Your Mission Briefing

Before you can build cool stuff — games, apps, websites, or even your own hacks — you need to understand the machine you're working on. Think of it like being a race car driver. You don't need to be a mechanic, but you do need to know what all the parts do. Today, we crack open a computer and look at every part like an engineer would.

The 7 Core Parts

Think of a computer like a team. Every player has a specific job. Take one player out, and the whole team struggles.

How It All Works Together — Opening Minecraft

Here's what actually happens in the split second between you clicking the Minecraft icon and seeing the loading screen:

RAM vs Storage — The Backpack Trick

Here's the easiest way to remember the difference — and you'll never forget it:

🏠 Storage = Your bedroom. Everything you own lives in there — all your games, all your files, all your music. But you can't play with everything at once.

🎒 RAM = Your backpack. Before school, you grab what you need for the day. Your computer grabs programs and loads them into RAM. When you power off? Backpack gets emptied. But your bedroom stays full.

Binary — The Language Computers Actually Speak

Your CPU only understands two things: ON (1) and OFF (0). That's the whole language. Everything else — every game, every YouTube video, every AI chatbot — is just billions of 1s and 0s happening incredibly fast. Try the Binary Translator in the Tools tab to see your name in computer language! 🔢