I'm curious about how computers actually work beyond just binary and logic gates. I get that binary is pretty straightforward, and I can even build a simple one-time-use calculator with dominoes if I had enough of them! I also have some experience with Python and other programming languages, but I'm stuck on understanding how my Python code gets translated into something that a computer can understand. Is there a fundamental difference between a computer and something like a domino calculator?
3 Answers
Onto the core functioning! Your CPU interprets instructions, like AND or OR, on data stored in RAM. The computer understands instructions in its own binary language. To ease our lives, we have assembly languages that are closer to binary but human-readable. Languages like Python took this a step further, allowing us to write complex programs without stressing about the binary details. It really is a layered process from Python all the way down to the binary!
Absolutely, that's a great question! The way programming languages like Python work is a bit layered. Basically, when you write Python code, it doesn't go directly to binary. Instead, it gets interpreted or compiled into a lower-level language that the computer can understand—usually machine code, which is comprised of binary. There are tools doing this back-end work for you, so you can write in a more human-friendly way. It might help to think of it as translating your code into a language the CPU can process, which ties into concepts like the Fetch Execute cycle!
So, just to clarify, there's a difference between compiled languages, like C, and interpreted ones, like Python right? Compiled languages get turned into machine code first, while interpreted ones go through an interpreter?
You can definitely make a PC out of dominoes in theory because dominoes can simulate any computation through Turing completeness! But practically, it would be super slow and require a crazy amount of dominoes. Understanding logic gates is the key. As for your Python code, remember that it’s transformed into something that the machine can run, not that it converts back to binary directly. It’s more about higher-level abstractions being made readable for programming!
Interesting! So the idea is that the complex functions we write in Python eventually simplify down to those fundamental logic gates in the CPU?
Got it! So, it's all about breaking things down into simpler tasks that a computer can handle, like a team of translators working together.