The Wonderful Structure of a Microcomputer¹

In Chinese, a computer is popularly known as an " electrical brain", for the working process of a computer is similar to a human brain very much.

Just as a driver can’t drive a car without driving skills or the car itself, you can’t control a computer without controlling techniques or the computer itself. The controlling techniques are called software, while computers themselves and related devices are called hardware. The work of a computer is just making full use of various resources by software set in the computer, and directing the hardware to realize marvelous omnipotent² functions.

Primary Components³ of a Microcomputer

There are many types of microcomputers⁴. Here, we will use an IBM Personal Computer (PC) to illustrate⁵ the primary components of a microcomputer. Other brands and models of microcomputers exhibit difference in appearance and operations. An IBM PC is shown in the figure. Its primary hardware components are the main frame, the monitor, the keyboard, and many peripherals such as the disk drive, hard disk, printer, and mouse, all of which are hardwired to the main frame. The main frame is the heart of a microcomputer system. It contains the Central Processing Unit (CPU), a chip that controls the major operations of the computer and the main memory.

微型计算机的奇妙结构 

　　在中文里，计算机有一个人所共知的雅号：“电脑”。这是因为计算机的工作过程与人的大脑思维过程极为相似。 

　　正像没有汽车或者没有汽车驾驶技术，司机就不能驾驶汽车一样，没有计算机或者没有控制计算机的技术，人就不能操纵计算机。这些控制计算机的技术被叫作软件，计算机及其各种设备本身被叫作硬件。计算机的工作就是通过计算机的软件组，充分利用计算机的各种资源，并指挥硬件实现无所不能的奇妙用途。

　　微型计算机的主要组成部分：微型计算机种类繁多。在这里，我们用IBM个人计算机（PC）来解释微型计算机的主要组成部分。其他品牌和型号的微机在外貌和操作上各有不同。一台IBM　PC计算机如图所示：它的主要硬件成分是主机、监视器、键盘以及许多与主机相连的外围设备，如磁盘驱动器、硬盘、打印机、鼠标。主机是微机系统的核心，它包括中央处理单元（CPU）和主存，CPU是一块控制计算机主要操作的芯片。