W02 // COMPUTERS, INSTRUCTIONS, BINARY
AUG 26 · Ch 1 Sec 1-3 + Shannon · DUE: Binary worksheet
This week's deckPPTX
// RUN OF SHOW (8:45-10:15)
8:45
Stand-up: last week's deliverable graded, questions answered
9:20
At the keyboard: guided type-along
9:45
Build time: assignment or project work
10:10
Close: commit, push, and preview next week's reading
// THE POINT THIS WEEK
What a computer really is. Hardware vs software. Bits, bytes, and binary counting.
// TALKING POINTS
The machine underneath
- Hardware is the physical machine; software is the instructions it runs
- A CPU executes tiny steps, in order, billions per second
- Everything you build this year eventually becomes those tiny steps
Two symbols are enough
- A bit is one 0 or 1; a byte is eight of them
- Binary counts the way hardware switches: off and on
- 111001 is 57; same number, different costume
- Shannon's insight: switches can do logic, and logic can do everything
// LINKS