the electrons behind the pretty gui

[daThinker]

I enjoy learning as much as i can about computers and I am trying to fully understand how the processor and applications get the final result you see on the screen. I know that at the heart of the processor there are tiny transistors arranged by the functions they accomplish (I think?). I was curious about the difference between instructions and code. When you execute an application it sends instructions to the processor right? or are these instructions already built into the processor and it just takes the code from the source and does what it should with it? Its hard to think about just a bunch of tiny transistors sending the signals where the need to go. I am just making sure i'm getting the big picture? I am aren't I?

[Unsecured Loner]

I'm sure others here have a better understanding, but I do know that instructions are built into Intel and AMD processors. I believe the processor recently announced by Transmeta (can't recall the name at the moment) is the first without on-board instructions, thereby making it more versatile than Intel or RISC architecture.