5

In other words, how can energy combined with metal perform logic operations? In the research I've done i'ts always assumed how the 'magic' happens but usually there's a lack of explanation on how can a physical device can 'understand' and perform processes of logical nature. I think would be a good approach to first understand very simple devices as a calculator, but even with that I cannot grasp (and feel absolutely amazed)on how can a circuit be designed in such a fashion that it can perform 'thinking' activities. Thanks!

Oliver Charlesworth
  • 267,707
  • 33
  • 569
  • 680
Mikael Blomkvist
  • 149
  • 2
  • 13
  • 1
    Take a look at this online course: http://www.nand2tetris.org/. – Oliver Charlesworth Apr 02 '13 at 22:34
  • Thanks @OliCharlesworth i will take a look at it, it seems very promising, but guess i will have to wait 12 weeks till i have the answer myself. – Mikael Blomkvist Apr 02 '13 at 23:01
  • 1
    This is the core of modern computation, the heart of it: how to make circuits emulate thinking activities. How can you type a if / else statement in java and the hardware be able to transmit that on a physical level. This isn't philosophical at all. The conversion of software data into hardware processing it's the most beautiful thing of modern technology to say the least. – Mikael Blomkvist Apr 02 '13 at 23:11
  • 1
    Then read about how transistors work. Read about how logic gates work. Read about how an ALU works. Read about how a CPU works. Read about how a compiler works. – Oliver Charlesworth Apr 02 '13 at 23:12
  • Just to be clear, it is not metal but a [semiconductor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor) that is part of the 'magic'. – Guy Coder Apr 02 '13 at 23:45
  • Take a better look at the periodic table and you will see that there's a big percent of semicoductors that are in the metal part of it, at least the most important of them (silicon) it's a metalloid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon – Mikael Blomkvist Apr 02 '13 at 23:57

0 Answers0