I have been a computer nerd for many many years. I can program in quite a few languages, and I can even build them.  I sat down with a buddy the other day and asked how a computer actually takes electricity and does something with it, and we just couldnt figure it out, and Google wasn't much help either.I mean, how does a computer take a constant flow of electricity and turn it into 1's and 0's and then actually do something with those 1's and 0's like turn a light on for 15 seconds?I understand gates (AND, OR, NOR, NAND, NOT) and a little about diodes, resistors and transistors, but I figured this would be the perfect place to have it explained in true laymens terms!Can anybody point me in the right direction or give me a brief explanation?
How does a computer work?
computer architecture;education;reference question