BASICS OF IT

Detailed Curriculum

Module 1 Introduction to Computers: Classification of computers, Components of

Computer System, Introduction to High level and low level languages.
Software: System Software and Application Software, Networking concepts
and Classification, Internet and intranet, Practical on Internet using emails,
Use of search engines
Module 2 Operating Systems: Concept of an operating system; Operating system as
resource manager and coordinator of devices and jobs; Elements of
Window operating systems; Use of menus, tools and commands of window
95/98 operating systems

Computer Networking: Single and multi-user; Multi-task computer

systems; File maintenance; Concept of computer network: functions and
scope of LAN, WAN Network;

Module 3 Database Management: Concept of database creation and modification of

database files; Databases at work,

Computer Security: Introduction, Malicious Programs, Cryptography,

Digital Signature, Firewall, Users Identification and Authentication,
Security Awareness and Policies

Module 4 Basic Introduction to MS Office : MS Word, MS Excel , MS Power Point &

others

Module 5 Internet and its uses: Internet; E-mail, E-Commerce & E-banking on World
wide web, Architecture and functioning of Internet; World-wide web and its
structure;
 Module 1
Introduction to Computers
A computer is an electronic device that takes input such as numbers, text, sound, image,
animations, video, etc., processes it, and converts it into meaningful information that could
be understood, presenting the changed input (processed input) as output. All numbers, text,
sound, images, animations, and video used as input are called data, and all numbers, text,
sound, images, animations, and video returned as output are called information. Input is the
raw data entered into the computer by using input devices. Computer Is an electronic
machine/device which can input data, process them according to the instruction given and
then give out the meaningful information.
A computer is “an automatic electric machine for performing calculations”. The United
States of America Institute has defined a computer as “a device capable of solving problems,
by accepting data, performing described operations on the data, and supplying results of
these operations. Various types of computers are calculators, digital computers and analog
computers”.
According to the International Standard Organisation (ISO), a computer is “a data processor
that can perform substantial computations, including numerous arithmetic and logic
operations, without intervention by a human operator during the run”.
The term “Electric Data Processing” (EDP) is associated with electronic computers and refers
to the processing of data through electronic computers. Collected data in a coded form,
known as input, are fed into the computer so that processing of data may be made and the
desired results may be produced in the form of reports and documents, known as the
output, in code or plain language, as desired by the investigator.
Today’s generation could never ever imagine in their wildest dreams about the world, ages
before, when there were no computers or any other technologies. So much we have
advanced that now every information is just a click away and is in your hands 24/7. All this
advancement was possible only with the introduction of a small device called the
“Computer”.
Basically, computer is a device that accepts the message by the imputer and processes this
message and stores the information at the storage devices and later gives an output of the
message through the output devices.
A simple explanation of the computer. Normally, a computer consists of a processing unit
called the Central Processing Unit or the CPU and a form of memory. In the years between
1940 and 1945 were the first electronic digital computers developed. The initial sizes were
as big as a room and consumed power as much as today’s personal computers.
Initially, computer was related to a person who carries out calculations or computations and
as such the word computer was evolved in 1613 and continued till the end of 19thcentury.
Later it as re-described as a machine that carries computations.
Computers are being used for various purposes today like weather forecasting, machinery
operations, guidance of spacecraft and technology. Apart from these in the medical sector,
it provides a great helping hand in storing information that could be referred later, in space
technology, automation in banks, ticket booking through the net, traffic control, and even
games could be played in computers on and many more. All these are possible only because
of the characteristics that a computer posses like speedy, accuracy, reliability and integrity.
It could executive over a billion instructions per second without committing any mistakes is
completely reliable. The memory of the computer is so vast that it could hold in a large
amount of data.
To run a computer, it is the programming that decides and it should be run in a computer.
Programming is defined as a set of instructions allotted to the computer that accepts it in
order to solve a problem. There are many different languages that are being used to
program a computer. Some of the languages are BASIC, COBOL, C, C++, JAVA are a few to
name.
With the introduction of computers, attaining information has become a lot more easier.
Computers have become the backbone of Information Technology and a major application
in this sector is the Internet. With the Internet, nothing is impossible today. Apart from
acquiring information, one could stay connected to friends and family, a great platform for
business expansions, purchasing, studying and the list just goes on, it is endless.
Computerization in almost all sectors, have created job opening for thousands. Computer
education has been introduced at school levels and in primary classes, as such is the
importance of acquiring the knowledge of computers. Every year there are thousands of
students step out from universities and colleges across the globe into the world of computer
technology and this youth is what is tomorrow’s assets in getting technology into the next
level of advancement.
The computer has proved in all roles that it has been assigned. A great helping hand, in
every sector that has been applied with computers. Telecommunication and satellite
imagery are also computer based, which is added to the long list of applications computer
holds in other fields.

Classification Of Computers
The basic types of computers are:

(i) Digital Computers:

These computers deal with actual numbers and the answer to the problem is obtained by
counting. These computers work according to a set of instructions (called ‘Programme’).
This type of computer performs the work immediately after it is given a problem. In
business, most of the computers in operation now-a-days are of this type.
Broadly, digital computers may be classified in four major categories:
1. Micro computers
2. Mini computers
3. Mainframe computers
4. Super computer
1. Micro Computers:
The smallest among them are micro computers. They are small in physical size (most of
them are desktop system; however, notebook micro computers that can fit into a briefcase
are also available). They are economical in terms of costs and are friendly in use. Personal
computers (PCs) fall into this category.
These computers can be used for small data processing jobs of bigger companies or serve as
complete computer systems for small firms. PC can also be connected with bigger
computers and be used as an intelligent terminal to a bigger computer. The details
regarding their applications in business are included in the last section of this book.
2. Mini computers:
Mini computers are very popular among medium sized companies. Mini computers offer
facilities for faster processing of voluminous information. Mini computers, of course, are
bigger than microcomputers but smaller than most of their elders called mainframes.
They cost somewhere between Rs. 5 to 15 lac depending upon the configuration. However,
these prices are only indicative and are subject to substantial changes over time. The mini
computers like VAX 8000 series from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and AS/400 series
from IBM have been quite popular in computer aided manufacturing, as well as
departmental computers.
They have also been used extensively as gateways between mainframe networks and as
main servers for local area networks of microcomputers.
3. Mainframes:
Mainframes are bigger computers, capable of handling data processing needs of, say, head
office of a bank, or a big multinational company or may be a public utility office. Mainframe
computer systems have larger storage and the speed of processing is also very high.
They also offer the advantage of wider choice with regard to up-gradation of the system in
future. They offer features such as parallel processing. The parallel processing involves
combining a large number of processors that break down an application into many separate
parts in order to enhance processing speed.
The speed of processing is expressed in terms of 10 to 100 millions of instructions per
second (MIPS), and cost somewhere between 1 to 5 million dollars depending upon the
configuration. IBM still holds almost 80 per cent of mainframe market with its popular
mainframe series IBM System 390.
The mainframe popularity has fallen due to emergence of micro computers and popularity
of client server technology. However, they still find niche markets in large volume data
processing requirements such as central database servers.
Super computers are on the higher end of mainframe computers. They offer tremendous
computing power and are being used primarily in scientific research and forecasting. For
example, Cray T3E-900 series of computers are packed with computing powers that are
incomparable to any big mainframe.
4. Supercomputers:
Supercomputers have a speed of between 100 to 900 MIPS. They are quite expensive and
cost somewhere around 10-30 million dollars depending upon the configuration. The other
competitors of Cray supercomputers are machines from NEC of Japan.
The size factors:
The above differences are primarily on the basis of three basic factors, namely,
i. The primary storage capacity,
ii. Speed of processing data, and
iii. Ability to support different input, output and mass storage devices such as printers, tape
drives, etc.
These features are inter-dependent and faster computers will ordinarily have large memory
sizes and shall have facility to use a large number of sophisticated input-output devices. The
speed of a computer system depends, partly, on the memory size, and the number and type
of input-output devices connected to it. The lines of demarcation between these categories
of computers are very thin. Figure 6.2 represented the grey areas among these type of
computer systems.

As may be noticed from Fig. 6.2, there are common areas between two adjoining rectangles.
These areas represent the fact that the higher end of smaller computer system may have
the capacities equivalent to lower end of bigger computer system.
For example, a highly configured micro computer may be as good as smaller minicomputer.
The same is true for a mini computer and the mainframe. Only a few years ago, computers
could be distinguished on the basis of amount of primary memory or speed of processing.
These bases are no longer valid for classification.
The distinctions are changing and some of them are fast .dying out as a result of
advancements in hardware technologies. In each category, the buyer has many
configuration options. With increasing competition, sellers are falling on one another trying
to sell configurations as high as possible to push up their revenues.
The innovations like parallel processing using cheaper PC platforms are cutting into the
mainframe market. Such parallel processing involves combining of hundreds of processors
that break down an application into many parts in order to enhance the processing speed.

(ii) Analog Computers:

These computers work on the basis of using a formula or a system to represent that which is
being investigated. This operation is actually based on approximations and both input and
output of this type of computers are approximate positions on a continuous scale, rather
than absolute numbers.
Answer to the problem in this type of computer is never precisely accurate because it is
obtained by measuring the continuous scale, but it is within a tolerable error. These
computers require an advanced knowledge of mathematics and are used for research and
scientific investigations.

(iii) Hybrid Computer (Analog + Digital)

A combination of computers those are capable of inputting and outputting in both digital
and analog signals. A hybrid computer system setup offers a cost effective method of
performing complex simulations.

WORKSTATION
WORKSTATION Was originally a computer used by one person, particularly for graphics and
design applications and was used primarily in engineering. It had a fast and powerful central
processor, a high - resolution monitor and large memory. This enabled complex designs to
be easily manipulated. These characteristics however are no longer unique to Workstations.
High performance personal computer can offer very similar services, so the distinction is a
historical one. Personal computers are generally fitted with some kind of graphics expansion
card - a circuit board containing the necessary electronics.

Components of Computer System

Elements of a Computer System:
A computer system is a set of six elements viz.:
(i) Hardware,
(ii) Software,
(iii) People,
(iv) Procedures,
(v) Data and
(vi) Connectivity.

(i) Hardware:
The physical components of a computer constitute its Hardware. These include keyboard,
mouse, monitor and processor. Hardware consists of input devices and output devices that
make a complete computer system.
Examples of input devices are keyboard, optical scanner, mouse and joystick which are used
to feed data into the computer. Output devices such as monitor and printer are media to
get the output from the computer.
(ii) Software:
A set of programs that form an interface between the hardware and the user of a computer
system are referred to as Software.
They are of six types:
(a) System software:
A set of programs to control the internal operations such as reading data from input
devices, giving results to output devices and ensuring proper functioning of components is
called system software.
(b) Application software:
Programs designed by the user to perform a specific function, such as accounting software,
payroll software etc.
(c) Operating system:
A set of tools and programs to manage the overall working of a computer using a defined
set of hardware components is called an operating system. It is the interface between the
user and the computer system.
(d) Utility software:
Certain special purpose programs that are designed to perform a specialized task, such as
functions to copy, cut or paste files in a computer, formatting a disk etc.
(e) Language processors:
Special software to accept data and interpret it in the form of Machine /Assembly language
understandable by a computer. It also ensures the correctness of language syntax and
errors.
(f) Connectivity software:
A set of programs and instructions to connect the computer with the main server to enable
sharing of resources and information with the server and other connected computers.
(iii) People:
The most important element of a computer system is its users. They are also called live-
ware of the computer system.
The following types of people interact with a computer system:
(a) System Analysts:
People who design the operation and processing of the system.
(b) System Programmers:
People who write codes and programs to implement the working of the system
(c) System Operators:
People who operate the system and use it for different purposes. Also called the end users.
(iv) Procedures:
Procedure is a step by step series of instructions to perform a specific function and achieve
desired output.
In a computer system, there are three types of procedures:
(a) Hardware oriented procedure:
It defines the working of a hardware component.
(b) Software oriented procedure:
It is a set of detailed instructions for using the software.
(c) Internal procedure:
It maintains the overall internal working of each part of a computer system by directing the
flow of information.
(v) Data:
The facts and figures that are fed into a computer for further processing are called data.
Data is raw until the computer system interprets it using machine language, stores it in
memory, classifies it for processing and produces results in conformance with the
instructions given to it. Processed and useful data is called information which is used for
decision making.
(vi) Connectivity:
When two or more computers are connected to each other, they can share information and
resources such as sharing of files (data/music etc.), sharing of printer, sharing of facilities
like the internet etc. This sharing is possible using wires, cables, satellite, infra-red,
Bluetooth, microwave transmission etc.

Components of A Computer System:

A computer system mainly has three components viz. Input Unit, Central Processing Unit
and Output Unit. These components are the building blocks of a computer and define its
architecture.
The relationship among these components is well established by the following diagram:

(i) Input Unit:

Input unit is responsible for controlling the various input devices that are used to enter data
into the computer. The commonly used input devices are mouse, keyboard, light pen,
optical scanner etc. While some input devices are designed for special purposes such as
Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) and Bar
Code Reader etc, there are other devices that accept input by responding to physical touch
and voice such as ATMs.
(ii) Central Processing Unit (CPU):
The CPU ensures the flow of data into the
system by directing the data to enter the
system, storing it into the memory and
retrieving it when needed to produce the
output.
It has three parts:
(a) Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU):
It performs all the arithmetical calculations
and computations like addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division. It is also
responsible for logical calculations like
comparisons among data items.
(b) Memory Unit:
The data has to be stored in the memory
blocks of the computer before it is retrieved
for actual processing.
(c) Control Unit:
As the name suggests, control unit controls and coordinates the activities of all the
components of the computer system. It reads data from the memory, decodes the
instructions, looks after its execution, and fetches the next instruction and so on.
(iii) Output Unit:
It controls various output devices like
printer, graphic plotter, speech
synthesizer, monitor (also known as Visual
Display Unit or VDU) to produce the
desired output and present it to the user. It
ensures the convertibility of output into
human readable form that is
understandable by the user.

PRIMARY STORAGE
Primary storage is also called internal
storage or memory. It is used to store
programs and data currently being
processed by CPU. Primary storage circuits
like light bulbs need electricity to stay on. If
the power to the computer is turned off, all the circuits will turn off and all data in primary
storage will be lost. When computer is turned back on the data will not reappear. The data
is lost forever. Because of this characteristics primary storage is called volatile storage. This
type of primary storage is called RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY or RAM. RAM is the main type
of primary storage used with computers and it is volatile.

ROM – Many computers have another type of primary storage called ROM – Read Only
Memory. ROM is non-volatile storage. This means that when the power to the computer is
turned off, the content of the ROM is not lost. ROM can store preset programs that are
always put by computer manufactures. When you turn on a PC, you will usually see a
reference on BIOS (Basic Input output System). This is part of the ROM chip containing all
the programs needed to control the keyboard, monitor, disk drive and so on.

SECONDARY STORAGE
Secondary Storage is an optional attachment, which is cable –connected to the CPU.
Secondary is nonvolatile. Any data or programs stored in secondary storage stays there,
even with the computer power turned off, unless someone purposely erases them.
Secondary storage is a permanent from of storage.
Introduction to High level and low level languages
High-Level Language
A high-level language (HLL) is a programming
language such as C, FORTRAN, or Pascal that enables
a programmer to write programsthat are more or
less independent of a particular type of computer.
Such languages are considered high-level because
they are closer to human languages and further
from machine languages.
In contrast, assembly languages are considered low-
level because they are very close to machine
languages.
A high-level language is any programming language
that enables development of a program in a much
more user-friendly programming context and is generally independent of the computer's
hardware architecture.
A high-level language has a higher level of abstraction from the computer, and focuses more
on the programming logic rather than the underlying hardware components such as
memory addressing and register utilization.
High-level languages are designed to be used by the human operator or the programmer.
They are referred to as "closer to humans." In other words, their programming style and
context is easier to learn and implement than low-level languages, and the entire code
generally focuses on the specific program to be created.
A high-level language does not require addressing hardware constraints when developing a
program. However, every single program written in a high-level language must be
interpreted into machine language before being executed by the computer.
BASIC, C/C++ and Java are popular examples of high-level languages.
 High level languages are
similar to the human
language. Unlike low level
languages, high level
languages are programmers
friendly, easy to code, debug
and maintain.
High level language provides
higher level of abstraction
from machine language.
They do not interact directly
with the hardware. Rather,
they focus more on the
complex arithmetic
operations, optimal program
efficiency and easiness in coding.
Low level programming uses machine friendly language. Programmers writes code either in
binary or assembly language. Writing programs in binary is complex and cumbersome
process. Hence, to make programming more programmers friendly. Programs in high level
language is written using English statements.
High level programs require compilers/interpreters to translate source code to machine
language. We can compile the source code written in high level language to multiple
machine languages. Thus, they are machine independent language.
Today almost all programs are developed using a high level programming language. We can
develop a variety of applications using high level language. They are used to develop
desktop applications, websites, system software’s, utility software’s and many more.
High level languages are grouped in two categories based on execution model – compiled or
interpreted languages.
Advantages of High level language
The main advantage of high-level languages over low-level languages is that they are easier
to read, write, and maintain. Ultimately, programs written in a high-level language must be
translated into machine language by a compiler or interpreter.
i. High level languages are programmer friendly. They are easy to write, debug and
maintain.
ii. It provide higher level of abstraction from machine languages.
iii. It is machine independent language.
iv. Easy to learn.
v. Less error prone, easy to find and debug errors.
vi. High level programming results in better programming productivity.

Disadvantages of High level language

i. It takes additional translation times to translate the source to machine code.
ii. High level programs are comparatively slower than low level programs.
iii. Compared to low level programs, they are generally less memory efficient.
iv. Cannot communicate directly with the hardware.
Low-Level Language
A machine language or an assembly language. Low-level languages are closer to
the hardware than are high-level programming languages, which are closer to
human languages.
A low-level language is a
programming language that
deals with a computer's
hardware components and
constraints. It has no (or only a
minute level of) abstraction in
reference to a computer and
works to manage a computer's
operational semantics.
A low-level language may also
be referred to as a computer’s
native language.
Low-level languages are
designed to operate and handle
the entire hardware and instructions set architecture of a computer directly.
Low-level languages are considered to be closer to computers. In other words, their prime
function is to operate, manage and manipulate the computing hardware and components.
Programs and applications written in a low-level language are directly executable on the
computing hardware without any interpretation or translation.
Machine language and assembly language are popular examples of low-level languages.
Low level language abbreviated as LLL, are languages close to the machine level instruction
set. They provide less or no abstraction from the hardware. A low-level programming
language interacts directly with the registers and memory. Since, instructions written in low
level languages are machine dependent. Programs developed using low level languages are
machine dependent and are not portable.
Low level language does not require any compiler or interpreter to translate the source to
machine code. An assembler may translate the source code written in low level language to
machine code.
Programs written in low level languages are fast and memory efficient. However, it is
nightmare for programmers to write, debug and maintain low-level programs. They are
mostly used to develop operating systems, device drivers, databases and applications that
requires direct hardware access.
Low level languages are further classified in two more categories – Machine language and
assembly language.

Machine language
Machine language is closest language to the hardware. It consists set of instructions that are
executed directly by the computer. These instructions are a sequence of binary bits. Each
instruction performs a very specific and small task. Instructions written in machine language
are machine dependent and varies from computer to computer.
Example: SUB AX, BX = 00001011 00000001 00100010 is an instruction set to subtract
values of two registers AX and BX.
In the starting days of programming, program were only written in machine language. Each
and every programs were written as a sequence of binaries.
A Programmer must have additional knowledge about the architecture of the particular
machine, before programming in machine language. Developing programs using machine
language is tedious job. Since, it is very difficult to remember sequence of binaries for
different computer architectures. Therefore, nowadays it is not much in practice.

Assembly language
Assembly language is an improvement over machine language. Similar to machine language,
assembly language also interacts directly with the hardware. Instead of using raw binary
sequence to represent an instruction set, assembly language uses mnemonics.
Mnemonics gave relief to the programmers from remembering binary sequence for specific
instructions. As English words like ADD, MOV, SUB are easy to remember, than binary
sequence 10001011. However, programmer still have to remember various mnemonics for
different computer architectures.
Assembly language uses a special program called assembler. Assembler translates
mnemonics to specific machine code.
Assembly language is still in use. It is used for developing operating systems, device drivers,
compilers and other programs that requires direct hardware access.

Converting to Machine Language

Regardless of what language you use, you eventually need to convert your program into
machine language so that the computer can understand it. There are two ways to do this:
1) Compile the program.
Compiler is a program that translates source code into object code. The compiler derives its
name from the way it works, looking at the entire piece of source code and collecting and
reorganizing the instructions. Thus, a compiler differs from an interpreter, which analyzes
and executes each line of source code in succession, without looking at the entire program.
The advantage of interpreters is that they can execute a program immediately. Compilers
require some time before an executable program emerges. However, programs produced
by compilers run much faster than the same programs executed by an interpreter.
Every high-level programming language (except strictly interpretive languages) comes with a
compiler. In effect, the compiler is the language, because it defines which instructions are
acceptable.
Because compilers translate source code into object code, which is unique for each type
of computer, many compilers are available for the same language. For example, there is
a FORTRAN compiler for PCs and another for Apple Macintosh computers. In addition, the
compiler industry is quite competitive, so there are actually many compilers for each
language on each type of computer. More than a dozen companies develop and sell C
compilers for the PC.
2) Interpret the program.
Interpreter is a program that executes instructions written in a high-level language. There
are two ways to run programs written in a high-level language. The most common is
to compile the program; the other method is to pass the program through an interpreter.
 Interpreter Versus Compiler
An interpreter translates high-level instructions into an intermediate form, which it then
executes. In contrast, a compiler translates high-level instructions directly into machine
language. Compiled programs generally run faster than interpreted programs. The
advantage of an interpreter, however, is that it does not need to go through the compilation
stage during which machine instructions are generated. This process can be time-consuming
if the program is long. The interpreter, on the other hand, can immediately execute high-
level programs.
For this reason, interpreters are sometimes used during the development of a program,
when a programmer wants to add small sections at a time and test them quickly. In
addition, interpreters are often used in education because they allow students to program
interactively.
Both interpreters and compilers are available for most high-level languages.
However, BASIC and LISP are especially designed to be executed by an interpreter. In
addition, page description languages, such as PostScript, use an interpreter. Every
PostScript printer, for example, has a built-in interpreter that executes PostScript
instructions.

Advantages of low level languages

i. Programs developed using low level languages are fast and memory efficient.
ii. Programmers can utilize processor and memory in better way using a low level
language.
iii. There is no need of any compiler or interpreters to translate the source to machine
code. Thus, cuts the compilation and interpretation time.
iv. Low level languages provide direct manipulation of computer registers and storage.
v. It can directly communicate with hardware devices.

Disadvantages of low level languages

i. Programs developed using low level languages are machine dependent and are not
portable.
ii. It is difficult to develop, debug and maintain.
iii. Low level programs are more error prone.
iv. Low level programming usually results in poor programming productivity.
v. Programmer must have additional knowledge of the computer architecture of particular
machine, for programming in low level language.

Low Level vs High Level Language

Program speed
Programs in low level language are written either in binary or assembly language. They do
not require any compilation or interpretation. It interact directly with the registers and
memory. Thus, they are comparatively faster than high level languages.
High level language uses English statements to write programs. Hence, they require
compilers or interpreters to translate the source to machine language. They do not interact
directly with the hardware. Thus, they are slower than low level languages.
Memory efficiency
Low level languages are memory efficient. They generally consume less memory.
High level languages are not memory efficient. They generally run inside a specific runtime
environment. Also there are several other programs running concurrently to increase
optimal efficiency of the program which consumes memory. Thus, the overall memory
consumption of high level language is comparatively more than low level language.
Easiness
Low level languages are machine friendly languages. To write a program in low level
language we must know binaries or mnemonics of low level instruction sets. Remembering
various instructions sets for different architectures is nearly impossible. Thus, low level
programming is difficult to learn. Learning low level languages requires additional
knowledge and experience about the specific machine architecture.
High level languages are programmer’s friendly language. Programs in high level language
are written using English statements. Which is much easier to remember than low level
binaries or mnemonics. Hence, high level programming is easy to learn.
Portability
Low level language contain low level computer instructions set. These instructions are
machine dependent and are different for different architectures. Hence, programs
developed are also machine dependent and are not portable.
High level languages uses English statements to write programs. They are further translated
to machine language using a compiler or interpreter. There exists a separate compiler or
interpreter for different machine architectures. That translates the source to specific
machine language. Hence, high level languages are machine independent and are portable.
Abstraction level
Low level language provides less or no abstraction from the hardware. They are the closest
language to the hardware. They interact directly with the computers register and memory.
High level language provides a high level of abstraction from the hardware. They run on top
of the machine language. They do not interact directly with the computers register and
memory. There is a layer of operating system and other software’s through with they
interact with the hardware.
Debugging and maintenance
Low level languages are more error prone. From small syntactical error to big memory leaks.
Error detection and maintenance is a tedious and time taking process.
High level languages are less error prone. Almost all syntactical errors are identified using
compilers or interpreters. They are generally easy to debug and maintain.
Additional knowledge and experience
Low level languages are machine dependent. They require a prior knowledge of the
particular computer architecture. Before one can actually write a program for that
computer.
High level languages are machine independent. They do not require any prior knowledge of
the computer architecture.
Applications
Low level languages interacts directly with the hardware. They provide very less or no
abstraction from the hardware. But, they are blazing fast when compared to high level
languages. Thus, they are generally used to develop operating systems and embedded
systems.
High level languages provide a higher level of abstraction from the hardware. Nowadays,
almost all software’s are developed using a high level language. It is used to develop variety
of applications such as – desktop applications, websites, utility software’s, mobile
applications etc.
Software: System Software and Application Software
Software
Sometimes abbreviated as SW and S/W, softwareis a collection of instructions that enable
the user to interact with a computer,
its hardware, or perform tasks.
Without software, most computers
would be useless. For example,
without your
Internet browser software, you could
not surf the Internet or read this page
and without an operating system, the
browser could not run on your
computer. The picture to the right
shows a Microsoft Excel box, an
example of a spreadsheet software
program.
Software can be thought of as the
variable part of a computer and
hardware the invariable part. Software
is often divided
into application software (programs that do work users are directly interested in)
and system software (which includes operating systems and any program that supports
application software).
Software means computer instructions or data. Anything that can be stored electronically is
software, in contrast to storage devices and display devices which are called hardware.

The Difference Between Software and Hardware

The terms software and hardware are used as both nouns and adjectives. For example, you
can say: "The problem lies in the software," meaning that there is a problem with
the program or data, not with the computer itself. You can also say: "It is a software
problem."
The distinction between software and hardware is sometimes confusing because they are so
integrally linked. Clearly, when you purchase a program, you are buying software. But to buy
the software, you need to buy the disk (hardware) on which the software is recorded.

Application Software
An application is any program, or group of programs, that is designed for the end user.
Application software can be divided into two general classes: systems
software and applications software. Applications software (also called end-user programs)
include such things as database programs, word processors, Web
browsers and spreadsheets.
Application software is the collection of programs that actually process data to generate
information under various applications. This category of software offers tools for satisfying
the users’ need for information. For each application, there has to be software performing
various data processing activities required for the job.
Application software are those software
which are designed to perform a specific
task.
Example tally,payroll etc.
These programs are structured in such a
way that they work according to the user’s
interest) This software consists of a set of
more than one programs in order to solve a
specific problem and to do a specific task. A
program created by a scientist for solving
his/her particular research question is also application software.
The programs which are included in the software package are termed as application
programs and the programmers are known as application software programmers.
Listed below are some of the application software’s such as:
Word-Processing Software: It helps to make use of a system for creating, sorting, and
printing documents, etc.
Spreadsheet Software: This software that allows us to create a computer ledger is a
number-like data analysis tool.
Apart from these above software’s, Application software also includes Database Software,
Graphics Software, Personal Assistance Software and Education Software.
The subclass of a computer program which utilizes the capabilities of computer is called
application software. Application here means the application software and the
implementation. The example of application software programs includes media players,
spreadsheets and word processors. When multiple applications are packaged together then
it is called application suite.
There is a common user interface in each application suite which makes it easier for the user
to learn different applications. In some cases, such as Microsoft Office, the various
application programs have the ability to interact with each other. This facility is very handy
for the user. For example, a user can embed the spreadsheet in a word processor using the
application software. Application software cannot run without the presence of system
software.

System software
This class of software manages the hardware resources such as primary and secondary
memory, display devices, printers, communication links and other peripherals in the IT in-
frastructure. The management of resources includes the operation, control and extension of
the capabilities of each resource. The system software may have a variety of components,
such as operating system and translation programs.
System software is that software which we can used to control the system and also used for
run applications.
Example:-DOS, UNIX etc.
System software is designed to direct the operational responsibility while extending the
processing capability of a computer system in a step by step manner. The computer’s
software system performs the following functions:
a. It supports the advancement of some other application software.
b. It helps in the proper execution of other application software.
Monitors, communicates and controls the overall operation of being able to be attached to
be used by the computer, although it has never been an integral part of the system.
Examples of such a printer, tape, etc. As a result, system software helps in making the
operations of a system more effective and efficient.
This whole process is very important owing to the software and hardware components
working together. System programs are the programs that are included in a system software
package.
Few of the very common types of system software are:
Operating Systems: It takes care of the important and efficient utilization of the software
components of the system.
Programming Language Translators: It transforms the important instructions by
programmers in a language, into a form. Communication Software and Utility Programs are
also a part of this software.
The programs and the file that comprises the operating system are called system software.
These files include configuration files, system preferences, system services, libraries of
functions and the drivers for the hardware installed on the computer. The computer
programs in system software include compilers, system utilities, assemblers, debuggers and
file management tools.
Once you install the operating system, the system software is also installed. Program such
“Software update” or “Windows update” can be used to update the system software.
However, the end user does not run the system software. For example, while using the web
browser, you don’t need to use the assembler program.
System software is also called low-level software as it runs at most basic level of the
computer. It just creates a graphical user interface thorough which the user can interact
with hardware with the help of operating system. System software just runs at the back so
you don’t need to bother about it.
The system software provides an environment to run application software and it controls
the computer as well as the applications installed on the machine.
(i) Operating system:
Operating system (OS), as an integrated set of programs, acts as an intermediary between
the user and computer hardware. The user is, generally, unconcerned about the technical
details of the hardware and need not be aware of the whole process of giving instructions to
hardware.
OS controls the input/output operations, performs the system scheduling tasks, takes care
of system interruptions and monitors system status, giving appropriate messages to
different hardware and users.
The overall control of a computer system is under the supervision and control of an OS
component called the Supervisor or kernel. The supervisor program, generally, resides in the
primary memory.
The other OS programs such as utility and library programs are generally stored on a mass
storage device attached to the computer system. They are called by the supervisor as and
when required for the current job.
The popular operating systems products include MS-DOS, UNIX, Windows 95, OS/2, Mac OS,
etc.
(ii) Translation software:
Translation software translates the programs written in programming languages such as
COBOL, FORTRAN, PASCAL and C++ into machine recognizable instructions (also called
object or machine language programs). The source programs once debugged and translated
become executable on computer hardware, of course, under the control of OS. The
translation software is also called compilers.
System software is computer system specific and it is likely that a given system software
may run only on a specified type of computer system.

Differences between Application and System Software

Subject Application Software System Software

System software is computer software

Application software is computer
designed to operate the computer
Definition software designed to help the
hardware and to provide a platform for
user to perform specific tasks.
running application software.

Purpose It is specific purpose software. It is general-purpose software.


Time Sharing,
Resource Sharing,
 Client Server
 Batch Processing Operating System
 Package Program,
Classification  Real time Operating System
 Customized Program
 Multi-processing Operating System
 Multi-programming Operating
System
 Distributed Operating System

Application Software performs in System Software Create his own

Environment a environment which created by environment to run itself and run other
System/Operating System application.

Execution It executes as and when

It executes all the time in computer.
Time required.

Application is not essential for a System software is essential for a

Essentiality
computer. computer

The number of application

The number of system software is less
Number software is much more than
than application software.
system software.
Networking Concepts and Classification
Networking is a process that fosters the exchange of information and ideas among
individuals or groups that share common interests.
In information technology, networking is the construction, design, and use of a network,
including the physical (cabling, hub, bridge, switch, router, and so forth), the selection and
use of telecommunication protocol and computer software for using and managing the
network, and the establishment of operation policies and procedures related to the
network.
A network is defined as a group of two or more systems linked together.
Computer networking is an engineering discipline that aims to study and analyze the
communication process among various computing devices or computer systems that are
linked, or networked, together to exchange information and share resources.
Computer networking depends on the theoretical application and practical implementation
of fields like computer engineering, computer sciences, information technology and
telecommunication.
A router, network card and protocols are the essential pillars upon which any network is
built. Computer networks are the backbone of modern-day communication. Even public
switched telephone networks are controlled by computer systems; most telephonic services
are also working with IP.
The increasing scope of communication has led to much advancement in the networking
field and in its relative industries like hardware, software manufacturing and integration. As
a result, most households have access to one or more networks. There are three broad
network types:
Local Area Network (LAN): Used to serve a small number of people located in a small
geographical space. Peer-to-peer or client server networking methods can be employed.
Wide Area Network (WAN): Formed to connect a computer with its peripheral resources
across a large geographical area.
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)/Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN): Formed
without the use of wires or physical media to connect hosts with the server. The data is
transferred over radio transceivers.

Network Topology refers to layout of a network. How different nodes in a network are
connected to each other and how they communicate is determined by the network's
topology.
Network Topology refers to the layout of a network and how different nodes in a network
are connected to each other and how they communicate. Topologies are either physical (the
physical layout of devices on a network) or logical (the way that the signals act on the
network media, or the way that the data passes through the network from one device to the
next).
Network topology refers to the arrangement of different devices on the network. Star, ring,
mesh, tree and hybrid are main topologies in context to a computer network.
Topology in general is related with the study of spaces. It assists in differentiating between
different types of geometry from each other. The term topology is widely used in context to
network topologies related to the field of computers. It defines the arrangement of various
components like links, nodes, peripherals, etc. in a network. It can be used for describing
physical as well as logical type of arrangement of the nodes involved in the network. There
are many different types of topologies like –

1. Mesh Topology
Mesh Topology: In a mesh network, devices are connected with
many redundant interconnections between network nodes. In a
true mesh topology every node has a connection to every other
node in the network. There are two types of mesh topologies:
Full mesh topology: occurs when every node has a circuit
connecting it to every other node in a network. Full mesh is very
expensive to implement but yields the greatest amount of
redundancy, so in the event that one of those nodes fails, network traffic can be directed to
any of the other nodes. Full mesh is usually reserved for backbone networks.
In this type of arrangement every node participating in the network is connected to every
other node. However, this tends to be very expensive and difficult to implement. Multiple
paths are can be used for transmitting a message. Due to the presence of dedicated links, it
does not provide any traffic problem. The management of this arrangement is tricky due to
heavy wiring. The system is configured in such a way that data takes the shortest path for
reaching to its destination. Fault identification is also easy in this type of topology.
Partial mesh topology: is less expensive to implement and yields less redundancy than full
mesh topology. With partial mesh, some nodes are organized in a full mesh scheme but
others are only connected to one or two in the network. Partial mesh topology is commonly
found in peripheral networks connected to a full meshed backbone.
There are two techniques to transmit data over the Mesh topology, they are :
 Routing
 Flooding
Routing
In routing, the nodes have a routing logic, as per the network requirements. Like routing
logic to direct the data to reach the destination using the shortest distance. Or, routing logic
which has information about the broken links, and it avoids those node etc. We can even
have routing logic, to re-configure the failed nodes.
Flooding
In flooding, the same data is transmitted to all the network nodes, hence no routing logic is
required. The network is robust, and the its very unlikely to lose the data. But it leads to
unwanted load over the network.
Types of Mesh Topology
Partial Mesh Topology : In this topology some of the systems are connected in the same
fashion as mesh topology but some devices are only connected to two or three devices.
Full Mesh Topology : Each and every nodes or devices are connected to each other.
Features of Mesh Topology
 Fully connected.
 Robust.
 Not flexible.
Advantages of Mesh Topology
 Each connection can carry its own data load.
 It is robust.
 Fault is diagnosed easily.
 Provides security and privacy.
Disadvantages of Mesh Topology
 Installation and configuration is difficult.
 Cabling cost is more.
 Bulk wiring is required.

2. Star Topology
Star Topology: In a star network devices are connected to a
central computer, called a hub. Nodes communicate across
the network by passing data through the hub.
Main Advantage: In a star network, one malfunctioning node
doesn't affect the rest of the network.
Main Disadvantage: If the central computer fails, the entire
network becomes unusable.
It is named as star topology as it looks similar to a star
whereas all the elements of the network are primarily
connected to a central device. This central device is known as
hub and can be either of a hub, router or a switch. This central hub also works as a repeater
for data flow. A point-to-point connection is laid between the devices and the central hub.
Thus, all nodes are connected to each other only by the assistance of this central hub.
Installation and wiring is easy of star topology. The functioning of the entire system depends
on the central hub.
In this type of topology all the computers are connected to a single hub through a cable.
This hub is the central node and all others nodes are connected to the central node.
Features of Star Topology
 Every node has its own dedicated connection to the hub.
 Hub acts as a repeater for data flow.
 Can be used with twisted pair, Optical Fibre or coaxial cable.
Advantages of Star Topology
 Fast performance with few nodes and low network traffic.
 Hub can be upgraded easily.
 Easy to troubleshoot.
 Easy to setup and modify.
 Only that node is affected which has failed, rest of the nodes can work smoothly.
Disadvantages of Star Topology
 Cost of installation is high.
 Expensive to use.
 If the hub fails then the whole network is stopped because all the nodes depend on
the hub.
 Performance is based on the hub that is it depends on its capacity

3. Bus Topology
Bus Topology: In networking a bus is the central
cable -- the main wire -- that connects all devices on
a local-area network (LAN). It is also called
the backbone. This is often used to describe the
main network connections composing the
Internet. Bus networks are relatively inexpensive
and easy to install for small networks. Ethernet
systems use a bus topology.
Main Advantage: It's easy to connect a computer or device and typically it requires less
cable than a star topology.
Main Disadvantage: The entire network shuts down if there is a break in the main wire and
it can be difficult to identify the problem if the network shuts down.
It is defined by the use of a single main cable which has terminators on both ends. All the
other nodes like workstations, peripherals, etc. are connected to this main cable. This type
of topology is widely implemented in LANs as it is easy to install and does not cost much. It
also does not require much cabling as in the case of some other topologies like star and
mesh. The main disadvantage of this topology is that the entire network is dependent on
the main cable. In case some problem occurs in the main cable, the whole system gets
affected.
Bus topology is a network type in which every computer and network device is connected to
single cable. When it has exactly two endpoints, then it is called Linear Bus topology.
Features of Bus Topology
 It transmits data only in one direction.
 Every device is connected to a single cable
Advantages of Bus Topology
 It is cost effective.
 Cable required is least compared to other network topology.
 Used in small networks.
 It is easy to understand.
 Easy to expand joining two cables together.
Disadvantages of Bus Topology
 Cables fails then whole network fails.
 If network traffic is heavy or nodes are more the performance of the network
decreases.
 Cable has a limited length.
 It is slower than the ring topology.

4. Ring Topology
Ring Topology: A local-area network (LAN) whose topology is a
ring. That is, all of the nodes are connected in a closed loop.
Messages travel around the ring, with each node reading those
messages addressed to it.
Main Advantage: One main advantage to a ring network is that
it can span larger distances than other types of networks, such
as bus networks, because each node regenerates messages as
they pass through it.
It is in a shape similar to a ring, in which every node is
connected to only two neighbors. The messages move in only one and the same direction in
this arrangement. In case any cable or device breaks away from the loop, then it can be a
fatal problem for the entire network. Token ring technology is used to implement this type
of topology. It can be used for handling high volume of data. All devices are given the same
importance in this topology. In case the capacity is increased beyond its comfortable limit
then the network starts to compromise on speed.
It is called ring topology because it forms a ring as each computer is connected to another
computer, with the last one connected to the first. Exactly two neighbours for each device.
Features of Ring Topology
 A number of repeaters are used for Ring topology with large number of nodes,
because if someone wants to send some data to the last node in the ring topology
with 100 nodes, then the data will have to pass through 99 nodes to reach the 100th
node. Hence to prevent data loss repeaters are used in the network.
 The transmission is unidirectional, but it can be made bidirectional by having 2
connections between each Network Node, it is called Dual Ring Topology.
 In Dual Ring Topology, two ring networks are formed, and data flow is in opposite
direction in them. Also, if one ring fails, the second ring can act as a backup, to keep
the network up.
 Data is transferred in a sequential manner that is bit by bit. Data transmitted, has to
pass through each node of the network, till the destination node.
Advantages of Ring Topology
 Transmitting network is not affected by high traffic or by adding more nodes, as only
the nodes having tokens can transmit data.
 Cheap to install and expand
Disadvantages of Ring Topology
 Troubleshooting is difficult in ring topology.
 Adding or deleting the computers disturbs the network activity.
 Failure of one computer disturbs the whole network.

5. Tree Topology
Tree Topology: This is a "hybrid" topology
that combines characteristics of linear bus
and star topologies. In a tree network,
groups of star-configured networks are
connected to a linear bus backbone cable.
Main Advantage: A Tree topology is a good
choice for large computer networks as the
tree topology "divides" the whole network
into parts that are more easily manageable.
Main Disadvantage: The entire network
depends on a central hub and a failure of the
central hub can cripple the whole network.
It is also known as the hierarchical topology.
It can be considered as the combination of linear bus and star topologies as it contains
systems with star topology connected to a linear bus main cable. There is dependency on
the main linear bus line, and therefore any fault in this line can bring the entire segment
down. However, this type of arrangement is supported by many hardware and software
tenders. This topology is also known as expanded star topology. The configuration and
wiring is difficult in comparison to other topologies. However, its point to point wiring for
individual sections is a desirable feature of this topology.
It has a root node and all other nodes are connected to it forming a hierarchy. It is also
called hierarchical topology. It should at least have three levels to the hierarchy.
Features of Tree Topology
 Ideal if workstations are located in groups.
 Used in Wide Area Network.
Advantages of Tree Topology
 Extension of bus and star topologies.
 Expansion of nodes is possible and easy.
 Easily managed and maintained.
 Error detection is easily done.
Disadvantages of Tree Topology
 Heavily cabled.
 Costly.
 If more nodes are added maintenance is difficult.
 Central hub fails, network fails.
6. Hybrid Topology
It refers to the arrangement which is basically a
combination of any two or more different types of
network topologies. This arrangement is known for its
flexibility and reliability. It tends to be little expensive.
It depends upon the requirements of the organization,
according to which the topologies are selected for
creating a hybrid one. Star-bus and star-ring are two
popular hybrid combinations. Corporate offices
usually use this topology to link internal LANs while
connecting external networks via WANs.
It is two different types of topologies which is a
mixture of two or more topologies. For example if in
an office in one department ring topology is used and
in another star topology is used, connecting these topologies will result in Hybrid Topology
(ring topology and star topology).
Features of Hybrid Topology
 It is a combination of two or topologies
 Inherits the advantages and disadvantages of the topologies included
Advantages of Hybrid Topology
 Reliable as Error detecting and trouble shooting is easy.
 Effective.
 Scalable as size can be increased easily.
 Flexible.
Disadvantages of Hybrid Topology
 Complex in design.
 Costly.

Internet and Intranet

Internet
A means of connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere in the world via
dedicated routers and servers. When two computers are connected over the Internet, they
can send and receive all kinds of information such as text, graphics, voice, video, and
computer programs.
No one owns Internet, although several organizations the world over collaborate in its
functioning and development. The high-speed, fiber-optic cables (called backbones) through
which the bulk of the Internet data travels are owned by telephone companies in their
respective countries.
The Internet grew out of the Advanced Research Projects Agency's Wide Area Network
(then called ARPANET) established by the US Department Of Defense in 1960s for
collaboration in military research among business and government laboratories.
The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer
networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have
permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users
at other computers).
It was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government
in 1969 and was first known as the ARPANet. The original aim was to create a network that
would allow users of a research computer at one university to "talk to" research computers
at other universities. A side benefit of ARPANet's design was that, because messages could
be routed or rerouted in more than one direction, the network could continue to function
even if parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or other disaster.
Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative and self-sustaining facility accessible to
hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Physically, the Internet uses a portion of the total
resources of the currently existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what
distinguishes the Internet is its use of a set of protocols called TCP/IP (for Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Two recent adaptations of Internet technology,
the intranet and the extranet, also make use of the TCP/IP protocol.
For most Internet users, electronic mail (email) practically replaced the postal service for
short written transactions. People communicate over the Internet in a number of other
ways including Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Internet telephony, instant messaging, video chat
or social media.
The Internet has continued to grow and evolve over the years of its existence. IPv6, for
example, was designed to anticipate enormous future expansion in the number of
available IP addresses. In a related development, the Internet of Things (IoT) is the
burgeoning environment in which almost any entity or object can be provided with a unique
identifier and the ability to transfer data automatically over the Internet.
The Internet is a global network that connects computer systems across the world. It
includes several high-bandwidth data lines that comprise the Internet "backbone." These
lines are connected to major Internet hubs that distribute data to other locations, such
as web servers and ISPs.
In order to connect to the Internet, you must have access to an Internet service provider
(ISP), which acts the middleman between you and the Internet. Most ISPs
offer broadband Internet access via a cable, DSL, or fiber connection. When you connect to
the Internet using a public Wi-Fi signal, the Wi-Fi router is still connected to an ISP that
provides Internet access. Even cellular data towers must connect to an Internet service
provider to provide connected devices with access to the Internet.
The Internet provides different online services. Some examples include:
Web – a collection of billions of webpages that you can view with a web browser
Email – the most common method of sending and receiving messages online
Social media – websites and apps that allow people to share comments, photos, and videos
Online gaming – games that allow people to play with and against each other over the
Internet
Software updates – operating system and application updates can
typically downloaded from the Internet
In the early days of the Internet, most people connected to the Internet using a home
computer and a dial-up modem. DSL and cable modems eventually provided users with
"always-on" connections. Now mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, make it
possible for people to be connected to the Internet at all times. The Internet of Thingshas
turned common appliances and home systems into "smart" devices that can be monitored
and controlled over the Internet. As the Internet continues to grow and evolve, you can
expect it to become an even more integral part of daily life.

Intranet
An intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise. It may consist of
many interlinked local area networks and also use leased lines in the wide area network.
Typically, an intranet includes connections through one or more gateway computers to the
outside Internet. The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and
computing resources among employees. An intranet can also be used to facilitate working in
groups and for teleconferences.
An intranet uses TCP/IP, HTTP, and other Internet protocols and in general looks like a
private version of the Internet. With tunneling, companies can send private messages
through the public network, using the public network with special encryption/decryption
and other security safeguards to connect one part of their intranet to another.
Typically, larger enterprises allow users within their intranet to access the public Internet
through firewall servers that have the ability to screen messages in both directions so that
company security is maintained. When part of an intranet is made accessible to customers,
partners, suppliers, or others outside the company, that part becomes part of an extranet.
An intranet is a private network that can only be accessed by authorized users. The prefix
"intra" means "internal" and therefore implies an intranet is designed for internal
communications. "Inter" (as in Internet) means "between" or "among." Since there is only
one Internet, the word "Internet" is capitalized. Because many intranets exist around the
world, the word "intranet" is lowercase.
Some intranets are limited to a specific local area network (LAN), while others can be
accessed from remote locations over the Internet. Local intranets are generally the most
secure since they can only be accessed from within the network. In order to access an
intranet over a wide area network (WAN), you typically need to enter logincredentials.
Intranets serve many different purposes, but their primary objective is to facilitate internal
communication. For example, a business may create an intranet to allow employees to
securely share messages and files with each other. It also provides a simple way for system
administrators to broadcast messages and roll out updates to all workstations connected to
the intranet.
Most intranet solutions provide a web-based interface for users to access. This interface
provides information and tools for employees and team members. It may include calendars,
project timelines, task lists, confidential files, and a messaging tool for communicating with
other users. The intranet website is commonly called a portal and can be accessed using a
custom intranet URL. If the intranet is limited to a local network, it will not respond to
external requests.
Examples of intranet services include Microsoft SharePoint, Huddle, Igloo, and Jostle. While
some services are open source and free of charge, most intranet solutions require a monthly
fee. The cost is usually related to the number of users within the intranet.
An intranet is a private network based on TCP/IP protocols, belonging to an organization,
usually a corporation, accessible only by the organization's members, employees, or others
with authorization. An intranet's websites and software applications look and act just like
any others, but the firewall surrounding an intranet fends off unauthorized access and use.
An intranet is a secure and private enterprise network that shares data o application
resources via Internet Protocol (IP). An Intranet differs from the internet, which is a public
network.
Intranet, which refers to an enterprise’s internal website or partial IT infrastructure, may
host more than one private website and is a critical component for internal communication
and collaboration.
A company's intranet is based on Internet concepts and technology, but for private use. The
term can refer to anything that is web-based but for private use, but typically means a
company's shared web applications. For example, it is common for companies to store
internal contact information, calendars, etc. on their intranet.

Use of search engines

Online research has become an essential skill for writers. What typically took place in
libraries, by phone calls or visits to experts in the field is being changed because of the
Internet. Experts can sometimes be contacted by email and information, whether it is
addresses, phone numbers, or detailed specifics on a certain subject, can be accessed on the
World Wide Web. Search Engines have become the most important tools in locating this
information, so it is important to know how to use them effectively. Search skills can be
developed through practice in using the search engines and by reading the help pages
provided by the search engines themselves. Over time, you will learn which search engine is
good for pulling up what kind of information. This article will provide a general overview of
the various search engines and some of their advanced search features which will help you
with your online research.
What Are the Major Search Engines?
There are many search engines and internet directories, but familiarizing yourself with
several major ones will be enough to get your online research off to a good start. The main
search engines included in this article are InfoSeek, Yahoo, Excite, HotBot, AltaVista, Lycos
and LookSmart; LookSmart and Yahoo are actually large directories rather than true search
engines. Even these large commercial search engines and directories have been found to
search only a small portion of the Web; however, this is typically enough to help you get to
the right webpage that contains the information you are looking for or to a website that
contains links to other sites containing information on your subject. Many of the major
search engines are also becoming known as "Internet Portals" because they provide a
number of popular services for the frequent internet user.
Search engines provide an interface to a group of items that enables users to specify criteria
about an item of interest and have the engine find the matching items. The criteria are
referred to as a search query. In the case of text search engines, the search query is typically
expressed as a set of words that identify the desired concept that one or
more documents may contain. There are several styles of search query syntax that vary in
strictness. It can also switch names within the search engines from previous sites. Whereas
some text search engines require users to enter two or three words separated by white
space, other search engines may enable users to specify entire documents, pictures, sounds,
and various forms of natural language. Some search engines apply improvements to search
queries to increase the likelihood of providing a quality set of items through a process
known as query expansion. Query understanding methods can be used to standardize query
language.
WHY PEOPLE USE SEARCH ENGINES: RESEARCH, SHOPPING, AND ENTERTAINMENT
To get a better handle on search engine optimization, it’s important to understand why
people use search engines, at all. Generally, people use search engines for one of three
things: research, shopping, or entertainment. Someone may be doing research for restoring
their classic car. Or looking for a place that sells parts for classic cars. Or just looking to kill
time with video that shows custom cars racing.
USING SEARCH ENGINES FOR RESEARCH
Most people who are using a search engine are doing it for research purposes. They are
generally looking for answers or at least to data with which to make a decision. They’re
looking to find a site to fulfill a specific purpose. Someone doing a term paper on classic cars
for their Automotive History 101 class would use it to find statistics on the number of cars
sold in the United States, instructions for restoring and customizing old cars, and possibly
communities of classic car fanatics out there. Companies would use it in order to find where
their clients are, and who their competition is.
Search engines are naturally drawn to research-oriented sites and usually consider them
more relevant than shopping-oriented sites, which is why, a lot of the time, the highest
listing for the average query is a Wikipedia page. Wikipedia is an open-source online
reference site that has a lot of searchable information, tightly cross-linked with millions of
back links. Wikipedia is practically guaranteed to have a high listing on the strength of its
site architecture alone. Wikipedia is an open-source project, thus information should be
taken with a grain of salt as there is no guarantee of accuracy. This brings you to an
important lesson of search engines — they base “authority” on perceived expertise.
Accuracy of information is not one of their criteria: Notability is.
USING SEARCH ENGINES TO SHOP
A smaller percentage of people, but still very many, use a search engine in order to shop.
After the research cycle is over, search queries change to terms that reflect a buying
mindset. Terms like “best price” and “free shipping” signal a searcher in need of a point of
purchase. Optimizing a page to meet the needs of that type of visitor results in
higher conversions for your site. Global search engines such as Google tend to reward
research oriented sites, so your pages have to strike a balance between sales-oriented
terms and research-oriented terms.
This is where specialized engines come into the picture. Although you can use a regular
search engine to find what it is you’re shopping for, some people find it more efficient to
use a search engine geared directly towards buying products. Some Web sites out there are
actually search engines just for shopping. Amazon, eBay, and Shopping.com are all examples
of shopping-only engines. The mainstream engines have their own shopping products such
as Google Product Search (formerly called Froogle) and Yahoo! Shopping, where you type in
the search term for the particular item you are looking for and the engines return the actual
item listed in the results instead of the Web site where the item is sold. For example, say
you’re buying a book on Amazon.com. You type the title into the search bar, and it returns a
page of results. Now, you also have the option of either buying it directly from Amazon, or,
if you’re on a budget, you can click over to the used book section. Booksellers provide
Amazon.com with a list of their used stock and Amazon handles all of the purchasing,
shipping, and ordering info. The same is true of Yahoo! Shopping and Google Product
Search. And like all things with the Internet, odds are that somebody, somewhere, has
exactly what you’re looking for. The following figure displays a results page from Google
Product Search.
USING SEARCH ENGINES TO FIND ENTERTAINMENT
Research and shopping aren’t the only reasons to visit a search engine. The Internet is a
vast, addictive, reliable resource for consuming your entire afternoon, and there are users
out there who use the search engines as a means of entertaining themselves. They look up
things like videos, movie trailers, games, and social networking sites. Technically, it’s also
research, but it’s research used strictly for entertainment purposes. A child of the 80s might
want to download an old-school version of the Oregon Trail video game onto her computer
so she can recall the heady days of third grade. It’s a quest made easy with a quick search on
Google. Or if you want to find out what those wacky young Hollywood starlets are up to,
you can turn to a search engine to bring you what you need.
If you’re looking for a video, odds are it’s going to be something from YouTube, much like
your research results are going to come up with a Wikipedia page. YouTube is another
excellent example that achieves a high listing on results pages. They’re an immensely
popular video-sharing Web site where anyone with a camera and a working e-mail address
can upload videos of themselves doing just about anything from talking about their day to
shaving their cats. But the videos themselves have keyword-rich listings in order to be easily
located, plus they have an option that also displays other videos. Many major companies
have jumped on the YouTube bandwagon, creating their own channels (a
YouTube channel is a specific account). Record companies use channels to promote bands,
and production companies use them to unleash the official trailer for their upcoming movie.
 Module 2

Operating Systems: Concept of an Operating System

An operating system (OS) is the program that, after being initially loaded into the computer
by a boot program, manages all the other programs in a computer. The other programs are
called applications or application programs. The application programs make use of the
operating system by making requests for services through a defined application program
interface (API). In addition, users can interact directly with the operating system through a
user interface such as a command line or a graphical user interface (GUI).
The operating system (OS) is the most important program that runs on a computer. Every
general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs
and applications. Computer operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing
input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and
directories on the storage drives, and controlling peripheral devices, such as printers.
For large systems, the operating system has even greater responsibilities and powers. It is
like a traffic cop — it makes sure that different programs and users running at the same
time do not interfere with each other. The operating system is also responsible for security,
ensuring that unauthorized users do not access the system.
An Operating System (OS) is an interface between a computer user and computer hardware.
An operating system is a software which performs all the basic tasks like file management,
memory management, process management, handling input and output, and controlling
peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. Some popular Operating Systems include
Linux Operating System, Windows Operating System, VMS, OS/400, AIX, z/OS, etc.
An operating system is a program that acts as an interface between the user and the
computer hardware and controls the execution of all kinds of programs.
Common desktop operating systems include Windows, OS X, and Linux. While each OS is
different, most provide a graphical user interface, or GUI, that includes a desktop and the
ability to manage files and folders. They also allow you to install and run programs written
for the operating system. Windows and Linux can be installed on standard PC hardware,
while OS X is designed to run on Apple systems. Therefore, the hardware you choose affects
what operating system(s) you can run.
Mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones also include operating systems that
provide a GUI and can run applications. Common mobile OSes include Android, iOS, and
Windows Phone. These OSes are developed specifically for portable devices and therefore
are designed around touchscreen input. While early mobile operating systems lacked many
features found in desktop OSes, they now include advanced capabilities, such as the ability
to run third-party apps and run multiple apps at once.
Since the operating system serves as a computer's fundamental user interface, it
significantly affects how you interact with the device. Therefore, many users prefer to use a
specific operating system. For example, one user may prefer to use a computer with OS X
instead of a Windows-based PC. Another user may prefer an Android-based smartphone
instead of an iPhone, which runs the iOS.
An operating system or OS is a software program that enables the computer hardware to
communicate and operate with the computer software. Without a computer operating
system, a computer and software programs would be useless. The picture is an example
of MicrosoftWindows XP, a popular operating system and what the box may look like if you
were to visit a local retail store to purchase it.
When computers were first introduced, the user interacted with them using a command
line interface, which required commands. Today, almost every computer is using a Graphical
User Interface (GUI) operating system that is much easier to use and operate.
Examples of computer operating systems
Microsoft Windows 10 - PC and IBM compatible operating system. Windows is the most
common and used operating system.
Apple macOS - Apple Mac operating system. Today, the only Apple computer operating
system is macOS.
Ubuntu Linux - A popular variant of Linux used with PC and IBM compatible computers.
Google Android - Operating system used with Android compatible phones and tablets.
iOS - Operating system used with the Apple iPhone and iPads.
Chromium - Google operating system used with Chromebooks.
An operating system performs these services for applications:
 In a multitasking operating system where multiple programs can be running at the same
time, the operating system determines which applications should run in what order and
how much time should be allowed for each application before giving another application
a turn.
 It manages the sharing of internal memory among multiple applications.
 It handles input and output to and from attached hardware devices, such as hard disks,
printers, and dial-up ports.
 It sends messages to each application or interactive user (or to a system operator) about
the status of operation and any errors that may have occurred.
 It can offload the management of what are called batch jobs (for example, printing) so
that the initiating application is freed from this work.
 On computers that can provide parallel processing, an operating system can manage
how to divide the program so that it runs on more than one processor at a time.

Following are some of important functions of an operating System.

 Memory Management
 Processor Management
 Device Management
 File Management
 Security
 Control over system performance
 Job accounting
 Error detecting aids
 Coordination between other software and users
Classification of Operating systems
 Multi-user: Allows two or more users to run programs at the same time. Some operating
systems permit hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users.
 Multiprocessing : Supports running a program on more than one CPU.
 Multitasking : Allows more than one program to run concurrently.
 Multithreading : Allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently.
 Real time: Responds to input instantly. General-purpose operating systems, such
as DOS and UNIX, are not real-time.

Memory Management
Memory management refers to management of Primary Memory or Main Memory. Main
memory is a large array of words or bytes where each word or byte has its own address.
Main memory provides a fast storage that can be accessed directly by the CPU. For a
program to be executed, it must in the main memory. An Operating System does the
following activities for memory management:
 Keeps tracks of primary memory, i.e., what part of it are in use by whom, what part are
not in use.
 In multiprogramming, the OS decides which process will get memory when and how much.
 Allocates the memory when a process requests it to do so.
 De-allocates the memory when a process no longer needs it or has been terminated.

Processor Management
In multiprogramming environment, the OS decides which process gets the processor when
and for how much time. This function is called process scheduling. An Operating System
does the following activities for processor management:
 Keeps tracks of processor and status of process. The program responsible for this task is
known as traffic controller.
 Allocates the processor (CPU) to a process.
 De-allocates processor when a process is no longer required.

Device Management
An Operating System manages device communication via their respective drivers. It does
the following activities for device management:
 Keeps tracks of all devices. The program responsible for this task is known as the I/O
controller.  Decides which process gets the device when and for how much time.
 Allocates the device in the most efficient way.
 De-allocates devices.

File Management
A file system is normally organized into directories for easy navigation and usage. These
directories may contain files and other directions.
An Operating System does the following activities for file management:
 Keeps track of information, location, uses, status etc. The collective facilities are often
known as file system.
 Decides who gets the resources.
 Allocates the resources.
 De-allocates the resources.

Other Important Activities

Following are some of the important activities that an Operating System performs:
 Security -- By means of password and similar other techniques, it prevents unauthorized
access to programs and data.
 Control over system performance -- Recording delays between request for a service and
response from the system.
 Job accounting -- Keeping track of time and resources used by various jobs and users.
 Error detecting aids -- Production of dumps, traces, error messages, and other debugging
and error detecting aids.
 Coordination between other software and users -- Coordination and assignment of
compilers, interpreters, assemblers and other software to the various users of the computer
systems.

Operating System as Resource Manager and Coordinator of

Devices and Jobs
Modern computers consist of processors, memories, timers, disks, mice, network interfaces,
printers, and a wide variety of other devices. In the alternative view, the job of the
operating system is to provide for an orderly and controlled allocation of the processors,
memories, and input/output devices among the various programs competing for them.
When a computer (or network) has multiple users, the need for managing and protecting
the memory, input/output devices, and other resources is even greater, since the users
might otherwise interface with one another. In addition, users often need to share not only
hardware, but information (files, databases, etc.) as well. In short, this view of the operating
system holds that its primary task is to keep track of which programs are using which
resources, to grant resource requests, to account for usage, and to mediate conflicting
requests from different programs and users.
Resource management includes multiplexing (sharing) resources in two ways: In time and in
space. When a resource is time multiplexed, different programs or users take turns using it.
First one of them gets to use the resource, then another, and so on. For example, with only
one CPU and multiple programs that want to run on it, the operating system first allocates
the CPU to one program, then after it has run long enough, another one gets to use the
CPU, then another, and then eventually the first one again. Determining how the resource is
time multiplexedwho goes next and for how longis the task of the operating system.
Another example of time multiplexing is sharing the printer. When multiple print jobs are
queued up for printing on a single printer, a decision has to be made about which one is to
be printed next.
The other kind of multiplexing is space multiplexing. Instead of the customers taking turns,
each one gets part of the resource. For example, main memory is normally divided up
among several running programs, so each one can be resident at the same time (for
example, in order to take turns using the CPU). Assuming there is enough memory to hold
multiple programs, it is more efficient to hold several programs in memory at once rather
than give one of them all of it, especially if it only needs a small fraction of the total. Of
course, this raises issues of fairness, protection, and so on, and it is up to the operating
system to solve them. Another resource that is space multiplexed is the (hard) disk. In many
systems a single disk can hold files from many users at the same time. Allocating disk space
and keeping track of who is using which disk blocks is a typical operating system resource
management task.
Resource management includes multiplexing (sharing) resources in two different ways:
Time Multiplexing
Space Multiplexing
1. Time Multiplexing
When the resource is time multiplexed, different programs or users take turns using it. First
one of them gets to use the resource, then another, and so on.
For example:
With only one CPU and multiple programs that want to run on it, operating system first
allocates the CPU to one long enough, another one gets to use the CPU, then another and
ten eventually the first one again.
Determining how the resource is time multiplexed – who goes next and for how long – is the
task of the operating system.
2. Space Multiplexing
In space multiplexing, instead of the customers taking turns, each one gets part of the
resource.
For example:
Main memory is normally divided up among several running programs, so each one can be
resident at the same time (for example, in order to take turns using the CPU). Assuming
there is enough memory to hold multiple programs, it is more efficient to hold several
programs in memory at once rather than give one of them all of it, especially if it only needs
a small fraction of the total. Of course, this raises issues of fairness, protection, and so on,
and it is up to the operating system to solve them.

Functions of Operating System

 It boots the computer
 It performs basic computer tasks e.g. managing the various peripheral devices e.g.
mouse, keyboard
 It provides a user interface, e.g. command line, graphical user interface (GUI)
 It handles system resources such as computer's memory and sharing of the central
processing unit(CPU) time by various applications or peripheral devices.
 It provides file management which refers to the way that the operating system
manipulates, stores, retrieves and saves data.
 Error Handling is done by the operating system. It takes preventive measures whenever
required to avoid errors.
The various Functions those are Performed by the Operating System are as Explained
below:-
Operating System as a Resource Manager
Operating System Also Known as the Resource Manager Means Operating System will
Manages all the Resources those are Attached to the System means all the Resource like
Memory and Processor and all the Input output Devices those are Attached to the System
are Known as the Resources of the Computer System and the Operating system will Manage
all the Resources of the System. The Operating System will identify at which Time
the CPU will perform which Operation and in which Time the Memory is used by which
Programs. And which Input Device will respond to which Request of the user means When
the Input and Output Devices are used by the which Programs. So this will manage all the
Resources those are attached to the Computer System.
Storage Management
Operating System also Controls the all the Storage Operations means how the data or files
will be Stored into the computers and how the Files will be Accessed by the users etc. All the
Operations those are Responsible for Storing and Accessing the Files is determined by the
Operating System Operating System also Allows us Creation of Files, Creation of Directories
and Reading and Writing the data of Files and Directories and also Copy the contents of the
Files and the Directories from One Place to Another Place.
1) Process Management : The Operating System also Treats the Process
Management means all the Processes those are given by the user or the Process those are
System ‘s own Process are Handled by the Operating System . The Operating System will
Create the Priorities foe the user and also Start or Stops the Execution of the Process and
Also Makes the Child Process after dividing the Large Processes into the Small Processes.
2) Memory Management: Operating System also Manages the Memory of the
Computer System means Provide the Memory to the Process and Also Deallocate the
Memory from the Process. And also defines that if a Process gets completed then this will
deallocate the Memory from the Processes.
3) Extended Machine : Operating System also behaves like an Extended Machine
means Operating system also Provides us Sharing of Files between Multiple Users, also
Provides Some Graphical Environments and also Provides Various Languages for
Communications and also Provides Many Complex Operations like using Many Hardware’s
and Software’s.
4) Mastermind: Operating System also performs Many Functions and for those
Reasons we can say that Operating System is a Mastermind. It provides Booting without an
Operating System and Provides Facility to increase the Logical Memory of the Computer
System by using the Physical Memory of the Computer System and also provides various
Types of Formats Like NTFS and FAT File Systems.
Operating System also controls the Errors those have been Occurred into the Program and
Also Provides Recovery of the System when the System gets Damaged Means When due to
Some Hardware Failure , if System Doesn’t Works properly then this Recover the System
and also Correct the System and also Provides us the Backup Facility. And Operating System
also breaks the large program into the Smaller Programs those are also called as the
threads. And execute those threads one by one.
Types of Operating System
Operating systems are there from the very first computer generation and they keep
evolving with time. In this chapter, we will discuss some of the important types of operating
systems which are most commonly used.
Batch operating system
The users of a batch operating system do not interact with the computer directly. Each user
prepares his job on an off-line device like punch cards and submits it to the computer
operator. To speed up processing, jobs with similar needs are batched together and run as a
group. The programmers leave their programs with the operator and the operator then
sorts the programs with similar requirements into batches.
The problems with Batch Systems are as follows −
 Lack of interaction between the user and the job.
 CPU is often idle, because the speed of the mechanical I/O devices is slower than the
CPU.
 Difficult to provide the desired priority.

Time-sharing operating systems

Time-sharing is a technique which enables many people, located at various terminals, to use
a particular computer system at the same time. Time-sharing or multitasking is a logical
extension of multiprogramming. Processor's time which is shared among multiple users
simultaneously is termed as time-sharing.
The main difference between Multi programmed Batch Systems and Time-Sharing Systems
is that in case of Multi programmed batch systems, the objective is to maximize processor
use, whereas in Time-Sharing Systems, the objective is to minimize response time.
Multiple jobs are executed by the CPU by switching between them, but the switches occur
so frequently. Thus, the user can receive an immediate response. For example, in a
transaction processing, the processor executes each user program in a short burst or
quantum of computation. That is, if an users are present, then each user can get a time
quantum. When the user submits the command, the response time is in few seconds at
most.
The operating system uses CPU scheduling and multiprogramming to provide each user with
a small portion of a time. Computer systems that were designed primarily as batch systems
have been modified to time-sharing systems.
Advantages of Timesharing operating systems are as follows −
 Provides the advantage of quick response.
 Avoids duplication of software.
 Reduces CPU idle time.
Disadvantages of Time-sharing operating systems are as follows −
 Problem of reliability.
 Question of security and integrity of user programs and data.
 Problem of data communication.

Distributed operating System

Distributed systems use multiple central processors to serve multiple real-time applications
and multiple users. Data processing jobs are distributed among the processors accordingly.
The processors communicate with one another through various communication lines (such
as high-speed buses or telephone lines). These are referred as loosely coupled systems or
distributed systems. Processors in a distributed system may vary in size and function. These
processors are referred as sites, nodes, computers, and so on.
The advantages of distributed systems are as follows −
 With resource sharing facility, a user at one site may be able to use the resources
available at another.
 Speedup the exchange of data with one another via electronic mail.
 If one site fails in a distributed system, the remaining sites can potentially continue
operating.
 Better service to the customers.
 Reduction of the load on the host computer.
 Reduction of delays in data processing.

Network operating System

A Network Operating System runs on a server and provides the server the capability to
manage data, users, groups, security, applications, and other networking functions. The
primary purpose of the network operating system is to allow shared file and printer access
among multiple computers in a network, typically a local area network (LAN), a private
network or to other networks.
Examples of network operating systems include Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft
Windows Server 2008, UNIX, Linux, Mac OS X, Novell NetWare, and BSD.
The advantages of network operating systems are as follows −
 Centralized servers are highly stable.
 Security is server managed.
 Upgrades to new technologies and hardware can be easily integrated into the
system.
 Remote access to servers is possible from different locations and types of systems.
 The disadvantages of network operating systems are as follows −
 High cost of buying and running a server.
 Dependency on a central location for most operations.
 Regular maintenance and updates are required.

Real Time operating System

A real-time system is defined as a data processing system in which the time interval
required to process and respond to inputs is so small that it controls the environment. The
time taken by the system to respond to an input and display of required updated
information is termed as the response time. So in this method, the response time is very less
as compared to online processing.
Real-time systems are used when there are rigid time requirements on the operation of a
processor or the flow of data and real-time systems can be used as a control device in a
dedicated application. A real-time operating system must have well-defined, fixed time
constraints, otherwise the system will fail. For example, Scientific experiments, medical
imaging systems, industrial control systems, weapon systems, robots, air traffic control
systems, etc.
There are two types of real-time operating systems.
  Hard real-time systems
Hard real-time systems guarantee that critical tasks complete on time. In hard real-time
systems, secondary storage is limited or missing and the data is stored in ROM. In these
systems, virtual memory is almost never found.
 Soft real-time systems
Soft real-time systems are less restrictive. A critical real-time task gets priority over other
tasks and retains the priority until it completes. Soft real-time systems have limited utility
than hard real-time systems. For example, multimedia, virtual reality, Advanced Scientific
Projects like undersea exploration and planetary rovers, etc.

Advantages :
 Allocating memory is easy and cheap
 Any free page is ok, OS can take first one out of list it keeps
 Eliminates external fragmentation
 Data (page frames) can be scattered all over PM
 Pages are mapped appropriately anyway
 Allows demand paging and preparing
 More efficient swapping
 No need for considerations about fragmentation
 Just swap out page least likely to be used

Disadvantages :
 Longer memory access times (page table lookup)
 Can be improved using TLB
 Guarded page tables
 Inverted page tables
 Memory requirements (one entry per VM page)
 Improve using Multilevel page tables and variable page sizes (super-pages)
 Guarded page tables
 Page Table Length Register (PTLR) to limit virtual memory size
 Internal fragmentation

Elements of Window Operating Systems

Layer 1: The Kernel.
The kernel is the heart of the operating system. Amongst its responsibilities are ensuring
that each running process is given a fair amount of time to execute while a controlling the
amount of resources each process can use.
Layer 2: Memory Management.
The name of this layer gives you a good idea what it is all about. It is the responsibility of this
layer to share your computers physical memory among the processes which want to use it.
It also has to manage such situations where there may not be enough physical memory to
share out.
Layer 3: Input/Output.
On this layer all the physical communication between your computer’s hardware, such as
disk drives, keyboards, mouse, screens and so on, takes place.
Layer 4: File Management.
Again the name of this layer may give you a clue as to what it does. It is the job of this layer
to control how the files on your computer’s hard drive are stored and accessed by any
application seeking to use them.
Layer 5: The User Interface.
The last element or layer as we have been calling them, of an operating system is the User
Interface. This layer is probably the easiest of all to understand since it is the first thing you
see when your operating system has logged you in. It is the job of this layer to provide a
means for the user to actually interact with the rest of the layers and as such the system as
a whole.
Keep in mind there are two different types of User interfaces. The first one is probably the
one you are most familiar with, the graphical user interface, which is where you see
windows and icons for each of your files and so on.
The second is a command line interface, or text based interface where a user would interact
with the system using text based commands.

Computer Networking: Single and Multi-User

Difference between Single User and Multi-User Operating System
A single-user operating system is a system in which only one user can access the computer
system at a time. On the other hand, a multi-user operating system allows more than one
user to access a computer system at one time.
An operating system is one of the most important programs that run on a computer or
server. It is referred to as the underlying software that helps in carrying out basic functions
like running programs, managing resources, manipulating files, controlling the keyboard and
screen, etc.
A single user operating system provides the facilities to be used on one computer by only
one user. In other words, it supports one user at a time. However, it may support more than
one profiles. Single keyboard and single monitor are used for the purpose of interaction. The
most common example of a single user operating system is a system that is found in a
typical home computer.
On the other hand, a multi-user operating system has been designed for more than one user
to access the computer at one time. Generally, a network is laid down, so that a computer
can be remotely used. Mainframes and minicomputers work on multi-user operating
systems. These operating systems are complex in comparison to single user operating
systems. Each user is provided with a terminal and all these terminals are connected to a
main computer. In a multi-user environment, it is very important to balance the
requirements of the users, as the resources of the main computer are shared among the
users.
 Single-user, single task - As the name implies, this operating system is designed to
manage the computer so that one user can effectively do one thing at a time. The Palm
OS for Palm handheld computers is a good example of a modern single-user, single-task
operating system.
 Single-user, multi-tasking - This is the type of operating system most people use on their
desktop and laptop computers today. Microsoft's Windows and Apple's MacOS
platforms are both examples of operating systems that will let a single user have several
programs in operation at the same time. For example, it's entirely possible for a
Windows user to be writing a note in a word processor while downloading a file from
the Internet while printing the text of an e-mail message.
 Multi-user - A multi-user operating system allows many different users to take
advantage of the computer's resources simultaneously. The operating system must
make sure that the requirements of the various users are balanced, and that each of the
programs they are using has sufficient and separate resources so that a problem with
one user doesn't affect the entire community of users. Unix, VMS and mainframe
operating systems, such as MVS, are examples of multi-user operating systems.

Multi-Task Computer Systems

Multitasking, in an operating system, is allowing a user to perform more than one
computer task (such as the operation of an application program) at a time. The operating
system is able to keep track of where you are in these tasks and go from one to the other
without losing information. Microsoft Windows 2000, IBM's OS/390, and Linux are examples
of operating systems that can do multitasking (almost all of today's operating systems can).
When you open your Web browser and then open Word at the same time, you are causing
the operating system to do multitasking.
The process of having a computer perform multiple tasks simultaneously.
During multitasking, tasks such as listening to a CD or browsing the Internet can be
performed in the background while using other programs in the foreground such as an e-
mail client.
Advantages of multitasking
 Data can be copied and moved between programs.
 Increases productivity, since dozens of programs can be running at once.
 Any changes or updates are seen immediately. For example, if a new e-mail is received
you immediately know.
Disadvantages of multitasking
 Requires more system resources.
 If on a laptop or portable device takes more battery power.
 Is multitasking good or bad for humans?
 Most computers, programs, and operating systems are designed for multitasking and do
a great job at it. However, many studies show that show multitasking for people can
reduce productivity, can increase mistakes, and may even be bad for your brain.
How can I multitask on a computer?
Computers make it easy to multitask between one or more programs by having different
windows for each program open on the computer. Below are all of the different ways you
can multitask on a computer.
Have multiple windows open at once
If you have a large display, you can resize a window and move it so more than one window
is shown on the screen at once. New versions of Windows also makes it easy to move a
window to each side or corner of your screen.
Multitasking is a logical extension of multiprogramming system that supports multiple
programs to run concurrently. In multitasking more than one task are executed at the same
time. In this technique the multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common
processing resources such as a CPU. In the case of a computer with single CPU, only one job
can be processed at a time. Multitasking solves the problem by scheduling and deciding
which task should be the running task and when a waiting task should get turn. This attempt
is done with the help of interrupt (a signal) which is attended by CPU by keeping the current
activity aside, saves its present status in buffer and returns to another important job
whatever task it was doing earlier. The act of re-assigning a CPU from one task to another
one is known as context switch.

File Maintenance
(1) The periodic updating of master files. For example, adding/deleting employees and
customers, making address changes and changing product prices. It does not refer to daily
transaction processing and batch processing (order processing, billing, etc.). The terms file
maintenance and "file management" are used synonymously. See file management.
(2) The periodic reorganization of the disk drives. Data that is continuously updated
becomes physically fragmented over the disk space and requires regrouping. An optimizing
program is run (daily, weekly, etc.) that rewrites all files contiguously.
The routine changes, updates, copying, moving, or deleting of files on a computer.
Usually, file maintenance is performed on computers or servers that are serving a vast
amount of files.

Concept of Computer Network

Networking is a process that fosters the exchange of information and ideas among
individuals or groups that share common interests.
In information technology, networking is the construction, design, and use of a network,
including the physical (cabling, hub, bridge, switch, router, and so forth), the selection and
use of telecommunication protocol and computer software for using and managing the
network, and the establishment of operation policies and procedures related to the
network.
A network is defined as a group of two or more systems linked together.
Computer networking is an engineering discipline that aims to study and analyze the
communication process among various computing devices or computer systems that are
linked, or networked, together to exchange information and share resources.
Computer networking depends on the theoretical application and practical implementation
of fields like computer engineering, computer sciences, information technology and
telecommunication.
A router, network card and protocols are the essential pillars upon which any network is
built. Computer networks are the backbone of modern-day communication. Even public
switched telephone networks are controlled by computer systems; most telephonic services
are also working with IP.
The increasing scope of communication has led to much advancement in the networking
field and in its relative industries like hardware, software manufacturing and integration. As
a result, most households have access to one or more networks. There are three broad
network types:
Local Area Network (LAN): Used to serve a small number of people located in a small
geographical space. Peer-to-peer or client server networking methods can be employed.
Wide Area Network (WAN): Formed to connect a computer with its peripheral resources
across a large geographical area.
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)/Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN): Formed
without the use of wires or physical media to connect hosts with the server. The data is
transferred over radio transceivers.

Functions and Scope Of LAN, WAN Network

LAN
A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that share a
common communications line or wireless link to a server. Typically, a LAN encompasses
computers and peripherals connected to a server within a distinct geographic area such as
an office or a commercial establishment. Computers and other mobile devices use a LAN
connection to share resources such as a printer or network storage.
A local area network may serve as few as two or three users (for example, in a small-office
network) or several hundred users in a larger office. LAN networking comprises cables,
switches, routers and other components that let users connect to internal servers, websites
and other LANs via wide area networks.
Ethernet and Wi-Fi are the two primary ways to enable LAN connections. Ethernet is a
specification that enables computers to communicate with each other. Wi-Fi uses radio
waves to connect computers to the LAN. Other LAN technologies, including Token
Ring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface and ARCNET, have lost favor as Ethernet and Wi-Fi
speeds have increased. The rise of virtualization has fueled the development of virtual LANs,
which allows network administrators to logically group network nodes and partition their
networks without the need for major infrastructure changes.
Stands for "Local Area Network" and is pronounced "lan." A LAN is a network of connected
devices that exist within a specific location. LANs may be found in homes, offices,
educational institution, or other areas.
A LAN may be wired, wireless, or a combination of the two. A standard wired LAN
uses Ethernet to connect devices together. Wireless LANs are typically created using a Wi-
Fi signal. If a router supports both Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections, it can be used to create a
LAN with both wired and wireless devices.
Types of LANs
Most residential LANs use a single router to create the network and manage all the
connected devices. The router acts as the central connection point and enables devices,
such as computers, tablets, and smartphones to communicate with each other. Typically,
the router is connected to a cable or DSL modem, which provides Internet access to
connected devices.
A computer may also be the central access point of a LAN. In this setup, the computer acts
as a server, providing connected machines with access to files and programs located on the
server. It also includes LAN software used to manage the network and connected devices.
LAN servers are more common in business and educational networks, since the extra
capabilities are not required by most home users. In a server-based LAN, devices may
connect directly to the server or indirectly via a router or switch.
A local area network (LAN) is a computer network within a small geographical area such as a
home, school, computer laboratory, office building or group of buildings.
A LAN is composed of inter-connected workstations and personal computers which are each
capable of accessing and sharing data and devices, such as printers, scanners and data
storage devices, anywhere on the LAN. LANs are characterized by higher communication
and data transfer rates and the lack of any need for leased communication lines.

Advantages of LAN or Local Area Network

1. Resource Sharing
Computer hardware resources like printers, modems, DVD-Rom drives and hard disks can be
shared with the help of local area networks. This will reduce cost of hardware purchases.
For example, a business organization using a Local Area Network for an office can use a
single network printer for the employees of this office.
2. Software Applications Sharing
It is cheaper to use same software over network instead of purchasing separate licensed
software for each client in a network. It will cost more to purchase a separate licensed
software for each computer in a network.
3. Easy and Cheap Communication
Data and messages can easily be transferred over networked computers. It saves a lot of
time and money.
4. Centralized Data
The data of all network users can be saved on hard disk of the server computer. This will
help users to use any workstation in a network to access their data. Because data is not
stored on workstations locally. But it is stored on a server computer. User will access their
own data by logging into their accounts from any client computer in the network.
5. Data Security
Since, data is stored on server computer centrally, it will be easy to manage data at only one
place and the data will be more secure too, because of more security for the server
computer.
6. Internet Sharing
Local Area Network provides the facility to share a single internet connection among all the
LAN users. In Net Cafes, single internet connection sharing system keeps the internet
expenses cheaper. Because only one high speed internet connection is purchased by a net
cafe from any ISP - Internet Service Provider company. This single high speed internet
connection is managed on the server computer of the Net Cafe and available for all network
clients with the help of Internet Connection Sharing facilities of the operating system.

Disadvantages of LAN or Local Area Network

1. High Setup Cost
Although the LAN will save cost over time due to shared computer resources but the initial
setup costs of installing Local Area Networks is high. This is because any organization that
will setup a network, will have to purchase necessary hardware equipment for networking.
It may require a sophisticated server computer - a Mini Computer, Network LAN cards,
Network Routers, HUBS / Switches, Networking Cables (for wired networks only) and
connectors etc. Additionally a Network technician will be required for setting up a new
network in an organization. If an organization has a large network, it must hire a network
administrator for smooth running of network and solving any problems.
2. Privacy Violations
The LAN administrator has the rights to check personal data files of each and every LAN
user. Moreover he can check the internet history and computer use history of the LAN
users.
3. Data Security Threat
Unauthorized users can access important data of an organization if centralized data
repository is not secured properly by the LAN administrator. LAN Administer is responsible
for the security of the whole data resource in an organization.
4. LAN Maintenance Job
Local Area Network requires a LAN Administrator. Because, there are problems of software
installations or hardware failures or cable disturbances in Local Area Network. A LAN
Administrator is needed at this full time job.A LAN Administrator may be with a M.C.S. or
B.S.C.S. degree holder person additionally with a diploma in network field.
5. Covers Limited Area
Local Area Network covers a small area like one office, one building or a group of nearby
buildings.

WAN
A wide area network (WAN) is a geographically distributed private
telecommunications network that interconnects multiple local area networks (LANs). In an
enterprise, a WAN may consist of connections to a company's headquarters, branch
offices, colocation facilities, cloud services and other facilities. Typically, a router or other
multifunction device is used to connect a LAN to a WAN. Enterprise WANs allow users to
share access to applications, services and other centrally located resources.
A wide area network (WAN) is a network that exists over a large-scale geographical area. A
WAN connects different smaller networks, including local area networks (LANs) and metro
area networks (MANs). This ensures that computers and users in one location can
communicate with computers and users in other locations. WAN implementation can be
done either with the help of the public transmission system or a private network.
A WAN connects more than one LAN and is used for larger geographical areas. WANs are
similar to a banking system, where hundreds of branches in different cities are connected
with each other in order to share their official data.
A WAN works in a similar fashion to a LAN, just on a larger scale. Typically, TCP/IP is the
protocol used for a WAN in combination with devices such as routers, switches, firewalls
and modems.
A computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. Typically, a WAN
consists of two or more local-area networks (LANs).
Computers connected to a wide-area network are often connected through public
networks, such as the telephone system. They can also be connected through leased lines or
satellites. The largest WAN in existence is the Internet.
Types of WAN connections
WAN connections can include wired and wireless technologies. Wired WAN services can
include multiprotocol label switching, T1s, Carrier Ethernet and commercial broadband
internet links. Wireless WAN technologies can include cellular data networks like 4GLTE, as
well as public Wi-Fi or satellite networks.
WANs over wired network connections remain the preferred medium for most enterprises,
but wireless WAN technologies, based on the 4G LTE standard, are gaining traction.
WAN infrastructure may be privately owned or leased as a service from a third-party service
provider, such as a telecommunications carrier, internet service provider, private IP network
operator or cable company. The service itself may operate over a dedicated, private
connection -- often backed by a service-level agreement -- or over a shared, public medium
like the internet. Hybrid WANs employ a combination of private and public network
services.

Advantages of WANS
If your company has branches in several locations, a wide area network is a viable option to
boost productivity and increase internal communications. Below are some of the more
critical business advantages to establishing a WAN:
Centralizes IT infrastructure — Many consider this WAN’s top advantage. A WAN eliminates
the need to buy email or file servers for each office. Instead, you only have to set up one at
your head office’s data center. Setting up a WAN also simplifies server management, since
you won’t have to support, back-up, host, or physically protect several units. Also, setting up
a WAN provides significant economies of scale by providing a central pool of IT resources
the whole company can tap into.
Boosts your privacy — Setting up a WAN allows you to share sensitive data with all your
sites without having to send the information over the Internet. Having your WAN encrypt
your data before you send it adds an extra layer of protection for any confidential material
you may be transferring. With so many hackers out there just dying to steal sensitive
corporate data, a business needs all the protection it can get from network intrusions.
Increases bandwidth — Corporate WANS often use leased lines instead of broadband
connections to form the backbone of their networks. Using leased lines offers several pluses
for a company, including higher upload speeds than your typical broadband connections.
Corporate WANS also generally offer unlimited monthly data transfer limits, so you can use
these links as much as you like without boosting costs. Improved communications not only
increase efficiency but also boost productivity.
Eliminates Need for ISDN — WANs can cut costs by eliminating the need to rent expensive
ISDN circuits for phone calls. Instead, you can have your WAN carry them. If your WAN
provider “prioritizes voice traffic,” you probably won’t see any drop off in voice quality,
either. You may also benefit from much cheaper call rates when compared to calls made
using ISDN circuits. Some companies use a hybrid approach. They have inbound calls come
over ISDN and outbound calls go over the WAN. This approach won’t save you as much
money, but it will still lower your bill.
Guaranteed uptime — Many WAN providers offer business-class support. That means you
get a specific amount of uptime monthly, quarterly, or yearly as part of your SLA. They may
also offer you round the clock support. Guaranteed uptime is a big plus no matter what your
industry. Let’s face it. No company can afford to be down for any length of time in today’s
business environment given the stringent demands of modern customers.
Cuts costs, increase profits — In addition to eliminating the need for ISDN, WANs can help
you cut costs and increase profits in a wide variety of other ways. For example, WANS
eliminate or significantly reduce the costs of gathering teams from different offices in one
location. Your marketing team in the United States can work closely with your
manufacturing team in Germany using video conferencing and email. Saving on the travel
costs alone could make investing in a WAN a viable option for you.
WANS also provide some key technical advantages as well. In addition to providing support
for a wide variety of applications and a large number of terminals, WANs allow companies
to expand their networks through plug-in connections over locations and boost
interconnectivity by using gateways, bridges, and routers. Plus, by centralizing network
management and monitoring of use and performance, WANS ensure maximum availability
and reliability.

Disadvantages of WANS
While WANS provide numerous advantages, they have their share of disadvantages. As with
any technology, you need to be aware of these downsides to make an informed decision
about WANS. The three most critical downsides are high setup costs, security concerns, and
maintenance issues.
High setup costs — WANs are complicated and complex, so they are rather expensive to set
up. Obviously, the bigger the WAN, the costlier it is to set up. One reason that the setup
costs are high is the need to connect far-flung remote areas. However, by using public
networks, you can set up a WAN using just software (SD-WAN), which reduces setup costs.
Keep in mind also that the price/performance ratio of WANs is better now than a decade or
so ago.
Security Concerns —WANs open the way for certain types of internal security breaches,
such as unauthorized use, information theft, and malicious damage to files. While many
companies have some security in place when it comes to the branches, they deploy the bulk
of their security at their data centers to control and manage information sent to their
locations. This strategy reduces management costs but limits the company’s ability to deal
directly with security breaches at their locations. Some companies also have a hard time
compressing and accelerating SSL traffic without significantly increasing security
vulnerabilities and creating new management challenges.
Maintenance Issues — Maintaining a WAN is a challenge, no doubt about it. Guaranteeing
that your data center will be up and operating 24/7 is the biggest maintenance challenge of
all. Data center managers must be able to detect failures before they occur and reduce data
center downtime as much as possible, regardless of the reasons. Downtime is costly, in fact,
a study done by infonetics Research estimates that medium and large businesses in North
America lose as much as $100 million annually to IT and communication technology
downtime.
Other maintenance concerns include link quality and performance degradation, on-demand
throughput, load balancing for the data center, bandwidth management, scalability, and
data center consolidation and visualization
As the person responsible for your company’s network requirements, you need to
consider both the advantages and disadvantages of this powerful tool to make an informed
decision on the viability of a WAN for your company.
WANs are powerful business tools. They boost an organization’s communications,
competitiveness, and even profitability. But WANS also have their downsides too, including
internal security concerns and significant maintenance challenges. Either way, now you have
the facts.

MAN
A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a network that interconnects users with computer
resources in a geographic area or region larger than that covered by even a large local area
network (LAN) but smaller than the area covered by a wide area network (WAN). The term
is applied to the interconnection of networks in a city into a single larger network (which
may then also offer efficient connection to a wide area network). It is also used to mean the
interconnection of several local area networks by bridging them with backbone lines. The
latter usage is also sometimes referred to as a campus network.
Examples of metropolitan area networks of various sizes can be found in the metropolitan
areas of London, England; Lodz, Poland; and Geneva, Switzerland. Large universities also
sometimes use the term to describe their networks. A recent trend is the installation of
wireless MANs.
A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a large computer network on the large geographical
area that include several buildings or even the entire city (metropolis). The geographical
area of the MAN is larger than LAN, but smaller than WAN. MAN includes many
communicating devices and provides the Internet connectivity for the LANs in the
metropolitan area.
MAN is used to combine into a network group located in different buildings into a single
network. The diameter of such a network can range from 5 to 50 kilometers. As a rule, MAN
does not belong to any particular organization, in most cases, a group of users or a provider
who takes charge for the service own its connecting elements and other equipment. Level of
service is agreed in advance and some warranties are discussed. MAN often acts as a high-
speed network to allow sharing regional resources (like a big LAN). It is also often used to
provide public available connection to other networks using a WAN connection. There are
many ways of classifying networks. The main criterion for classification is considering the
administration method.
A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a computer network that interconnects users with
computer resources in a geographic area or region larger than that covered by even a
large local area network (LAN) but smaller than the area covered by a wide area
network(WAN). The term is applied to the interconnection of networks in a city into a single
larger network (which may then also offer efficient connection to a wide area network). It is
also used to mean the interconnection of several local area networks by bridging them with
backbone lines. The latter usage is also sometimes referred to as a campus network.
Short for Metropolitan Area Network, a data network designed for a town or city. In terms
of geographic breadth, MANs are larger than local-area networks (LANs), but smaller
than wide-area networks (WANs). MANs are usually characterized by very high-speed
connections using fiber optical cable or other digital media.

Benefits or advantages of MAN

Following are the benefits or advantages of MAN:
➨It utilizes drawbacks of both LAN and WAN to provide larger and controllable computer
network.
➨MAN requires fewer resources compare to WAN. This saves the implementation cost.
➨It helps people interface fast LANs together. This is due to easy implementation of links.
➨It provides higher security compare to WAN.
➨It helps in cost effective sharing of common resources such as printers etc.
➨Like LAN and WAN, it also offers centralized management of data and files.
Drawbacks or disadvantages of MAN
Following are the disadvantages of MAN:
➨It is difficult to manage the network once it becomes large.
➨It is difficult to make the system secure from hackers and industrial espionage.
➨Network installation requires skilled technicians and network administrators. This
increases overall installation and management costs.
➨It requires more cables for connection from one place to the other compare to LAN.
BASIS OF LAN MAN WAN
COMPARISON
Expands to Local Area Network Metropolitan Area Wide Area Network
Network
Meaning A network that It covers relatively It spans large locality and
connects a group of large region such as connects countries together.
computers in a small cities, towns. Example Internet.
geographical area.
Ownership of Private Private or Public Private or Public
Network
Design and Easy Difficult Difficult
maintenance
Propagation Short Moderate Long
Delay
Speed High Moderate Low
Fault Tolerance More Tolerant Less Tolerant Less Tolerant
Congestion Less More More
Used for College, School, Small towns, City. Country/Continent.
Hospital.
Definition of Local Area Network
LAN or Local Area Network links network devices in
such a way that personal computer and workstations
can share data, tools and programs. Data transmits at a
very fast rate as the number of computers linked are
limited. LAN’s cover smaller geographical area and are
privately owned. One can use it for an office building,
home, hospital, schools, etc.
LAN is easy to design and maintain.
A Communication medium used for LAN has twisted
pair cables and coaxial cables. It covers a short distance,
and so the error and noise are minimized.
 LAN (Local Area Network) is a group of computers and other network devices which are
connected together.
 All the devices that are part of LAN are within a building or multiple building.
 LAN network has very high speed mainly due to proximity of computer and network
devices.
 LAN connection speeds can be 10Mbps or 100Mbps or 1000Mpbs also.
 LAN uses Guided Media

Definition of Metropolitan Area Network

MAN or Metropolitan area Network covers a larger
area than that of a LAN and smaller area as
compared to WAN. It connects two or more
computers that are apart but resides in the same or
different cities. It covers a large geographical area
and may serve as an ISP (Internet Service Provider).
It’s hard to design and maintain a Metropolitan Area
Network.
It is costly and may or may not be owned by a single
organization. The data transfer rate of MAN is
moderate.
 MAN ((Metropolitan Area Network) is a larger
network of computers and other network devices
which are connected together usually spans
serveral buildings or large geographical area.
 All the devices that are part of MAN are span across buildings or small town.
 MAN network has lower speed compared to LAN.
 MAN connection speeds can be 10Mbps or 100Mbps.
 MAN uses Guided Media or Unguided media.
Definition of Wide Area Network
WAN or Wide Area Network is a computer network
that extends over a large geographical area. A WAN
could be a connection of LAN connecting to other
LAN’s via telephone lines and radio waves.
Wide Area Network may or may not be privately
owned. A Communication medium used for wide area
network is PSTN or Satellite Link. Due to long distance
transmission, the noise and error tend to be more in
WAN. Propagation delay is one of the biggest problems
faced here.
 WAN (Wide Area Network) is a group of computers and other network devices which are
connected together which is not restricted to a geographical location. Internet is WAN
 All the devices that are part of WAN have no geographical boundaries.
 WAN speed varies based on geographical location of the servers. WAN connects serveral
LANs
 WAN connection speeds can be 10Mbps or 100Mbps.
 WAN mainly uses Guided Media or Unguided media. Its long distance communications,
which may or may not be provided by public packet network.
 Module 3
Database Management
A data base is an organized collection of information.
A data base management system (DBMS) allows entering, store, manipulating and retrieving
information organized into data bases.
DBMS is a collection of programs that enable users to create and maintain a database. The
DBMS is hence a general purpose software system that facilitates the processes of defining,
constructing and manipulating databases for various applications.
Database management system (DBMS) consists of a collection of interrelated data and a set
of programs to access that data. The collection data is usually referred to as data base which
contains information about one particular enterprise.
The primary goal of a DBMS is to provide an environment that is both convenient and
efficient to use in retrieving and storing data base information. The DBMS is the interface
between the user of application programs on one hand and the data base on the other.
The objective of a database management system is to facilitate the creation of data
structures and relieve the programmer of the problems of setting up complicated files. Data
base management systems have developed from a concept of the data base as something
distinct from the programs accessing it.
In addition to easing processing, this approach has tended to highlight the importance of
data as a resource in the organisation and as something that has to be carefully managed.
A Database management system is a computerized record-keeping system. It is a repository
or a container for collection of computerized data files. The overall purpose of DBMS is to
allow the users to define, store, retrieve and update the information contained in the
database on demand. Information can be anything that is of significance to an individual or
organization.

Nature of Data Base Management System:

Features & characteristics of data base management system are as follows:
1. The data are combined to form operational units to minimise the duplication of data and
increase access to all data in the data base.
2. The advancement in the data base enables to add more data and program to the system.
3. The capacity to store large amount of data necessary for user’s needs. They are stored on
direct accessible devices for one line support.
4. The control in the systems limits the access to the data base files and builds the
confidentiality of all data in these files.
5. The capacity to interrogating data files, retrieving and modifying data and recording the
changes.
Uses of DBMS:
Data that is well organized and integrated is very useful in decision making.
Thus, we can infer some of the following uses of DBMS:
(i) Effective and efficient management of data
(ii) Query processing and management
(iii) Easy to understand and user friendly
(iv) Security and integrity of data
(v) Better Decision making
(vi) Data sharing and storage
(vii) Better access to accurate data
(viii) Ensures error free information

Objectives of Data Base Management System (DBMS):

The objectives of a data base management system are to facilitate the creation of data
structures and relieve the programmer of the problems of setting up complicated files.
The objectives of DBMS can be narrated as follows:
1. Eliminate redundant data.
2. Make access to the data easy for the user.
3. Provide for mass storage of relevant data.
4. Protect the data from physical harm and un-authorised systems.
5. Allow for growth in the data base system.
6. Make the latest modifications to the data base available immediately.
7. Allow for multiple users to be active at one time.
8. Provide prompt response to user requests for data.

Functions of Data Base Management System (DBMS):

Every computer application has unique requirements. For example, special purpose
software systems that handle personnel, inventory, and marketing data, may differ not only
in the type of information these store, but also in the facilities they provide for data entry
and retrieval.
The cost of designing and building special purpose software systems for Data management
tasks often prohibits otherwise cost effective automation. Data base management systems
are general purpose programs that dramatically reduce the time necessary to computerise
an application.
The purpose of DBMS is to provide following main functions:
1. A mechanism for organising, structuring and storing data.
2. A mechanism for accessing data that provides a measure of data independence, i.e., to
some extent it insulates application programs from changes to the data structure.
3. Creating program and data independence. Either one can be altered independently of the
other.
4. Reducing data redundancy.
5. Providing security to the user’s data. Access is limited to authorized users by pass words
or similar schemes.
6. Reducing physical storage requirements by separating the logical and physical aspects of
the data base.
Merits of DBMS:
Advantages and merits of DBMS are as follows:
1. Integrity
2. Security
3. Data independence
4. Shared data
5. Conflict resolution
6. Reduction of redundancies.

1. Integrity:
Centralised control can also ensure that adequate checks are incorporated in the DBMS to
provide data integrity. Data integrity means that the data contained in the data base is both
accurate and consistent. Therefore, Data values being entered for storage could be checked
to ensure that they fall within a specified range and are of the correct format.
For example, the value for the age of an employee may be in the range of 16 and 75.
Another integrity check that should be incorporated in the data base is to ensure that if
there is a reference to certain object, that object must exist. In the case of an automatic
teller machine, for example, a user is not allowed to transfer funds from a non-existent
savings account to a checking account.
2. Security:
Data is of vital importance to an organisation and may be confidential. Such confidential
data must not be accessed by un-authorised persons. The data base administrator (DBA)
who has the ultimate responsibility for the data in the DBMS can ensure that proper access
procedures are followed, including proper authentication schemes for access to the DBMS
and additional checks before permitting access to sensitive data.
Different levels of security could be implemented for various types of data and operations.
The enforcement of security could be data value dependent (e.g., a manager has access to
the salary details of employees in his department only), as well as data type dependent (but
the manager cannot access the medical history of any employee, including those in his
department).
3. Data Independence:
Data independence is usually considered from two points of view; physical data
independence and logical data independence. Physical data independence allows changes in
the physical storage devices or organisation of the files to be made without requiring
changes in the conceptual view or any of the external views and hence in the application
programs using the data base.
Thus, the files may migrate from one type of physical media to another or the file structure
may change without any need for changes in the application programs. Logical data
independence implies that application programs need not be changed if fields are added to
an existing record; nor do they have to be changed if fields not used by application
programs are deleted.
Logical data independence indicates that the conceptual schema can be changed without
affecting the existing external schemas. Data independence is advantageous in the data
base environment since it allows for changes at one level of the data base without affecting
other levels. These changes are absorbed by the mappings between the levels.
4. Shared Data:
A data base allows the sharing of data under its control by any number of application
programs or users. In the example discussed earlier, the applications for the public relations
and payroll departments could share the data contained for the record type employee.
5. Conflict Resolution:
Since the data base is under the control of the data base administrator (DBA), he should
resolve the conflicting requirements of various users and applications. In essence, the DBA
chooses the best file structure and access method to get optimal performance for the
critical applications, while permitting less critical applications to continue to use the data
base, albeit with the relative response.
6. Reduction of Redundancies:
Centralised control of data by the DBA avoids unnecessary duplication of data and
effectively reduces the total amount of data storage required. It also eliminates the extra
processing necessary to trace the required data in a large mass of data.
Another advantage of avoiding duplication is the elimination of the inconsistencies that tend
to be present in redundant data files. Any redundancies that exist in the DBMS are
controlled and the system ensures that these multiple copies are consistent.

Disadvantages of DBMS:
Disadvantages of data base management system are:
1. Complexity of backup and recovery
2. Problem associated with centralization
3. Cost of software, hardware and migration.

1. Complexity of Backup and Recovery:

Backup and recovery operations are very complex in a data base management system
(DBMS) environment and this is evident in concurrent multi user data base system. A data
base system requires a certain amount of controlled redundancies and duplication to enable
assess to related data items.
2. Problem Associated with Centralization:
Centralisation increases a potential severity of security breaches and disruption of the
operation of the organisation because of down time and failures. The centralisation means
that the data is accessible from a single data source or a data base.
The decentralisation of the data base that is the replacement of a single centralised data
base by independent and co-operating distributed data bases solves the problem arise out
because of the centralisation that is the problem of failures and down time.
3. Cost of Software, Hardware and Migration:
For a well-designed and effective data base system, it is necessary to purchase and develop
the software’s and hardware has to be upgraded to allow for the extensive programs and
the work spaces required for their execution and storage. It involves a lot of cost. An
additional cost is that of migration that means the shift from a traditional separate
application environment to an integrated application environment.
Components of DBMS:
A DBMS constitutes of five components that help in the use and management of data in an
organization.
These are:
(i) Data,
(ii) Hardware,
(iii) Software
(iv) User and
(v) Procedure.

(i) Data:
Data is a collection of raw facts that are stored and used inside a database in order to form
meaningful information.
(ii) Hardware:
Hardware is a collection of physical components of a computer system. It includes
secondary storage devices like disk drives (floppy, CD.), processor, etc.
(iii) Software:
Software refers to the program that a database system uses in order to run a DBMS
application. It is the platform through which data is accessed from the physical location
(hardware) where data is stored. For example, a Software named “Database Manager”.
(iv) User:
Users are the people who use the database applications. They can be Database
Administrators, Application programmers, Database designers, End users, etc.
(v) Procedure:
A set of instructions that describe the working of a DBMS is called its procedure.

The functional components of DBMS software are:

a. Data Definition Language
b. Data Manipulation Language
c. Query Language
d. Report Generator
e. Application Generator
f. User Interface
These components are represented in Fig. 9.1.

A brief introduction to the functional components of a DBMS is presented in the following

section:
(i) Data definition language:
Data definition language (DDL) is used to define the contents and the structure of a
database. These definitions are kept in the data dictionary. The data dictionary or directory
contains information of the definition, structure and other characteristics of data in the
database.
The data dictionary defines the entities and the attributes that describe these entities. It
may also include information on reports in which these attributes appear frequency of use,
access permissions, etc. Such information about the data is also termed as meta-data.
A database can be viewed at the logical level, conceptual level, or internal (physical) level.
The logical level is the way the user views a portion of the database that is required for the
application on hand.
The conceptual level is the way the entire
database is viewed by the user. The internal or
the physical view of the database is the way
the entire data is physically stored in the
database. A manager is more concerned with
the conceptual view of database and need not
bother much about the physical view of
databases. Figure 9.2 shows different ‘view’
levels of a database.
The definition of the entire database is also
called schema. The definitions for a specific
part of the database are collectively called
sub-schema. Thus, the Data Definition Level
(DDL) is used to define the schema and sub-
schema in a database. Figure 9.3 shows the
statements from a data definition language for an application (thus shows the sub-schema),
giving the logical view of the database.
The data dictionary is helpful in ensuring that the user need not be aware of the physical
location of attributes in the database. If the
attribute is defined in the data dictionary, it
can be referred to by the name given to it
in the dictionary. The DBMS automatically
locates the data on the attribute and
passes it on to the user.
(ii) Data manipulation language:
The data manipulation language (DML) is a
set of procedural commands that enable
programmers to append, modify, update
and retrieve data. It has other facilities for
data manipulation such as sorting,
indexing, etc. The DML uses simple verbs
such as Delete, Sort, Insert, Select, Display,
Add, etc. as commands for manipulation of
data.
(iii) Query language:
A Query language is user oriented. It enables the user of the database to make ad-hoc
queries from the database using simple words from a natural language like English. It is, in a
way, similar to DML but offers more commands for retrieval of information.
The commands of the query language have been standardised by the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI). A set of these standard commands is called Structured Query lan-
guage (SQL). Using SQL, a user can make any query from a database using powerful
commands like SELECT, PROJECT and JOIN. In fact, these three commands form the core of
SQL.
(iv) Report generators:
The requirements for generation of reports from the database are different in different
applications. In the report, data may be represented using the graphs, pictures, maps and
other forms that can help in improving comprehension.
Modern DBMS packages offer facilities for creating reports in the formats using special
report generating programs. These programs can not only access the data from a database,
but also offer a host of graphic facilities. These facilities include the picture library from
where pictures and other graphics can be picked up, remodelled and incorporated in the
report.
(v) Application generators:
Most of the DBMS packages include programming facilities available in the Fourth
Generation Languages (4GLs). These languages have limited but very powerful commands
that are useful for developing applications.
The popularity of 4GLs as programming languages is primarily in the small, adhoc
applications. These applications are developed by users themselves to meet their minor
data processing needs. They have also been used by IT professionals for prototyping various
components of an application.
(vi) User interface:
The user interface is a shell that provides the environment for interaction of a user with the
database. The user interface, in the modern DBMS packages is quite user friendly and makes
use of graphic icons to identify the operations. The user can click on these icons to perform
various operations.

Applications where we use Database Management Systems are:

Telecom: There is a database to keeps track of the information regarding calls made,
network usage, customer details etc. Without the database systems it is hard to maintain
that huge amount of data that keeps updating every millisecond.
Industry: Where it is a manufacturing unit, warehouse or distribution centre, each one
needs a database to keep the records of ins and outs. For example distribution centre
should keep a track of the product units that supplied into the centre as well as the products
that got delivered out from the distribution centre on each day; this is where DBMS comes
into picture.
Banking System: For storing customer info, tracking day to day credit and debit
transactions, generating bank statements etc. All this work has been done with the help of
Database management systems.
Education sector: Database systems are frequently used in schools and colleges to store and
retrieve the data regarding student details, staff details, course details, exam details, payroll
data, attendance details, fees details etc. There is a hell lot amount of inter-related data that
needs to be stored and retrieved in an efficient manner.
Online shopping: You must be aware of the online shopping websites such as Amazon,
Flipkart etc. These sites store the product information, your addresses and preferences,
credit details and provide you the relevant list of products based on your query. All this
involves a Database management system.
Modification of Database Files
Drawbacks of File system:
 Data Isolation: Because data are scattered in various files, and files may be in different
formats, writing new application programs to retrieve the appropriate data is difficult.
 Duplication of data – Redundant data
 Dependency on application programs – Changing files would lead to change in
application programs.

Advantage of DBMS over file system

There are several advantages of Database management system over file system. Few of
them are as follows:
 No redundant data – Redundancy removed by data normalization
 Data Consistency and Integrity – data normalization takes care of it too
 Secure – Each user has a different set of access
 Privacy – Limited access
 Easy access to data
 Easy recovery
 Flexible

Disadvantages of DBMS:
 DBMS implementation cost is high compared to the file system
 Complexity: Database systems are complex to understand
 Performance: Database systems are generic, making them suitable for various
applications. However this feature affect their performance for some applications

Computer Security: Introduction

Computer security, also known as cyber security or IT security, is the protection of computer
systems from the theft and damage to their hardware, software or information, as well as
from disruption or misdirection of the services they provide.
Cyber security includes controlling physical access to the hardware, as well as protecting
against harm that may come via network access, data and code injection. Also, due
to malpractice by operators, whether intentional, accidental, IT security is susceptible
to being tricked into deviating from secure procedures through various methods.
The field is of growing importance due to the increasing reliance on computer systems and
the Internet, wireless networks such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the growth of "smart" devices,
including smartphones, televisions and tiny devices as part of the Internet of Things.
Computer security can be defined as controls that are put in place to provide confidentiality,
integrity, and availability for all components of computer systems. These components
include data, software, hardware, and firmware.
Malicious Programs
Malicious software is any software that the user did not authorize to be loaded or software
that collects data about a user without their permission. The following is a list of
terminology commonly used to describe the various types of malicious software:

Spyware- Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or
organization without their knowledge. On the Internet (where it is sometimes called a
Spybot or tracking software), Spyware is programming that is put in someone's computer to
secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested
parties. Spyware can get in a computer as a software virus or as the result of installing a new
program.

Virus- a virus is a program or programming code that replicates by being copied or initiating
its copying to another program, computer boot sector or document. Viruses can be
transmitted as attachments to an e-mail note or in a downloaded file, or be present on a
diskette or CD

Worm- a worm is a self-replicating virus that does not alter files but duplicates itself. It is
common for worms to be noticed only when their uncontrolled replication consumes
system resources, slowing or halting other tasks.

Logic bomb- a logic bomb is programming code, inserted surreptitiously or intentionally,

that is designed to execute (or "explode") under circumstances such as the lapse of a certain
amount of time or the failure of a program user to respond to a program command. It is in
effect a delayed-action computer virus or Trojan horse. A logic bomb, when "exploded,"
may be designed to display or print a spurious message, delete or corrupt data, or have
other undesirable effects.

Trapdoor- is a method of gaining access to some part of a system other than by the normal
procedure (e.g. gaining access without having to supply a password). Hackers who
successfully penetrate a system may insert trapdoors to allow them entry at a later date,
even if the vulnerability that they originally exploited is closed. There have also been
instances of system developers leaving debug trapdoors in software, which are then
discovered and exploited by hackers.

Trojan (Trojan Horse)- a Trojan horse is a program in which malicious or harmful code is
contained inside apparently harmless programming or data in such a way that it can get
control and do its chosen form of damage, such as ruining the certain area on your hard
disk. A Trojan horse may be widely redistributed as part of a computer virus.

RATs (Remote Admin Trojans) - are a special form of Trojan Horse that allows remote
control over a machine. These programs are used to steal passwords and other sensitive
information. Although they are "invisible", symptoms such as a slow moving system, CD
ports opening and closing and unexplained restarting of your computer may manifest.
Malware - Malware (for "malicious software") is any program or file that is harmful to a
computer user. Thus, malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and also
Spyware, programming that gathers information about a computer user without permission.

Mobile Malicious Code - web documents often have server-supplied code associated with
them which executes inside the web browser. This active content allows information servers
to customize the presentation of their information, but also provides a mechanism to attack
systems running a client browser. Mobile malicious code may arrive at a site through active
content such as JavaScript, Java Applets and ActiveX controls or through Plug-ins.

Malicious Font - webpage text that exploits the default method used to de-compress
Embedded Open Type Fonts in Windows based programs including Internet Explorer and
Outlook. These malicious fonts are designed to trigger a buffer overflow which will disable
the security on Windows-based PCs. This allows an intruder to take complete control of the
affected computer and remotely execute destructive activities including installing
unauthorized programs and manipulating data.

Rootkits - Rootkits are a set of software tools used by an intruder to gain and maintain
access to a computer system without the user's knowledge. These tools conceal covert
running processes, files and system data making them difficult to detect. There are rootkits
to penetrate a wide variety of operating systems including Linux, Solaris and versions of
Microsoft Windows. A computer with rootkits on it is called a rooted computer.

Ransomware: If you see this screen that warns you that you have been locked out of your
computer until you pay for your cybercrimes. Your system is severely infected with a form of
Malware called Ransomware. It is not a real notification from the FBI, but, rather an
infection of the system itself. Even if you pay to unlock the system, the system is unlocked,
but you are not free of it locking you out again. The request for money, usually in the
hundreds of dollars is completely fake.

Keyloggers: Records everything you type on your PC in order to glean your log-in names,
passwords, and other sensitive information, and send it on to the source of the keylogging
program. Many times keyloggers are used by corporations and parents to acquire computer
usage information.

Adware:. The least dangerous and most lucrative Malware. Adware displays ads on your
computer.

Browser Hijacker: When your homepage changes to one that looks like those in the images
inserted next, you may have been infected with one form or another of a Browser Hijacker.
This dangerous Malware will redirect your normal search activity and give you the results
the developers want you to see. Its intention is to make money off your web surfing. Using
this homepage and not removing the Malware lets the source developers capture your
surfing interests. This is especially dangerous when banking or shopping online. These
homepages can look harmless, but in every case they allow other more infectious
Phishing. A fake website which is designed to look almost like the actual website is a form of
phishing attack. The idea of this attack is to trick the user into entering their username and
password into the fake login form which serves the purpose of stealing the identity of the
victim. Every form sent out from the phishing site will not go to the actual server, but the
attacker controlled server.

Cookies. Cookies is not really a Malware. It is just something used by most websites to store
something into your computer. It is here because it has the ability to store things into your
computer and track your activities within the site. If you really don’t like the existence of
cookies, you can choose to reject using cookies for some of the sites which you do not
know.

DDoS. One of the most famous thing done by Anonymous, which is to send millions of traffic
to a single server to cause the system to down with certain security feature disable so that
they can do their data stealing. This kind of trick which is to send a lot of traffic to a machine
is known as Distributed Denial of Service, also known as DDoS.

Crimeware. Crimeware is a form of Malware where it takes control of your computer to

commit a computer crime. Instead of the hacker himself committing the crime, it plants a
Trojan or whatever the Malware is called to order you to commit a crime instead. This will
make the hacker himself clean from whatever crime that he had done.

Cryptography
Cryptography or cryptology is the practice and study of techniques for secure
communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries. More generally,
cryptography is about constructing and analyzing protocols that prevent third parties or the
public from reading private messages; various aspects in information security such as
data confidentiality, data integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation are central to
modern cryptography. Modern cryptography exists at the intersection of the disciplines
of mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering, communication science,
and physics. Applications of cryptography include electronic commerce, chip-based payment
cards, digital currencies, computer passwords, and military communications.
Cryptography is a method of storing and transmitting data in a particular form so that only
those for whom it is intended can read and process it.
Cryptography is closely related to the disciplines of cryptology and cryptanalysis.
Cryptography includes techniques such as microdots, merging words with images, and other
ways to hide information in storage or transit. However, in today's computer-centric world,
cryptography is most often associated with scrambling plaintext (ordinary text, sometimes
referred to as cleartext) into ciphertext (a process called encryption), then back again
(known as decryption). Individuals who practice this field are known as cryptographers.
Modern cryptography concerns itself with the following four objectives:
1) Confidentiality (the information cannot be understood by anyone for whom it was
unintended)
2) Integrity (the information cannot be altered in storage or transit between sender and
intended receiver without the alteration being detected)
3) Non-repudiation (the creator/sender of the information cannot deny at a later stage his
or her intentions in the creation or transmission of the information)
4) Authentication (the sender and receiver can confirm each other’s identity and the
origin/destination of the information)

Cryptography involves creating written or generated codes that allows information to be

kept secret. Cryptography converts data into a format that is unreadable for an
unauthorized user, allowing it to be transmitted without anyone decoding it back into a
readable format, thus compromising the data.
Information security uses cryptography on several levels. The information cannot be read
without a key to decrypt it. The information maintains its integrity during transit and while
being stored. Cryptography also aids in non-repudiation. This means that neither the creator
nor the receiver of the information may claim they did not create or receive it.
Cryptography is also known as cryptology.
Cryptography also allows senders and receivers to authenticate each other through the use
of key pairs. There are various types of algorithms for encryption, some common algorithms
include:
Secret Key Cryptography (SKC) - Here only one key is used for both encryption and
decryption. This type of encryption is also referred to as symmetric encryption.
Public Key Cryptography (PKC): Here two keys are used. This type of encryption is also
called asymmetric encryption. One key is the public key and anyone can have access to it.
The other key is the private key, and only the owner can access it. The sender encrypts the
information using the receiver’s public key. The receiver decrypts the message using his/her
private key. For non-repudiation, the sender encrypts plain text using a private key, while
the receiver uses the sender’s public key to decrypt it. Thus, the receiver knows who sent it.
Hash Functions: These are different from SKC and PKC. They have no key at all and are also
called one-way encryption. Hash functions are mainly used to ensure that a file has
remained unchanged.

Digital Signature
A digital signature is a mathematical scheme for demonstrating the authenticity of digital
messages or documents. A valid digital signature gives a recipient reason to believe that the
message was created by a known sender (authentication), that the sender cannot deny
having sent the message (non-repudiation), and that the message was not altered in transit
(integrity).
Digital signatures are a standard element of most cryptographic protocol suites, and are
commonly used for software distribution, financial transactions, contract management
software, and in other cases where it is important to detect forgery or tampering.
A digital signature (not to be confused with a digital certificate) is a mathematical technique
used to validate the authenticity and integrity of a message, software or digital document.
The digital equivalent of a handwritten signature or stamped seal, but offering far more
inherent security, a digital signature is intended to solve the problem of tampering and
impersonation in digital communications. Digital signatures can provide the added
assurances of evidence to origin, identity and status of an electronic document, transaction
or message, as well as acknowledging informed consent by the signer.
In many countries, including the United States, digital signatures have the same legal
significance as the more traditional forms of signed documents. The United States
Government Printing Office publishes electronic versions of the budget, public and private
laws, and congressional bills with digital signatures.
Digital signatures are the public-key primitives of message authentication. In the physical
world, it is common to use handwritten signatures on handwritten or typed messages. They
are used to bind signatory to the message.
Similarly, a digital signature is a technique that binds a person/entity to the digital data. This
binding can be independently verified by receiver as well as any third party.
Digital signature is a cryptographic value that is calculated from the data and a secret key
known only by the signer.
In real world, the receiver of message needs assurance that the message belongs to the
sender and he should not be able to repudiate the origination of that message. This
requirement is very crucial in business applications, since likelihood of a dispute over
exchanged data is very high.
Digital signatures are based on public key cryptography, also known as asymmetric
cryptography. Using a public key algorithm such as RSA, one can generate two keys that are
mathematically linked: one private and one public. To create a digital signature, signing
software (such as an email program) creates a one-way hash of the electronic data to be
signed. The private key is then used to encrypt the hash. The encrypted hash -- along with
other information, such as the hashing algorithm -- is the digital signature. The reason for
encrypting the hash instead of the entire message or document is that a hash function can
convert an arbitrary input into a fixed length value, which is usually much shorter. This saves
time since hashing is much faster than signing.
Importance of Digital Signature
Out of all cryptographic primitives, the digital signature using public key cryptography is
considered as very important and useful tool to achieve information security.
Apart from ability to provide non-repudiation of message, the digital signature also provides
message authentication and data integrity. Let us briefly see how this is achieved by the
digital signature −
Message authentication − When the verifier validates the digital signature using public key
of a sender, he is assured that signature has been created only by sender who possess the
corresponding secret private key and no one else.
Data Integrity − In case an attacker has access to the data and modifies it, the digital
signature verification at receiver end fails. The hash of modified data and the output
provided by the verification algorithm will not match. Hence, receiver can safely deny the
message assuming that data integrity has been breached.
Non-repudiation − Since it is assumed that only the signer has the knowledge of the
signature key, he can only create unique signature on a given data. Thus the receiver can
present data and the digital signature to a third party as evidence if any dispute arises in the
future.
By adding public-key encryption to digital signature scheme, we can create a cryptosystem
that can provide the four essential elements of security namely − Privacy, Authentication,
Integrity, and Non-repudiation.

Encryption with Digital Signature

In many digital communications, it is desirable to exchange an encrypted messages than
plaintext to achieve confidentiality. In public key encryption scheme, a public (encryption)
key of sender is available in open domain, and hence anyone can spoof his identity and send
any encrypted message to the receiver.
This makes it essential for users employing PKC for encryption to seek digital signatures
along with encrypted data to be assured of message authentication and non-repudiation.
This can archived by combining digital signatures with encryption scheme. Let us briefly
discuss how to achieve this requirement. There are two possibilities, sign-then-
encrypt and encrypt-then-sign.
However, the crypto system based on sign-then-encrypt can be exploited by receiver to
spoof identity of sender and sent that data to third party. Hence, this method is not
preferred. The process of encrypt-then-sign is more reliable and widely adopted. This is
depicted in the following illustration −

The receiver after receiving the encrypted data and signature on it, first verifies the
signature using sender’s public key. After ensuring the validity of the signature, he then
retrieves the data through decryption using his private key.

Firewall
In computing, a firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls incoming
and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. A firewall typically
establishes a barrier between a trusted internal network and untrusted outside network,
such as the Internet.
Firewalls are often categorized as either network firewalls or host-based firewalls. Network
firewalls filter traffic between two or more networks; they are either software
appliances running on general-purpose hardware, or hardware-based firewall computer
appliances. Firewall appliances may also offer other functionality to the internal network
they protect, such as acting as a DHCP or VPN server for that network. Host-based firewalls
run on host computers and control network traffic in and out of those machines.
The word firewall originally referred literally to a wall, which was constructed to halt the
spread of a fire. In the world of computer firewall protection, a firewall refers to a network
device which blocks certain kinds of network traffic, forming a barrier between a trusted
and an untrusted network. It is analogous to a physical firewall in the sense that firewall
security attempts to block the spread of computer attacks.
A firewall is a network security device that monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic
and decides whether to allow or block specific traffic based on a defined set of security
rules.
Firewalls have been a first line of defense in network security for over 25 years. They
establish a barrier between secured and controlled internal networks that can be trusted
and untrusted outside networks, such as the Internet.
A firewall is a network security system, either hardware- or software-based, that uses rules
to control incoming and outgoing network traffic.
A firewall acts as a barrier between a trusted network and and an untrusted network. A
firewall controls access to the resources of a network through a positive control model. This
means that the only traffic allowed onto the network is defined in the firewall policy; all
other traffic is denied.

Types of firewalls
Proxy firewall
An early type of firewall device, a proxy firewall serves as the gateway from one network to
another for a specific application. Proxy servers can provide additional functionality such as
content caching and security by preventing direct connections from outside the network.
However, this also may impact throughput capabilities and the applications they can
support.
Stateful inspection firewall
Now thought of as a “traditional” firewall, a stateful inspection firewall allows or blocks
traffic based on state, port, and protocol. It monitors all activity from the opening of a
connection until it is closed. Filtering decisions are made based on both administrator-
defined rules as well as context, which refers to using information from previous
connections and packets belonging to the same connection.
Unified threat management (UTM) firewall
A UTM device typically combines, in a loosely coupled way, the functions of a stateful
inspection firewall with intrusion prevention and antivirus. It may also include additional
services and often cloud management. UTMs focus on simplicity and ease of use.
See our UTM devices.
Next-generation firewall (NGFW)
Firewalls have evolved beyond simple packet filtering and stateful inspection. Most
companies are deploying next-generation firewalls to block modern threats such as
advanced malware and application-layer attacks.
According to Gartner, Inc.’s definition, a next-generation firewall must include:
Standard firewall capabilities like stateful inspection
Integrated intrusion prevention
 Application awareness and control to see and block risky apps
 Upgrade paths to include future information feeds
 Techniques to address evolving security threats
 While these capabilities are increasingly becoming the standard for most companies,
NGFWs can do more.
Threat-focused NGFW
 These firewalls include all the capabilities of a traditional NGFW and also provide
advanced threat detection and remediation. With a threat-focused NGFW you can:
 Know which assets are most at risk with complete context awareness
 Quickly react to attacks with intelligent security automation that sets policies and
hardens your defenses dynamically
 Better detect evasive or suspicious activity with network and endpoint event
correlation
 Greatly decrease the time from detection to cleanup with retrospective security that
continuously monitors for suspicious activity and behavior even after initial
inspection
 Ease administration and reduce complexity with unified policies that protect across
the entire attack continuum

Users Identification and Authentication

Identification is the ability to identify uniquely a user of a system or an application that is
running in the system. Authentication is the ability to prove that a user or application is
genuinely who that person or what that application claims to be.
For example, consider a user who logs on to a system by entering a user ID and password.
The system uses the user ID to identify the user. The system authenticates the user at the
time of logon by checking that the supplied password is correct.

Many grapple with the concept of authentication in information security. What tends to
happen is that they confuse authentication with identification or authorization. They are in
fact all distinct concepts, and should be thought of as such. Let’s go over each and give an
example or two:
Identification
Identification is nothing more than claiming you are somebody. You identify yourself when
you speak to someone on the phone that you don’t know, and they ask you who they’re
speaking to. When you say, “I’m Jason.”, you’ve just identified yourself.
In the information security world, this is analogous to entering a username.
It’s not analogous to entering a password. Entering a password is a method for verifying that
you are who you identified yourself as, and that’s the next one on our list.
Authentication
Authentication is how one proves that they are who they say they are. When you claim to
be Jane Smith by logging into a computer system as “jsmith”, it’s most likely going to ask
you for a password. You’ve claimed to be that person by entering the name into the
username field (that’s the identification part), but now you have to prove that you are really
that person. Most systems use a password for this, which is based on “something you
know”, i.e. a secret between you and the system.
Another form of authentication is presenting something you have, such as a driver’s license,
an RSA token, or a smart card. You can also authenticate via something you are. This is the
foundation for biometrics. When you do this, you first identify yourself and then submit a
thumb print, a retina scan, or another form of bio-based authentication.
Once you’ve successfully authenticated, you have now done two things: you’ve claimed to
be someone, and you’ve proven that you are that person. The only thing that’s left is for the
system to determine what you’re allowed to do.
Authorization
Authorization is what takes place after a person has been both identified and authenticated;
it’s the step determines what a person can then do on the system.
An example in people terms would be someone knocking on your door at night. You say,
“Who is it?”, and wait for a response. They say, “It’s John.” in order to identify themselves.
You ask them to back up into the light so you can see them through the peephole. They do
so, and you authenticate them based on what they look like (biometric). At that point you
decide they can come inside the house.
If they had said they were someone you didn’t want in your house (identification), and you
then verified that it was that person (authentication), the authorization phase would not
include access to the inside of the house.
Everyday Use
It’s interesting to note that these three steps take place every day in a very transparent
fashion. When your boss calls you at work and asks to meet you across town for lunch, two
things happen instantly — usually at the exact same time: just by hearing the boss’s voice
you have both identified and authenticated them. Identification doesn’t have to be done by
the person being identified; it can be done by the person doing the identifying as well.
Another interesting hybrid is trying to get into a night club. When you get to the door and
present your I.D., you’re not just claiming you are that person, but you’re presenting the I.D.
as proof — that’s both steps in one. The result of whether or not your authentication was
accepted as authentic is what determines whether or not you will be given authorization to
get into the club.
Adding a bit of authorization to that analogy, it may be a club where you’re allowed to get in
once you prove who you are, but you only get a wrist band that allows you to consume
alcohol if you’re over 21, and otherwise you’re not allowed to. This would be authorization
because it’s assigning you privileges based on some attribute of your identity.
Security Awareness and Policies
Creating the Security Awareness Program
 Identify compliance or audit standards that your organization must adhere to.
 Identify security awareness requirements for those standards.
 Identify organizational goals, risks, and security policy.
 Identify stakeholders and get their support.
 Create a baseline of the organization’s security awareness.
 Create project charter to establish scope for the security awareness training program.
 Create steering committee to assist in planning, executing and maintaining the awareness
program.
 Identify who you will be targeting—different roles may require different/additional
training (employees, IT personnel, developers, senior leadership).
 Identify what you will communicate to the different groups (goal is shortest training
possible that has the greatest impact).
 Identify how you will communicate the content—three categories of training: new,
annual, and ongoing.

Implementing Security Awareness

 Develop and/or purchase training materials and content to meet requirements identified
during program creation.
 Document how and when you intend to measure the success of the program.
 Identify who to communicate results to, when, and how.
 Deploy security awareness training utilizing different communication methods identified
during program creation.
 Implement tracking mechanisms to record who completes the training and when.

Sustaining Security Awareness

 Identify when to review your security awareness program each year.
 Identify new or changing threats or compliance standards and updates needed; include in
annual update.
 Conduct periodic assessments of organization security awareness and compare to
baseline.
 Survey staff for feedback (usefulness, effectiveness, ease of understanding, ease of
implementation, recommended changes, accessibility).
 Maintain management commitment to supporting, endorsing and promoting the
program. Documenting the Security Awareness Program
 Document security awareness program including all previously listed steps within
“Creating the Security Awareness Program,” “Implementing Security Awareness,” and
“Sustaining Security Awareness.
 Module 4
Basic Introduction to MS Office : MS Word, MS Excel , MS
Power Point & others
Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed
by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on 1 August 1988, at COMDEX in Las
Vegas. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of Office
contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years,
Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common
spell checker, OLE data integration and Applications scripting language. Microsoft also
positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office
Business Applications brand. On 10 July 2012, Softpedia reported that Office is used by over
a billion people worldwide.
Office is produced in several versions targeted towards different end-users and computing
environments. The original, and most widely used version, is the desktop version, available
for PCs running the Windows and macOS operating systems. The most current desktop
version is Office 2016 for Windows and macOS, released on 22 September 2015 and 9 July
2015, respectively.
More recently, Microsoft developed Office Mobile, which is free-to-use versions of Office
applications for mobile devices. Microsoft also produces and runs Office Online, a web-
based version of core Office apps, which is included as part of a Microsoft account.
Features of Word Processing
Most Word Processor available today allows more than just creating and editing documents.
They have wide range of other tools and functions, which are used in formatting the
documents. The following are the main features of a Word Processor
i) Text is typing into the computer, which allows alterations to be made easily.
ii) Words and sentences can be inserted, amended or deleted.
iii) Paragraphs or text can be copied /moved throughout the document.
iv) Margins and page length can be adjusted as desired.
v) Spelling can be checked and modified through the spell check facility.
vi) Multiple document/files can be merged.
vii) Multiple copies of letters can be generated with different addresses through
the mail-merge facility.
Some Common Word Processing Packages
The followings are examples of some popular word processor available
· Softword
· WordStar
· Word perfect
· Microsoft word

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF MS-WORD

Ms-Word not only supports word processing features but also DTP features. Some of the
important features of Ms-Word are listed below:
i) Using word you can create the document and edit them later, as and when
required, by adding more text, modifying the existing text, deleting/moving some part of it.
ii) Changing the size of the margins can reformat complete document or part of
text.
iii) Font size and type of fonts can also be changed. Page numbers and Header and
Footer can be included.
iv) Spelling can be checked and correction can be made automatically in the entire
document. Word count and other statistics can be generated.
v) Text can be formatted in columnar style as we see in the newspaper. Text boxes
can be made.
vi) Tables can be made and included in the text.
vii) Word also allows the user to mix the graphical pictures with the text. Graphical
pictures can either be created in word itself or can be imported from outside like from Clip
Art Gallery.
viii) Word also provides the mail-merge facility.
ix) Word also has the facility of macros. Macros can be either attached to some
function/special keys or to a tool bar or to a menu.
x) It also provides online help of any option.
 Module 5
Internet and Its Uses: Internet; E-Mail, E-Commerce & E-
Banking on World Wide Web
Internet is today one of the most important part of our daily life. There are large numbers of
things that can be done using the internet and so it is very important. You can say that with
the progress in the internet we are progressing in every sphere of life as it not only makes
our tasks easier but also saves a lot of time. Today internet is used for different purposes
depending upon the requirement. Here in this very article we have mentioned then ten best
uses of the internet. Here goes the list.
Internet is a global network of inter-connected computers, where one computer can be
connected to any other computer (or computerized device) in any portion of the world.
Internet uses various internet protocol technologies. The recent introduction of mobile
internet have been equally successful.
Internet surfing is very easy. Internet is available in all major villages, towns, cities of almost
every country. It is possible to surf through Internet with the help of internet browsers such
as Windows explorer, Google chrome, etc.
The organization that provides the Internet service to end-users are known as an Internet
Services Providers (ISP). The major internet companies of India are BSNL, Vodafone, Airtel,
Idea, and Aircel.

Uses of Internet
The key to success of Internet is the information. The better the quality, the more usage of
Internet operations.
Large volume of Information: Internet can be used to collect information from around the
world. This information could relate to education, medicine, literature, software,
computers, business, entertainment, friendship, tourism, and leisure. People can search for
information by visiting the home page of various search engines such as Google, Yahoo,
Bing, etc.
News and Journals: All the newspapers, magazines and journals of the world are available
on the Internet. With the introduction of broadband and advanced mobile
telecommunication technologies such as 3G (third generation) and 4G (fourth generation),
the speed of internet service has increased tremendously. A person can get the latest
news about the world in a matter of few seconds.
Electronic Mode of Communication: Internet has given the most exciting mode of
communication to all. We can send an E-mail (the short form of Electronic Mailing System)
to all the corners of the world.
Chatting: There are many chatting software that can be used to send and receive real-
time messages over the internet. We can chat with our friend and relatives using any one of
the chatting software.
Social Networking: People can connect with old friends on social networking sites. They can
even chat with them when they are online. Social networking sites also allow us to share
pictures with others. We can share pictures with our loved ones, while we are on a vacation.
People are even concluding business deals over these social networking sites such as
Facebook.
Online Banking (Net-Banking): The use of internet can also be seen in the field of banking
transactions. Many banks such as HSBC, SBI, Axis Bank, Hdfc Bank, etc. offers online banking
facilities to its customers. They can transfer funds from one account to another using the
net-banking facility.
E-commerce: Internet is also used for carrying out business operations and that set of
operations is known as Electronic Commerce (E-commerce). Flipkart is the largest e-
commerce company in India. The rival, Amazon, is giving stiff competition to Flipkart.
Mobile commerce: Mobile commerce (also M-Commerce) refers to the commercial
transaction that takes place over the mobile internet. Using the mobile internet technology,
many companies have introduced mobile version of websites and mobile apps, to promote
and sell their products. Customers can simply browse several through the products and buy
online through mobile internet.
Mobile wallet: Many companies offer the service of mobile wallet to its customers. Users
must have a smart-phone and internet connection to use this service. Users can pay an
amount into their mobile wallet, which they can use to make online payment such as bill
payments, recharges, etc.
Entertainment: Apart from a major source of knowledge and information, the utility of
Internet in the field of entertainment cannot be undermined. We can visit various video
sites and watch movies and serials at our convenient time.
Technology of the Future: Internet is the technology of future. In the times to come, offices
would be managed at distant places through Internet.

Conclusion
Internet is very useful for everyone. It is the superhighway of information. The cost of
Internet has been reduced over-time. The cost of the computer system, modem and other
associated hardware is also likely to come down. In case computer system is not available,
one can browse internet over the mobile phones. All major smart-phones support browsing
functionality.
The possibilities an Internet are endless. However, some people waste their time while
surfing through various websites. Some others try to view those websites that are not
meant for them. This is a bad tendency and must be checked. Internet must be used for
development and not for decay.
People must learn Internet operations and must try to collect only the useful information.
The present century would usher humanity into a new era of Information Technology (IT)
and Internet is the backbone of this exciting era.
Architecture and Functioning Of Internet
Internet Architecture
The Internet architecture is based on a simple idea: ask all networks want to be part of
carrying a single packet type, a specific format the IP protocol. In addition, this IP packet
must carry an address defined with sufficient generality in order to identify
each computer and terminals scattered throughout the world. This architecture is illustrated
in Figure.

The user who wishes to make on this internetwork must store its data in IP packets that are
delivered to the first network to cross. This first network encapsulates the IP packet in its
own packet structure, the package A, which circulates in this form until an exit door, where
it is DE capsulated so as to retrieve the IP packet. The IP address is examined to locate,
thanks to a routing algorithm, the next network to cross, and so on until arriving at the
destination terminal.
To complete the IP, the US Defense added the TCP protocol; specify the nature of the
interface with the user. This protocol further determines how to transform a stream of
bytes in an IP packet, while ensuring quality of transport this IP packet. Both protocols,
assembled under the TCP / IP abbreviation, are in the form of a layered architecture. They
correspond to the packet level and message-level reference model.
The internet architecture can be broadly classified into three layers. The very first layer
consists of Internet Backbones and very high speed network lines. The National Science
Foundation (NSF) created the first high-speed backbone in 1987 called NSFNET, it was a T1
line that connected 170 smaller networks together and operated at 1.544 Mbps (million bits
per second). IBM, MCI and Merit worked with NSF to create the backbone and developed a
T3 (45Mbps) backbone the following year. Backbones are typically fiber optic trunk lines.
The trunk line has multiple fiber optic cables combined together to increase the capacity.
Fiber optic cables are designated OC-48 can transmit 2,488 Mbps (2.488 Gbps). The nodes
are known as Network Access Point (NAPs). The second layer is usually known as Internet
Service Provider (ISP). The ISPs are connected to the Backbones at NAP’s with high speed
lines.
The end users which are part of third layer are connected to ISPs by dial up or leased lines
and modems. The speed of communication is usually 1400 bps to 2048 kbps.
In the real Internet, dozens of large Internet providers interconnect at NAPs ( Network
Access Point) in various cities, and trillions of bytes of data flow between the individual
networks at these points. The Internet is a collection of huge corporate networks
interconnected with one other at the NAPs, backbones and routers to talk to each other. A
message can leave one computer and travel halfway across the world through several
different networks and arrive at another computer in a fraction of a second.
The routers determine where to send information from one computer to another. Routers
are specialized computers that send messages to their destinations along thousands of
pathways. It joins two networks, passing information from one to the other.

World-Wide Web and Its Structure

The World Wide Web (WWW) is combination of all resources and users on the Internet that
are using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
A broader definition comes from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C):
"The World Wide Web is the universe of network-accessible information, an embodiment of
human knowledge."
The Web, as it's commonly known, is often confused with the internet. Although the two are
intricately connected, they are different things. The internet is, as its name implies, a
network -- a vast, global network that incorporates a multitude of lesser networks. As such,
the internet consists of supporting infrastructure and other technologies. In contrast, the
Web is a communications model that, through HTTP, enables the exchange of information
over the internet.
Stands for "World Wide Web." It is important to know that this is not a synonym for the
Internet. The World Wide Web, or just "the Web," as ordinary people call it, is a subset of
the Internet. The Web consists of pages that can be accessed using a Web browser. The
Internet is the actual network of networks where all the information resides. Things like
Telnet, FTP, Internet gaming, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), and e-mail are all part of the
Internet, but are not part of the World Wide Web. The Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
is the method used to transfer Web pages to your computer. With hypertext, a word or
phrase can contain a link to another Web site. All Web pages are written in the hyper-text
markup language (HTML), which works in conjunction with HTTP.
The World Wide Web (WWW) is a network of online content that is formatted in HTML and
accessed via HTTP. The term refers to all the interlinked HTML pages that can be accessed
over the Internet. The World Wide Web was originally designed in 1991 by Tim Berners-Lee
while he was a contractor at CERN.
The World Wide Web is most often referred to simply as "the Web."
The World Wide Web is what most people think of as the Internet. It is all the Web pages,
pictures, videos and other online content that can be accessed via a Web browser. The
Internet, in contrast, is the underlying network connection that allows us to send email and
access the World Wide Web.
The early Web was a collection of text-based sites hosted by organizations that were
technically gifted enough to set up a Web server and learn HTML. It has continued to evolve
since the original design, and it now includes interactive (social) media and user-generated
content that requires little to no technical skills.
The Web, or World Wide Web (W3), is basically
a system of Internet servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents
are formatted in a markup language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language) that
supports links to other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files.
This means you can jump from one document to another simply by clicking on hot spots.
Not all Internet servers are part of the World Wide Web.