ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

How computer connects to other computers

➔ Network
◆ A collection of computers and devices connected via communications devices
and transmission media
◆ Computer Network systems
● Computer network
○ An interconnection of two or more computers that gives these
computers the capability to share information and resources
○ There are several types of networks, mostly depending on the
number of computers in it, how it used, and what type of
technology is used in its connectivity
● Types of Computer Network Systems
○ Personal Area Network (PAN)
◆ A type of connection which is often limited to a person and
his or her personal devices
◆ Devices must be within the range of 10 meters with each
other
○ Local Area Network (LAN)
◆ A network that connects computers and devices in a
limited geographical area such as a home, school
computer laboratory, office building, or closely positioned
group of buildings.
◆ A connection in which a group of computers and other
devices, such as network printers, share a common
communications line within a certain area like a building or
a small campus
◆ Often found in schools and offices to secure organization’s
information through a computer server in which user
access may be restricted to avoid unwanted users
◆ Wireless LAN (WLAN)
● A LAN that uses no physical wires.
● Very often, a WLAN communicates with a wired
LAN for access to its resources
○ Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
◆ A high-spreed network that connects local area networkd
in a metropolitan area such as a city or town and handles
the bulk of communications activity across that region
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

○ Wide Area Network (WAN)

◆ A network that covers a large geographic area (such as a
city, country, or the world) using a communications channel
that combines many types of media such as telephone
lines, cables, and radio waves
◆ The Internet is the world’s largest WAN
◆ Less restrictive than LAN as rules and policies may differ
within its coverages
◆ Connects computers within a large geographical area
◆ Considered synonymous to the internet
➔ Network Architecture
◆ The design of computers, devices, and media in a network
◆ Categorized as
● Client/ server network
○ Server
◆ Controls access to the hardware, software, an other
resources on the network and provides a centralized
storage area for programs, data, and information
○ Clients
◆ Are other computers and mobile devices on the network
that rely on the server for its resources
● Peer-to-peer Network
○ A simple, inexpensive network that typically connects free than 10
computers
○ Each computer, has equal responsibilities and capabilitites,
sharing hardware, datam or information with other computers on
the peer-to-peer network
● Internet peer-to-peer (P2P)
○ Describes an internet network, on which users access each
other’s hard disks and exchange files directly
○ Sometimes called a file sharing network because users with
compatible software and an internet connection copy files from
someone else's hard disk to their hard disk
➔ Network Standard
◆ Guidelines that specify the way computers access the medium to which they are
attached, the type(s) of medium used, the speeds used on different types of
networks, and the type (s) of physical cable and/or the wireless technology used
◆ Protocol
● Standard that outlines characteristics of how two network devices
communicate
➔ Methods of communication
◆ Wired communication
● Use different types of cables for their connections in a given network
● Popular wired connections include the following
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

○ Universal Serial Bus (USB)

◆ A connection or interface that allows the computer to
communicate with system peripherals such as keyboard,
mouse, printer, digital cameras, portable fans, etc
○ FireWire
◆ A type of connector that can transmit data to and from
devices which have typical high data rates, such as
external hard drives
◆ The transfer speed is faster than of a USB
○ Ethernet cable
◆ Specifies no central computer or device on the network
(nodes) should control when data can be transmitted; that
is, each node attempts to transmit data when it determines
the network is able to receive communications
◆ Transmit signals between a computer to network devices
such as router, switchm or other computers
○ High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
◆ A connector for transmitting audio/video data which is
compatible to computers, projectors, and digital televisions
○ Video Graphics Array (VGA)
◆ The 15-pin VGA connector was provided on many video
cards, computer monitors, laptop computers, and
projectors
◆ It is now slowly being phased out in favor of faster and
more compact HDMI connector
○ Serial (RS-323)
◆ Serial connection was once a standard feature of a
personal coputer used for connections to modems,
printers, mice, and other peripheral devices. Now it has
been replaced by USB connections
○ Parallel
◆ Similar to serial connection
◆ Used before to connect other computer peripherals such
as printer
◆ Replaced by USB connections
○ PS/2
◆ A 6-pin connector used to connect the mouse and
keyboard to a computer
◆ Color-coded to identify which peripheral would be
connected to which port.
● Purple – keyboard
● Green – mouse
○ Audio Jacks
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

◆ The 3.55mm jacks for microphones (for input) and

speakers (output)
◆ Uses color codes as well to indicate the type of input and
output lines
◆ Wireless Communication
● Includes microwave transmission, satellite communication, cellular
transmission, and radio transmission such as Wi-Fi connectivity
○ 802.11 (WiFi)
◆ Wifi- wireless fidelity/ wireless ethernet
◆ A series of network standards that specifies how two
wireless devices communicate over the air with each other
◆ Uses radio waves to wirelessly transmit information across
a network
◆ Often used in schools, companies, and business
establishments. This is to provide network connections to
multiple users without the need for cables.
○ Bluetooth
◆ Use short-range radio waves to transmit data
◆ To communicate with each other, bluetooth devices often
must be within about 10 meteres (33 feet) but can be
extended to 100 meters with additional equipment
◆ Uses radio waves to cennect to other devices
◆ The connection via Bluetooth is called pairing
◆ Once paired, devices are able to send and receive
information provided they are within a given range which is
typically 10 meters
○ Ultra-wideband (UWB)
◆ Use short-range radio waves to communicate at high
speeds with each other
◆ For optimal communications, the devices should be within
2 to 10 meters (about 6.5 to 33 feet) of each other
○ IrDA
◆ Transmit data wirelessly to each other via infrared (IR) light
waves
◆ Infrared requires a line0of-sight transmission
○ RFID
◆ Radio frequency Identification
◆ Defines how a network uses radio signals to communicate
with a tag placed in or attached to an object, animal, or
person
○ Token Ring
◆ Specifies that computers and devices on the network share
or pass a special signal, called token, in a unidirectional
manner and in a preset order
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

○ Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)

◆ Specifies how some mobile devices such as smart phones
can display the content of Internet services such as the
Web, e-mail, and chat rooms
○ Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
◆ Defines how messages (data) are routed from one end of
a network to the other
○ Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access / 802.16
(WiMAX)
◆ Specifies how wireless devices communicate over the air
in a wide area
◆ Uses radio waves with ither computers or devices via
WiMAX tower

COMPUTER IN DAILY LIFE

➔ How does computer works?

A computer is an electronic machine that processes information, in other words, an information
processor: it takes in raw information (or data) at one end, stores it until its ready to work in it,
chews and crunches it for a bit, then spits out the results at the other end. All these processes
have a name. Taking in information is called input, storing information is better known as
memory (or storage). chewing information is also known as processing, and spitting out
results is called output.

➔ Machine Language
◆ it is the native language of a computer system that no other language or
programming language can be understood by a computer machine.
◆ Computers do not recognize letters as letters of the alphabet; it sees the letters
as a series of 0’s and 1’s called the binary language

➔ Binary Language
◆ is a computer-friendly machine language. the word binary means "two". Hence it
uses numbering 0 and 1 called binary numbers. Binary is a base 2 number
system invented by Gottfried Leibniz that is made up of only two numbers 0 and
1. It is the basis for all binary code which is used to write data as the instructions
that computer processors use, or the digital text you read every day.

COMPUTER NUMBER SYSTEMS

➔ Decimal Number system
◆ Humans use this kind of number system to count, measure, and compute
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

◆ It has 10 digits (0 to 9)

➔ Binary Number System

◆ A number system that uses the digits 0 and 1 only
◆ It is a base 2 number system

➔ Digital Number System

◆ a number system in digital electronics which is used for representing information.
It has different bases and the most common of them is the decimal, binary, octal,
and hexadecimal.

➔ Octal number system

◆ The base of a number system is equal to the numbers of digits used i.e., for the
decimal number system the base is ten while for the binary system the base is
two. The octal system has a base of eight as it uses eight digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
and 7.
◆ All these digits from 0 to 7 have the same physical meaning as by decimal
symbols, the next digit in the octal number is represented by 10, 11, 12 which are
equivalent to decimal digits 8, 9, 10 respectively. In this way, the octal number 20
will represent the decimal digit and subsequently 21, 22, 23. Octal numbers will
represent the decimal number digit 17, 18, 19..etc and so on.
◆ The prefix “octa”, meaning, it uses 8 digits (0 to 7)

➔ Hexadecimal Numbers
◆ These numbers are used extensively in microprocessor work. The hexadecimal
number system has a base of 16, and hence it consists of the following sixteen
digits. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F.
◆ The size of the hexadecimal is much shorter than the binary number which
makes them easy to write and remember. Let 0000 to 000F represent
hexadecimal numbers from zero to fifteen, then 0010, 0011, 0012, …etc. Will
represent sixteen, seventeen, eighteen… etc. till 001F which represent thirty
open and so on.
◆ “Hexa” means 6
◆ “Deci” means 10
◆ It uses 16 digits to represent its values

➔ How Do Humans Communicate with Computers?

◆ People who invented the computer identified two areas of computers:
● Computer Hardware- includes the physical parts of a computer.
● Computer Software
○ programming code executed on a computer processor.
○ A combination of instructions, data, and programs that the
computer needs in order to do a specific task
○ Another term for computer software is computer programs.
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

○ Software- A combination of instructions, data, and programs that

the computer needs in order to do a specific task. Another term for
computer software is computer programs.
◆ Two Types of computer software:
● Application software
○ Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Microsoft Word
○ Most og the tasks done in front of a
computer involves using the application
software
● System software
○ computers memory, instructions, ability to
control all the connected hardware
○ Also called the operating system (OS)
○ Most important software running on a
computer system
● System Platforms
○ 2 of the most popular desktop OS nowadays
◆ Microsoft - Widows
◆ Apple - Mac
○ In mobile devices
◆ Apple – iOS
◆ Microsoft – Windows
○ Desktop systems differ from mobile systems in terms of how each
platforms treats the application software intalled in the systems
◆ Desktop or a laptop computer usually needs an application
program to run a certain application on it
● Example: web browser is capable of running
multiple websites with different ‘applications’ all the
same time
◆ Using a smartphone in accessing the same websites will
be a different experience to access different ‘applications’,
developer of mobile application software have developed
mobile apps instead
◆ Different types of application programs and their
corresponding software that are available in the market
Application Program type Example
Word Procession Sftware MS Word, WordPad, and
Notepad
Application Suite OpenOffice, Microsoft
Office
Spreadsheet Software Apple Numbers, Microsoft
Excel
Presentation Software Microsoft PowerPoint,
Keynotes
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

●
Online software Applications
○ Consists of programs that are designed to perform specific tasks
for users
● Programmers- people who write computer programs or codes
● Codes - another term used for “program”
● Programming - the act of writing a program
◆ Depending on the skill set of the programmer, a program can be developed
based on the programming language the programmer is familiar with

➔ How Computers Interpret Data

◆ From the keyboard, pressure pads are typically found underneath each key.
Upon typing a letter, the pressure pad sends information to the CPU for
processing
◆ The information is then transmitted in the form of 1’s and 0’s using the ASCII
code
◆ The CPU determines what character has been typed and sends the information
to the computer monitor, again in 1’s and 0’s
◆ The monitor displays the information in its equivalent character, this time,
readable and understandable by humans

➔ American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)

◆ A 7-bit code used to represent letters, numbers, and basic special characters

➔ How computers communicate with one another

◆ System Bus
● a pathway composed of cables and connectors used to carry data from a
computer’s peripheral devices (monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.) to the
CPU and the main memory.
● 3 types of buses
○ Control bus
◆ Used by the CPU to communicate with other devices within
the computer system
◆ Sends status signals from the devices, identifying if it is
ready or not
○ Address bus
◆ Used by the CPY to specify a physical address for
instructions, files, and other devices within the computer
system
○ Databus
◆ Can transfer data to and from the memory of a computer,
or into or out to the CPU

➔ How Computers Impact our Daily Lives?

ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

In today's society, computers are a regular occurrence in people's life. Computers

are extremely important, especially for individuals who operate corporations, industries,
and other organizations. Almost everything that individuals do nowadays involves the
use of a computer. Consider the transportation sector computers operate automobiles,
trains, aircraft, and even traffic signals on our highways. Computers and their
applications spread swiftly and extensively throughout the world.
It aids in the resolution of challenges that people face on a daily basis. As a
result, they have a greater impact on our lives. The influence of computer usage on our
lives is clearly characterized as cost savings, time savings, and effort savings. Look at
advancements in communication, education, utility facilities, and health care to get a
sense of the scale of computer intervention in human existence.

◆ Education
● Teachers can do research and enhance teaching materials
● Students with internet acces as one of their reference tools
● School administrators use computers for administrative workds to ensure
that the entire opertaion of the school runs proficiently
● Electric Learning (E-leraning) is the newest teaching methodology in
which students and teachers can communicate and collaborate with each
other through online discussions
◆ Banking
● Computers made all transactions of the banking system around the world
easier and mores ecure
● It manipulates the entire banking system as it includes 24-hour electronic
banking services which includes:
○ Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
○ Cheque deposit
○ Electronic fund transfer
○ Direct deposit
○ Pay by phone system
○ Personal computer banking/ Internet banking
◆ Workforce Industry
● Compuers are used to expedite production planning and control systems,
to support chain management, and to facilitate product design in the
industrial sector
◆ Electronic Commerce
● Computers, internet, and shared software became the main tools needed,
buying and selling activities are made easier, more efficient, and faster
◆ Hospitals
● Creating patients’ database of health records, treatment records, and
medical records

➔ Importance of Computer
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

A computer is an electrical device that collects information and data, saves it

automatically, retrieves it at any moment, and utilizes it in a meaningful way. The
computer solves difficult mathematical equations rapidly and accurately. Today, the
computer is unavoidable, and its presence has become very vital and required in our
everyday lives, making it simpler for us to do a wide range of operations and tasks.

How Data Travels the Internet

➔ Data
◆ Latin word datum - “something that has given”
◆ is an individual unit that contains raw materials which do not carry any specific
meaning.
➔ Information
◆ Latin word informatio - “formation or conception”
◆ is a group of data that collectively carries a logical meaning.
◆ Refers to process data that has a meaning or purpose.
➔ Data and Information are transferred around the world through wired or wireless
transmission of data
➔ How data moves through the internet
◆ Data is split into bits called packets. Each packet travels through the Internet via
a series of checkpoints
● Application
● Data broken into packets
● Router (TCP)
● Modem (IP)
● Local ISP
● Long-haul provider
● Border gateway protocol
● Any additional network exchanges
● Long-haul provider of destination
● Local ISP of destination
● Modem (IP)
● Router (TCP)
● Packet reassembled
● Destination server or computer
● Application
➔ Circuit switching
◆ methods on linking the telephones together
◆ It is used for establishing a dedicated communication path between the sender
and the receiver.
◆ It is one of the most common schemes used in building a communications
network.
◆ It is the method of linking telephones together.
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

◆ One of the most common schemes utilized to build a communications network

such as ordinary telephone calls
◆ Pros
● It offers a dedicated transmission channel that is reserved until it is
disconnected.
◆ Cons
● Dedicated channels can cause delays because a channel is unavailable
until one side disconnects.
● It uses a dedicated physical link between the sending and receiving
devices.
● Inefficient because if you stay connected with your friend or relative over
the phone all the time, the circuit is therefore blocking other people from
using it
◆ Key feature
● Offers the capability of storing messages temporarily to reduce network
congestion

➔ Packet Switching
◆ It is a network where the messages are divided and grouped together.
◆ The message or the data is broken down into smaller parts called packets.
◆ The packets travel via different routes and reassemble again upon reaching the
destination.
◆ A mode of transmission in which the message is broken into smaller parts
(packets) which are sent independently, and then reassemble at the ultimate
destination
◆ Pros
● Packets can be routed around network congestion.
● Packet switching makes efficient use of network bandwidth.
● More efficient since the permanent connection is not necessary between
the two places communication, which avoids blocking the entire chunk of
the network each time a message is sent
◆ Cons
● Packets can get lost while taking alternative routes to the destination.
● Messages are divided into packets that contain source and destination
information.
◆ Key feature (2 types of packet switching)
● Datagram – packets are independently sent and can take different paths
throughout the network
● Virtual Circuit – uses a logical connection between the source and
destination device
➔ What computers do on the internet
◆ Server
● A computer that is designed to process any requests for data and delivers
data to other client computers over a local network or the internet
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

◆ Client
● A computer or a device that gets information from a server
◆ Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
● A computer that holds the user accounts, computer accounts,
organizational units, and application services are called Active Directory
Domain Services
◆ File Server
● Another machine that holds and manages document
◆ Web server
● Holds users’ mail services and wen services
◆ Print Server
● A device that connects printers to client computers through the internet
◆ Router
● A hardware device designed to receive, analyze, and send incoming
packets to another network

THE INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB

➔ www vs. Internet World Wide Web (WWW),

◆ by name the Web, the leading information retrieval service of the Internet.
◆ The Web gives users access to a vast array of documents that are connected to
each other by means of hypertext or hypermedia links.
◆ Referred to as the collection of public Web sites that are connected to the
Internet worldwide, together with the client computers which include personal
computers, laptops, iPads, and cellular phones that access its content

➔ Three Fundamental Technologies that are said to be part of the WWW development\
◆ Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
● Classified as the set of markup symbols or codes that are added in a file
intended for presentation on a world wide web browser page
◆ Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
● Classified as the set of standards which allow users of the World Wide
Web to interchange information seen on web pages
◆ Web Servers and Web browsers
● A software application for recovering, presenting and navigating
information resources on the world wide web

➔ Hypertext
◆ allows the user to select a word or phrase from text and thereby access other
documents that contain additional information pertaining to that word or phrase.
➔ Hyperlink
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

◆ is an electronic connection that links related pieces of information in order to

allow a user easy access to them.
➔ The Internet
◆ a vast network that connects computers all over the world. Through the Internet,
people can share information and communicate from anywhere with an Internet
connection.
◆ Well-defines as a worldwide network connecting to a million computers via
dedicated routers and serves
◆ When computers are connected to the internet, end-users could start sending
and receiving different types of information.
◆ Large internet service providers own infrastructures through which the internet is
delivered
➔ Relationship
◆ The world wide web, are the pages you see when you're at a device and you're
online.
◆ the internet is the network of connected computers that the web works on, as well
as what emails and files travel across.

➔ The History
◆ The development of the World Wide Web was begun in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee
and his colleagues at CERN, an international scientific organization based in
Geneva, Switzerland. They created a protocol, HyperText Transfer Protocol
(HTTP), which standardized communication between servers and clients. Their
text-based Web browser was made available for general release in January
1992.
◆ The software giant Microsoft Corporation became interested in supporting
Internet applications on personal computers and developed its own Web browser,
Internet Explorer (IE), in 1995 as an add-on to the Windows 95 operating system.
IE was integrated into the Windows operating system in 1996, which had the
effect of reducing competition from other Internet browser manufacturers, such
as Netscape. IE soon became the most popular Web browser.
● Apple’s Safari has released in 2003
● iPhone on 2007
● Ipads 2010
● Mozilla Firefox was released in 2004
● 2008 Google launched Chrome
◆ By 2013 Chrome had become the dominant browser, surpassing Internet
Explorer and Firefox in popularity. Microsoft discontinued Internet Explorer and
replaced it with Edge in 2015.
◆ In the early 21st century, smartphones became more computer-like, and
more-advanced services, such as Internet access, became possible.

➔ What is www?
ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

◆ The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information
system where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform
Resource Locators (URLs), which may be interlinked by hyperlinks, and are
accessible over the Internet.
◆ The resources of the Web are transferred via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP), may be accessed by users by a software application called a web
browser, and are published by a software application called a web server.
◆ The World Wide Web is built on top of the Internet, which pre-dated the Web by
over two decades.
◆ The advancement of hypertext-based technology which is known for World Wide
Web
◆ WWW. Or simply just Web provided the channels of displaying text, graphics,
and animations, and the features of having easy research and navigation tools
that prompted an Internet’s unpredictable worldwide growth.

➔ The Internet
◆ The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer
networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between
networks and devices.
◆ It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business,
and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of
electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies.
◆ The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as
the inter-linked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web
(WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing.
◆ Then and Now
● The Internet started from the Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Wide
Area Network which is called the ARPANET
● ARPANET was established by the US Department of Defense in the
1960s for the partnership in military research along with business and
governance laboratories
● Afterwards, other universities and US Institutions are connected to
ARPANET that resulted in the growth of ARPANET away from everyone’s
expectations and also for attaining the name of the Internet.

➔ Internet2
◆ A non-for-profit networking consortium founded in 1996 by 34 university research
institutions in the US
◆ It provides a collaborative environment where US research and education
organizations work together and develop advanced technologies and innovative
solutions such as telemedicine, digital libraries, and virtual laboratories to assist
education, research, and community development

➔ What Jobs Internet Do?

ECCE - Midterms - Information Technology: Living the IT Era

◆ The internet’s job is to move, transfer, or assign computerized information from

one place to another.
◆ This information can be in the form of text documents, images, audio, video, and
software programs, among others
◆ All this information is called Data

➔ How Has the Use of Internet and the www Evolved?

◆ Information systems departments in all types and sizes of businesses must
continue to hire people who have a strong understanding of the internet.
◆ Although the web and the internet are not the same things, the web's
accessibility has converted the majority of the world's population into internet
users.

➔ Information System - What can you learn in Information System courses?

◆ You can obtain useful knowledge and expertise about information systems and
how companies use technology today by taking one of the following courses.
◆ The University of Alabama at Birmingham's Collat School of Business offers an
online Bachelor of Science in Information Systems degree. The classes are
intended to shed light on the areas where business and technology collide.
◆ For example, the fundamental Information System course covers the concepts
that underpin the internet and the web, as well as data transmission via other
knowledge-based systems. As the information age progresses, becoming more
competent at the planning, design, and development of these resources is a
fantastic approach to connect your knowledge with how businesses are using
digital systems today.
➔ Google search tricks
◆ (“ “) - to search for an exact phrase
◆ ( * ) - within quotes to specify unknown variable words
◆ ( - ) - to eliminate results containing certain words
◆ ( : ) Search websites for keywords
◆ Search images using images