The way personal computers are set up and the way that their programs are arranged follow a simple set of principles that are not usually mentioned in the instruction manuals.  You might call it embedded history.  Understanding such simple structure gives you the chance to see how everything connects, rather than as a motley collection of isolated programs with their own strict rules and places to click.

In the good old days, meaning about 1970, computers were very cumbersome.  Pages of programming instructions had to be written to achieve what we now activate with a single mouse click.  Such simplicity meant that the electronic processeswere understood by anyone who used the computer (they had to be).  The machines haven't changed in principle, but they're now hidden under layers of automated routines that enable us to do far more by ignoring the details.  To write applications at the level of those of 1970 would be prohibitively time-consuming. But they do say that the truth is in the details.

In 1970, you could buy a single transistor.  It would typically be a little tin can with three wires dangling from it.  Apply a voltage this way, and current could flow that way.  The arrangement of chemicals ('semiconductors') could change their physical state.  Apply a voltage, and you put these tiny semiconducting assemblies into one particular electrical state.  Another voltage gives the alternative.  Call these states 'one' and 'zero', link a few of the devices together, and you have yourself a computer.

Inside, computers then looked like our stereo components of ten years ago.  The first programs were written to take specific aim at these very physical transistors and change their state directly.  This was known as 'machine language' and was soon too cumbersome to use directly for applications of increasing complexity.  The first layer on top of this one was (and still is) a 'programming language'.  Occasionally, you will see similar lines of instructions ('code') in the back of computer manuals and even, save us, in stereo component manuals. 

COBOL, BASIC, PL-1, ALGOL, FORTRAN etc were almost in English, programming languages that, believe it or not, were hailed at the time as fantastic short-cuts and time-savers.  A very specifically-written line would have one effect only on the electrical circuits.  A program would be written in programming language and then 'compiled' into machine language for more efficient execution by the machine in its own language.  Each programming language was different, and depended on the machine, since a line of instruction had to have one result and one only.  There were no standards, only competing computer companies.

When building electronic circuits, some arrangements would crop up repeatedly, for dealing with approximately the same thing.  Rather than connect lots of little tin cans together the same way every time a primitive computer had to be built, the different semiconductor materials and their connections were arranged within a single structure: an integrated circuit, or 'chip'.  As with the programming language sitting on top of the machine language for convenience, we now had a second electronic layer on top of the basic transistor.  Obviously, this was more convenient, although before starting the expensive set-up of a chip manufacturing run you had to make some assumptions about what programmers might want to do.

When programming, you had to know the 'logic' of a specific chip, a fancy word which simply reflects the way the transistors were internally wired to achieve a particular result.  For convenience, so as to achieve more, you became one step removed from the physical action.  Arranging bits of semiconductor in a specific way for a specific task is very similar to writing a program. The more convenience we wanted, the more complex the chip and fewer types could be manufactured economically.  We were able to go further, but we had sacrificed flexibility.  This tradeoff continues.  And because of the enormous complexity of contemporary chips, we are left with a small handful of manufacturers.

Back then, programming was following a similar development, and its scale has since increased enormously.  As you follow this Web site, you are floating several layers above machine language, but the same specifically directed electrical activity is still going on.  In the interests of convenience and ever-more powerful programs, many building blocks and layers are arranged, but the instructions eventually filter all the way down and change lots of voltages.

That's enough of the abstract.  Now for practice and application.  It's a little messier.

The Big Help Desk
in suggested reading order (links are provided between pages)
all photos by Jonnie Miles

Other useful pages:
How to play music
Music playback options at the Stereo Society
Audio quality
Mono compatibility
MP3 Software Player Review (2001)
Surround Sound: An Introduction

Home Albums Artists Contact Downloads Help Links New Shopping Words

We encourage shopping:
Why our universal CD price is so low
What you get in packaging
Why CDs sound better
Why you get almost instant satisfaction: wait just three days for REAL quality
We give away HUGE chunks of music so you can REALLY check it out

to the albums page						to the albums page