Aleks' Domain

The further I get in CSC258 (Computer Organization) the more I realize how amazing the computer really is. It’s almost a humbling experience. Most people don’t realize how much they don’t know about the hardware and what goes on inside a computer, but if they did their jaw would drop. Mine is constantly on the floor, and I’m only scratching the surface.

Needless to say, I think this has been the best course that I’ve ever taken at school. At least, so far. I honestly feel as if I could build a very simple calculator from scratch if given the appropriate tools. And you know what? I probably could. Giving me transistors alone would be tedious, and I would have one very large calculator on my hands. But, I would still be able to build it. In fact, you can make transistors on your own out of pretty simple things, but they would be pretty large. Which means that I would be able to build a very simple calculator out of nothing (provided that I know how to make my own transistors consistently). And that excites me. I feel like I’m learning something useful. It’s wonderful.

But my example of a simple calculator doesn’t even compare to a computer’s processor. No sir. In fact, even talking about it doesn’t do it justice. There is so much that goes on that it’s mind blowing. So I’m going to stop here. It’s very humbling to know how far we’ve gone as a race, and I can think of no better example than the computer’s processor as a testament to our achievements.

If that isn’t enough, there are even talks of quantum computing. What’s that? Well, I’ll explain it in a nutshell. You know all those 1s and 0s that your computer understands? You’ve probably seen it in movies, or heard of it being referred to as binary. In any case, binary only has two states. 1 or 0. On or off. What quantum computing does is add a third state. Both on and off at the same time. I tried thinking about this and only found that if I kept at it long enough my head would start to hurt.

Technology is amazing.