, computers were much more slower than they are now. However, computers are for all common people and they are too fast to be managed by human kinds now. Thus operations systems were invented to help manage the resources of computers. Examples are windows, Linux, Mac OX, Android, and IOS.
Layer 5: Application
When you are writing in a word document, watching a movie, or playing Super Mario Bros, you are using multiple programs as a unity. Applications are aggregation of distinct programs to solve a complicate problem.
Layer 6: Communication
Most people will admit they spend most of their time online with computers and phones. They are communicating with the outside world! At one time, people are finally bored with console games, and they want to play with their friends; they want to share their files, but their friends are far away. The World Wide Web or Internet makes communication possible and easy. With Internet, it is not just one computer in front of us, but millions of computer all around the globe.
As our society keeps developing, more layers will definitely be added to the sitting six layers. Are you looking for it? I am!
Credit: many information of this blog is retrieved from Mr. Pete’s presentation, https://www.icloud.com/keynote/04FfClm0yp5eeFd8YSioSOytA#History_of_Computing_Hardware
David 'n' CS 