Computer Science and Engineering in General
Lesson #22
It's not that you need to know Computer Science and Engineering, but it's important to understand it. Computers, contrary to what people believe are not actually intelligent as you would call a human being. They simply respond to how they're programmed. Artificial Intelligence is way off into the future, so you don't have to worry about Machines taking over the world. Mainly because they would need someone to tell them what to do... next.
These programs that we use on Desktop Computers and Mobile Devices are programmed to respond to actions we take. We create a file, then we save a file. We edit the file, and then save it again. We delete the file and create a new one. From the users point of view, it seems like something else is happening because of the "user interface" and how it's designed to respond when we perform an action. The devices we use can also be programmed to perform actions without us on a timer, because they're programmed to do that. Like when there's an update that downloads, someone programmed that too.
So just to dissolve the Magic and help you understand, there's nothing going on in the device that someone didn't want to happen. In an email program, the timer looks for new emails, and downloads them on a schedule. We send a message, and the device at the other end downloads the message for the other person to read. If there's a file attached, then we click on the file, and another program takes over to open the file and display it. So it's not the email program that opens the file, it's another program that knows what kind of file it is. So that explains why you sometimes see a message saying "this kind of file can't be opened". Either it's too large, or you don't have the right kind of program to open it, and you have to download a program that can.
The Engineers that design the Hardware which is the device, design it to work with the Software that goes inside. So the Hardware is the device your holding, and the software is the program that runs on it. Not every device can run any software, so that's why upgrades are necessary to allow more complex programs to run on the device. At some point if there are too may programs that can't run on the device you have, then you have to upgrade to a newer one. It's not cheap, and can cost more than you paid for the previous one, but technology is designed to advance, and you should be ready when the time comes to buy a new device, because you can't avoid it, if you working with it.
Alright, so everything that was just explained was in the simplest possible terms. There are more complex explanations that you can look for on the internet, but what's here should be enough for you to understand that the tasks you perform cause the device to react, and it's not Voodoo, or something Mystical. The device is responding to what you do, and if you don't do something, the device will not do it all by itself. And finally, because the people get tired when they think and work all day long, the device you use, needs rest as well. Because of all the calculations and tasks devices perform, you have to turn it off for a few minutes and then turn it back on again.
Most people are not willing to turn off their devices because they think they'll miss something. When your asleep you miss a lot anyway, so do yourself a favor and give the little machine a rest every now and then, so that it can work for you when you need it. You don't work 24 hours a day, and you should not force your device to stay on either. Your device will last longer when you give it a rest. Like you give your Television or Car a rest when your not using it. They're all machines.
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Here's more information about:
"Computer Science and Engineering in General"
Computer science: The learning machines
http://www.nature.com/news/computer-science-the-learning-machines-1.14481
Computer Science 101
https://www.coursera.org/course/cs101
What is a Computer Hardware Engineer ?
https://www.sokanu.com/careers/computer-hardware-engineer/
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