Everything is a computer
What is a computer?
At the most basic level, a computer is something that is able to do computations. That implies a key set of hardwares that enables computation: a processor and a random-access memory.
A PC has more than that. It has:
- a storage device
- a network interface
A lot of things are computers. Sometimes, even components we would normally not think of as a computer (well, at least not me) — a network interface card. A NIC has its own processor and RAM. It's a special-purpose computer meant to be used to connect to a network of computers. It sends & inspects packets. If it receives a packet that is not meant for its host, it discard the packet. It doesn't interrupt its host. Imagine if it can't compute and the host have to attend to every single packet. That would slow down the host.
What else is a computer?
- A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a computer
- A Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) is a computer
- A Power Distribution Unit (PDU) is a computer
- A router is a computer
- A switch is a computer
Computers that have network interfaces are especially useful, because we can talk to them remotely and get them to do or to say things.