Without doubt, one of the greatest challenges to understanding and mastering a desktop computer, is the ability to understand and interprt symbols. They abound among us, from logos for companies that become symbols through the nature of their design, to outright symbolic icons that are meant to ‘stand-in‘ for the idea or process they represent. I have included an image from the front of my computer here that has several symbols screened onto the computer case. It could even be argues that the receptacle holes for devices to be plugged in are even themselves symbols, due to their widespread nature and accompanying recognition, generally. Check out the circle on the topmost button that is broken by the single vertical bar. This is the recognized symbol for I/O.
