In Ch. 4 I finally found out how computers work, in terms of how they receive, interpret, and output data. I never really put much thought into HOW the computer knows what information is being put in (ex. typed data), I just always assumed that as I type the computer just spits back the letters onto the monitor in one motion. However, it turns out that it is a bit more complex than that.
Unlike human speech, which is analog, computers receive information in a digital form. The computer understands only two states: on or off, which is represented by the 2 digits 0 (off) and 1(on). In addition to this, these digits, which are called "binary digit" or "bit" for short, make up a binary system which uses only these 2 digits to makeup the special computer language, or coding. When 8 bits are grouped together, they are called a byte. Amazingly a byte contains enough combinations of 0s and 1s to represent 256 individual characters such as numbers, letters (both upper and lowercase) and puncuation marks. I find this interesting that an entire "language" can be made up from just 2 numbers.
So, in conclusion, in order for the computer to produce the characters that we type it first has to compute the numerical code within the system unit, that each character represents (which is activated as soon as we hit a key on the keyboard) back into analog via the ASCII binary code that is stored in memory, which is what eventually appears on our screen. Our input is in digital, which is how the computer understands the analog, and the output is in analog.

One thing I learned from reading other students blogs, and am relieved to discover, is that I'm not at all far behind the "norm" of computer literacy. I used to always think that I didn't know as much about computers as others, especially when they excelled at something that I just did not, could not, get. However, through reading some of the blogs I noticed that many of us have certain strong and weak points. Sometimes someone was shaky in something that I was pretty confindent in, and then I would find that person maybe knew about something that I didn't know. It's encouraging to see the growth, also, that everyone is experiencing which gives me hope for myself.

For some reason the last assignment was a little difficult for me because I've never even heard of that program before let alone worked with it. At least the other assignments I had some vague idea about icons and such that were familiar. Once I got the hang of it, I could see how useful it could be in terms of simplifying certain procedures or information for both a teacher, and especially for a student, by putting the information in a contained, flowing, logical structure.