Learning Computer Science to enhance gaming experience

So I have a couple friends that are really into PC gaming and I want to start to learn a bit about computers in general. I have a BS in Biochemistry so I have some background in science but never really ventured into computer science. After college I began getting back into video games but now have a wider interest in the industry(which initially led me to GiantBomb) and want to learn more about computers in general from putting them together and the complexity of the specific parts that make it up as a whole. I also want to learn about the programming/coding side as well so I can efficiently interact with my hardware. I've started reading a little about using Unix but I wasn't sure if there was a better place to start. Any help for a starting point for somebody with a science background, but not completely related to computers. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

What you are describing isn't exactly computer science and computer science won't enhance your gaming experience in any way. Learning how to build a computer is honestly just an advanced set of lego's these days. If you are talking about actually learning how the various parts work, then there is plenty to read to learn the basic's. Still, knowing how a CPU actually works, or how the OS organizes computer cycle's literally adds no value to your gaming experience.

Also learning programming won't help you "efficiently interact" with your hardware. Learning programming will teach you how software is built and lead you to creating your own. When it comes to being a computer user, in this case gaming, programming experience doesn't really do much to enhance anything. You just have a better idea about what is actually going on, but without much benefit.

With that said though I encourage you to explore these topics more! Programming is fucking rad and learning about how the hardware works, or things like computer organization can be really rewarding. I just wouldn't come at it with the mindset of "enchancing your gaming experience" because it simply wont unless you plan on making your own games.

As for where to start, well it depends on where you want to go! The things you listed are two completely distinct branches of comptuer science. If you want to learn programming then there are a ton of different resources out there. Codecademy is fairly popular and gives a good introduction to programming concepts. Wikipedia is also a great way to just get broad understanding of topics. For exaple the page on Microarchitecture(Computer Organization) is pretty good.

If you could expand on what you are really interested in learning and how deep you want to go, I would be happy to give more details.

Thanks for the info! It just shows how little I know altogether. What I would like to know is the various parts that make up a computer, but I want to go a little deeper than that. I know general information about CPUs, graphics cards, processors, cooling units, but I want to get to the understanding of how they interact with each other on a microscopic level, how they are made, what is most important about each and how it translates to what we see on the monitor. I can look up a lot about this myself but I wanted to see if anyone out there has a recommended starting point.

Yeah, putting together computers is not "computer science", but is a fun hobby. As for programming, I second it being rad (being a CS major myself, perhaps I am biased). Learn to code, you will probably appreciate games more, tho it certainly wont make you better. Happy Computering!

Programming is can be fun and I think everybody should at least learn some, to improve their computer literacy. This guy have a ongoing blog about graphics programming I recommend you to check it out. If you want to make a game, check out Tom Francis' (creator of gunpoint) guide on how to make a game.

Google is your friend, there are hundreds probably hundred thousands tutorials on the internet.

It sounds like you're actually more interested in the chemistry and physics involved in semiconductor devices. That's really an entirely different discussion, one that really isn't covered to any degree in most computer science programs. I got a bit of it during the course of getting my computer engineering bachelor's and master's, but even then, not all that much. Looking at things on that scale is more of a specialization that you would have people primarily from electrical engineering and physics backgrounds getting into.

As someone who just graduated with a BS in Computer Science and am preparing to start my career in software engineering next month, I can tell you with 100% certainty that my knowledge of programming has not influenced my enjoyment of games in any way. At best, I can look at some funny glitches in games and go, "Man, this is probably caused by X, but I'm not sure." The only entertainment this knowledge actually impacts is television. Whenever someone tries to "hack" something on television I roll my eyes a bit. Other than that, CS hasn't really impacted my enjoyment of anything really.

But I will add my voice to those saying that everyone should know at least a little programming. Society is becoming increasingly technical and that isn't going to stop anytime soon from what I can see. Definitely look into some programming tutorials if you're interested. It can be fun.

Computer Science graduate here. (Also game developer)

Programming is pretty cool, I agree with @t_wester that everybody should learn, it should be a school subject, given it's current role in the modern world.

As for the gaming itself, what I can tell you from personal experience is that you start to understand how some things work and why things are done in that way, things to what a normal person might say "That's dumb, why did they do it this way?" if you understand a little you might know that it would require too much processing time, or too much memory, or that particular engine does not handle that stuff well. Since I started making games I became a lot more forgiving about games in general because I know very well how fuckin hard it is to do, even stuff that seems simple.

Another thing, and that might be just me, but a lot of times when I'm playing a game I'm thinking about how they did that movement, or that effect, how they handle the AI and how I would have done it. It might break the spell a little bit.

You might want to learn how to build circuits before going into the computer stuff. After the running of code is involved, everything is so far removed from chemical/physics standpoint that those things can just be ignored 99,99999999% of the time.

I'd recommend SpaceChem, if you're interested in programming, since it integrates chemistry and programming into a game. I thought it was great mind-bending fun and rate it as one of my all-time top games. It gives a clear insight into how programs can be structured to produce output.

I'd also suggest TIS-100 (from the same developer) - although I haven't played that one yet. That game is based on coding in assembly (low level programming) language. It's in early access, but it's cheap and apparently feature complete.

I'd recommend a book called practical electronics for inventors. It's sort of basic and fairly high level but will give you an idea about how the basic components function. After that you can decide if you want to go deeper, and if so you can either go back to school for electrical engineering, or read more books and do more research. It is not what I would consider a hobby unless you begin and end with this book. It's typically a lifelong obsession and career. It's how I actually got into working for BMW, an interest for programming at 10 turned into an interest into electronics around 14, turned into wanting to get deeper into practical things. If you feel like playing with electronics and programming you can go to something like arduino. Most people keep it fairly simple but you can go as deep as you want. It's fairly interesting programming hardware you designed and working with the processor rather than brute forcing which is what most "programmers" do on a daily basis.

I seriously recommend going back to school if you want to get deep into how things really work and function, the internet is filled with bad information as much as it is good and unless you know the difference you may be learning incorrect things. I just wanted to add since people think I'm an idiot here. I learned a lot of the electronics and programming stuff from my grandpa who works at jpl, my wifes father who works at jpl, my uncle who works for wonderware, and my father who until recently worked for boeing. Other than that I've read a lot of books and done a lot of independent research. I've built simple circuits to my own homemade computers. It's fun stuff but I feel like there is too much to know to just want to know it. You should either commit or stick to the basics, no matter how smart you are. Electrical engineering is a deep field with many specialties.

Thanks for the recommendations! Going back to school isn't an option right now for me (single Dad) but it's good to get an idea of a couple free websites and books to start with. I was going to start searching on my own but wanted to see if there were any particularly good sites for it. Definitely interested in the engineering side of it. Computer science was definitely the wrong term to use. Either way thanks for the help and if anyone thinks of anything else, keep it coming!