Computers don't perform miracles

^17-09-2023

I spend a lot of my free time reading blog posts about computers and programming. I am very concern and not happy about the language used to explain how computers work. It leaves one with a perspective that it's hard to understand computers and software.

Phrases like "the computer understands...", "the computer knows...", "the compiler knows..." etc. makes it seem like the computer performs miracles. This automatically position the computer in a high level where it seems impossible to comprehend. This is a huge source of discouragement for individuals who are trying to learn.

There is nothing a computer or software does which wasn't instructed by a human through code. In our explanations, we must emphasize on the fact that computers are programmed and there is nothing miraculous about the way they function.

That is why programmers are thought of as very smart individuals. It is because we have not done a good job in explaining, in simple terms, what the computer does. We have made it appear as a very complicated machine that can never be deconstructed in words.

Yes a computer is complex, some software are complex, but there is nothing divine about the way they function. It is just a bunch of instructions coupled together to perform some specific tasks.