Electronic Design
Computers are thought fearsome because they are based on electrical circuits. Electricity can be dangerous, as the anyone struck by lightning will attest. But inside the computer, the danger is low. At its worst, it measures 12 volts, which makes the inside of a computer as safe as playing with an electric train. Nothing that's readily accessible inside the computer will shock you, straighten your hair, or shorten your life.
Personal computers could not exist—at least in their current, wildly successful form—were it not for two concepts: binary logic and digital circuitry. The binary approach reduces data to its most minimalist form, essentially an information quantum. A binary data bit simply indicates whether something is ...
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