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the fundamentals of computer science. Unlike many who comment here regularly, I am not a programmer or developer and though it might seem silly, the way in whic

the fundamentals of computer science. Unlike many who comment here regularly, I am not a programmer or developer and though it might seem silly, the way in which a bunch of code written in a programming language of any sort translates to a computer physically or electrically causing things to "happen" because of it has always been a bit fuzzy. I know that electronic systems and machines translate all instructions to binary code but still, from there how does the rest happen? such as an OS on my laptops working the way it does, or more specialized: an unmanned spacecraft autonomously navigating its way through the solar system and doing complex physical tasks. Anyone have a suggestion for a good starting point on learning through these fundamentals and on upwards?

ur-whale 6y ago
It's a long road to the top (i.e. something like a python program), but you can start at the bottom and try to understand how basic hardware gates (and/or/xor/register) work and can perform extremely elementary yet useful tasks. Then it's just a "simple" matter of stacking up a billion of the things to get them to do complex programs.
omnibrain 6y ago
Read "Charles Petzold - Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software", it is a good starter. https://www.nand2tetris.org/ https://www.nand2tetris.org/ may also be insightful, but I did not look further into to.
grisha 6y ago
“Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software” by Charles Petzold should be what you are looking for. Author describes computing from the very ground up, and in clean, approachable manner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code:_The_Hidden_Language_of_Computer_Hardware_and_Software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code:_The_Hidden_Language_of_C...
air7 6y ago
There's a great course called NAND to Tetris, which teaches, by example, at increasing levels of complexity starting from simple logic gates up to an actual program. It's very good. https://www.nand2tetris.org/ https://www.nand2tetris.org/
shadowprofile77 6y ago
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions everyone. I'll go through these very sources one by one.

ur-whale 6y ago

It's a long road to the top (i.e. something like a python program), but you can start at the bottom and try to understand how basic hardware gates (and/or/xor/register) work and can perform extremely elementary yet useful tasks. Then it's just a "simple" matter of stacking up a billion of the things to get them to do complex programs.

omnibrain 6y ago

Read "Charles Petzold - Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software", it is a good starter. https://www.nand2tetris.org/ https://www.nand2tetris.org/ may also be insightful, but I did not look further into to.

grisha 6y ago

“Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software” by Charles Petzold should be what you are looking for. Author describes computing from the very ground up, and in clean, approachable manner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code:_The_Hidden_Language_of_Computer_Hardware_and_Software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code:_The_Hidden_Language_of_C...

air7 6y ago

There's a great course called NAND to Tetris, which teaches, by example, at increasing levels of complexity starting from simple logic gates up to an actual program. It's very good. https://www.nand2tetris.org/ https://www.nand2tetris.org/

shadowprofile77 6y ago

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions everyone. I'll go through these very sources one by one.