Ask A Scientist© Computer Science Archive

Index Key:   COM025
Author:      carrie e victor
Subject:     Construction of a computer.
How is a computer made?

Response #:  1 of 1
Author:      asmith
That is a pretty complicated question!  In general, designing a general
purpose computer these days takes billions of dollars of effort, which go
into designing the surfaces of the silicon (or other semiconductor) "chips"
that make up various parts of the "central processing unit" or CPU (many
computers now have the entire CPU on a single chip, including almost all
PC's). You want the chip to be able to implement a certain basic set of
logical instructions (some mathematics, some associated with retrieving
things from memory or sending them elsewhere, etc) and you want it to be

able to do this as fast as possible. These instructions are converted into
the very simplest logical elements that can be encoded on the chip in
various kinds of transistors and connecting circuits. In addition to the CPU
chip, there are several different kinds of memory chips (they differ in
speed and in whether the storage is supposed to be permanent or temporary)
that have to be present, and also connections to output and input devices
(like the keyboard, screen, disk drives, etc). If you want to know more than
this you will have to go to the library and look up computers!