How does a computer work?

A computer is billions of switches following a list of tiny instructions, one clock tick at a time. A transistor is a switch: on is 1, off is 0. Eight bits make a byte, 256 patterns. Registers answer at once, the L1 cache in about a nanosecond, RAM in about 100 ns, the SSD in tens of microseconds.

Read how it works: How does a computer work? · The history of the computer · More boxes on Glassbox

Chapters in this interactive model

1. Inside a desktop computer: A processor, memory, storage, a graphics card and power, joined by one big circuit board.
2. Everything is ones and zeros: Transistors are switches. Eight of them make a byte, and bytes can mean anything.
3. Fetch, decode, execute: A tiny 8-bit computer you can run one clock tick at a time.
4. Near and fast, far and slow: Registers, caches, RAM, SSD and the internet: why computers keep copies close by.
5. From code to machine code: Compilers, the operating system, and how a computer boots up.
6. From a room to your pocket: Eighty years of computers shrinking, speeding up and spreading everywhere.