How a Computer Reads Binary Code

8/12/2019 How a Computer Reads Binary Code

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How information is processed by the computer

IntroductionHave you ever wondered what goes on inside your computer when you interact with it?

Computers have become powerful and efficient machines that are capable of performing

complex tasks. Most people use them in their everyday duties, but do not really understand how

exactly they work. There is a process that the computer goes through to produce desired andeffective results from your commands. The process begins from your requests and goes through

translation stages to provide understandable instruction for the computer to follow.

Audience and ScopeThe purpose of this document is to give a general understanding to the general public of what

really happens inside a computer and how information is processed to produce an expectedoutcome. Many people do not pay much attention to the technical details of how their requests to

a computer are performed. This is because unlike the first machines, modern machines are

designed by engineers to abstract away all the messy details at the computational level to give

the user an easy interaction with their computers. After reading this document, you will be ableto get a grasp of the electrical detail of how the electronic components that makes up the

computer, communicate with you to complete your request to it.

Defining the ComputerWhen most people think about a

computer, they usually think of the

personal computers they use to surf the

web and typically use to do work orplay games. However, a computer is

defined as any electronic device that is

programmed to respond to a specificset of instructions in a sequential

manner. These devices include desktop

computers, cell phones, DVD playerscameras and much more.


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The Binary System, the language of computers

Just as we humans have specific languages that we understand and through which wecommunicate, the computer also has its specific language that it understands. This languagesystem is called the binary system. This system is comprised of codes written in combinations of

1s and 0s. The computer is able to read these codes, understand them and acts upon its

interpretation of them.

The Binary system in relation with the human language

Binary code is a language that the computer understands. It is essentially the basisof how information is communicated to and from the machines we use every day.

Binary code is used in computers because it is the only way for us to tell an electronic

component what to do and also for that component to respond back to us. It is similar to the waythe humans communicate with each other through many different languages. If you understand

the English language, I will be able to converse with you for a purpose. However, if you cannot

comprehend my language, I will have to translate it to a more understandable one for you to

grasp what I am conveying. So for us to communicate with the machine, we have to create amechanism of translating our language to something the machine can understand. The binary

system represents the flow of electricity through a transistor device; 1 indicating that the device

is on, electricity is flowing, and 0 indicating that the device is off, electricity is not flowing.

Binary

Code


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The transistor devise that crea

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semiconducting material that all

electricity, which means that elethrough it. By designing a transi

electricity to flow through it or b

binary language can be created b

these components together. Modwith billions of microscopic tran

transistors there are on the mach

processing power it has, since mcomputer only understands binar

combination of binary code for t

Binary representation of the hThe numbering system, 0 to 9 an

comma (,), question mark (?), an

binary code. For example the nuas 0010, and the letter n is rep

So if the computer receives a me

letter n, it will be converted to itthrough transistor combinations,

command and produce some res

as complex as it may be, are alsoBinary numbers can be added to

other, which will result in the sa

representation. For the computerlanguage, a procedure has been

binary representation.

es the binary System

onent made up of

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y connecting many of

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ore combinations of 1s and 0s can be made. Sy language, the human language is represented

anslation.

man languaged letters a through z, along with special charact

d period (.), are all represented by a unique co

ber 2 is represented in binaryesented in binary as 01101110.

ssage with the number 2 and the

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lt. Mathematical computations,

represented in binary codes.ether and subtracted from each

e for its numeric

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Characters

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achine to its

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01000101

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01100011


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From User request to Binary languageEverything we do on the computer is communicated through a sequential process of translations.It starts from the top layer which we will call the User Request, and goes through the

Operating system, then the Assemble, then down to the bottom layer, the Binary Code.

User request to the Operating system

The first step in the translation process is from a request of the user to an interpretation of the

operating system as described below. This process will take something that the user has done onthe surface and with already set translation rules, provide a way to begin translating it for the

computer to understand.

The User RequestThe user request is referred to as an actual person interacting with the computer in

front of them. The request from the user can be typing words on the keyboard,clicking on a video to begin playing, paying bills on a website, or playing a game.

The interaction is made simple by the software of the machine. Software is a

graphical interface to help the user visually and actively perform tasks such as

writing a letter, or watching a movie. It makes it easy for the user to put inrequests for the computer to process.

The Operating System

The operating system begins in the translation procedure. It is also computersoftware. As software, it contains the set of translation rules with which it uses to

convert it to the computer language. It can be seen as the middle man between the

user and the hardware, which is the physical machine, they are working on. If theuser issues a request, a press of the letter n on the keyboard, the operating

system will be the first to get the message. It alone can understand what has been

done by the user. It will receive a signal that the user has requested to do

something with the letter n.First the operating system will make sense of the current state of

the computer as a whole, which it keeps track of as long as the

computer is on. It will determine what the purpose of the press of

the n key is for, whether is it to issue another command orsimple output onto the screen. After it determines the purpose of

the key press, it will begin translating by following the rulesalready set in it. The translation rules contains what the computer

is capable of doing. By following these rules, the operating system sends the request to the

assembly for the next step.

User

Request

Operating

SystemAssembly

Binary

Code

User

Request

Operating

System

User Request

Operating System


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The Operating system to AssemblyComputers are defined by the amount of work it can do and how it does those works. The

architecture of the computer outlines how it performs requests and sets its limitations. Theoperating system uses the architecture to translate the user request it its assembly language

representation.

AssemblyThe assembly is a stage that accepts message from the operating system and

arranges the steps the computer is going to follow to complete the request. The

assembly has its own language that it understands, which it uses to let the

computer know how much of the request it is capable of doing. So the operatingsystem translates the user request into assembly language before it is sent to

binary code.

The assembly stage is very crucial because it translate the user request in itslanguage to binary code with the constraints of the hardware. The translation

process follows instructions from the operating system on how to assemble

the user request to sequential commands for the computer to follow. Once the

user request is translated to assembly language, the assembly produces binarycode, by translating the request to its binary representation, for the computer

to understand and to process it.

From Assembly to Binary Code for processing

Instructions to the computer are lined up in a queue as it each one after the other. This is wherethe word assemble, in computing, came from. The instructions to be processed are laid out

sequentially by the assembler as a worker will do for products in an assembly line. The computer

blindly follows those consecutive requests and accesses the available electrical components it hasto complete the work. The components include the graphics card, which processes graphical data

to the computer screen, the random access memory (RAM), which stores data temporarily, and

mathematical calculators such as adders, subtractors, dividers, and multipliers. The mathematicalcalculators are made combination of transistor devices.

User Request of the letter n as an example

So for the example instruction of the key press of the letter n, the computer will receive

a set of instruction of what to do to produce the output for the user. If the key press was arequest to put the letter n onto the computer screen, the assembly will

translate it to an instruction for the computer to retrieve that letter from

its memory bank. As mentioned before, the letter n is represented by01101110 in binary, so the computer will access the RAM and look in

its character bank for what 01101110 represents. Once it retrieves it, it

will go to the next step instructed by the assembly, which will be to putthat letter on the screen. The letter retrieved is then passed to the

graphics card for image processing. There the instruction set by the

assembly will include the specific position where the letter will go, the color of the letter,

its size, and other formatted requests. The next instruction will be to print the letter to thecomputer screen. As soon as the computer has completed that request, it will immediately

look for the next instruction to begin its process.

Assembly

Operating Syste

Assembly

Assembly

Binary Code


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ConclusionEach stage the computer goes through in the translation procedure is crucial for processinginformation. Without them, the user would have to manually coordinate the machine to carry out

a task. This will make doing everyday work with the computer very tedious and time consuming.

The stages are essentially well-structured to work together to make the processing of information

by the computer very fast and efficient.

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How a Computer Reads Binary Code