What is a computer?

I guess before I can get started in deep coding stuffs I need to create an analogy for what a computer is and how it works. Don't worry, this is for the uninitiated; you don't need to know anything about computers to understand this.

Your computer is a box. Yeah, yeah, I know... difficult stuff here. In fact, it is a "magic" box to most people. It just plows along doing what it does. Most people don't pay any attention to how it works or what it does, they just click the buttons and do what they need to do.

But how does it work?

That's actually a huge topic that very few people can truly answer... so I'll create an analogy that I'll likely reuse a lot in the future.

Imagine that your computer is actually a home for mathematically inclined gremlins. Perhaps smart chupacabras, but we'll go with gremlins because it's easier to type. These gremlins know how to add, subtract, multiple and divide and they're very good at it. Incredibly good; in fact they can do billions of these simple math operations per second.

The gremlins have other talents too. They can work in groups or on their own and, most importantly, they can read and follow instructions.

Their drawback, however, is that they will only do what they're told. Nothing more, nothing less. They don't think for themselves and they don't understand the concept of common sense. If we tell them to lick their finger and jam it into a light socket they'll do it without question or hesitation. Even more odd, they'll keep their finger in the light socket until we tell them to take it out! They're cute, but not too smart.

Writing a computer program (programming/coding) is essentially telling the gremlins what to do. Add this, multiply it with this, divide it by this, etc. The gremlins will follow the instructions exactly as the programmer told them to.

Some instructions can cause the gremlins to get confused. If the programmer tells the gremlins to do something and put the result in a box but they fail to give the gremlins a box, bad things can happen. In fact, the gremlins will freak out because they have to put the result in a box but they don't have a box but they have to have a box but, but, but...

This is your traditional "crash." The gremlins have to do something but they can't. The net effect is that they do the only thing they can do: pull the fire alarm.

A programmer's job is to tell the gremlins what to do in such a way that the gremlins can never be confused. The job of the user (You!) is to never have to worry about how the gremlins do what they do.