Wendsday, Otober 27, 2010

Hypertext Links
<         >  .............................. </       >
Start                 Body                End
Tag    

<A  HREF = Link > Home  <\ >
                    ______________
                             Index.HTML


Implications of the digital age: Social and Ethical Issues
       - The threat to personal privacy posed by large databases and computer networks.
       - The hazards of high-tech crime and the difficulty of keeping data secure.
       - The difficulty of defining and protecting intellectual property in an all-digital age.
       - The threat of Automation and the dehumanization of work .
             > For example, building cars is nearly completely done by machines now.
       - The abuse of information as a tool of political and economic power.
       - The emergence of bio-digital technology.
             > Replacing lost limbs, technology-made medicine, micro-chipping animals, integrating chips into the              
                human brain to increase performance, surgery with technological tools and x-rays.
       - The dangers of dependence on complex technology.
             > A black out or virus could destroy a whole social system if a society is dependent on that
                 technology

*Computers have evolved at an incredible pace since Charles Babbage's plan for an Analytical Engine.
*Computers today come in all shapes and sizes, with specific types being well-suited for particular jobs.
*Connecting to a network enhances the value and power of a computer
        - Internet
        - WWW
        - Email

October 20, 2010

Ways computers play a critical role in modern life

- Business

- Education

- Communication

Circumstances and ideas that lead to dev. of modern computers

- War

- Science Needs

- Organization

Trends in the evolution of modern computers

- Smaller devices

- Faster

Relationship between hardware and software

*Hardware is the power, what makes the computer run, and software is the output of this work and it is the program.

Growth of the Internet

- Schools now require research, and students use the internet

- It is practically a must in higher level of education

- People of all ages now talk over the internet

- You can look up what a stores inventory online and people use that almost exclusively.

- People now order merchandise online instead of going to the store

- By 2005, over a billion people had access to the  internet

Nobody considers computers a luxury, it is now a commodity, practically a must.

Technology or computers permeate nearly everything in our lives now.

It is a versatile tool.

The first real computers
        Konrad Zuse made first functional program-controlled Turing-complete computer, the Z3, in 1941 


1943 Alan Turing Colossus considered by many to be the first electronic digital computers


1939 An Iowa State University Professor John Atanasoff developed what could have been the first electronic digital computer, the Atansoff-Berry Computer (ABC)


1944: A million dollar grant from IBM,  Harvard Professor Howard Aiken developed the Mark I.




John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert helped the U.S. effort in WWII by constructing a machine to calculate trajectory tables for new guns
     - ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer


After WWII, Mauchly and Eckert created a private company, Sperry and made UNIVAC I, the first general-purpose commercial computer


-Vacuum tubes were used in early computers
-Transistors replaced vacuum tubes starting in 1956
-By the mid-1960s transistors were replaced by integrated circuits. 


Integrated Circuits Brought
 - Increased Reliability
 - Smaller Size
 - Higher Speed
 - Higher Efficiency 
 - Lower Cost


>The first microprocessors were created by Intel Engineers in 1971
>The personal computer revolution began in 1970
    - Apple
    - Commodore
    - Tandy


Desktops haven't completly replaced big computers which have also evolved


Embedded computers
    - Special-purpose computer: Dedicated computers that perform specific tasks 
       ^Controlling temp. and humidity
       ^ Monitoring your heart rate


It is embedded in silicone so it cannot be altered. This is called Firmware.


Personal Computers
     > PCs serve a single user at a time 
        ^Word Processing 
        ^Gaming 
        ^ ETC.


Workstations
        High-end desktop computers with massive computing powers used for high-end interactive applications.
               *For example it is used for high tech. scientific analysis


Portable Computers: Machines that are not tied down


Servers 
  - Computers designed to provide software and other resources to other computers over a network.


Mainframes and Supercomputers 
  -Mainframes
       ^ Used by large organizations, such as banks and airlines, for big computing jobs
       ^ Communicate with mainframe through terminals
       ^ Multiple communications at one time through process of timesharing.


-Supercomputers 
       ^ For power users who need access to the fastest, most powerful computers made.




The Emergence of Networks
       ^ Connect devices together
       ^ 1960s: Internet developed with backing of the U.S. government


>E-mail software


>Web Browser 
      - Programs that, in effect, serve as navigable windows in the web


>Hypertext Links
      - Tie together millions of Web pages created by diverse authors


>Internet supports varied activities
      - eBay used to make international transactions
      - Real-Time multi-player  games


>In the history of our society  we have had:
      - An agricultural age
      - An industrial age

October 13, 2010

File Management

         Organizing information logically

         Having system folders, i.e. My Documents, My Pictures, My Music

File-Management Utilities

        Changing the properties

        Changing the location of the file

 Interface

      WIMP - windows, icons, pointing devices

1/3 of softwares are pirated

Billions of dollars are lost because of pirates

The software industry is $50 billion a year business sector

October 1, 2010

What is the difference between authentication and authorization?
Authentication is how you identify yourself to the computer
Authorization is how your system decides what the user can do

What is the difference between Utility Programs and Device Drivers
Utility programs allow for you to manage software on the computer and Device Drivers allow you to use input and output devices, i.e. computer speakers and keyboards. Also it enable the use of the full potential of hardware such as graphics and sound cards.

What does the operating system do?
An operating system manages the computer hardware and allows for efficient execution of various application software.


Utility Programs and Device Drivers
*Utility Programs
          >Serve as tools for doing system maintenance and repairs that aren't automatically handled by the operating system
          >Make it easier for users to
                -Copy files between storage devices
                -Repair damaged data files
                -Translate files so that different programs can read
                -Guard against viruses and other potentially harmful programs
                -Perform other important, if unexciting tasks

*Device Drivers
          >Small Programs that enable 1/0 devices. keyboard, mouses, etc.

*Where the Operating system lives
          >Some computers store their operating system in ROM
          >Others include only part of it in ROM
                 -The remain of the operating system is loaded into memory in a process called booting, which                                            occurs when you turn on the computer


The Hardware-Software connection
          > Most of the time the operating system works behind the scenes
          > Interacting with the operating system, like interacting with an application, can be intuitive or challenging and it depends on something called the interface.


User Interface
>The interface defines the look and feel of the computing experience from a human point of view.
>Desktop Operating Systems
       -MS-DOS is a disk operating system in which the user interacts using characters
               ^Letters
               ^Symbols
               ^Numbers


*The Human-Machine Connection
>Features include:
      -Command-line interface (commands are typed)
      -Menu-driven interface (commands are chose from on-screen lists)

>Graphical User Interface (GUI)
      -Mac OS was developed by Macintosh in 1984 using GUI
      -Microsoft windows is the most popular operating system

Unix was developed at Bell Labs before personal computers were available

Linux developed by Linux Torvalds and is a continued work in progress

UNIX allows a timesharing computer to communicate with other computers

>Linux is free for anyone to use or improve
>UNIX remains dominant operating system for Internet servers
>Some form of UNIX is available for personal computers, workstations, servers, mainframes and supercomputers


>Cross-platforms applications,such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop, are programs that are available in similar versions for multiple platforms
>Mac Users can buy software emulation programs like
      -Create a simulated windows machine in the mac