I can't wait to learn more about computing devices.

Okay.

So Tomas, let's play a game.

Sure.

Tell me what you know about hardware.

Hardware is the part of a computing device that we can touch, like a screen or keyboard.

My turn Anya.

Tell me what you know about software.

Software is what runs on a computing device like apps and my favorite video games.

I just wish I knew how hardware and software work together.

Maybe I can help.

Techne, You came back?

Of course.

It sounds like you are ready to learn more about computer science, especially how computing devices work.

What are some ways you tell your computing devices what to do?

Hmm.

Well, when I want my character to move my video game I press the buttons on my video game controller.

And when I want to find out what the temperature is outside, I ask Alexa.

Hello.

Those are great examples of input.

Input is how you get information into the computing device.

When you type on a keyboard or you use voice commands with a smart device, or you press buttons on a video game controller, you are inputting information into your computing device.

It sounds like the computing device processes what we input to figure out what to output.

I guess that's why when you push a letter on the laptop keyboard, that letter shows up on the screen.

Exactly.

Sounds like my computer has a brain.

Sort of.

It has something called a processor.

CPU for short.

CPUs don't think like humans do.

People write code with instructions for them to follow.

What makes them special is that they can process millions of instructions in a second.

Whoa.

That's a lot.

What are all those squiggly lines around the CPU?

That's called circuitry.

And it carries signals to and from the CPU.

Kind of like the way veins and arteries carry blood in and out of the heart.

Because computing devices run on electricity, all the hardware parts inside talk to each other through different combinations of circuits being turned on or off.

Humans think of the on stage being a one and the off state being a zero.

Oh, I've heard of that.

It's called binary code.

Yes, it is.

Everything you input into a computing device is converted to binary code using electronic signals.

Then it is processed and converted from binary to something humans can easily understand as output.

Cool.

Let's play a game.

I call it input output.

All right.

Tell me what is input and what is output in this example?

Typing on a keyboard is input.

And the printer printing is output.

That's right.

Here's another.

I think using the pen to choose something on the tablet is input and the menus that appear on the screen are output Right?

You got it.

And it shows just how fast the processing speed is from when the computing device receives the input and outputs the result.

Let's try one more.

Is this input?

So that makes what the robot hand is doing the output?

Yes.

Robots have sensors that take in all sorts of input like light, temperature, sound, and in this case pressure.

So when the hand opens, the sensor detects that action is input and the robot hand opens as output.

I didn't realize so much happened between the time I input something into my computer and then see the output.

Thanks for letting you see what happens inside of a computing device.

You're welcome.