If you’re a newcomer to the computer industry, there’s a lot of stuff that can quite frankly be overwhelming. Tech blogs and journalists nonchalantly toss around terms like “microarchitecture” and “clock speed” with little consideration that a good portion of their audience has only a slight perception of just what the hell they’re on about. Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of this myself, in the past.

What’s more, most of the definitions and tutorials one finds assume that the reader already has some degree of technical knowledge. Often, these informative pieces can be as difficult to keep up with as the original articles. A lot of people simply give up and accept that they’ll only have a vague understanding of things.

What if I told you that computer’s aren’t nearly as complicated as people make them out to be?

You’d probably scoff. Call me crazy. Wonder if I’m trying to sell you something. Or all of the above. But in all honesty…it’s true. Here, I’ll show you- here’s a few common bits of terminology from the computer world, put into layman’s terms for your reading convenience.

System Architecture/Microarchitecture:

At its core, each and every computer chip consists of two primary elements; known respectively as the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and the Microarchitecture. The former is related to the programming of a computer – that is, how the computer understands what each element in its basic language means, what instructions are to be carried out and in what order, etc. The ISA basically deals with what the chip does. It’s a sort of ‘bridge’ between software and hardware.

The Microarchitecture, on the other hand, can be seen as how the ISA does what it does. It’s how everything is ultimately organized on the chip or processor. There’s a bit more to it than that, but basically…that’s all you need to know for a general understanding of the term.

If you want an analogy, the ISA is the foreman of a factory, directing the workers, whereas the Microarchitecture is the factory floor itself, how everything is laid out and put together. Got it? Good.  You’ve probably noticed I’ve left out the working parts of the factory. I’m getting to that.

Processor

The Processor of a computer chip (occasionally referred to as Process Technology, or Silicon Process Technology) basically carries out the instructions set out by the ISA. Technically, the processor is a part of the microarchitecture of a chip- it comprises the working bits. I’m listing them as different terms, though- since, normally, when one refers to microarchitecture, we’re pointing to how the chip is organized- how the physical elements of a chip are laid out.

Long story short, while the ISA is the foreman and the microarchitecture is the layout of the factory, the Processor is the machines and workers that keep the factory running. Simple, right?

SATA

Image via eshop.macsales.com

SATA stands for Serial Advanced Technology Attachment. That definition probably isn’t all that helpful, is it? You’re probably still trying to figure out just what the hell I’m talking about.  I’m going to have to go into a bit more detail if you’re going to understand “SATA” actually means, rather than what it stands for. I’ll explain:

Basically, SATA is an interface that’s designed to connect host bus adapters to hard disc drives or optical drives. Again, I’m just complicating things further, aren’t I? We’ve now got two more definitions to look at before we actually understand what the hell SATA is supposed to be. First off, a computer bus. If the first thing you think of is a transportation system, you actually aren’t all that far off. A bus is basically a subsystem of a computer’s architecture designed to transmit data between computer components or, in some cases, between computers themselves. Consequently, a host bus adapter is a subsystem that connects a host system (basically, the main computer’s motherboard) to other components such as hard drives, disc drives, network adapters….you get the idea.

So basically, a SATA connection is, at its core, an interface designed to hook up your computer to its hard drive. See? Nowhere near as overwhelming or complicated as it seems at first, is it?

RAID

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independant Discs. That definition isn’t any more helpful than the SATA definition. I’ll elaborate: basically, a RAID array is a means of combining multiple separate disc drives into a single unit. Even though each of these drives is technically an independent component, they’re treated as a single entity by whatever system they happen to be connected to. As a result, when data is saved, it’s saved to each one of the independent disc drives. The reason for doing this is that one not only gains additional storage space, but also increased reliability- should one disc fail, you’re likely to still have several others that will function.

Granted, there’s a bit more to a lot of the definitions I’ve provided here…but what you’ve got now will provide you with a good starting point, should you be looking to find out more.

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