Mom popped her head into my room.
"Your room is clean!"
"I'm building my computer," I told her.
"You have to build a computer in a clean space.
No dust or cat hair."
Dad came in and sat on my bed.
He looked impressed when he saw the computer parts spread out on my desk.
"So what do you do first?"
"This is the power supply."
I held up a black box with cords running out.
"First I'll put it in the computer's case so I can plug the computer in."
"Be careful!" said Mom.
"I'll keep everything unplugged while I'm building," I said as I screwed the power supply into the case.
"Next I have to work with the motherboard." I held up the board.
Mom chuckled. "It looks more like a 'robot' board than a 'mother' board."
"A motherboard is like the computer's nervous system.
Other parts plug into it, and the motherboard lets the parts communicate.
The motherboard makes sure the information in the computer gets to where it needs to go."
"Your mother makes sure everyone in our family gets to where they need to go," said Dad.
Mom laughed.
I picked up a small square package.
"This is the central processing unit, or CPU.
The CPU does all of the computer's work.
It's like the computer's brain."
"That's a pretty thin brain!" said Dad.
"How can it remember anything?"
"The CPU isn't exactly like a person's brain," I explained.
"It does the thinking for the computer, but it doesn't actually store information.
There are two other pieces of hardware for that."
I pointed to a metal box.
"The hard drive is where the computer stores all of its information.
When you save something, it's stored on the hard drive."
Then I held up a rectangular piece.
"This is RAM. That stands for random access memory.
RAM is where the computer puts information while it's working on it.
I'm putting in extra RAM so I can work on several things at the same time."
"I could use extra memory!" Dad laughed.
I attached the RAM and CPU to the motherboard.
Then I carefully placed the motherboard in the case.
"Is the computer ready?" asked Mom.
"Not yet." I pointed out spots on the motherboard.
"These places are where you add parts for sound and graphics.
I got a good graphics card for playing games."
I put the remaining parts into place and connected my monitor to the computer.
"Let's plug it in now," I said, crossing my fingers for luck.
Dad plugged the computer into a power strip, and I switched it on.
We heard the computer start up, and then numbers scrolled up the screen.
Mom and Dad cheered and I let out a sigh of relief.
"Can you surf the internet now?" Mom asked.
"Not yet. This is just the hardware," I said.
"I still have to install software—the programs and code that tell the computer what to do."
"Can you write code too?" asked Dad teasingly.
I smiled. "That's my next project."