1

Not a I CT
FORM 4


SMK SEKSYEN 5, WANGSA MAJU
53300 KUALA LUMPUR
hak ci pt a asuhi mi @y ahoo.com
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LESSON 1
I NTRODUCTI ON TO I NFORMATI ON AND COMMUNI CATI ON TECHNOLOGY ( I CT)
EVOLUTI ON OF COMMUNI CATI ON
WHAT I S I CT?
I CT is t he t echnology required for informat ion processing, in part icular, t he use of elect ronic
comput ers, communicat ion devices and soft ware applicat ions t o convert , st ore, prot ect ,
process, t ransmit and ret rieve informat ion from anywhere, anyt ime.
I NFORMATI ON
I nformat ion refers t o t he knowledge obt ained from reading, invest igat ion, st udy or
research.
We need informat ion t o make decisions and t o predict t he fut ure. For example, scient ist s
can det ect t he informat ion of a t sunami using t he lat est t echnology and warn t he public t o
avoid disast ers in t he affect ed areas.
COMMUNI CATI ON
Communicat ion is an act of t ransmit t ing messages. I t is a process whereby informat ion is
exchanged bet ween individuals using symbols, signs or verbal int eract ions.
TECHNOLOGY
Technology is t he use of scient ific knowledge, experience and resources t o creat e processes
and product s t hat fulfill human needs. Technology is vit al in communicat ion.
Ai di ng Communi cat i on
Telephone and fax machines are t he devices used in ext ending communicat ion.
Spr eadi ng I nf or mat i on
To broadcast informat ion such as news or weat her report s effect ively. Radio, t elevision,
sat ellit es and t he World Wide Web ( www) are powerful t ools t hat can be used.
LESSON 2
EVOLUTI ON OF COMPUTERS
FI RST GENERATI ON ( 1940 - 1956)
The first generat ion of comput er were huge, slow, expensive and oft en unreliable. I n 1946,
t wo Americans, Presper Eckert and Willian Mauchly build t he ENI AC ( Elect ronic Numerical
I nt egrat or and Comput er) . I t use v acuum t ube inst ead of mechanical swit ches of t he
MARK I n 1951, Eckert and Mauchly build t he UNI VAC, which could calculat e at t he rat e of
10,000 addit ion per seconds.
SECOND GENERATI ON ( 1956- 1963)
The famous comput er scient ist s during t he second generat i on era were:
The creat ion of t r ansi st or spark t he product ion of a wave of second generat ion comput er.
Transist or was small devices use t o t ransfer elect ronic signals across a resist er. Transist ors
had many advant ages compared t o ot her hardware t echnology.
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THI RD GENERATI ON ( 1964 - 1971)
I n t he t hird generat ion era, t he I BM 370 series were int roduced in 1964. I t came in several
models and sizes. I t was used for business and scient ific programs. Ot her comput er models
int roduced were CDC 7600 and B2500.
The development of int egrat ed circuit ( I C) , signal t he beginning of t he t hird generat ion
comput ers. Si l i cone chi ps were manufact ured in 1961 at t he Silicone Valley. Then came
t he int egrat ed circuit t echnology, which had reduced t he size and cost of comput ers.
I t is a complet e elect ronic circuit on a small chip of silicone. Which is also known as semi
conduct or . Ot her t han t hat , t he Magnet ic Core Memory was replaced by a device called t he
microchip. Also t he first 256 bit RAM was int roduced and it was t he basis for development of
1K bit RAM.
FOURTH GENERATI ON ( 1971 - PRESENT)
I t t ook only 55 years for t he 4 generat ions t o evolve. The growt h of t he comput er indust ry
developed t echnologies of comput er i nvent ions. There are many t ypes of comput er models
such as:
Apple Macint osh
I BM
DELL
ACER
I n 1971 I nt el creat ed t he first mi cr opr ocessor . I n 1976, St eve Jobs built t he first Apple
comput er. Then, in 1981, I BM int roduced it s first personal comput er.
During t he fourt h generat ion, hardware t echnology such as silicone chips, microprocessor
and st orage devices were invent ed. A microprocessor is a specialized chip which is
developed for comput er memory and logic.
FI FTH GENERATI ON ( PRESENT & BEYOND)
The fift h generat ion comput ers are t echnologically advance and are st il l being development
t o become more efficient . The invent ions of new hardware t echnology in t he fift h generat ion
have grown rapidly including many ot her modern comput er devices such as :
silicone chips
processor
robot ics
virt ual realit y
int elligent syst ems
programs which t ranslat e languages
NEW ERA COMPUTER
Aft er t he fift h generat ion comput er, t he t echnology of comput er has become more
advanced, modern and sophist icat ed. The lat est invent ion in t he era of comput ers are :
Super Comput ers
Mainframe Comput ers
Mini Comput ers
Personal Comput ers
Mobile Comput ers
I n t he new era of comput ers, expert syst em such as t eleconferencing and speech-
recognit ion syst em have been invent ed as part of modern world communicat ion t ools.
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LESSON 3
USAGE OF I CT I N DAI LY LI FE
EDUCATI ON
Today, most schools and higher educat ional inst it ut ions have comput ers in t he classroom
for t eacher and st udent s. I n educat ion, t eachers, st udent s, researchers and school
administ rat ors benefit s from t he usage of I CT.
BANKI NG
The comput er is t he nerve cent re of t he banking syst em around t he world. I t funct ions t o
cont rol t he ent ire banking syst em t hat also includes ' Elect ronic Banking Services' .
Elect ronic banking provides 24 hour services. The services include :
Aut omat ed Teller Machine ( ATM)
Cheque Deposit
Elect ronic Fund Tranfer
Direct Deposit
Pay by phone syst em
Personal comput er banking/ int ernet banking
I NDUSTRY
Comput ers are used t o facilit at e product ion planning and cont rol syst ems, t o support chain
management and t o help in product design in t he indust rial sect or. I n t he indust rial sect or
workers, researchers and administ rat or benefit s from t he usage of I CT.
E- COMMERCE
E- commerce helps in boost ing t he economy. I t makes buying and selling act ivit ies easier,
more efficient and fast er. For t his applicat ion, comput ers, I nt ernet and shared soft ware are
needed.
LESSON 4
COMPUTERI SED AND NON- COMPUTERI SED SYSTEMS
COMPUTER SYSTEM
A comput er syst em consist s of a set of hardware and soft ware which processes dat a in a
meaningful way.
EDUCATI ON WI TH I CT
educat ion is t he science of t eaching and learning of specific skills
it also impart s knowledge, good j udgement and wisdom
BANKI NG SYSTEM WI TH I CT
all t ransact ions are done by comput ers
t ransact ion can be done at anyt ime and place
online services, phone banking syst em, credit cards are available
I NDUSTRY WI TH I CT
Comput ers and t elecommunicat ions indust ry became very opular and profit able since
product ion can be increased t hrough an all day operat ion.
COMMERCE WI TH I CT
E- commerce plays an impor t ant role in t he economic scene. I t includes dist ribut ion, buying,
selling and servicing product s t hat are done elect ronically.
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LESSON 5
THE I MPACT OF I CT ON SOCI ETY
FASTER COMMUNI CATI ON SPEED
I n t he past , it t ook a long t ime for any news or messages t o be send. Now wit h t he
I nt ernet , news or messages are sent via e- mail t o friends, business part ners or t o anyone
efficient ly. Wit h t he capabilit y of bandwidt h, broadband and connect ion speed on t he
I nt ernet , any informat ion can t ravel fast and at an inst ant . I t saves t ime and is inexpensive.
LOWER COMMUNI CATI ON COST
Using t he I nt ernet is cost - effect ive t han t he ot her modes of communicat ion such as
t elephone, mailing or courier service. I t allows people t o have access t o large amount s of
dat a at a very l ow cost . Wit h t he I nt ernet we do not have t o pay for any basic services
provided by t he I nt ernet . Furt hermore, t he cost of connect ion t o t he I nt ernet is relat ively
cheap.
RELI ABLE MODE OF COMMUNI CATI ON
Comput ers are reliable. Wit h t he int ernet , informat ion could be accessed and ret rieved from
anywhere and at anyt ime. This makes it a reliable mode of communicat ion. However, t he
input t o t he comput er is cont ribut ed by humans. I f t he dat a passed t o t he comput er is
fault y, t he result will be fault y as well. This is relat ed t o t he t erm GI GO.
GI GO is a short form for Garbage I n Garbage Out . I t refers t o t he qualit y of out put
produced according t o t he input . Normally bad input produces bad out put .
EFFECTI VE SHARI NG OF I NFORMATI ON
Wit h t he advancement of I CT, informat ion can be shared by people all around t he world.
People can share and exchange opinions, news and informat ion t hrough discussion groups,
mailing list and forums on t he I nt ernet . This enable knowledge sharing which will
cont ribut e t o t he development of knowledge based societ y.
PAPERLESS ENVI RONMENT
I CT t echnology has creat ed t he t erm paperless environment . This t erm means informat ion
can be st ored and ret rieved t hrough t he digit al medium inst ead of paper. Online
communicat ion via emails, online chat and inst ant messaging also helps in creat ing t he
paperless environment .
BORDERLESS COMMUNI CATI ON
I nt ernet offers fast informat ion ret rieval, int eract ivit y, accessibilit y and versat ilit y. I t has
become a borderless sources for services and informat ion. Through t he I nt ernet ,
informat ion and communicat ion can be borderless.
SOCI AL PROBLEMS
There are some negat ive effect s of I CT. I t has creat ed social problems in t he societ y.
Nowadays, people t end t o choose online communicat ion rat her t han having real t ime
conversat ions. People t end t o become more individualist ic and int rovert .
Anot her negat ive effect of I CT is :
fraud
ident it y t heft
Pornography
Hacking
This will result a moral decedent and generat e t hreads t o t he societ y.
HEALTH PROBLEMS
A comput er may har m users if t hey use it for long hours frequent ly. Comput er users are
also exposed t o bad post ure, eyest rain, physical and ment al st ress. I n order t o solve t he
healt h problems, an ergonomic environment can be int roduced. For example, an ergonomic
chair can reduces back st rain and a screen filt er is used t o minimize eye st rain.
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LESSON 6
COMPUTER ETHI CS
ETHI CS I N GENERAL
A guideline is needed t o st op t he current t echnology product s from being exploit ed for
example replicat ing original CDs and selling t hem as pirat ed soft ware, t his unet hical
behaviour can be cont rolled by t he code of conduct s.
GUI DELI NES ON THE E- MAI L AND I NTERNET USAGE
Some guidelines from t he Depart ment of Public Services of Malaysia:
use only individual e- mail address t o forward individual opinion
keep t he ident it y name and password a secret t o avoid t he misuse of your e-
mail wit hout your knowledge
e- mail must be act ive t o prompt ly reply t he necessary act ions needed for any
mat t ers
ensure t he t ot al mail kept in t he box is wit hin t he comput er st orage capacit y
scan files regularly t o avoid t he t ransmission of virus from one comput er t o
anot her
do not send e- mails t hat cont ain classified informat ion which can be used t o
t arnish ot her people or count ry
choose a suit able t ime t o search t he I nt ernet t o save access t ime and cost
beware of prohibit ed sit es which could affect one' s moral, organisat ion or
nat ion
UNETHI CAL COMPUTER CODE OF CONDUCTS
Wit h t he advancement of I CT, it is easy for anyone t o ret rieve your informat ion from t he
I nt ernet . You may not realise t hat when you fill a form on t he I nt ernet , your informat ion
may be exposed and st olen. Examples of unet hical comput er code of conduct s include:
modifying cert ain informat ion on t he I nt ernet , affect ing t he accuracy of t he
informat ion
selling informat ion t o ot her part ies wit hout t he owners permission
using informat ion wit hout aut horizat ion
involvement in st ealing soft ware
invasion of privacy
ETHI CAL COMPUTER CODE OF CONDUCTS
Examples of et hical comput er code of conduct s include:
sending warning about viruses t o ot her comput er users
asking permission before sending any business advert isement s t o ot hers
using informat ion wit h aut horizat ion
LESSON 7
THE DI FFERENCES BETWEEN ETHI CS AND LAW
DEFI NI TI ON OF ETHI CS
I n general, et hics is a moral philosophy where a person makes a specific moral choice and
st icks t o it . On t he ot her hand, et hics in comput ing means moral guidelines t o refer t o when
using t he comput er and comput er net works. This includes t he I nt ernet .
DEFI NI TI ON OF LAW
Law is a legal syst em comprising of rules and principles t hat govern t he affairs of a
communit y and cont rolled by a polit ical aut horit y.
WHY DO WE NEED ETHI CS AND LAW I N COMPUTI NG?
Respect ing Ownership
Respect ing Privacy
Respect ing Propert y
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SI MI LARI TI ES BETWEEN ETHI CS AND LAW
Bot h et hics and law are compliment ary t o each ot her and are made:
t o guide user from misusing comput ers
t o creat e a healt hy comput er societ y, so t hat comput ers are used t o
cont ribut e t o a bet t er life
t o prevent any crime
DI FFERENCES BETWEEN ETHI CS AND LAWS
ETHI CS
GUI DELI NE As a guideline t o comput er users.
MORAL STANDARDS Et hical behaviour is j udged by moral
st andards.
FREE TO FOLLOW Comput er users are free t o follow or ignore
t he code of et hics.
NO PUNI SHMENTS No punishment for anyone who
violat es et hics.
UNI VERSALS Universal, can be applied anywhere,
all over t he world.
PRODUCE ETHI CAL COMPUTER USERS To produce et hical comput er users.
I MMORAL Not honouring comput er et hics means
ignoring t he moral element s ( immoral) .
LAW
CONTROL As a rule t o cont rol comput er users.
JUDI CI AL STANDARDS Law is j udged by j udicial st andards.
MUST FOLLOW Comput er users must follow t he regulat ions
and law.
PENALTI ES, I MPRI SONMENTS
AND OTHER PUNI SHMENTS
Penalt ies, imprisonment s and ot her
punishment s for t hose who break t he law.
DEPENDS ON COUNTRY Depends on count ry and st at e where
t he crime is commit t ed.
PREVENT MI SUSI NG OF COMPUTERS To prevent misuse of comput ers.
CRI ME Not honouring t he law means
commit t ing a crime.
UNETHI CAL VS. LAW BREAKI NG CONDUCTS
Unet hical:
using t he office comput er t o do personal t hings
reading your friends e- mail wit hout his or her permission
plagiarising and using mat erials from t he I nt ernet for your class assignment
wit hout giving credit t o t he original aut hor.
Law breaking:
sending a comput er virus via e- mail
hacking int o your schools dat abase t o change your examinat ion result s.
selling pirat ed soft ware in a night market
LESSON 8
I NTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RI GHTS
DEFI NI TI ON OF I NTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
I nt ellect ual Propert y refers t o works creat ed by invent ors, aut hors and art ist s. These works
are unique and have value in t he market place. All prot ect ed by a group of legal right s.
I NTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
I nt ellect ual Propert y laws cover ideas, invent ions, lit erary creat ions, unique names,
business models, indust rial processes, comput er program codes and more.
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I NVENTI ONS PROTECTED BY I NTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS
As businesses cont inue t o expand globally, business owners must realise t he import ance of
get t ing professional advice on how t o est ablish and safeguard t heir int ellect ual propert y
right s. These include :
Trademarks
Service marks
Trade/ company names
Copyright s
Pat ent s
I NTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTI ON
There are four t ypes of I nt ellect ual Propert y prot ect ion. They are pat ent s for invent ion,
t rademarks for brand ident it y, designs for product appearance and copyright for mat erial.
Pat ent s for invent ions
Trademarks for brand ident it y
Design for product appearance
Copyright for mat erial
Pat ent s f or i nvent i ons
Ut ilit y, design or plant pat ent s t hat prot ect invent ions and improvement s t o exist ing
invent ions
Tr ademar k s f or br and i dent i t y
Words, names, symbols, devices and images t hat represent product s, goods or services.
Desi gn f or pr oduct appear ance
Lit erary and art ist ic mat erial, music, films, sound recordings and roadcast s, including
soft ware and mult imedia.
Copyr i ght f or mat er i al
The feat ures of, in part icular,t he lines, cont ours, colours, shape, t ext ure or mat erial of t he
product it self or it s ornament at ion.
LESSON 9
PRI VACY I N COMPUTER USAGE
WHAT I S PRI VACY?
Privacy in I T refers t o dat a and informat ion privacy.
Dat a refers t o a collect ion of raw unprocessed fact s, figures and symbols. Then, comput er
is used t o process dat a int o informat ion. I n general, dat a i nclude t ext s, numbers, sounds,
images and video.
I nf or mat i on privacy is described as t he right s of individuals and companies t o deny or
rest rict t he collect ion and use of informat ion about t hem.
WAYS COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY THREATEN OUR PRI VACY
Every t ime you click on an advert isement or regist er a soft ware product online, your
informat ion is ent ered int o a dat abase. Comput er t echnology can also t hreat en privacy
t hrough spam. Do you know what spam is? Spam is unsolicit ed e- mail messages,
advert isement s or newsgroup post ings sent t o many recipient s at once.
How does comput er t echnology t hreat en t he privacy of our dat a?
I t is done t hrough:
Cookies
Elect ronic profile
Spyware
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Cook i es
are used t o ident ify users by web cast ing, e- commerce and ot her web applicat i ons
cont ain user informat ion and are saved in t he comput er hard disk
are used by some websit es t o st ore passwords and t rack how regularly we visit a
websit e, t hat s how we become pot ent ial t arget s for web advert isers
enable web sit es t o collect informat ion about your online act ivit ies and st ore t hem
for fut ure use, t hen t he collect ed det ails will be sold t o any company t hat request s
for it .
El ect r oni c pr of i l e
elect ronic profile is t he combining of dat a in a dat abase t hat can be sold t o t he
I nt ernet by t he company t o t he int erest ed part ies.
t his dat abase is in a form such as magazine subscript ion or product warrant y cards
t hat had been filled by online subscribers.
t he informat ion in elect ronic profile includes personal det ails such as your age,
address and marit al st at us.
Spyw ar e
refers t o a program t hat collect s user informat ion wit hout t he users knowledge.
can ent er comput ers, sneaking in like a virus.
is a result of inst alling new programs.
communicat es informat ion it collect s t o some out side source while we are online.
WHY DO WE NEED PRI VACY?
We need privacy for anonymit y. For example, t he I nt ernet creat es an elaborat e t rail of dat a
det ailing a person surfing on t he Web because all informat ion is st ored inside cookies. We
do not want our t rail t o be det ect ed. We also need privacy for confident ialit y. We do not
want our privat e lives and habit s exposed t o t hird part ies.
CAN PRI VACY BE PROTECTED?
Privacy can be prot ect ed by:
( a) Pr i v acy l aw
The privacy laws in Malaysia emphasises on t he following:
Securit y Services t o review t he securit y policy
Securit y Management t o prot ect t he resources
Securit y Mechanism t o implement t he required securit y services
Securit y Obj ect s, t he import ant ent it ies wit hin t he syst em environment
( b) Ut i l i t i es sof t w ar e
Example: ant i - spam program, firewall, ant i - spyware and ant ivirus.
LESSON 10
AUTHENTI CATI ONS
Aut hent icat ion is a process where user s ver i f y t hat t hey are who t hey say t hey are. The
user who at t empt s t o perform funct ions in a syst em is in fact t he user who is aut horised t o
do so.
For Example : When you use an ATM card, t he machine will verify t he validat ion of t he card
t hen t he machine will request for a pin number. This is where t he aut hent icat ion process
t akes place.
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AUTHENTI CATI ON
METHODS OF AUTHENTI CATI ON
There are t wo commonly used aut hent icat ion met hods, which are biomet ric device and
callback syst em.
Bi omet r i c devi ce is a device t hat t ranslat es personal charact erist ics int o a digit al code t hat
is compared wit h a digit al code st ored in t he dat abase.
Cal l back syst em refers t o t he checking syst em t hat aut hent icat es t he user.
BI OMETRI C DEVI CES
Fi nger pr i nt Recogni t i on
I n order t o prevent fake fingers from being used, many biomet rics fingerprint syst ems also
measure blood flow, or check for correct ly arrayed ridges at t he edges of t he fingers.
Faci al Recogni t i on
Facial recognit ion analyses t he charact erist ics of an individual' s face images capt ured
t hrough a digit al video camera.
Hand Geomet r y Scanni ng
Hand scanning involves t he measurement and analysis of t he shape of one' s hand.
I r i s Scanni ng
I ris scanning analyses t he feat ures t hat exist in t he coloured t issues surrounding t he pupil
which has more t han 200 point s t hat can be used for comparison, including rings, furrows
and freckles.
Ret i nal Scanni ng
Ret inal biomet rics involves t he scanning of ret ina and analysing t he layer of blood vessels at
t he back of t he eye.
Voi ce Recogni t i on
Voice recognit ion syst em compares a persons live speech wit h t heir st ored voice pat t ern.
Si gnat ur e Ver i f i cat i on Sy st em
Signat ure verificat ion syst em uses special pen and t ablet . Aft er pre- processing t he
signat ure, several feat ures are ext ract ed.
CALLBACK SYSTEM
The callback syst em is commonly used in t he bank operat ion and business t ransact ion.
WHY I S AUTHENTI CATI ON I MPORTANT?
Aut hent icat ion is import ant in order t o safeguard against t he unaut horised access and use.
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LESSON 11
VERI FI CATI ONS
VERI FI CATI ON
Verificat ion is t he act of pr ov i ng or di spr ov i ng t he cor r ect ness of a sy st em wit h respect
t o a cert ain formal specificat ion.
METHODS OF VERI FI CATI ON
There are t wo met hods commonly used in verificat ion, which are user ident ificat ion and
processed obj ect .
User i dent i f i cat i on refers t o t he process of validat ing t he user.
Pr ocessed obj ect refers t o somet hing t he user has such as ident ificat ion card, securit y
t oken and cell phone.
USER I DENTI FI CATI ON
The examples of validat ing process using t he user ident ificat ion are:
Key in t he user name t o log- in t o a syst em and t he syst em will verify whet her t he
user is valid or invalid user
Show t he exam slip t o verify t hat you are t he valid candidat e for t he exam.
show a passport before depart ure.
LESSON 12
CONTROVERSI AL CONTENT
CONTROVERSI AL CONTENT
A cont roversial cont ent is informat ion t hat causes disagreement in opinions and may cause
t he disrupt ion of peace because different people or cult ure will have different views
I SSUES ON CONTROVERSI AL CONTENTS
The issues on cont roversial cont ent s are always focusing on pornography and slander.
Malaysia considers pornography and slander as illegal.
Pornography Creat ive act ivit y ( writ ing or pict ures or films et c.) of no lit erary or art ist ic value
ot her t han t o st imulat e sexual desire.
Slander Oral communicat ion of false st at ement s inj urious t o a person' s reput at ion.
A false and malicious st at ement or report about someone.
DEFI NI TI ON OF PORNOGRAPHY
The definit ion of pornography is any form of media or mat erial ( like books or phot ographs)
t hat depict s erot ic behaviour and is int ended t o cause sexual excit ement .
Pornography t ends t o exploit men, women and children in a dist ast eful manner.
SLANDER
Slander is anot her example of cont roversial cont ent .
Slander is a legal t erm for false and malicious st at ement ( meaning knowing t hat it is false,
or reckless disregard t hat it was false) about someone.
Examples :
You wrot e an e- mail t hat a fellow classmat e was having an affair wit h a t eacher, even
t hough it was not t rue. You t hen sent it t o five ot her friends.
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I MPACTS ON MALAYSI AN SOCI ETY
Pornography
can lead t o criminal act s such as exploit at ion of women and children
can lead t o sexual addict ion or perversion
can develop low moral value t owards ot her men, women or children
can erode good religious, cult ural and social beliefs and behaviour
Slander
can develop int o a societ y t hat disregards honest y and t rut h
can develop bad habit of spreading unt rut hs and rumours
can lead t o unnecessary argument
can cause people t o have negat ive at t it udes t owards anot her person
LESSON 13
THE PROCESS OF I NTERNET FI LTERI NG
I NTERNET FI LTERI NG
I t is our responsibilit y t o ensure t hat t he t eenagers are prot ect ed from t hese corrupt ions of
t he mind by filt ering access t o t he I nt ernet . I nt ernet filt ering is a process t hat prevent s or
blocks access t o cert ain mat erials on t he I nt ernet .
I t is our responsibilit y t o ensure t hat t he t eenagers are prot ect ed from t hese corrupt ions of
t he mind by filt ering access t o t he I nt ernet .
What i s I nt er net f i l t er i ng?
I nt ernet filt ering is a process t hat prevent s or blocks access t o cert ain mat erials on t he
I nt ernet . Filt ering is most commonly used t o prevent children from accessing inappropriat e
mat erial and t o keep employees product ive on t he I nt ernet .
CONTROLLI NG ACCESS TO THE I NTERNET
The current preferred met hod of choice t o limit access on t he I nt ernet is t o filt er cont ent
eit her by:
keyword blocking
sit e blocking
web rat ing syst ems
These met hods require soft ware t o be inst alled at a client of server level.
KEYWORD BLOCKI NG
One of t he st rat egies is by using t he keyword blocking met hod. This met hod uses a list of
banned words or obj ect ionable t erms.
As t he page is downloading, t he filt er searches for any of t hese words. I f found, it will block
t he page complet ely, st op downloading t he page, block t he banned words and even shut
down t he browser.
SI TE BLOCKI NG
soft ware company maint ains a list of dubious I nt ernet sit es
t he soft ware prevent s access t o any sit es on t his list
denial list s regularly updat ed
some soft ware provides cont rol over what cat egories of informat ion you block
Who decides what goes on t he denial list and what crit eria are t hey using?
can you keep t rack of t he whole of t he I nt ernet ?
filt ers can use bot h sit e blocking and word blocking
13
WEB RATI NG SYSTEMS
Web sit es are rat ed in t erms of nudit y, sex, violence and language. The Recreat ional
Soft ware Advisory Council ( RSACI ) is responsible for t he rat ing of t he websit es on t he
cont ent on t he int ernet .
rat ings done eit her by t he web page aut hor or by t he independent bureau.
browsers set t o only accept pages wit h cert ain levels of rat ings.
LESSON 14
CYBER LAW
What i s Cy ber Law ?
Cyber law refers t o any laws relat ing t o prot ect ing t he I nt ernet and ot her online
communicat ion t echnologies.
NEEDS FOR CYBER LAW
These concerns and issues clearly indicat e why cyber laws are needed in online act ivit ies.
THE CYBER LAW ACTS I N MALAYSI A
The Malaysian Government has already passed several cyber laws t o cont rol and reduce t he
I nt ernet abuse. These cyber laws include:
Digit al Signat ure Act 1997
Comput er Crimes Act 1997
Telemedicine Act 1997
Communicat ions and Mult imedia Act 1998
DI GI TAL SI GNATURE ACT 1997
The Digit al Signat ure Act 1997 secures elect ronic communicat ions especially on t he
I nt ernet . Digit al Signat ure is an ident it y verificat ion st andard t hat uses encrypt ion
t echniques t o prot ect against e- mail forgery. The encrypt ed code consist s of t he users
name and a hash of all t he part s of t he message.
COMPUTER CRI MES ACT 1997
The Comput er Crimes Act 1997 gives prot ect ion against t he misuses of comput ers and
comput er criminal act i vit ies such as unaut horised use of programmes, illegal t ransmission
of dat a or messages over comput ers and hacking and cracking of comput er syst ems and
net works. By implement ing t he Comput er Crimes Act 1997, users can prot ect t heir right s t o
privacy and build t rust in t he comput er syst em. At t he same t ime, t he government can have
cont rol at a cert ain level over cyberspace t o reduce cyber crime act ivit ies.
TELEMEDI CI NE ACT 1997
The Telemedicine Act 1997 ensures t hat only qualified medical pract it ioners can pract ice
t elemedicine and t hat t heir pat ient ' s right s and int erest s are prot ect ed.
These act provides t he fut ure development and delivery of healt hcare in Malaysia.
CYBER LAW
Integrity and Security
of Information
Legal Status of Online
Transactions
Privacy and Confidentially
of Information
Security of
Government Data
Intellectual Property
Rights
14
COMMUNI CATI ONS AND MULTI MEDI A ACT 1998
The implement at ion of Communicat ion and Telecommuni cat ion Act 1998 ensures t hat
informat ion is secure, t he net work is reliable and t he service is affordable all over Malaysia.
This Act also ensures high level of user' s confidence in t he informat ion and communicat ion
t echnology indust ry.
LESSON 15
COMPUTER CRI MES
COMPUTER CRI MES
A comput er crime is defined as any criminal act ivit y t hat is relat ed t o t he use of comput ers.
These act ivit ies include comput er fraud, copyright infringement , comput er t heft and
comput er at t ack.
COMPUTER FRAUD
Comput er fraud is defined as having an int ent ion t o t ake advant age over or causing loss t o
ot her people, mainly on monet ary basis t hrough t he use of comput ers.
COPYRI GHT I NFRI NGEMENT
Copyright infringement is defined as a violat ion of t he right s secured by a copyright .
Copyright infringement involves illegal copy or reproduct ion of copyright s mat erial by t he
black market group. The open commercial sale of pirat ed it em is also illegal.
COMPUTER THEFT
Comput er t heft is defined as t he unaut horised use of anot her persons pr opert y wit h t he
int ent ion t o deny t he owner t he right ful possession of t hat propert y or it s use.
Examples of comput er t heft include:
t ransfer of payment s t o t he wrong account s
t ap int o dat a t ransmission lines on dat abase at no cost
divert goods t o t he wrong dest inat ion
COMPUTER ATTACK
Comput er at t ack may be defined as any act ivit ies t aken t o disrupt t he equipment of
comput er syst ems, change processing cont rol or corrupt st ored dat a.
Comput er at t ack can be in t he forms of:
physical at t ack t hat disrupt t he comput er facilit y or it s t ransmission lines.
an elect ronic at t ack t hat uses t he power of elect romagnet ic energy t o
overload comput er circuit ry.
a comput er net work at t ack t hat uses a malicious code t o exploit a weakness
in soft ware, or in t he comput er securit y pract ices of a comput er user
LESSON 16
COMPUTER SECURI TY
DEFI NI TI ON OF COMPUTER SECURI TY
Comput er securit y means prot ect ing our comput er syst ems and t he informat ion t hey
cont ain against unwant ed access, damage, dest ruct ion or modificat ion.
We need t o prot ect our comput er from any int ruders such as hackers, crackers and script
kiddie.
We do not want st rangers t o read our e- mail, use our comput er t o
at t ack ot her syst ems, send forged e- mail from our comput er, or examine personal
informat ion st ored on our comput er such as financial st at ement s.
15
TYPES OF COMPUTER SECURI TY
Three t ypes of comput er securit y are:
a) hardware securit y
b) soft ware securit y/ dat a securit y
c) net work securit y
a) HARDWARE SECURI TY
Hardware securit y refers t o securit y measures used t o prot ect t he hardware specifically t he
comput er and it s relat ed document s.
The examples of securit y measures used t o prot ect t he hardware include PC- locks,
keyboard- locks, smart cards and biomet ric devices.
b) SOFTWARE AND DATA SECURI TY
Soft ware and dat a securit y refers t o t he securit y measures used t o prot ect t he soft ware and
t he loss of dat a files.
Examples of securit y measures used t o prot ect t he soft ware are act ivat ion code and serial
number.
c) NETWORK SECURI TY
The t ransfer of dat a t hrough net work has become a common pract ice and t he need t o
implement net work securit y has become significant .
PERSONAL COMPUTER SECURI TY CHECKLI ST
I n order t o make sure our comput ers are secured, here are t he comput er
securit y checklist t o follow.
Do not eat , drink or smoke near t he comput er
Do not place t he comput er near open windows or doors
Do not subj ect t he comput er t o ext reme t emperat ures
Clean t he equipment regularly
Place a cable lock on t he comput er
Use a surge prot ect or
St ore disks properly in a locked cont ainer
Maint ain backup copies of all files
St ores copies of crit ical files off sit es
Scan a floppy disk before you open it
Do not open any unknown email received
LESSON 17
I NTRODUCTI ON COMPUTER THREATS
The comput er is a great t ool t o st ore impor t ant informat ion. I n cert ain cases, t he
informat ion is very vit al t hat losing it will harm t he comput er syst em.
Comput er t hreat s can come from many ways eit her from human or nat ural disast ers. For
example, when someone is st ealing your account informat ion from a t rust ed bank, t his
t hreat is considered as a human t hreat . However, when your comput er is soaked in heavy
rain, t hen t hat is a nat ural disast er t hreat .
MALI CI OUS CODE
Malicious code is also known as a rogue program. I t is a t hreat t o comput ing asset s by
causing undesired effect s in t he programmers part . The effect is caused by an agent , wit h
t he int ent ion t o cause damage.
The agent for malicious code is t he writ er of t he code, or any person who causes it s
dist ribut ion. There are various kinds of malicious code. They include virus, Troj an horse,
logic door, t rapdoor and backdoor, worm and many ot hers.
16
a) VI RUS
a program t hat can pass on t he malicious code t o ot her programs by
modifying t hem
at t aches it self t o t he program, usually files wit h .doc, . xls and .exe ext ensions
dest roys or co- exist s wit h t he program
can overt ake t he ent ire comput ing syst em and spread t o ot her syst ems
b) TROJAN HORSE
a program which can perform useful and unexpect ed act ion
must be inst alled by users or int ruders before it can affect t he syst ems
asset s
an example of a Troj an horse is t he login script t hat request s for users login
I D and password
t he informat ion is t hen used for malicious purposes
c) LOGI C BOMB
logic bomb is a malicious code t hat goes off when a specif ic condit ion occurs.
an example of a logic bomb is t he t ime bomb
it goes off and causes t hreat s at a specified t ime or dat e
e) TRAPDOOR OR BACKDOOR
a feat ure in a program t hat allows someone t o access t he program wit h
special privileges
f ) WORM
a program t hat copies and spreads it self t hrough a net work
Pr i mar y Di f f er ences Bet w een Wor ms And vi r uses
HACKER
Hacking is a source of t hreat t o securit y in comput er. I t is defined as unaut horised access t o
t he comput er syst em by a hacker. Hackers are persons who l ear n about t he comput er
syst em i n det ai l . They writ e program referred t o as hacks. Hackers may use a modem or
cable t o hack t he t arget ed comput ers.
NATURAL AND ENVI RONMENTAL THREATS
Comput ers are also t hreat ened by nat ural or environment al disast er. Be it at home, st ores,
offices and also aut omobiles.Examples of nat ural and environment al disast ers:
Flood
Fire
Eart hquakes, st orms and t ornados
Excessive Heat
I nadequat e Power Supply
THEFT
Two t ypes of comput er t heft :
1) Comput er is used t o st eal money, goods, informat ion and resources.
2) St ealing of comput er, especially not ebook and PDAs.
Three approaches t o prevent t heft :
1) prevent access by using locks, smart - card or password
2) prevent port abilit y by rest rict ing t he hardware from being moved
3) det ect and guard all exit s and record any hardware t ransport ed
Wor m Vi r us
Operat es t hrough t he net work Spreads t hrough any medium
Spreads copies of it self as a st andalone
program
Spreads copies of it self as a program
t hat at t aches t o ot her
programs
17
LESSON 18
SECURI TY MEASURES
Securit y measures mean t he precaut ionary measures t aken t oward possible danger or
damage. There are 6 t ype of securit y measures.
1) DATA BACKUP
Dat a Backup is a program of file duplicat ion. Backups of dat a applicat ions are necessary so
t hat t hey can be recovered in case of an emergency.
2) CRYPTOGRAPHY
Crypt ography is a process of hi di ng i nf or mat i on by alt ering t he act ual informat ion int o
different represent at ion, for example, an APA can be writ t en as I ? X.
Almost all crypt osyst ems depend on a key such as a password like t he numbers or a phrase
t hat can be used t o encrypt or decrypt a message.
The t radit ional t ype of crypt osyst em used on a comput er net work is called a symmet ric
secret key syst em.
3) ANTI VI RUS
An ant ivirus program prot ect s a comput er against viruses by ident ifying and removing any
comput er viruses found in t he comput er memory, on st orage media or incoming e- mail
files. An ant ivirus program scans for programs t hat at t empt t o modify t he boot program,
t he operat ing syst em and ot her programs t hat normally are read from but not modified.
I DENTI FYI NG VI RUS
Two t echnique are used t o ident ify t he virus.
I f an ant ivirus program ident ifies an infect ed file, it at t empt s t o remove it s virus, worm or
Troj an horse. I f t he ant ivirus program cannot remove t he infect ion, it oft en quarant ines t he
infect ed file. Quarant ine is a separat e area of a hard disk t hat holds t he infect ed file unt il
t he infect ion can be removed. This st ep ensures ot her files will not become infect ed. Pat ent s
for invent ions Ut ilit y, design or plant pat ent s t hat prot ect invent ions and improvement s t o
exist ing invent ions
4) ANTI - SPYWARE
Spyware is a program placed on a comput er wit hout t he users knowledge. I t secret ly
collect s informat ion about t he user.
The spyware program communicat es informat ion t o t he out side source.
An ant i- spyware applicat ion program somet ime called t racking soft ware or a spybot is used
t o remove spyware.
Among of t he popular ant i - spyware programs are:
Spybot Search and Dest roy
Ad- aware
Spyware Blast er
5) FI REWALL
Firewall is a piece of hardware or soft ware which funct ions in a net worked environment t o
prevent some communicat ions forbidden by t he securit y policy.
Firewall implement a securit y policy. I t might permit limit ed access from in or out side t he
net work perimet ers or from cert ain user or for cert ain act ivit ies.
18
6) HUMAN ASPECTS OF SECURI TY MEASURES
Human aspect s refer t o t he user and also t he int ruder of a comput er syst em.
I t is one of t he hardest aspect s t o give prot ect ion t o.
The most common problem is t he lack of achieving a good informat ion securit y procedure.
LESSON 19
RELATI ONSHI P BETWEEN SECURI TY THREATS AND SECURI TY MEASURES
SECURI TY THREADS
Secur i t y t hr eat s may come from in many forms. For example, when someone is invading
your account informat ion from a t rust ed bank, t his act is considered as a securit y t hreat .
Secur i t y measur es can be used t o prevent t his invader from get t ing t he account
informat ion. For example, t he bank can use a firewall t o prevent
unaut horised access t o it s dat abase.
MALI CI OUS CODE THREATS VS. ANTI VI RUS AND ANTI - SPYWARE
Securit y t hreat s include virus, Troj an horse, logic bomb, t rapdoor and backdoor, and worm.
Ant ivirus and ant i - spyware can be used t o prot ect t he comput er from t he t hreat s by:
limit ing connect ivit y
allowing only aut horised media for loading dat a and soft ware
enforcing mandat ory access cont rols
blocking t he virus from t he comput er program
HACKI NG VS. FI REWALL
Hacking is an unaut horised access t o t he comput er syst em done by a hacker. We can use
firewall or crypt ography t o prevent t he hacker from accessing our comput ers.
A firewall permit s limit ed access t o unaut horised users or any act ivit ies from t he net work
environment . Crypt ography is a process of hiding informat ion by changing t he act ual
informat ion int o different represent at ion, for example, an APA can be writ t en as 7&* .
19
NATURAL DI SASTER VS. DATA BACKUP
The nat ural and environment al disast ers may include:
flood
fire
eart hquakes
st orms
t ornados
The backup syst em is needed t o backup all dat a and applicat ions in t he comput er. Wit h t he
backup syst em, dat a can be recovered in case of an emergency.
THEFT VS. HUMAN ASPECTS
Comput er t heft can be of t wo kinds:
can be used t o st eal money, goods, informat ion and comput er resources
t he act ual st ealing of comput ers, especially not ebooks and PDAs
Measures t hat can be t aken t o prevent t heft :
prevent access by using locks, smart - card or password
prevent port abilit y by rest rict ing t he hardware from being moved
det ect and guard all exit s and record any hardware t ransport ed
BE SUPSPI CI OUS OF ALL RESULTS
There are many inst ances where non- programmers develop applicat ions which are not built
wit h proper underst anding of soft ware engineering pract ices. Dat a produced by such
applicat ions may not be correct and may risk corrupt ing dat a received from ot her sources
t hat are not compat ible wit h t he applicat ion.
LESSON 20
SECURI TY PROCEDURES
Comput ers should have alarm syst ems t o guard t hem from any at t acks such as viruses and
dat a corrupt ion. The alarm syst em is t he securit y measures t hat we t ake t o ensure it s
safet y.
DATA PROTECTI ON
We need t o prot ect t he dat a in t he comput er as it may somehow get lost or corrupt ed due
t o some viruses or mishap like fire, flood, light ning, machine failures and even human
errors.
There are a few ways t o prot ect t he informat ion namely:
make backup files
det ect t he virus and clean t he comput er
warn ot hers on virus at t acks
1) BACKUP FI LES
Users can do backups of file syst ems by:
keeping t he duplicat ed files in ext ernal st orage such as in t he floppy disk and t humb
drive
do backup frequent ly
2) DETECT VI RUS AND DO CLEANUP
A comput er virus is able t o affect and infect t he way t he comput er works. Viruses can be
det ect ed when we run an ant ivirus. We can also delet e t he infect ed files and document s.
3) WARN OTHERS ON VI RUS ATTACK
We can warn ot hers on virus at t acks or new viruses by sending e- mails t o t hem.
20
DETECTI NG I LLEGAL ACCESS TO SYSTEMS
The comput er syst em is able t o det ect any illegal access t o t he syst em by a user who does
not have any aut horisat ion. Basically, a corporat ion will simply use t cpwrappers and t ripwire
t o det ect any illegal access t o t heir syst em. User' s access will be reviewed periodically by
comput er operat ions. On going int ernal audit s will be made t o ensure det ect ion of violat ions
of securit y and unaut horised modificat ions t o soft ware and dat a .
TCPWRAPPERS
Tcpwrappers st op t he at t empt ed connect ion
examines it s configurat ion files
will decide whet her t o accept or rej ect t he request .
Tcpwrappers will cont rol access at t he applicat ion level, rat her t han at t he socket level like
ipt ables and ipchains. The syst em will run t cpwrappers t o log access t o ft p, t ft p, rch, rlogin,
rexec and t elnet .
TRI PWI RE
Tripwire will det ect and report on any changes in t he t housands of st rat egic syst em files.
The syst em will run t ripwire t o det ermine if syst em files have changed.
PREVENTI NG I LLEGAL ACCESS TO SYSTEMS
Ways t o prevent illegal access t o syst ems:
1. Run anlpassword t o make password cracking difficult .
2. Run t cpwrappers t o check if t he name for an ip address can be provided by DNC
3. Use a callback syst em t o prevent unaut horised use of st olen passwords.
PREVENTI NG I LLEGAL ROOT ACCESS
Sudo st ands for ( Superuser do) and is a program in Unix, Linux and similar operat ing
syst ems such as Mac OS X t hat allows users t o run programs in t he form of anot her user
( normally in t he form of t he syst em' s superuser) .
Sudo allows a permit t ed user t o execut e a command as t he superuser or anot her user, as
specified in t he sudoers file.
PATCH
Pat ch supplies small updat es t o soft ware, provided t hat t he source code is available.
Pat ch is a name of an UNI X ut ilit y. I t applies a script generat ed by t he different program t o
a set of files t hat allows changes from one file t o be direct ly applied t o anot her file.
Resources are not enough t o pat ch all securit y holes t hat we hear about t hrough t he
bugt raq list .
LESSON 21
COMPUTER APPLI CATI ONS I N THE SOCI ETY
The comput er has change t he societ y t oday as much as indust rial revolut ion changed
societ y in 18
t h
and 19
t h
cent ury. People int eract s direct ly wit h comput er in educat ion,
finance, government , healt h care, science, publishing, t ourism, and indust ry.
Comput ers help t hem t o do t heir work fast er and more efficient by using t he soft ware
applicat ion t hat consist of special program for specific t ask.
21
SOFTWARE APPLI CATI ONS
Soft ware applicat ions are used for many reasons. Such as t o enhance t he learning pr ocess,
t o help in business act ivit ies, t o assist t he graphics and mult imedia proj ect and t o fasilit at e
communicat ion.
Ar ea Ex ampl es of sof t w ar e appl i cat i ons
Home and
Educat ion
I nt egrat ed soft ware, Personal finance, Legal, Tax Preparat ion,
Clip Art / I mage Gallery, Home Design/ Landscaping and
Reference
Business Word Processing, Spreadsheet , Dat abase, Present at ion
Graphics, Personal I nformat ion Manager, Soft ware Suit e,
Proj ect Management and Account ing
Graphics
and Mult imedia
Comput er- aided design ( CAD) , Deskt op Publishing,
Paint / I mage Edit ing, Video and Audio Edit ing, Mult imedia
Aut horing and Web Page Aut horing
Communicat ion E- mail, Web Browsers, Chat Rooms, Newsgroups, I nst ant
Messaging, Groupware and Video Conferencing
These soft ware applicat ion comes in packages.
SOFTWARE APPLI CATI ONS PACKAGES
Sof t w ar e Appl i cat i on Ex ampl es of Popul ar Pack ages
Word Processing Microsoft Word and Lot us Word Pro
Spreadsheet Microsoft Excel and Lot us 1- 2- 3
Dat abase Microsoft Access and Microsoft Visual FoxPro
Present at ion Graphics Microsoft Power Point and Lot us Freelance Graphics
Personal I nformat ion Manager Microsoft Out look and Palm Deskt op
Soft ware Suit e Microsoft Office and Lot us Smart Suit e
Proj ect Management Microsoft Proj ect and Corel CATALYST
Account ing MYOB and Peacht ree Complet e Account ing
HOME AND EDUCATI ON
COMPUTERS FOR HI GHER EDUCATI ON
BUSI NESS
COMPUTERS I N BANKI NG
I n t he banking sect or, many financial inst it ut ions offer online banking. People can access
t heir financial records from anywher e in t he world. One example of online banking is
Maybank2u. ( www.maybank2u.com)
I NDUSTRY
By using t he CAM syst em, comput ers record act ual labour, mat erial, machine and comput er
t ime used t o manufact ure a part icul ar product . Comput ers process t his dat a and
aut omat ically updat e invent ory, product ion, payroll and account ing records on t he
companys net work.
GRAPHI CS AND MULTI MEDI A
Comput ers are crucial in publishing especially in t he process of making works availabl e t o
t he public. These works include magazines, books, newspapers, music and film product ion.
Special soft ware applicat ions are used t o assist graphic designers t o develop graphics,
t ext s, phot ographs and composing songs.
Comput er- Aided Design, Deskt op Publishing, Paint / I mage Edit ing, Video and Audio Edit ing
and Mult imedia Aut horing are among t he popular applicat ions soft ware.
22
COMMUNI CATI ON
A government provides societ y wit h direct ion by making and administ ering policies. Most
government offices or agenci es have websit es in order t o provide cit izens wit h up- t o- dat e or
lat est informat ion.
People can access government websit es t o:
check informat ion on t axes ( www.hasil.org.my)
apply for permit s and licenses ( www.j pj .gov.my)
COMPUTERS I N TOURI SM
Today, people will go online t o get all relat ed informat ion about t raveling. They can visit
websit es t o get informat ion on dest inat ions, prices, hot els, flight s and car rent als.
They can also purchase t icket online, all payment s can be made by using credit card.
COMPUTERS I N THE HEALTHCARE
I n t he medical field, comput ers are very import ant in running t he operat ions. Medical st affs
use comput ers for various purposes, namely:
maint aining pat ient records
monit oring pat ient s vit al sign
assist ing doct ors, nurses and t echnicians wit h medical t est s by using comput er and
comput erised devices .
using medical soft ware t o help wit h researching and diagnosing healt h condit ions.
SCI ENCE
I n t he scient ific world, comput ers are used in all fields of science from biology t o ast ronomy
t o met eorology and ot hers. These are t hings t hat
can be done by comput ers, namely:
collect ing, analyzing and modelling dat a
serving as medium of communicat ion wit h colleagues around t he world
cont ribut ing t o new invent ions or breakt hrough in surgery, medicine and t reat ment
LESSON 22
COMPUTER USERS
HOME USER
The comput er is a basic necessit y. Each home user spends t ime on t he comput er for
different reasons:
business
communicat ion
ent ert ainment
educat ion
SMALL OFFI CE/ HOME OFFI CE ( SOHO) USER
SOHO users use comput er t o manage t heir work effect ively. They advert ise t heir product s
and services t hrough websit es. They also t ake orders from t he websit es.
These SOHO users:
use deskt op or not ebook comput ers as well as t elephone, handphones and PDAs
work in a small company or work as an individual at home
MOBI LE USER
include real est at e agent s, insurance agent s, met er readers and j ournalist s
use not ebook comput ers, I nt ernet - enabl ed PDAs or smart phones
work wit h basic business soft ware such as word processing and spreadsheet
business soft ware
use present at ion graphics soft ware t o creat e and deliver present at ions t o a large
audience by connect ing a mobile comput er or device t o a video proj ect or
23
POWER USER
include engineers, scient ist s, archit ect s and virt ual realit y animat ors
use comput ers wit h ext remely fast processor, bigger st orage and cust omised
soft ware
work wit h mini comput ers t hat uses design t o meet t he organisat ional needs
use soft ware such as CAD, CAM and MATLABExamples :
LARGE BUSI NESS USER
bank, insurance company, hypermarket
use comput ers for basic business act ivit ies
have e- commerce t hat allow cust omers and vendors t o int eract and do business
t ransact ions online t herefore cust omers, vendors and ot her int erest ed part ies can
access informat ion on t he web
have e- mail and web browsers t o enable communicat ions among employees,
vendors and cust omers
provide kiosks in public locat ions
Many employees of large business t elecommut e, which means t hey work away from t heir
offices workst at ion. They also have flexible schedule.
LESSON 26
TOPI CS FOR STUDY
I n order t o do t he research, you need t o follow t his 5 st eps.
STUDY TOPI CS
SOURCE CI TATI ON CARD
CREATI NG YOUR PRESENTATI ON
have at least 15 slides ( not including t he Tit le slide)
have a Tit le slide
- int roduce present at ion
- include names of each member of t he t eam
use any design t emplat es
use at least 5 graphics ( e.g.: clip art , phot ographs, word art and drawings)
have some mult imedia
- use animat ion on slides ( be careful of very noisy ones! )
- use slide t ransit ions
use less t ext on t he slides
- t ry present ing t he informat ion t hrough pict ures, graphs, mind maps or any
ot her form of visual ( as oppose t o t ext ual) pr esent at ion
have a cit at ion slide
- t he last slide must list all of your cit at ions and ot her relat ed resources ( where
you got t he cont ent )
- remember t o give credit t o ot hers!
THE FI NAL PRESENTATI ON
Guidelines:
each t eam member must speak during t he present at ion.
each t eam will have 10 minut es t o present .
present ers should face t he audience and not j ust read from t he screen or paper.
Tips:
pract ice in advance.
prepare not es on paper or cue cards t o help you remember what you need t o say
during t he present at i on.
remember t o speak out clearly for people at t he back t o hear you.
do not shout !
24
LESSON 27
OVERVI EW OF COMPUTER SYSTEM
COMPUTER SYSTEM
A comput er syst em is defined as combinat ion of component s designed t o process dat a and
st ore files. A comput er syst em consist s of four maj or hardware component s; input devices,
out put devices, processor and st orage devices.
A comput er syst em requires hardware, soft ware and a user t o fully funct ion.
COMPUTER HARDWARE
Comput er hardware consist s of: input devices, processor, out put devices, st orage devices
I nput Devi ces : Keyboard , Light Pen , Joyst ick, Microphone, Mouse, Video, Digit al camera.
Pr ocessor
The CPU is an example of a processor. I t has t he same import ant as t he brain t o human
being.
Out put Devi ces : Print er , Plot t er , Speaker, Monit or
St or age Dev i ces
St orage usually means secondary st orage. I t consist s secondary st orage devices such as
hardisk, Floppy Disk, disket t e, CD ROM and DVD ROM.
COMPUTER SOFTWARE
There a 2 t ypes of comput er soft ware, syst em soft ware and applicat ion soft ware. Syst em
soft ware is any comput er soft ware t hat helps t o run comput er syst em. Syst em soft ware
cont rols, int egrat e and manages t he individual component of a comput er syst em.
LESSON 28
I NTRODUCTI ON TO COMPUTER SYSTEM
COMPUTER HARDWARE BLOCK DI AGRAM An I nput device feed raw dat a t o t he
processor. A processor processes raw dat a and t urns it int o useful informat ion. A st orage
device keeps or st ores bot h process and unprocess dat a for lat er usage. An out put device
shows or display t he processed dat a.
I NPUT DEVI CES
When dat a is ent ered int o t he comput er syst em, it is called an input . I nput
Keyboard, mouse, scanner, barcode reader and digit al camera are some example of input
devices.
25
OUTPUT DEVI CES
Out put is t he result of raw input dat a t hat has been processed by t he cent ral processing
unit int o meaningful informat ion. Common forms of out put are t ext s, numbers, graphics,
sounds, animat ions and videos. The most common out put devices are comput er screens,
speakers and print ers.
STORAGE DEVI CES
The syst ems primary st orage, Random Access Memory ( RAM) can only hold dat a
t emporarily. Thus, secondary st orage is needed t o provide addit ional st orage. The dat a
st ored in t he secondary st orage is considered permanent unt il it is delet ed or removed.
Secondary st orage can be magnet ic disks and opt ical disks. Examples of secondary st orage
are hard disks, rewrit able CDs and DVDs as well as removable disks such as pen drives.
PERI PHERAL DEVI CES
Ext ernal hardware devices at t ached t o t he comput er are called peripheral equipment s.
LESSON 29
I NFORMATI ON PROCESSI NG CYCLE
Do you know how a comput er works? We use t he comput er in our everyday lives but not all
of us know how t his machine operat es.
Human uses t he brain t o t hink, make decisions and process informat ion. A comput er has a
brain t oo, and t he brain of a comput er is t he processor or t he cent ral processing unit ( CPU)
t hat processes informat ion.
THE CENTRAL PROCESSI NG UNI T
The cent ral processing unit or t he CPU is t he brain of t he comput er .
All processing act ivit ies are done in t he CPU. I t ut ilises t he comput er memory t o execut e
inst ruct ions from t he applicat ion soft ware and accomplish a t ask. For example: edit ing a
let t er, drawing a pict ure and sort ing numbers.
The processor must be connect ed t o input devices, out put devices and st orage devices t o
carry out t he above ment ioned t asks.
THE I NFORMATI ON PROCESSI NG CYCLE
User will input t he dat a t o be processed by t he processor. The st orage holds dat abases, files
and programs. The out put devi ces present t he processed dat a as useful informat ion
product s for t he user.
I NPUT
I nput is any dat a or inst ruct ions t hat we ent er int o t he comput er syst em for processing.
There are some common ways of feeding input dat a int o t he syst em, which are:
t yping on a keyboard
point ing wit h a mouse
CPU accept s inst ruct ion from t he user and t ranslat es t he inst ruct ion int o readable
informat ion ( decode) .
PROCESS
The processing unit cont rols all act ivit ies wit hin t he syst em. For every inst ruct ion, t he
cont rol unit repeat s a set of four basic operat ions called t he machine cycle:
Fet chi ng
t he process of obt aining a program inst ruct ions or dat a it em from memory.
Decodi ng
t he process of t ranslat ing a program inst ruct ion int o signals t hat t he comput er can execut e.
26
Ex ecut i ng
t he process of implement ing t he inst ruct ions in a program.
St or i ng
t he process of writ ing t he result t o t he st orage or memory.
STORAGE
St orage is a locat ion which dat a, inst ruct ion and informat ion are held for fut ure use. Every
comput er uses st orage t o hold syst em soft ware and applicat ion soft ware.
When we issue a command t o st art t he applicat ion soft ware, t he operat ing syst em locat es
t he program in st orage and loads it int o memory.
A st orage medium, also called secondary st orage is t he physical mat erial in t he comput er
t hat keeps dat a, inst ruct ion and informat ion.
A st orage device is t he comput er hardware t hat records or ret rieves it ems t o and from
st orage media.
OUTPUT
Out put is dat a t hat has been processed int o a useful form, called informat ion. There are
four t ypes of out put , which are t ext s, graphics, audio and video.
The t ext consist s of charact ers t hat are used t o creat e t ext s, sent ences and paragraphs.
Graphics are digit al represent at ions of non t ext informat ion such as dr awings, chart s and
phot ographs.
Audio is music, speech or any ot her sound. Video consist s of images t hat
provide t he appearance of full mot ion.
LESSON 30
DATA REPRESENTATI ON
BI NARY DI GI T
Comput ers recognize only t wo discret e st at es: on and off. These
st at es can be represent ed by t wo digit s, 0 and 1. Each 0 or 1 is
called a bit in t he binary syst em.
Bit is t he smallest unit of dat a a comput er can process. Bit is a
short for binary digit . The binary syst em has a base of 2 wit h t he t wo digit s ( 0 and 1) .
Combinat ions of 0s and 1s represent larger numbers.
BI T
A bit is t he smallest unit of dat a t hat t he comput er can process. Bit is a short for binary
digit . A bit is represent ed by t he numbers 1 and 0. These numbers represent t he binary
syst em. They correspond t o t he st at es of on and off, t rue and false, or yes and no.
BYTE
Byt e is a unit of informat ion built from bit s. One byt e is equals t o 8 bit s. Eight bit s t hat are
grouped t oget her as a unit . A byt e provides enough different combinat ions of 0s and 1s t o
represent 256 individual charact ers.
One byt e represent s a single charact er such as t he number 3, let t er b or a $ symbol. Bit s
and byt es are t he basis for represent ing all meaningful informat ion and programs on
comput ers.
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CHARACTER
One byt e represent s one charact er such as A, 7, 9 and + . Eight bit s t hat are grouped
t oget her as a unit . A byt e provides enough different combinat ions of 0s and 1s t o represent
256 individual charact ers.
For example, t he capit al let t er F is represent ed by t he binary code 01000110 t hat can be
underst ood by t he comput er syst em. Eight bit s grouped t oget her as a unit are called a byt e.
A byt e represent s a single charact er in t he comput er.
CHARACTER CODES
There are t hree charact er codes t o represent charact ers which are ASCI I , EBCDI C and
Unicode. Each byt e cont ains eight bit s. A byt e provides enough
LESSON 31
I NTRODUCTI ON TO BI NARY CODI NG
COMMUNI CATI ON CODES
Smoke signals, Morse code and semaphore are some of t he communicat ion codes used by
people in t he early days. I n t he informat ion digit al era, people send informat ion via
elect ronic devices such as t hrough t he comput ers.
Comput ers use binary codes t o communicat e. One of t he widely used binary codes is t he
Amer i can St andar d Code f or I nf or mat i on I nt er change ( ASCI I ) .
HI STORY OF CHARACTER CODES
Before people used binary codes such as ASCI I t o communicat e via comput ers, charact er
codes were widely used as a medium of communicat ion. Let s look at some of t he charact er
codes used prior t o t he use of ASCI I .
WHAT I S ASCI I ?
ASCI I pronounced as "ask- key" st ands for t he American St andard Code for I nformat ion
I nt erchange and was proposed by ASA ( American St andard Associat ion) in 963 and was
finalised in 1968.ASCI I is a st andard of 7- bit code used t o represent charact ers, which
include let t ers, numbers and punct uat ion marks.
LESSON 32
DATA MEASUREMENT
8 bi t s = 1 byt e
KI LOBYTE ( KB)
I n mat hemat ics, 1 KB = 1000 byt es.
I n comput er, 1 KB = 1024 byt es or
can be said as: 1 KB = 2
10
byt es
This is how we get t he calculat ion for 1024 byt es.
MEGABYTE ( MB)
1 MB = 1 048 576 byt es or it can be said as: 1 MB = 2
20
byt es
GI GABYTE ( GB)
1 GB = 1 073 741 824 byt es or it can be said as: 1 GB = 2
30
byt es
TERABYTE ( TB)
1 TB = 1 099 511 627 776 byt es or it can be said as: 1 TB = 2
40
byt es
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LESSON 33
CLOCK SPEED MEASUREMENT
EVOLUTI ON OF COMMUNI CATI ON
When people t alk about a comput ers speed , t hey mean how fast it can process dat a. I n
ot her words, t his means t he speed t he comput er can t urn dat a int o informat ion.
Every microprocessor cont ains a syst em clock. The syst em clock cont rols t he speed of all
t he operat ions wit hin a comput er. The speed of t he clock is measured by how many cycles
per second t he clock makes.
HERTZ AND SECONDS
The clock speed unit is measured in hert z. A hert z is one cycle per second.
MEGAHERTZ ( MHz)
Mega is a prefix t hat st ands for million. Thus, megahert z ( MHz) equals t o one million cycles
of t he syst em clock. A comput er t hat operat es at 933 MHz ( megahert z) has 933 million
clock cycles in one second.
GI GAHERTZ ( GHz)
Giga is a prefix t hat st ands for billion.Gigahert z ( GHz) equals t o one billion cycles of t he
syst em clock. I n relat ion wit h megahert z,1.0 GHz is equivalent t o 1000 MHz.
PROCESSI NG SPEED
The syst em clock is one of t he maj or fact ors t hat influence t he comput er speed. A CPU wit h
a higher clock speed can process more inst ruct ions per second t han a CPU wit h a lower
clock speed. For example, a 1 GHz CPU is fast er t han a CPU operat ing at 800 MHz. The
speed of t he syst em clock affect s only t he CPU. I t has no effect on per ipherals such as a
print er or disk drive.
MI CROPROCESSOR SPEED
One way of comparing t he performance of personal comput ers is by comparing t heir
microprocessor speeds. Microprocessor speeds are det ermined by t heir clock speed and are
usually expressed in gigahert z ( GHz) , billion of machine cycles per second.
Thus, it is accurat e t o say t hat a Pent ium 4 running at 2.4 GHz is approximat ely one- t hird
fast er t han a Pent ium 4 running at 1.8 GHz.
SPEED AND PATH
The combinat ion of speed and number of pat hs det er mines t he t ot al processing speed or
channel bandwidt h. This is because different processors
oft en use different archit ect ures. For t his reason, a 1.4 GHz Pent ium 4 performs bet t er t han
a 1.4 GHz Pent ium 3, but it is not as fast as a 1.4 GHz Power PC G4 pr ocessor.
LESSON 34
I NPUT DEVI CES
I NPUT
I nput is any dat a or inst ruct ion t hat you ent er int o t he memory of a comput er.
There are four t ypes of input : which are t ext , graphic, audio and video.
I NPUT DEVI CES
A keyboard is an example of input device for t ext input .
A scanner is an example of input device for graphical as well as t ext input .
A microphone is an example of input device for audio input and a webcam is an example of
an input device for video input .
A mouse is also an input device but it is called a point ing device used t o input dat a t hat is
cont inuous and mult i - dimensional int o a comput er.
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a) I NPUT DEVI CES FOR TEXTS
You can ent er dat a such as t ext and commands int o a comput er by pressing t he keys on t he
keyboard. You can press t he keys of a virt ual keyboard on t he screen.
An opt ical reader is a device t hat uses a light source t o read charact ers, marks and codes
and t hen convert s t hem int o digit al dat a t hat a comput er can process.
b) I NPUT DEVI CES FOR GRAPHI CS
A scanner is a device t hat capt ures images from phot ographic print s, post ers, magazine
pages and similar sources for comput er edit ing and display.
A digit al camera allows you t o t ake pict ures and st ore t he phot ographed images digit ally.
c) I NPUT DEVI CES FOR AUDI O
Audio input is t he speech, music and sound effect s ent ered int o t he comput er. This can be
done using input devices such as a microphone and digit al musical inst rument s like t he
Musical I nst rument Digit al I nt erface ( MI DI ) keyboard.
d) I NPUT DEVI CES FOR VI DEO
Video input is i nput of mot ion images capt ured int o t he comput er by special input devices.
A Closed- Circuit Television ( CCTV) video camera is a t ype of digit al video camera t hat
enables a home or small business user t o capt ure video and st ill images.
A webcam is any video camera t hat displays it s out put on a web page.
A digit al video camera allows you t o record full mot ion and st ore t he capt ured mot ion
digit ally.
e) POI NTI NG DEVI CES
A point ing device is anot her form of input device. Point ing devices such as a mouse,
t rackball, graphics t ablet and t ouch screen are used t o input spat ial dat a int o t he comput er.
Spat ial dat a refers t o dat a t hat is cont inuous and mult i - dimensional.
LESSON 35
OUTPUT DEVI CES
Out put is t he result of dat a processing act ivit y when it is present ed ext ernal t o t he syst em.
OUTPUT DEVI CES
An out put device is hardware t hat is capable of delivering or showing informat ion t o one or
more users. An out put device shows, print s and present s t he result s of a comput ers work.
TYPES OF OUTPUT DEVI CES
A display device is an out put device t hat visually conveys t ext s, graphics
and video informat ion. A print er is an out put device t hat print s t ext and graphics on a
physical medium such as paper or t ransparency film.An audio out put device produces
music, speech, or ot her sounds.
Ot her out put devices include Liquid Cryst al Display ( LCD) proj ect ors and facsimile ( fax)
machines. A monit or is an example of an out put device t hat can be used t o display t ext . I t
can also display graphics and video. I t is similar t o a t elevision set t hat accept s video
signals from a comput er and displays informat ion on it s screen.
A print er is anot her example of an out put device
A phot o print er is a colour print er t hat produces phot o- lab- qualit y pict ures.
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LESSON 36
MOTHERBOARD
This is a mot herboard and it s component s. Mot herboard is t he main
circuit board of t he syst em unit , which has some elect ronic component s
at t ached t o it and ot hers built int o it .
This is t he locat ion of t he Cent ral Processing Unit ( CPU) .
This i s where t he expansion slot s are locat ed.
These are t he Peripheral Component I nt erconnect ( PCI )
expansion slot s. Peripheral Component I nt erconnect . A personal
comput er local bus which runs at 33 MHz and support s Plug and Play. I t
provides a high- speed connect ion wit h peripherals and allows connect ion
of seven peripheral devices
I n addit ion, t he I ndust ry St andard Archit ect ure ( I SA) expansion slot s
are also t he component s of t he mot herboard. I ndust ry St andard
Archit ect ure. A PC expansion bus used for modems, video displays,
speakers, and ot her peripherals. PCs wit h I SA commonly have some
8- bit and some 16- bit expansion slot s.
These are t he expansion card. The expansion cards are slot t ed in t he
expansion slot s.
This is called RAM or Random Access Memory. RAM is t he memory of
t he comput er.
This is t he locat ion of t he port s. Connect ors are plugged int o t hese
port s. Port is Point at which peripheral at t aches t o a syst em unit so it
can send dat a t o or
receive informat ion from t he comput er.
The connect or connect s t o t he port . For example, t he print er port mat ches it s connect or. All
comput er component s are connect ed t o it s respect ive port s by a connect or.
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LESSON 37
COMPONENTS OF A MOTHERBOARD
CENTRAL PROCESSI NG UNI T ( CPU)
The Cent ral Processing Unit ( CPU) cont rols t he operat ion of t he comput er.
I t int erpret s and carries out t he basic inst ruct ions t hat operat e a
comput er. The processor significant ly impact s overall comput ing power
and manages most of a comput er' s operat ions.
On larger comput ers such as mainframes and supercomput ers, t he various funct ions
performed by t he processor ext end over many separat e chips and oft en mult iple circuit
boards. On personal comput er, all funct ions of t he processor usually are on a single chip.
Some comput ers and chip manufact urers use t he t erm microprocessor t o refer t o a personal
comput er processor chip.
EXPANSI ON SLOTS
Expansion slot s are t he socket s where t he circuit boards or t he adapt er cards can be
insert ed int o t he mot herboard. I n comput ers, a slot or expansion slot , is an engineered
t echnique for adding capabilit y t o a comput er in t he form of connect ion pinholes ( t ypically in
t he range of 16 t o 64 closely- spaced holes) .
I t is a place t o fit an expansion card cont aining t he circuit ry t hat provides some specialised
capabilit y, such as video accelerat ion, sound or disk drive cont rol.
A Peripheral Component I nt erconnect ( PCI ) bus is a high speed expansion bus t hat connect s
high speed devices.
An I ndust ry- St andard Archit ect ure ( I SA) expansi on slot is a slot in a comput er where I SA
accessories can be added t o.
EXPANSI ON CARDS
An expansion card is plugged int o an expansion slot . I t is used t o add new devices or
capabilit ies t o a comput er.
An expansion card is a circuit ry designed t o provide
expanded capabilit y t o a comput er. I t is provided on t he surface of a
st andard- sized rigid mat erial ( fiberboard) and t hen plugged int o one of
t he comput er' s expansion slot s in it s mot herboard ( backplane) .
Cards may come in one of t wo sizes designed t o mat ch st andard slot dimensions. Cards
may come in one of t wo sizes designed t o mat ch st andard slot dimensions.
RAM SLOT
The slot where t he comput er memory, also called as RAM is placed on
t he comput ers mot herboard.
32
PORTS AND CONNECTORS
A port is t he point at which a peripheral at t aches t o a syst em unit so
t hat t he peripheral can send dat a t o or receive informat ion from t he
comput er.
An ext ernal device, such as a keyboard, monit or, print er, mouse and
microphone is oft en at t ached by a cable t o a port on t he syst em unit .
The back of t he syst em unit cont ains so many port s. Some newer personal comput ers also
have port s on t he front of t he syst em unit .
LESSON 38
PORTS AND CONNECTORS
There are different kinds of port in a syst em unit . The port s are :
Serial port
Parallel port
Universal Serial Bus ( USB) port .
FireWire port
special purpose port s
- MI DI port
- SCSI port
- I rDA port
1) SERI AL PORT
A serial port is a socket on a comput er used t o connect a modem, dat a acquisit ion t erminal
or ot her serial devices via a slow- speed serial int erface.
2) PARALLEL PORT
A parallel port is a socket on a comput er used t o connect a print er or ot her parallel devices
via t he comput er' s parallel int erface.
3) USB PORT
A USB port is a socket on a comput er or peripheral devices int o which a USB cable is
plugged in. A USB port , short for universal serial bus port , can connect up t o 127 different
peripherals t oget her wit h a single connect or.
I t ' s used t o connect all kinds of ext ernal devices, such as ext ernal hard drives, print ers,
mouse and scanner. I t can t ransfer dat a t o a speed of 12 megabit s per second.
4) USB PORT
Previously t he FireWire port is called I EEE 1394 port , a personal comput er ( and digit al
audio/ video) serial bus int erface st andard.
FireWire is similar t o a USB port in t hat it can connect mult iple t ypes of devices t hat require
fast er dat a
t ransmission speeds. Usually camcorders and ot her video equipment use t his port t o
t ransmit dat a on a comput er. Dat a can move across t he port at up t o 400 megabit s per
second.
Daisy- Chain
A bus wiring scheme in which, for example, device A is wired t o device B, device B is wired
t o device C, device C t o device D et c.
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5) SPECI AL PURPOSE PORTS
There are four special purpose port s, which are:
MI DI por t
I t is designed t o connect t he syst em unit t o a musical inst rument ,
such as an elect ronic keyboard.
SCSI por t
I t is a special high- speed parallel port used t o at t ach peripheral
devices such as disk drives and print ers..
I r DA por t
Some devices t ransmit dat a via infrared light waves. For t hese
wireless devices t o t ransmit signals t o a comput er, bot h t he
comput er and t he device must have an I rDA port .
LESSON 39
CENTRAL PROCESSI NG UNI T
THE CENTRAL PROCESSI NG UNI T ( CPU)
Like human beings, comput ers t oo have a brain t hat processes raw informat ion
A Cent ral Processing Unit or CPU is a microprocessor ( or processor for short ) . I t is an
int egrat ed circuit chip t hat is capable of processing elect ronic signals. The CPU is t he most
import ant element in a comput er syst em. A CPU int erpret s inst ruct ions given by t he
soft ware and carries out t hose inst ruct ions by processing dat a and cont rolling t he rest of t he
comput ers component s.
A CPU consist s of t wo subcomponent s; t he Cont rol Unit ( CU) and t he Arit hmet i c Logic Unit
( ALU) .
FETCH
Ret rieves t he next program inst ruct ion from t he comput ers memory.
DECODE
Det ermines what t he program is t elling t he comput er t o do.
STORE
St ores t he result s t o an int ernal regist er ( a t emporary st orage locat ion or t o memory) .
EXECUTE
Performs t he request ed inst ruct ion, such as adding t wo numbers or deciding which one of
t hem is larger.
2) ARI THMETI C LOGI C UNI T ( ALU)
The Arit hmet ic Logic Unit ( ALU) , as it s name implies, can perform all arit hmet ic and logical
operat ions. Arit hmet ic operat ion is an operat ion t hat forms a funct ion of t wo numbers. This
funct ion is usually one of t he class of operat ions: add, subt ract , mult iply and divide.
Logic operat ion is an operat ion on logical values, producing a Boolean result .
I n general t here are 16 logic operat ions over one or t wo operands; t hey include AND, OR,
NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR and equivalence.
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HOW DATA I S PROCESSED BY THE CPU
When a user st art s a program, it s inst ruct ions are t ransferred from t he st orage device t o
t he memory. The user ent ers t he dat a needed by t he program.
The Cont rol Unit t hen int erpret s and execut es inst ruct ions in t he memory. The Arit hmet ic
Logic Unit t hen performs calculat ions on t he dat a in t he memory. As a result , informat ion is
t hen st ored in t he memory. I nformat ion can t hen be sent t o an out put device or a st orage
device.
LESSON 40
STORAGE
WHAT I S COMPUTER STORAGE ?
I nformat ion and document s are st ored in comput er st orage so t hat it can be ret rieved
whenever t hey are needed lat er on.
FUNCTI ONS OF COMPUTER STORAGE.
Comput er st orage is import ant t o help users st ore programs and dat a t o be used at a lat er
t ime. I t is also useful t o keep current dat a while being processed by t he processor unt il t he
informat ion is saved in a st orage media such as a hard disk or a disket t e.
TYPES OF COMPUTER STORAGE
Pr i mar y st or age is known as t he main memory of a comput er, including RAM ( Random-
Access Memory) and ROM ( Read- Only Memory) . I t is an int ernal memory ( inside t he CPU)
t hat can be accessed direct ly by t he processor.
Secondar y st or age is t he alt ernat ive st orage in a comput er. I t is an ext ernal st orage t hat
refers t o various ways a comput er can st ore program and dat a.
PRI MARY STORAGE
Primary st orage is inst alled int ernally. Two main t ypes of primary st orage are RAM and
ROM. Dat a from RAM can be read or ret rieved and writ t en or st ored during processing
whereas dat a from ROM can j ust be read only.
RAM is volat ile, which means t he program and dat a will be lost when t he
comput er is t urned off.
ROM is non- volat ile which means it holds t he programs and dat a even when t he comput er is
t urned off.
volat ile : The cont ent is lost when a comput ers power is t urned off.
SECONDARY STORAGE
Secondary st orage is an alt ernat ive st orage. I t is very useful t o st ore programs and dat a for
fut ure use. Secondary st orage is required for t wo reasons.
1. The working memory of t he CPU is limit ed in size and cannot always hold t he
amount of dat a required.
2. Dat a and programs in secondary st orage do not disappear when t he power is t urned
off.
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LESSON 41
PRI MARY STORAGE
Primary st orage is t he main memory in a comput er. I t st ores dat a and programs t hat can
be accessed direct ly by t he processor.
TYPES OF PRI MARY STORAGE
There are t wo t ypes of primary st orage which are RAM and ROM.
RAM is an acronym for Random- Access Memory which means t he dat a and program in RAM
can be read and writ t en.
ROM is an acronym for Read- Only Memory. The dat a or program in ROM can j ust be read
but cannot be writ t en at all.
RANDOM- ACCESS MEMORY ( RAM)
RAM is inst alled inside comput ers. RAM is also known as a working memory.
The dat a in RAM can be read ( ret rieved) or writ t en ( st ored) .
RAM is volat ile which means t he programs and dat a in RAM are lost when t he
comput er is powered off.
A comput er uses RAM t o hold t emporary inst ruct ions and dat a needed t o complet e
t asks. This enables t he comput er' s CPU ( Cent ral Processing Unit ) t o access
inst ruct ions and dat a st ored in t he memory very quickly.
RAM st ores dat a during and aft er processing.
READ- ONLY MEMORY ( ROM)
ROM is anot her t ype of memory permanent ly st ored inside t he comput er.
ROM is non- volat ile. I t holds t he programs and dat a when t he comput er is powered
off.
Programs in ROM have been pre- recorded. I t can only be st ored by t he
manufact urer; once it is done, it cannot be changed.
Many complex funct ions, such as st art up operat ing inst ruct ions, t ranslat ors for high-
level languages and operat ing syst ems are placed in ROM memory.
All t he cont ent s in ROM can be accessed and read but cannot be changed.
DI FFERENCES BETWEEN RAM AND ROM
RAM ROM
Dat a and program St ores during and aft er
processing
St ored by manufact urer
Cont ent St ores informat ion
t emporarily
St ores inst ruct ions ( I nformat ion)
permanent ly
Processing t ime Very fast , but uses a lot
of power
Fast , but uses very lit t le power
Volat ilit y Volat ile Non- volat ile
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LESSON 42
SECONDARY STORAGE
WHAT I S SECONDARY STORAGE?
Secondary st orage is anot her alt ernat ive st orage t o keep your work and document s. I t is
very useful t o st ore programs and dat a for fut ure use.
I t is non- volat ile, which means t hat it does not need power t o maint ain t he informat ion
st ored in it . I t will st ore t he informat ion unt il it is erased.
TYPES OF SECONDARY STORAGE
MAGNETI C MEDI UM
Magnet ic Medium is a non- volat ile st orage medium. I t can be any t ype of st orage medium
t hat ut ilizes magnet ic pat t erns t o represent informat ion. The devices use disks t hat are
coat ed wit h magnet ically sensit ive mat erial. The examples of magnet ic st orage are:
magnet ic disk such as:
o a floppy disk, used for off- line st orage
o hard disk, used for secondary st orage
magnet ic t ape; including video casset t e, audio st orage reel - t o- reel t ape and ot hers.
OPTI CAL MEDI UM
Opt ical Medium is a non- volat ile st orage media t hat holds cont ent in digit al form t hat are
writ t en and read by a laser. These media include various t ypes of CDs and DVDs.
These following forms are oft en commonly used :
CD, CD- ROM, and DVD: Read only st orage, used for dist ribut ion of digit al
informat ion such as music, video and comput er programs.
CD- R: Writ e once st orage, t he dat a cannot be erased or writ t en over once it is
saved.
CD- RW, DVD- RW, and DVD- RAM: Slow t o writ e but fast reading st orage; it allows
dat a t hat have been saved t o be erased and rewrit t en.
Opt ical media have a number of advant ages over magnet ic media such as t he disk capacit y.
One opt ical disk holds about t he equivalent of 500 floppy disks wort h of dat a. Durabilit y is
anot her feat ure of opt ical media, t hey are able t o last for up t o seven t imes as long as
t radit ional st orage medi a.
FLASH MEMORY
Flash Memory is a solid- st at e, non- volat ile, rewrit able memory t hat funct ions like RAM and
a hard disk drive combined. Flash memory st ore bit s of elect ronic dat a in memory cells j ust
like DRAM ( Dynamic RAM) , but it also works like a hard disk drive t hat when t he power is
t urned off, t he dat a remains in t he memory. Flash memory cards and flash memory st icks
are examples of flash memory.
Flash memory cards are also used wit h digit al cellular phones, MP3 players, digit al video
cameras and ot her port able digit al devices.
The advant ages of flash memory are, it offers fast reading access t imes among t he
secondary st orage devices, ( t hough not as fast as RAM) it is durable and requires low
volt age. I t is also light and small. The disadvant age is, it is more expensive t han t he
magnet ic disk of t he same capacit y.
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LESSON 43
TYPES OF SOFTWARE
Soft ware is a program which consist s of a set of inst ruct ions t hat t ells t he comput er how t o
perform a specific operat ion.
A comput er is j ust a machine wit h no special benefit s wit hout soft ware.
CATEGORI ES OF SOFTWARE
Soft ware can be divided int o t wo cat egories, which are:
Syst em Sof t w ar e
Soft ware t hat is used t o cont rol and manage comput er devices and operat ions.
Appl i cat i on Sof t w ar e
Soft ware t hat i s used t o help a user perform a t ask and solve a problem.
SYSTEM SOFTWARE
Syst em soft ware refers t o all programs t hat help t he comput er t o funct ion properly. The
most import ant t ype of syst em soft ware is t he comput ers operat ing syst em, which enables
t he comput er t o st art , such as Microsoft Windows, MS- DOS and Mac OS.
Ot her t ypes of syst em soft ware include syst em ut ilit ies such as file compression ( zip
program) and ant ivirus programs.
APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE
Applicat ion soft ware are all programs t hat perform specific t asks for users, which include
word processing, spreadsheet , dat abase, present at ion
e- Mail and Web browser soft ware. Examples of applicat ion soft ware are Microsoft Word,
Microsoft Excel, Out look Express and I nt ernet Explorer.
SYSTEM SOFTWARE VS APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE
The differences bet ween syst em soft ware and applicat ion soft ware.
38
LESSON 44
SYSTEM SOFTWARE
WHAT I S SYSTEM SOFTWARE
A syst em soft ware is a program t hat cont rols or maint ains t he operat ions of a comput er and
it s devices. A syst em soft ware also serves as t he int erface bet ween t he user, t he applicat ion
soft ware and t he comput ers hardware.
There are t wo t ypes of syst em soft ware:
operat ing syst em
ut ilit y program
OPERATI NG SYSTEM
An operat ing syst em is a set of programs t hat coordinat es all t he act ivit ies among t he
comput er hardware devices. I n most cases, t he operat ing syst em is inst alled and resides on
t he comput ers hard disk.
However, on handheld comput ers and many mobile devices such as PDAs and smart
phones, t he operat ing syst em may reside on a ROM chip.
The operat ing syst em t hat a comput er uses somet imes is called t he plat form.
Li nux is a freely dist ribut ed UNI X, it is a compat ible
operat ing syst em for PCs and a number of ot her processors.
Mac OS X is a mult it asking operat ing syst em t hat is t he lat est version of t he Macint osh
operat ing syst em.
UNI X i s an operat ing syst em, or family of operat ing syst ems, developed at Bell
Laborat ories in early 1970sas a replacement for an earlier syst em called Mult ics.
Wi ndow s XP is t he lat est version of t he Windows operat ing syst em, which is Microsoft s
fast est , most reliable Windows operat ing syst em.
UTI LI TY PROGRAM
A ut ilit y program which is also called a ut ilit y is a t ype of syst em soft ware t hat allows a user
t o perform maint enance- t ype t asks usually relat ed t o managing a comput er, it s devices or
it s programs.
ANTI VI RUS, DI AGNOSTI C UTI LI TY, FI LE MANAGER, SCREEN SAVER
39
THE DI FFERENCES BETWEEN OPERATI NG SYSTEMS AND UTI LI TY PROGRAM
LESSON 45
TYPES OF OPERATI NG SYSTEMS
DEFI NI TI ON OF OPERATI NG SYSTEM
An operat ing syst em is a set of programs t hat schedule t asks, allocat es st orage and
present s a default int erface t o t he user bet ween applicat ions. Many of t he first operat ing
syst ems were device- dependent and propriet ary.
PC PLATFORM OPERATI NG SYSTEMS
There are various t ypes of operat ing syst em used on different plat forms. The examples of
operat ing syst ems used on PC plat forms or I BM compat ible comput ers are:
Disk Operat ing Syst em ( DOS)
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows XPs operat ing environment is a Graphical User I nt erface ( GUI ) . I t is a
closed source soft ware.
APPLE PLATFORM OPERATI NG SYSTEMS
The operat ing syst ems used on Apple plat forms are:
Mac OS
Mac OS X
CROSS- PLATFORM OPERATI NG SYSTEMS
Cross- plat forms operat ing syst ems are:
UNI X
LI NUX
Linux is a popular, free, UNI X- like graphical user int erface operat ing syst em. I t is an open
source soft ware. Linux follows t he Free Soft ware Foundat ion' s radical licensing model, which
provides a great deal of libert y t o t hose t hat int eract wit h Linux t echnology.
40
LESSON 46
FUNCTI ONS OF OPERATI NG SYSTEMS
DEFI NI TI ON OF OPERATI NG SYSTEM
An operat ing syst em, also commonly called OS is a set of programs t hat coordinat es all t he
act ivit ies among comput er hardware devices. I t also support s t he applicat ion soft ware t hat
we run.
I t is designed t o work wit h a specific t ype of comput er such as a PC or a Macint osh.
Examples of popular Operat ing Syst ems are: -
Disk Operat ing Syst em ( DOS)
Linux
Mac OS X
Unix
Windows XP
FUNCTI ONS OF OPERATI NG SYSTEM
1) St art ing The Comput er
2) Providing A User I nt erface
3) Managing Dat a And Programs
4) Managing Memory
5) Configuring Devices
LESSON 47
I NTRODUCTI ON TO COMPUTER SYSTEM
THE I MPORTANCE OF USER I NTERFACES
The user int erface is t he part of an operat ing syst em t hat you see and int eract wit h and by
which users and programs communicat e wit h each ot her.
The import ance of user int erfaces are:
t o assist users int eract ing wit h a soft ware
t o cont rol how a user ent ers dat a and i nst ruct ions
t o cont rol how informat ion is displayed
COMMAND- LI NE USER I NTERFACE
The command- line user int erface requires a user t o t ype commands or press special keys on
t he keyboard t o ent er dat a and inst ruct ions t hat inst ruct t he operat ing syst em what t o do.
I t has t o be t yped one line at a t ime.
MENU DRI VEN I NTERFACE
Menu- driven user int erface enables t he user t o avoid memorizing keywords such as copy,
past e and synt ax. On- screen, menu- driven int erface provide menus as means of ent ering
commands. I t shows all t he opt ions available at a given point in a form of t ext - based menu.
Menu- driven user int erfaces are easy t o learn.
GRAPHI CAL USER I NTERFACE ( GUI )
Graphical user int erface makes use of t he comput ers graphics capabilit ies t o make t he
operat ing syst em and programs easier t o use, which is also called user - friendly. On t odays
PCs and Macint oshes, GUI s are used t o creat e t he deskt op t hat appears aft er t he operat ing
syst em finishes loading int o memory.
41
LESSON 48
TYPES OF APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE
TYPES OF APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE
COMMON TYPES OF APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE
Wor d Pr ocessi ng
Word Processing an office applicat ion t hat enables user t o creat e, edit , format and print
t ext ual document .
Spr eadsheet
A program t hat processes informat ion in t he form of t ables. Tables cells can hold values or
mat hemat ical formula.
Pr esent at i on
An applicat ion soft ware t hat allows a user t o creat e visual aid for present at ion t o
communicat e ideas, messages and ot her informat ion t o a group.
Gr aphi cs Edi t i ng
Program t hat can edit digit al represent at ion or non- t ext informat ion such as drawing, chart s
and phot ograph.
LESSON 49
USAGES OF APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE
USAGES OF WORD PROCESSI NG SOFTWARE
A word processing soft ware ( word processor) allows users t o creat e and manipulat e
document s cont aining most ly t ext and somet imes graphics. I t provides t he abilit y t o creat e,
check spelling, edit and format a document on t he screen before print ing it t o paper.
USAGES OF SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE
Spreadsheet soft ware is an applicat ion t hat allows users t o organise and manipulat e dat a in
rows and columns. I t produces worksheet s t hat require repet it ive calculat ions budget ing,
maint aining a grade book, balancing account s, t racking invest ment , calculat ing loan
payment s, est imat ing proj ect cost s and preparing financial st at ement s.
USAGES OF PRESENTATI ON SOFTWARE
Present at ion soft ware is an applicat ion t hat allows users t o creat e visual aids for
present at ions t o communicat e ideas, messages and ot her informat ion t o an audience.
Examples of present at ion soft ware are Microsoft PowerPoint , St arOffice I mpress and
CorelDraw.
USAGES OF GRAPHI CS SOFTWARE
Graphics soft ware is an applicat ion t hat allows users t o work wit h drawings, phot os and
pict ures. I t provides t he users t he abilit y of creat ing, manipulat ing and print ing graphics.
Examples of graphics soft ware are Microsoft Paint , Adobe Phot oshop, Adobe I llust rat or,
Corel Paint er and Macromedia Fireworks.
LESSON 50
APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE: ADVANCED FEATURES OF WORD PROCESSI NG
MAI L MERGE
Mail merge is a powerful feat ure of word processing soft ware. I f you need t o creat e
numerous document s t hat are similar but require at least a modicum of personalisat ion,
learning t o use t he mail merge feat ure in word processing will save you a lot of t ime.
42
DROP CAP
A drop cap allows you t o offset t he first let t er of t he sent ences or paragraph.
WATERMARK
A wat ermark is any t ext or graphic image t hat is print ed t o overlap t he exist ing t ext in a
document , eit her in t he background or foreground.
MI CROSOFT EQUATI ON
The Microsoft Equat ion is a t ool in Microsoft Word t hat will allow you t o easily creat e
complex equat ion on your comput er.
LESSON 51
APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE: ADVANCED FEATURES OF SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE
Spreadsheet soft ware allows users t o:
organise dat a in rows and columns
perform calculat ion on dat a
recalculat e t he rest of t he worksheet when dat a in a worksheet changes
depict t he dat a in chart form
LESSON 52
APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE: ADVANCED FEATURES OF PRESENTATI ON
Present at ion soft ware allows users t o combine t ext , phot os, clip art , graphs, animat ion,
sound and even video int o a series of elect ronic slides like t hose shown on t he screen. Most
present at ion soft ware has advanced feat ures t o make your present at ion more effect ive. For
example:
organisat ion chart , rehearse t iming, PowerPoint show, phot o album
Examples of present at ion soft ware are:
Microsoft PowerPoint
Harvard Graphics
Adobe Persuasion
Corel Present at ion
Freelance Graphics
LESSON 53
APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE: GRAPHI CS EDI TI NG
Graphics soft ware or graphi cs edit ing soft ware is a program t hat enables a person t o
manipulat e visual images on a comput er. Most graphics soft ware have feat ures t o enhance
your graphics. For example:
crop
phot o enhance
Examples of graphics soft ware are MS Paint , Adobe I llust rat or , Phot oFilt re, Adobe
Phot oshop, Macromedia Fireworks, Macromedia Freehand and EazyDraw.
LESSON 54
TYPES AND USAGES OF UTI LI TY PROGRAMS
They enhance exist ing funct ions or provide services not supplied by ot her syst em soft ware
programs. Most comput ers come wit h built - in ut ilit ies as part of t he syst em soft ware.
However t hey may also be bought separat ely as ext ernal ut ilit y programs such as Nort on
Syst emWorks and McAfee Ut ilit ies.
43
FI LE MANAGER
File manager is t he soft ware used t o manage files on a disk. I t provides funct ions t o delet e,
copy. move, rename and view files as well as creat e and manage folders ( direct ories) .
DI AGNOSTI C UTI LI TY
A diagnost ic ut ilit y compiles t echnical informat ion about a comput er' s hardware and cert ain
syst em soft ware programs and t hen prepares a report out lining any ident ified
problems. I nformat ion in t he report assist s t echnical support st aff in remedying any
problems.
DI SK DEFRAGMENTER
When an operat ing syst em st ores dat a on a disk, it places t he dat a in t he first available
sect or on t he disk. I t at t empt s t o place dat a in sect ors t hat are cont iguous but t his is not
always possible. When t he cont ent s of a file are scat t ered across t wo or more non-
cont iguous sect ors, t he file is fragment ed.
LESSON 55
MORE TYPES AND USAGES OF UTI LI TY PROGRAMS
BACKUP UTI LI TY
Backup ut ilit y allows users t o copy or back up, select ed files or an ent ire hard disk t o
anot her st orage medium.
DATA RECOVERY
A dat a recovery ut ilit y is used t o rest ore t he dat a t hat has been physically damage or
corrupt ed. Dat a can be damaged by viruses, bad soft ware, hardware failure and power
fluct uat ions t hat occur while dat a is being writ t en or recorded.
VI RUS PROTECTI ON
I t is essent ial t hat you inst all ant ivirus soft ware. Ant ivirus soft ware is a ut ilit y program t hat
scan t he hard disks, floppy disks and memory t o det ect viruses.
DATA COMPRESSI ON
Dat a compression ut ilit y is a ut ilit y t hat removes redundant element s, gaps and
unnecessary dat a from a comput ers st orage space so t hat less space is required t o st ore or
t ransmit dat a.
DI SK SCANNER AND DI SK CLEANUP
These ut ilit ies det ect and correct cert ain t ypes of common problems on hard disks and
floppies and search for and remove unnecessary files, such as t emporary files or t emp
files .
LESSON 56
PROPRI ETARY AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
PROPRI ETARY SOFTWARE
Propriet ary soft ware is also called closed source soft ware. The closed source soft ware or
propriet ary soft ware offers a st able syst em wit h support if t he soft ware fails or
malfunct ions.
OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
Open source soft ware is:
soft ware provided for use, modificat ion and redist ribut ion
soft ware t hat any programmer can download from t he I nt ernet for free and modify
wit h suggest ed improvement s.
t he only qualificat ion is t hat changes can' t be copyright ed,
Why i s it popular? Because t his soft ware is not closed ( open) soft ware. Any programmer
can make improvement s which can result in bet t er qualit y soft ware.
44
EXAMPLES OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
Linux is t he popular mult i - t asking UNI X t ype operat ing syst em. Some version of Linux are
command line. Ot hers are GUI . The t wo most popular GUI s available for Linux are GNOME
and KDE.
COMPARI SON
LESSON 57
ADVANTAGES AND DI SADVANTAGES OF PROPRI ETARY SOFTWARE
ADVANTAGES OF PRODUCI NG PROPRI ETARY SOFTWARE
The producing company creat es soft ware t hat must be purchased in order t o be inst alled
and used, t hus giving room for profit . The company can set limit t o t he licence of use. This
will allow t he company t o cont rol and monit or t he inst allat ion and dist ribut ion of t he
soft ware sold.
ADVANTAGES OF USI NG PROPRI ETARY SOFTWARE
The soft ware offers a st able syst em support if it fails or malfunct ion.
The soft ware is safe and guarant eed t o be safe from dubious t hreat s like
programming bugs and viruses t hus providing ease of mind for t he user.
The soft ware is easier t o inst all and used as t he product ion is planned and ext ensive
research is carried out t o ensure users purchase only t he best .
Furt hermore, free updat es and lat est informat ion on t he soft ware are usually
provided t o t he user.
DI SADVANTAGES OF PRODUCI NG PROPRI ETARY SOFTWARE
manufact urers are oft en under massive amount s of pressure t o release t he soft ware
before it is ready, causing maj or problems lat er. This is because t he release of t he
soft ware would affect t he profit
securit y is a maj or issue. Manufact urers will have t o invest in an ongoing research
against t hreat s from hackers
DI SADVANTAGES OF USI NG PROPRI ETARY SOFTWARE
users need t o spend a long t ime downloading and inst alling securit y pat ches t o fix
bugs announced by t he manufact urer.
Any improvement s would usually require fees, which is oft en expensive.
users are not allowed t o describe and share t he soft ware as t hat are licenced.
Cust omising t he soft ware is nearly impossible because when users buy propriet ary
soft ware will receive binary version of t he program, not t he code as t he code is t he
maufact urers t rade secret .
45
LESSON 58
ADVANTAGES AND DI SADVANTAGES OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
Have you heard about Linux?
Linux is one of t he fast est growing operat ing syst em. Linux is an example of open source
soft ware which means it s code is provided for use, modificat ion and redist ribut ion. There
are ot her open source soft ware, such as t he Firefox and GI MP.
ADVANTAGES OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
The source code are available t o users and t hey have t he right s t o modify t hem.
This will allow improvement s t o t he soft ware wit hout having t o invest large sum of
money in research and development .
The modified and improved source codes can be freely redist ribut ed.
MORE ADVANTAGES OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
The open source soft ware is creat ed according t o indust ry demands but allows for upgrades
t o t ake place freely when t he need arises. Therefore, if bugs in t he codes are found, t hey
can be fixed by anyone int erest ed and capable. Fixes and pat ches t o rect ify t he bugs are
rapidly developed.
DI SADVANTAGES OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
Since nobody in part icular is responsible for t he codes, t here is no exact knowledge and
assurance on when t he codes are going t o be fixed if t here a bugs in it .Thus, users will have
t o use t he problemat ic soft ware unt il someone rect ifies t he problem.
MORE DI SADVANTAGES OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
The codes are t oo complicat ed for novice users t o underst and.
There is no part icular official monit oring t he works of a programmer improving t he
codes. This is because anyone is free t o use, modify or even dist ribut e t he codes.
Open source usually comes wit hout warrant y and aft er sales support should t he soft ware
fail or malfunct ion. This is because t he soft ware usually dist ri but ed free of charge or sold for
very minimal fees.
LESSON 66
PERVASI VE COMPUTI NG
PERVASI VE COMPUTI NG
Pervasive comput ing means t he t echnology t hat is gracefully int egrat ed in our everyday life.
The user is no longer aware of t his embedded t echnology.
Expert predict pervasive comput ing in year 2010 will become so nat uralized wit hin t he
environment t hat people will not even realize t hat t hey are using comput ers.
PERVASI VE COMPUTI NG
Pervasive comput ing devices are not personal comput ers, but very t iny - even invisible -
devices, eit her mobile or embedded in almost any t ype of obj ect imaginable, including cars,
t ools, appliances, clot hing and various consumer goods - all communicat ing t hrough
int erconnect ed net works.
EXAMPLE OF PERVASI VE COMPUTI NG
Thi s is an example of pervasive comput ing in our daily lives which is t he aut omat ic Touch ' n
Go Smart TAG t oll gat e.
46
LESSON 67
I NTRODUCTI ON TO COMPUTER NETWORKS AND COMMUNI CATI ONS
COMPUTER NETWORK
A comput er net work is a syst em of int erconnect ed comput ers and peripheral devices. For
example, it may connect comput ers, print ers, scanners and cameras.
Using hardware and soft ware, t hese int erconnect ed comput ing devices can communicat e
wit h each ot her t hrough defined rules of dat a communicat ions. I n a net work, comput ers can
exchange and share informat ion and resources.
A comput er net work may operat e on wired connect ions or wireless connect ions.
When t wo or more net works are linked or connect ed and are able t o communicat e wit h one
anot her using suit able hardware and soft ware, it is called an i nt er net w or k .
COMMUNI CATI ONS
Communicat ions is about t he t ransfer of informat ion from a sender, across a dist ance, t o a
receiver. Using elect ricit y, radio waves or light , informat ion and dat a in t he form of codes
are t ransmit t ed t hrough a physical medium such as wire, cable, or even t he at mosphere.
Therefore, in order t o make communicat ions possible from comput ers, across t elephones
and radios and back t o comput ers and ot her digit al devices again, t here must be a signal
t ranslat or, which we call a modem. The modem, which is short for modul at or or
demodul at or , convert s digit al signals int o analog and back again int o digit al signals for
informat ion t o move across t he t elephone line.
CONNECTI ONS FOR NETWORKI NG
a physical medium t o allow dat a t o t ravel across it from device t o device
a set of rules called prot ocols t o ensure t hat int erconnect ed comput ing devices have
t he same st andards for exchange of informat ion t o occur smoot hly.
a syst em applicat ion for managing net work informat ion flow t o ensure t hat dat a
t ransmission sent from one device is received by t he int ended receiver.
LESSON 68
COMPONENTS OF COMMUNI CATI ONS
I n order for a net work t o properly operat e, t wo cat egories of net work
communicat ions component s are needed; Hardware and Soft ware.
Comput ers, hub, swit ch, rout er, net work int erface cards and bot h wired and wireless
communicat ions media fall under t he Hardware cat egory.
Operat ing syst ems and applicat ions fall under t he Soft ware cat egory.
NETWORK COMMUNI CATI ON CHANNELS
Signals which carry informat ion in a communicat ions syst em
t ravel t hrough a physical medium.This physical medium is called a communicat ions channel,
or at ot her t imes a communicat ions link, a communicat ions line, or a communi cat ions
medium.
Some common t ypes of net work communicat ions channels are t he:
t wist ed- pair wire
coaxial cable
fiber- opt ic cable
sat elit e syst ems
wireless syst ems ( namely using radiowaves, microwaves and infrared)
47
NETWORK I NTERFACE CARDS AND NETWORKI NG DEVI CES
The Net work I nt erface Card or NI C is one of t he most import ant communicat ions devices for
a PC.The NI C provides connect ion bet ween t he comput er and t he net works communicat ions
media.
This connect ion is necessary because t he NI C funct ions as a dat a conversion device t o move
dat a from t he PCs syst em t o t he net work medium and vice versa. The Net work I nt erface
Card also supplies t he basic addressing syst em used t o get dat a from PC t o PC across a
net work.
The ot her hardware component t hat is required for communicat ions t o work on a net work is
t he net working device, such as t he hub, swit ch, rout er and even t he modem.
The funct ion of t hese devices is generally t o cont rol t he flow of dat a on a net work.
NETWORK SOFTWARE
How do comput ers communicat e on a net work?
Once we have got t he necessary hardware set up for a net work, we will need t o have
suit able soft ware on t he net work comput ers t hat would be able t o provide some basic
funct ions, such as connect ing t o ot her comput ers on t he net work, sharing resources and
files and providing for net work securit y for users who are online.
LESSON 69
APPLI CATI ON SOFTWARE: ADVANCED FEATURES OF PRESENTATI ON SOFTWARE
I MPORTANCE OF NETWORKS AND COMMUNI CATI ONS
I nformat ion is now made easy wit h t he availabili t y of net work communicat ions.
E- Busi ness
E- business or elect ronic business refers t o conduct ing business t ransact ions on t he int ernet ,
not only limit ed t o buying and selling but also servicing cust omers and collaborat ing wit h
business part ners.
Onl i ne Educat i on
Wit h a net work connect ions, online educat ion is made possible. St udent s at any locat ion
around t he world can part icipat e in an online classroom, download t ut orial quest ions and
submit t heir assignment s.
48
E- Bank i ng
E- banking or elect ronic banking i s t he most popular banking facilit y nowadays. I t handles all
t ypes of banking t ransact ions like account management , fund t ransfer and payment s
primarily over t he int ernet .
User can pay bills, check t he account balance and t ransfer money t o ot her part ies, using e-
banking facilit ies t went y four hours a day and seven days a week.
Long Di st ance Communi cat i on
Long dist ance communicat ion is made easy via net work availabilit y. Communicat ion is
possible via voice, t ext or video. The cost of having t his t ype of communicat ion is cheaper
t han making a normal phone call and definit ely fast er and more effect ive t han
corresponding via let t ers of fax.
LESSON 70
TYPES OF NETWORKS
TYPES OF NETWORKS
Three t ypes of net works:
Local Area Net work or LAN
Met ropolit an Area Net work or MAN
Wide Area Net work or WAN
Here:
LAN - t he email syst em wit hin t he school lab in SMK KL
MAN - t he email syst em wit hin KL cit y
WAN - t he email syst em bet ween KL and London
A LAN covers a small region of space, t ypically a single building.
A MAN is a collect ion of LANs wit h t he same geographical area, for inst ance a cit y.
A WAN can be a collect ion of LANs or MANs or t he mix of t wo wit h a very large geographical
area, for inst ance a count ry or even beyond t he border.
LESSON 71
LOCAL AREA NETWORK ( LAN)
Local Area Net work ( LAN) is t he smallest net work compared t o t he ot her t wo net works.
The simplest form of LAN is t o connect t wo comput ers t oget her.
LAN is operat ed wit hin a limit ed physical area, such as at home, school, a single building or
several buildings.
LAN is a very high speed net work ( from previously 10Mbps) t o 100Mbps, which is fast er
t han MAN and WAN.
Local Area Net work is a group of comput ers and net work devices connect ed t oget her,
usually wit hin t he same building.
LESSON 72
METROPOLI TAN AREA NETWORK ( MAN)
First , you have t o underst and t he word met ropolit an. Met ropolit an describes
import ant cit ies such as Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore, Tokyo, London and New York.
MAN is a net work of comput ers locat ed at different sit es wit hin a large physical area, such
as a cit y. Companies t hat have several branches wit hin t he Kuala Lumpur cit y such as
banks, might find a MAN useful t o t hem.
49
LESSON 73
WI DE AREA NETWORK ( WAN)
Wide Area Net work ( WAN) is t he largest net work of all net work t ypes. The I nt ernet is t he
largest WAN in t he world. WAN generally covers large dist ances such as st at es, count ries or
cont inent s.
An example in t he societ y using WAN is t he banking organisat ion. Local banks have always
maint ained t heir business online by connect ing all comput ers of t heir branches in t he
count ries. I nt ernat ional banks also use WAN t o connect t heir comput ers all over t he world.
Act ually, WAN is a group of MANs or LANs or t he mixt ure of bot h net works.
A device called a rout er is needed t o connect t he MANs and LANs all over a large physical
area. A rout er is a special net working device t hat connect s t wo or more different net works
and keeps dat a flowing bet ween t hem.
A rout er makes all t he different net works communicat e, such as connect ing LAN t o LAN,
LAN t o WAN or WAN t o WAN.
LESSON 74
DI FFERENCES BETWEEN TYPES OF NETWORK
SETTI NG UP COST
Set t ing up a MAN net work is more expensive t han a LAN but less t han a WAN. Managers
have t o consider t he cost of buying t he necessary hardware, soft ware, medium and
maint enance service for t he desired net work.
NETWORK SI ZE
The net work size of a MAN falls bet ween LAN and WAN. As you know, a LAN usually covers
only a limit ed area such as a school lab; a MAN will cover a great er area such as a cit y while
a WAN will cover t he largest geographical area such as t he size of Malaysia.
SPEED
LAN offers t he best speed in t ransmit t ing informat ion followed by MAN and WAN. I n
addit ion, LANs are capable of t ransmit t ing dat a at very fast rat es, much fast er t han dat a
which is t ransmit t ed over a t elephone line alt hough t he dist ances are limit ed.
LAN is also frequent ly used t o provide a shared connect ion t o ot her net works using a link t o
a WAN.
A MAN oft en act s as a high speed net work t o allow sharing of regional resources ( similar t o
a large LAN) . For larger net work coverage, MAN is a bet t er choice for a higher speed
connect ion compared t o a WAN.
TRANSMI SSI ON MEDI A
A LAN uses t he cheapest t ransmission media compared t o MAN and WAN. Generally LAN
only uses communicat ion media such as t wist ed- pair cables.
CONNECTI ON LI MI T
The number of comput ers t hat can be at t ached t o a single LAN is limit ed.
A MAN can have a large number of comput ers compared t o a LAN but less
t han a WAN. A WAN can have up t o billions of comput ers at t ached t o it .
COMPARI SON OF LAN, MAN AND WAN
50
LESSON 75
NETWORK ARCHI TECTURE
TYPES OF NETWORK ARCHI TECTURE
Net work archit ect ure is t he overall
design of a comput er net work t hat
describes how a comput er net work is
configured and what st rat egies are
being used.
Net work archit ect ure mainly focuses
on t he funct ions of t he net works.
Net work archit ect ure is also known as
net work model or net work design.
There are t wo main net work
archit ect ures:
client / server net work
peer- t o- peer net work
CLI ENT/ SERVER NETWORK
A client / server net work is a net work in which t he shared files and applicat ions are st ored in
t he server but net work users ( client s) can st ill st ore files on t heir individual PCs.
A server is a comput er t hat shares informat ion and r esources wit h ot her comput ers on a
net work. A client is a comput er which request s services or files from a server comput er.
PEER- TO- PEER NETWORK
Peer- t o- peer or P2P net work is a net work wit h all t he nodes act ing as bot h servers and
client s. A PC can access files locat ed on anot her PC and can also provide files t o ot her PCs.
All comput ers in t he peer - t o- peer net work has equal responsibilit ies and capabilit ies t o use
t he resources available on t he net work.
Wit h peer- t o- peer net work, no server is needed; each comput er in t he net work is called a
peer.
LESSON 76
CLI ENT / SERVER
51
CLI ENT / SERVER NETWORK
On a client / server net work, shared files and applicat ions are st ored in t he server but
net work users can st ill st ore files on t heir individual PCs.
A smaller client / server net work uses t wist ed- pair or coaxial cables for net working but a
larger and powerful net work will use fibre opt ics. A client / server net work is suit able for
connect ing 10 or more comput ers.
SERVER
A server is somet imes called a host comput er. A server is a comput er t hat provides services
t o ot her comput ers called client s. A server cont rols access t o t he hardware, soft ware and
ot her resources on t he net work.
I t provides a cent ralised st orage area for programs, dat a and informat ion.
DEDI CATED SERVER
Dedicat ed servers perform specific t asks and usually execut e only one j ob.
For example, a file server st ores and manages files, a print server manages print ers and
print j obs. A dat abase server st ores and provides access t o a dat abase. A net work serv er
manages net work t raffic.
CLI ENT
The client comput ers are comput ers on t he net work t hat rely on t he server for it s resources
and services.
Client comput ers send request s t o a server for resources or services t o perform t heir j ob.
For example, a client comput er can send a request asking permission t o use t he print er
at t ached t o t he server, t o print a document . Usually a client comput er has t o log ont o t he
net work using a user name and password t o use t he servers resources and services.
For example, you have t o be a TMnet or Jaring member t o use t he int ernet service. You
need t o logon t o TMnet or Jarings server by sending your username and password.
LESSON 77
PEER- TO- PEER
PEER- TO- PEER FUNCTI ONS
Peer- t o- peer ( P2P) net work is a net work wit h all t he nodes act ing as bot h servers and
client s. A PC can access files locat ed on anot her PC and can also provide files t o ot her PCs.
A P2P net work usually uses t wist ed- pair or coaxial cable because t hese cables are cheaper
and easier t o work wit h.
P2P net wor k is t he best choice t o set up a net work wit h less t han 10 comput ers.
P2P net work is easier t o manage as long as t here are net work cards inst alled on t he PCs
and connect ion can be done wit h a net work cable. To share t he resources, each PC must
have t he necessary program.
There is no cent ral server or cent ral rout er managing a P2P net work.
Wireless net working can be an example of a P2P net work as you only need a wireless card,
connect it t o an exist ing wireless net work and resources can be shared
Limewire, Bearshare and Kazaa are all examples of soft ware applicat ions for peer - t o- peer
( P2P) file sharing.
THE DI FFERENCES BETWEEN CLI ENT/ SERVER AND PEER- TO- PEER
52
LESSON 78
NETWORK TOPOLOGY
Now, imagine replacing t he dinner t able as your net work, and t he chairs are your
comput ers. How would you like your net work t o be? How would you arrange t he comput ers?
Net work t opology is also referred t o as t he configurat ion of a net work.
Bus Topol ogy , St ar Topol ogy , Ri ng Topol ogy
LESSON 79
BUS TOPOLOGY
I n communicat ions t echnology, you t hink of a bus as a common highway on which dat a is
t ransmit t ed. A bus refers t o t he main physical pat hway or cent ral cable where all ot her
devices are connect ed t o it . Like a maj or mot or highway, all t raffic flow will be affect ed if
t his main road is broken.
A bus t opology consist s of a single cent ral cable t o which all comput ers and ot her devices
connect . A bus t opology is also known as a bus net work.
DESCRI PTI ON OF BUS TOPOLOGY
53
Bus net works are very common in Local Area Net works ( LAN) . A bus net work must have a
common backbone ( t he cent ral cable) t o connect all devices.
DEPENDENCE OF A BUS TOPOLOGY
I f one of t he nodes fails, t he bus net work would st ill funct ion as long as t he backbone is
working. I f t he backbone fails, t he net work will fail t o funct ion.
ADVANTAGES OF BUS TOPOLOGY
Easy implement at ion. New devices can be added t o t he backbone or t o t he exist ing
nodes.
Failure of a node doesn' t affect t he ent ire LAN.
No disrupt ions t o t he net work when connect ing or removing devices.
Net work can easily be ext ended, by adding new devices t o t he backbone or exist ing
nodes.
DI SADVANTAGES OF BUS TOPOLOGY
I f t he backbone fails, t he ent ire bus net work will be affect ed.
Net work speed decreases when t he number of nodes increases.
Troubleshoot ing is difficult when one of t he nodes fails.
LESSON 80
RI NG TOPOLOGY
A ring t opology consist s of all comput ers and ot her
devices t hat are connect ed in a loop. Ring t opology is
also known as a ring net work.
A ring net work can be found in Local Area Net works. I n
a ring net work each node direct ly connect t o t wo
neighbouring nodes.A server may exist in a ring
net work, but it will not connect t o all t he nodes in t he
net work.
The server, like ot her nodes, will only communicat e t o
i t s t wo neighbouring nodes.
DEPENDENCE OF A RI NG TOPOLOGY
I f one of t he nodes fails, t he net work will fail t o funct ion.
ADVANTAGES OF A RI NG TOPOLOGY
Troubleshoot ing is easy when one of t he nodes fails.
Repair or remove t he failing nodes and t he net work will cont inue t o funct ion.
DI SADVANTAGES OF A RI NG TOPOLOGY
I mplement at ion is difficult . Net work administ rat or has t o t erminat e t he ent ire
net work t o inst all a new node bet ween exist ing nodes.
A failing node will affect t he ent ire LAN.
Connect ing or removing devices is difficult because net work administ rat or needs t o
t erminat e t he net work in order t o do it .
Net work speed decreases when t he number of nodes increases.
LESSON 81
54
STAR TOPOLOGY
I n t he early days of comput er net working, all comput ers were connect ed t o a cent ralised
mainframe comput er.
All resources and management of informat ion were cent red in t his main comput er.
The idea of a cent ralised mainframe comput er is where t he basic concept of a st ar t opology
comes from.
A st ar t opology consist s of a cent ral host which act s as t he cent re, and all nodes connect t o
t he host . A st ar t opology is also known as st ar net work.
DESCRI PTI ON OF STAR TOPOLOGY
A st ar net work is found in a Local Area Net work set t ing.
A st ar net work must have a host which act s as t he cent re.
The host can be a server, hub or rout er.
I n a st ar net work, every node will not connect t o t he neighbouring nodes.
Every node must connect t o t he host in order t o communicat e.
The host will cont rol t he flow of communicat i on in t he net work.
DEPENDENCE OF A STAR TOPOLOGY
I f one of t he nodes fails, t he st ar net work can st ill funct ion as long as t he host is working.
I f t he host fails, t he net work will fail t o funct ion.
ADVANTAGES AND DI SADVANTAGES OF STAR TOPOLOGY
Advant ages
I t is easy t o implement . You only add nodes t o t he host .
The failure of a node does not affect t he ent ire LAN.
There are no disrupt ions t o t he net work when connect ing or removing devices.
The net work can be ext ended by adding new devices t o t he host or nodes.
Troubleshoot ing is easy when t he host fails. Simply repair or replace t he host and
t he net work will cont inue t o funct ion.
Disadvant ages
I f t he host fails, t he ent ire LAN will be affect ed.
Net work speed decreases when t he number of nodes increases.
Troubleshoot ing is difficult when one of t he nodes fails.
A host must be inst alled t o cont rol t he net work.
LESSON 82
55
DI FFERENCES OF NETWORK TOPOLOGI ES
UNDERSTANDI NG DI FFERENT TOPOLOGI ES
Underst anding differences in net work t opologies helps us t o see what each
t opology is able t o do.
Each t opology has an influence on:
t he t ype of equipment we will use
t he pot ent ial of t he net work in accommodat ing more comput ers
t he way we manage our net work
t he capabilit ies of t he hardware t o manage t he flow of i nformat ion
THE STRUCTURE NETWORK TOPOLOGY
The following t able compares t he st ruct ures of t he t hree main t ypes of t he net work
t opologies:
Bus Topol ogy Ri ng Topol ogy St ar Topol ogy
St ruct ure t here is a single
cent ral cable ( backbone)
and all comput ers and
ot her devices connect t o
it
all comput ers and
ot her devices are
connect ed in a circle
t here is a cent ral host
and all nodes
connect t o it
Host exist ence depends on net work
needs
depends on net work
needs
yes
Connect ion
bet ween nodes
I t has no connect ion
bet ween t he nodes.
yes no
Host failure net work can st ill run net work will fail net work will fail
Node failure net work can st ill run net work will fail net work can st ill run
Easy of
t roubleshoot ing
difficult . Need t o
search for t he
problemat ic node one by
one
depends on
backbone. I f t here is
a backbone,
t roubleshoot ing is
difficult . I f t here is no
backbone, t he focus
is on t he t wo nodes
not communicat ing
depends on t he host .
I t is easier t o repair
t he problemat ic host .
However, if t he nodes
fail, t hen each node
has t o be searched
Easy of adding
or removing
nodes
Easy difficult average
Number of nodes
when ext ending
net work
Many limit ed limit ed
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LESSON 83
I NTRODUCTI ON TO NETWORK STANDARDS
COMMON NETWORK STANDARDS
Net work communicat ions use a variet y of st andards t o ensure t hat dat a t ravels correct ly t o
it s dest inat ion. Net work st andards define guidelines t hat specify t he way comput ers access
t he medium t o which t hey are at t ached. The guidelines also describe t he t ype of medium
used, t he speeds used on different t ypes of net works and t he t ype of physical cable or
wireless t echnology used.
The well- known st andards adopt ed by t he I nst it ut e of Elect rical and Elect ronic Engineers
( I EEE) are t he 802 st andards. These are t he st andards t hat define t he requirement s for
physical cabling and specify t he way dat a is t ransmit t ed.
802.3 ETHERNET LAN
The 802.3 st andard is t he st andard for an Et hernet LAN. I n 802.3, Et hernet refers t o t he
physical cabling, while t he way dat a is t ransmit t ed t hrough t he cable is called Carrier Sense
Mult iple Access/ Collision Det ect ion ( CSMA/ CD) .
802.7 BROADBAND LAN
802.7 is t he st andard specificat ions for a Broadband LAN. This 802.7 st andard provides
specificat ions for t he design, inst allat ion and t est ing needed for broadband t ransmissions.
802.8 FI BRE- OPTI C LAN AND MAN
Specificat ions for a Fibre- Opt ic LAN and MAN are given under t he 802.8 st andard. This
st andard gives t he recommendat ions for t he configurat ion and t est ing of fibre- opt ic Local
Area Net works and Met ropoli t an Area Net works.
802.8 WI RELESS LAN
This st andard defines communicat ion bet ween a wireless comput er or client and an access
point or bet ween t wo wireless comput ers or client s.
LESSON 84
PROTOCOLS
PROTOCOLS
Prot ocols provide t he rules on how comput er s communicat e. They define how devices
int ercommunicat e in a net work environment .
THE I MPORTANCE OF PROTOCOLS
Before prot ocols were developed, int ercommunicat ion bet ween devices was not possible.
Prot ocols are import ant as t hey define how devices, applicat ions or comput ers communicat e
in a net work.
When t wo comput ers on a net work perform a single exchange of dat a or informat ion, t hey
will be busy looking for t he best communicat ion process bet ween t hem.
For example, t here will be a prot ocol t o specify t he format t hat t he informat ion bit s or
packet s must cont ain when t raveling across t his connect ion.
There are also prot ocols t hat are responsible for ensuring t hat t he informat ion bit s or dat a
packet s are sent or received in a proper sequence.
All t hese prot ocols work t oget her as a group t o prepare and process dat a for an exchange of
informat ion over a net work. We call such a group a prot ocol st ack or a prot ocol suit e.
57
SOME TYPES OF PROTOCOLS
Hyper t ex t Tr ansf er Pr ot ocol ( HTTP) This prot ocol is used t o access, send and receive
Hypert ext Markup Language files ( HTML) files on t he I nt ernet .
Si mpl e Mai l Tr ansf er Pr ot ocol ( SMTP) This prot ocol is used for t ransferring e- mail
bet ween comput ers.
Fi l e Tr ansf er Pr ot ocol ( FTP) FTP is responsible for allowing files t o be copied bet ween
devices.
Tr ansmi ssi on Cont r ol Pr ot ocol ( TCP) This prot ocol ensures t he delivery of informat ion
packet s across net work.
I nt er net Pr ot ocol ( I P) This import ant prot ocol is responsible for providing logical
addressing called I P address t o rout e informat ion bet ween net works.
LESSON 85
I NTRODUCTI ON TO TCP/ I P
TRANSMI SSI ON CONTROL PROTOCOL / I NTERNET PROTOCOL
TCP/ I P ( Transmission Cont rol Prot ocol / I nt ernet Prot ocol) is t he int ernet communicat ion
prot ocol. I t is a st andard t hat set s t he rules comput ers must follow in communicat ing wit h
each ot her on a net work. Some refer TCP/ I P as t he I nt ernet Prot ocol Suit e.
TRANSMI SSI ON CONTROL PROTOCOL
TCP ( Transmission Cont rol Prot ocol) is t he prot ocol t hat set s t he communicat ion rules
bet ween comput ers. Here, TCP est ablishes connect ion bet ween t wo comput ers, prot ect s
against dat a loss and dat a corrupt ion. TCP is responsible for breaking t he dat a int o packet s
before t hey are sent . TCP t hen assembles t he packet s when t hey reach a dest inat i on.
I NTERNET PROTOCOL
I P ( I nt ernet Prot ocol) is t he prot ocol t hat t ransfers dat a from node t o node. Here, I P t akes
care of delivering dat a packet s bet ween t wo comput ers. I P is responsible for sending t he
packet s from sender t o receiver.
LESSON 86
THE WAY TCP AND I P WORK
Each comput er must have an I P address assigned by t he net work administ rat or t o access
t he int ernet . Let say yours is 192.168.0.1.
When you access a web page, for example t he Yahoo main page, t he TCP/ I P will make t he
communicat ion work bet ween your comput er and t he Yahoo server.
The I P will begin sending t he dat a request from 192.168.0.1 t o www. yahoo. com or
209.131.36.158.
The I nt ernet is a huge collect ion of net works. There are many rout es from your comput er t o
t he server. I P will send t he dat a packet s t hrough t hese rout es as fast as possible. I t will
const ant ly use several different rout es t o deliver t he packet s t o t he dest inat ion.
Meanwhile, TCP will cont inue t o maint ain t he link bet ween t he t wo comput ers. TCP will close
t he communicat ion link once t he web page has reached your comput er.
58
LESSON 87
PRI VATE COMPUTER NETWORK SETTI NG
Similar t o mobile phones, comput ers connect ed t o a net work have:
A phone number ( an I P address on a net work) .
Service provider ident ificat ion, for example Maxis 012, Digi 016 and Celcom 019 ( a
subnet mask on a net work) .
Ant ennas ( a net work gat eway on a net work) .
A phone book funct ion t o help user put names t o t elephone numbers ( a DNS server
on a net work) .
LESSON 88
TYPES OF NETWORK COMMUNI CATI ON TECHNOLOGY
I NTERNET
The I nt ernet , or t he Net , is t he worldwide, publicly accessible syst em of int erconnect ed
comput er net works t hat t ransmit dat a by packet swit ching using t he st andard I nt ernet
Prot ocol ( I P) .
I NTRANET
An I nt ranet ( int ra means wit hin) is an int ernal net work t hat uses I nt ernet t echnologies and
it is a small version of t he I nt ernet t hat exist s wit hin an organisat ion.
EXTRANET
An ext ranet is a privat e net work t hat uses I nt ernet prot ocols, net work connect ivit y, and
possibly t he public t elecommunicat ion syst em t o securely share part of a businesss
informat ion or operat ions wit h suppliers, vendors, part ners, cust omers or ot her businesses.
LESSON 89
I NTERNET
I NTERNET
The I nt ernet is t he worlds largest comput er net work which connect s millions of comput ers
all over t he world. Many organisat ions including privat e as well as government agencies,
educat ional inst it ut ions and individuals are connect ed t o t he I nt ernet .
Some of t he many usages of t he I nt ernet are:
I nformat ion; research & exchange
Commerce
real t ime communicat ion
banking
shopping
ent ert ainment
educat ion
gaming
I nt ernet t ransmit s dat a by using I nt ernet Prot ocol ( I P) .
I NTERNET ACCESS
To access t he I nt ernet , users need t o subscribe services t o an I nt ernet Service Provider
( I SP) . An I SP can eit her be a t elecommunicat ion company or any ot her organisat ion
specialising in providing access t o I nt ernet services.
Current ly, only four of t hem are providing I nt ernet services, t hey are Jaring by MI MOS,
TMnet by Telekom Malaysia Berhad, Maxisnet by Maxis Communicat ions Bhd and Time.net
by Time dot com Berhad.
I nt ernet connect ion is divided int o t wo cat egories; di al - up or br oadband.
For dial - up connect ions, a phone line and modem are needed t o access t he I nt ernet while
broadband connect ions use cable modem or rout er.
59
I NTERNET SERVI CES
I nt ernet users can access services like:
Web browsing
Email
File t ransfer
Newsgroup& Message boards
Mailing list s
Chat rooms
I nst ant messaging.
LESSON 90
I NTRANET
I NTRANET
Wit h new t echnologies many of our t asks can be performed wit h a click of a few but t ons.
Company operat ions are now not j ust limit ed wit hin very t all buildings or bet ween t wo
buildings locat ed wit hin t he cit y. They are also available bet ween cit ies, st at es and even
count ries.
The int ranet t echnol ogy allows sharing of valuable informat ion and let s business act ivit ies
carry on even wit hout a key personnel present at t he business premises.
USES OF I NTRANET
An I nt ranet is an int ernal net work t hat uses I nt ernet t echnologies. I t is a small version of
t he I nt ernet t hat exist s wit hin an organisat ion.
I nt ranet generally make company informat ion accessible t o employees and facilit at e
working in groups.
To access int ranet , employees need t o be online. To let t he employees access t he int ranet
fro everywhere around t he world, every employee will be given t he int ranet address, user
name and password.
I nt ranet usually includes elect ronic publishing of mat erials relat ed t o an organisat ion such
as:
Telephone direct ories
Event calendars
Employee handbook
Job post ing
Email services
News bullet in
Company forms
St aff informat ion
I nt ranet s t oo are used t o conduct more sophist icat ed t asks such as:
Groupware applicat ions in proj ect management .
Remot e discussion rooms ( chat rooms)
Group scheduling
Video conferencing
60
COMPARI SON BETWEEN I NTRANET AND I NTERNET
LESSON 91
EXTRANET
WHAT I S EXTRANET
An ext ranet is a privat e net work t hat uses I nt ernet t echnology and public
t elecommunicat ions syst em t o securely share relevant informat ion wit h aut horised part ies.
Only regist ered or aut horised users can navigat e or access t he ext ranet .
USES OF EXTRANET
Ext ranet can be used t o:
Share product cat alogues wit h wholesalers.
Joint ly develop programs wit h ot her companies.
Provide access services given by one company t o a group of ot her companies.
Share news of common int erest exclusively wit h part ner companies.
I NTERNET AND EXTRANET
61
LESSON 92
COMMUNI CATI ON DEVI CES : HARDWARE REQUI REMENTS
Communicat ion devices are hardware component s t hat enable a comput er t o send or
receive dat a, inst ruct ions and informat ion t o and from one or more comput ers.
Examples of communicat ion devices are:
Net work I nt erface Card ( NI C)
Wireless Net work I nt erface Card ( WNI C)
int ernal and ext ernal modem
hub or swit ch
rout er
wireless access point
NETWORK I NTERFACE CARD
A net work card, somet imes pronounced as NI CK, is an adapt er card or PC card t hat
enables t he comput er t o access t he net work.
WI RELESS NETWORK I NTERFACE CARD
Wireless Net work I nt erface Card is a net work card t hat provides wireless dat a
t ransmission.
NETWORK COMMUNI CATI ON CHANNELS
There are t wo t ypes of modem, int ernal modem and ext ernal modem. An int ernal modem
only works in st and- alone comput ers. I t is built int o t he comput er. An ext ernal modem is
separat ed from t he comput er and is also mobile.
HUB/ SWI TCH
Hub or swit ch is a common connect ion point for devices in a net work. Hubs are commonly
used t o connect segment s of a LAN.
ROUTER
A rout er is a communicat ions device t hat connect s mult iple comput ers or ot her rout ers
t oget her and t ransmit s dat a t o t he correct dest inat ion.
WI RELESS ACCESS POI NT
A wireless access point is a cent ral communicat ions device t hat allow comput ers t o t ransfer
dat a. This device can help informat ion t o be t ransferred wi relessly t o ot her wireless devices
or t o a wired net work.
LESSON 93
FUNCTI ONS OF COMMUNI CATI ON DEVI CES
NETWORK I NTERFACE CARD
A Net work I nt erface Card is a piece of comput er hardware designed t o allow comput ers t o
communicat e over a comput er net work.
WI RELESS NETWORK I NTERFACE CARD
A Wireless Net work I nt erface Card or WNI C is a net work card which connect s t o a radio-
based comput er net work.
I NFRASTRUCTURE MODE
I n an infrast ruct ure mode net work t he WNI C needs an access point : all dat a is t ransferred
using t he access point as t he cent ral hub. All wireless nodes in an infrast ruct ure mode
net work connect t o an access point . All nodes connect ing t o t he access point must have t he
same service set ident ifier as t he access point .
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AD HOC MODE
I n an ad hoc mode net work t he WNI C does not require an access point , but can direct ly
int erface wit h all ot her wireless nodes direct ly. All t he peer nodes in an ad hoc net work
must have t he same channel and service set ident ifier.
MODEM
A modem is a device t hat enables a comput er t o t ransmit dat a over t elephone or cable
lines. Comput er informat ion is st ored digit ally, whereas informat ion t ransmit t ed over
t elephone lines is t ransmit t ed in t he form of analog waves. A modem convert s bet ween
t hese t wo forms.
HUB / SWI TCH
Hubs are commonly used t o connect segment s of a LAN. A hub cont ains mult iple port s.
ROUTER
A rout er is a comput er net working device t hat forwards dat a packet s across a net work
t oward t heir dest inat ions, t hrough a process known as rout ing.
WI RELESS ACCESS POI NT
A wireless access point is a device t hat connect s wireless communicat ion devices t oget her
t o form a wireless net work. Wireless access point ( or Wireless AP) usually connect s t o a
wired net work and can relay dat a bet ween wireless devices and wired devices.
LESSON 94
TRANSMI SSI ON MEDI UM
TYPES OF TRANSMI SSI ON MEDI A
The t wist ed- pair cable, coaxial cable and fibre opt ic cable are examples of physical
t ransmission media. Wireless t ransmission medium or unguided medium is t hrough air.
PHYSI CAL TRANSMI SSI ON MEDI UM
I n physical t ransmission medium, waves are guided along a solid t ransmission medium.
Wireless t ransmission medium waves are unguided and t he t ransmission and recept ion are
by means of ant ennas.
For example, we use physical t ransmission medium when we:
connect a PC t o a print er using parallel port or USB port
connect a PC t o t he same phone line for I nt ernet communicat ion such as TMNET
St reamyx.
PCs are connect ed using t wist ed- pair cables t o wall socket s in t he office
WI RELESS TRANSMI SSI ON MEDI A
Wireless dat a t ransmission means dat a communicat ion bet ween net work devices wit hout
using cables or cords, but by using radio frequency or infrared waves. Wireless dat a
t ransmission is cat egorised int o short , medium and long range dat a t ransmissi on.
An example for short range is Bluet oot h or I nfrared. Medium range dat a t ransmission is
WiFi or wireless LAN and for long range it is 3G.
TRANSMI SSI ON ENVI RONMENT
I n our daily act ivit ies, such as t alking over t he phone, sending short messages, sending
email or uploading files t o remot e users, will likely involve a combinat ion of t ransmission
mediums along t he way.
The sender and t he receiver will also involve many communicat ion devices especially
swit ches and rout ers. These devices are int erconnect ed by t ransmission mediums t hat can
be from any of t he physical or wireless t ransmission mediums st at ed earlier.
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LESSON 95
PHYSI CAL TRANSMI SSI ON MEDI A
Physical t ransmission media refers t o mat erial subst ances t hat can propagat e waves or
energy. I t is used t o guide elect rical messages from one end t o t he ot her.
Et hernet and t oken ring LANs oft en use physical t ransmission media.
CABLES AS A PHYSI CAL TRANSMI SSI ON MEDI UM
Tw i st ed- Pai r Cabl e - Two insulat ed copper wires t hat are t wist ed around each
ot her. Each connect ion on t wist ed- pair requires bot h wires.
Coax i al Cabl e - A cable consist ing of a conduct ing out er met al t ube t hat encloses
and is insulat ed from a cent ral conduct ing core, used primarily for t he t ransmission
of high- frequency signals.
Fi br e Opt i c Cabl e - Glass fibre used for laser t ransmission of video, audio and/ or
dat a.
LESSON 96
WI RELESS TRANSMI SSI ON MEDI A
WI RELESS COMMUNI CATI ON
Wireless is a met hod of communicat ion t hat uses elect romagnet ic waves rat her t han wire
conduct ors t o t ransmit dat a bet ween devices.Wireless net works are t elephone or comput er
net works t hat use radio frequencies and infrared waves as t heir carrier.
WI RELESS TECHNOLOGY
The use of wireless t echnology as a met hod of dat a t ransport appears very similar t o a
wired t echnology.
WI RELESS TRANSMI SSI ON
Wireless t ransmission can be cat egorised int o t hree broad groups:
Radio Waves
Microwaves
I nfrared
I NFRARED
I nfrared is used in devices such as t he mouse, wireless keyboard and print ers. Some
manufact urers provide a special port called t he I rDA port t hat allows a wireless keyboard t o
communicat e wit h a PC.
I NFRARED SI GNALS
I nfrared signals have high frequencies and cannot penet rat e walls. Due t o it s short - range
communicat ion syst em, t he use of an infrared communicat ion syst em i n one room will not
be affect ed by t he use of anot her syst em in t he next room.
This is why using an infrared TV remot e cont rol in our home will not int erfere wit h t he use
of our neighbours infrared TV remot e cont rol.
DI SADVANTAGES OF USI NG I NFRARED
I nfrared signals cannot be used for long dist ance communicat ion. I n addit ion, we cannot use
infrared waves out side a building because sun' s rays
cont ain infrared waves t hat can int erfere wit h communicat ion.
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LESSON 97
SERVER SOFTWARE
EXAMPLES OF NETWORK OPERATI NG SYSTEMS
Some popular Net work Operat ing Syst ems include:
Windows NT
Windows 2000 Server
Red Hat Linux
PEER- TO- PEER NETWORK OPERATI NG SYSTEMS
Peer- t o- peer Net work Operat ing Syst ems allow users t o share resources and files locat ed on
t heir comput ers. I t is also for users t o access shared resources found on ot her comput ers.
CLI ENT/ SERVER NETWORKI NG OPERATI NG SYSTEM
Client / server Net work Operat ing Syst ems allow t he net work t o cent ralise funct ions and
applicat ions in one or more dedicat ed file servers. The file servers become t he heart of t he
syst em, providing access t o resources and providing securit y.
LESSON 98
CLI ENT SOFTWARE
FUNCTI ONS OF WEB BROWSER
A web browser is a soft ware applicat ion t hat enables a user t o display and int eract wit h
HTML document s host ed by web servers or held in a file syst em. Text and images on a web
page can cont ain hyperlinks t o ot her web pages at t he same or t o different websit es.
Web browsers available for personal comput er include Microsoft I nt ernet Explorer, Safar i,
Net scape and Opera.Web browsers are t he most commonly used t ype of Hypert ext Transfer
Prot ocol ( HTTP) user agent .
FUNCTI ONS OF EMAI L CLI ENT
An email client is a comput er program t hat is used t o read and send email.
FUNCTI ONS OF FI LE TRANSFER PROTOCOL ( FTP)
File Transfer Prot ocol ( FTP) is used t o connect t wo comput ers over t he I nt ernet so t hat t he
user of one comput er can t ransfer files and perform file commands on t he ot her comput er.
LESSON 99
SETTI NG NETWORK FACI LI TI ES
NETWORK I NTERFACE CARD
A comput er, or any comput ing devices, needs a net work int erface t o connect t o a net work
and communicat e wit h ot her devices on t he net work.
A Net work I nt erface Card or NI C is an expansion card t hat allows t he t ransmission of dat a
over a cable net work. Also known as a net work adapt er card, it is an elect ronic circuit card
t hat is insert ed inside t he comput er.
LESSON 106
WI RELESS AND MOBI LE
WI RELESS AND MOBI LE COMMUNI CATI ON
Wireless is a t erm used t o describe t elecommunicat ions t hat use elect romagnet ic waves
rat her t han some form of wire t o carry signal over part or t he ent ire communicat ion pat h.
Telecommunicat ion
The science of informat ion t ransport using wire, radio, opt ical, or elect romagnet ic channels
t o t ransmit and receive signals for voice or dat a communicat ions.
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Elect romagnet ic Waves
A wave produced by t he int eract ion of t ime- varying elect ric and magnet ic fields.
Radio Frequency
Frequency of elect romagnet ic waves used for radio and t elevision broadcast ing.
I nfrared Wave
Elect romagnet ic waves in t he fr equency range j ust below visible light corresponding t o
radiat ed heat . I R waves are oft en used for remot e cont rols.
I rDA
I nfrared Dat a Associat ion ( I rDA) is an organisat ion t hat defines t he infrared communicat ions
prot ocol. A prot ocol used by many lapt ops and mobile cellular phones t o exchange dat a at
short ranges.
GSM
Global Syst em for Mobile Communicat ions ( GSM) is a globally accept ed st andard for digit al
cellular communicat ions syst em
WI RELESS TECHNOLOGY
Global Syst em for Mobile Communicat ion
General Packet Radio Service
Enhanced Dat a GSM Environment
Universal Mobile Telecommunicat ions Syst em
Wireless Applicat ion Prot ocol
i - Mode
GLOBAL SYSTEM FOR MOBI LE COMMUNI CATI ON ( GSM)
Global Syst em for Mobile Communicat ion ( GSM) is a digit al mobile t elephone syst em used
in Europe and ot her part s of t he world. I t is t he de fact o ( widely recognised) wireless
t elephone st andard in Europe.
GENERAL PACKET RADI O SERVI CE ( GPRS)
General Packet Radio Service ( GPRS) is a packet - based wireless communicat ion service t hat
provides cont inuous connect ion t o t he I nt ernet for mobile phone and comput er users.
ENHANCED DATA GSM ENVI RONMENT ( EDGE)
Enhanced Dat a GSM Environment ( EDGE) is a fast er version of t he Global Syst em for Mobile
( GSM) wireless service.
UNI VERSAL MOBI LE TELECOMMUNI CATI ONS
SYSTEM ( UMTS)
Universal Mobile Telecommunicat ions Syst em ( UMTS) is a broadband, packet - based syst em.
I t offers a consist ent set of services t o mobile comput er and phone users no mat t er where
t hey are locat ed in t he world.
WI RELESS APPLI CATI ON PROTOCOL ( WAP)
Wireless Applicat ion Prot ocol ( WAP) is a set of communicat ion prot ocols t o st andardise t he
way t hat wireless devices, such as cellular t elephones and radio t ransceivers can be used
for I nt ernet access.
WAP - Wireless Applicat ion Prot ocol ( WAP) is a specificat ion for a set of communicat ion
prot ocols t o st andardise t he way wireless devices, such as cellular t elephones and radio
t ransceivers, can be used for I nt ernet access.
i - MODE
i - Mode, t he world' s first "smart phone service" was first int roduced in Japan.
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TYPES OF WI RELESS
Wireless can be divided int o four cat egories. They are:
fixed wireless
mobile wireless
port able wireless
I R wireless
FI XED WI RELESS
Fixed wireless is t he operat ion of wireless devices or syst ems in homes and offices. Devices
of fixed wireless are connect ed t o t he I nt ernet via specialised modems.
MOBI LE WI RELESS
Mobile wireless is t he use of wireless devices or syst ems aboard mot orised, moving
vehicles. Examples of mobile wireless are t he aut omot ive cell phone.
PORTABLE WI RELESS
Port able wireless is t he operat ion of aut onomous, bat t ery- powered wireless devices or
syst ems out side t he office, home or vehicle. An examples of port able wireless are cell
phones.
I R WI RELESS
I R wireless is t he use of devices t hat convey dat a via I R ( infrared) radiat ion and is
employed in cert ain limit ed- range communicat ions and cont rol syst ems.
LESSON 107
MOBI LE COMPUTI NG
DEFI NI NG MOBI LE COMPUTI NG
Mobile comput ing is about t he new st rat egies of comput ing t hat ut ilise port able or mobile
devices and wireless communicat ion net works.
TYPES OF MOBI LE COMPUTI NG DEVI CES
NOTEBOOK COMPUTER
PCMCI A
Personal Comput er Memory Card I nt ernat ional Associat ion ( PMCI A) is an indust ry group
organised in 1989 t o promot e st andards for a credit card- size memory or I / O device t hat
would fit int o a personal comput er, usually a not ebook or a lapt op comput er.
TABLET PC
A t ablet PC is a not ebook or slat e- shaped mobile comput er.
PDA
Personal digit al assist ant s or PDAs are handheld devices designed as personal organisers
SMART PHONE
The funct ionalit y of a mobile phone and a personal digit al assist ant or PDA or ot her
informat ion appliance.
TECHNOLOGI ES FOR MOBI LE COMPUTI NG
WI RELESS LAN
A wireless LAN is a t echnology t hat allow not ebook users t o connect t o a Local Area Net work
( LAN) t hrough a wireless ( radio) connect ion.
WWAN
WWAN, which st ands for Wireless Wide Area Net work, is a form of wireless net work.
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BLUETOOTH
Bluet oot h, also known as I EEE 802.15.1, is a t elecommunicat ion indust ry specificat ion for
wirel ess Personal Area Net works or PANs. Bluet oot h devices operat e on a radio
communicat ion syst em.
THE I NFRARED DATA ASSOCI ATI ON
The I nfrared Dat a Associat ion or I rDA defines physical specificat ions of communicat ion
prot ocol st andards for short range exchange of dat a over infrared light . This is used in
Personal Area Net works ( PANs) .
COMMON SERVI CES FOR MOBI LE COMPUTI NG
To cat er t o t he needs of mobile comput ing, Wireless Service Providers would seek t o
provide wireless access point s for as many wireless net work devices as possible in specified
service zones. Services include:
email capabilit ies
A variet y of soft ware applicat ions for secured communicat ions.
Print st at ions
Tracking and navigat ion syst ems
I nst ant mobile messaging
Mobile secut it y services
Mobile dat a, voive and video syst ems.
Access t o sat ellit t e radio and TV.
Remot e home premise video monit or.
LESSON 108
I NTERNET TECHNOLOGY
The I nt ernet works wonders t o t hose who are in t ouch wit h t he t echnology. Communicat ion
is made easy, economical and fast wit h t he development in t he I nt ernet t echnology.
DEFI NI TI ON OF I NTERNET TECHNOLOGY
I nt ernet Technology is a broad range of t echnologies for web development , web product ion,
design, net working, t elecommunicat ion and e- commerce.
VOI CE OVER I NTERNET PROTOCOL ( VoI P)
VoI P SERVI CES
There are t hree different VoI P services in common use t oday. They are Analog Telephone
Adapt er ( ATA) , I P Phones and comput er - t o- comput er.
ANALOG TELEPHONE ADAPTER ( ATA)
The simplest and most common way is t hrough t he use of a device called an Analog
Telephone Adapt er ( ATA) . The ATA allows you t o connect a st andard phone t o your
comput er or your I nt ernet connect ion for use wit h VoI P.
I P PHONES
I P Phones look j ust like normal phones wit h a handset , a cradle and but t ons. I P Phones
have an RJ- 45 Et hernet connect or inst ead of t he st andard RJ- 11 phone connect ors.
COMPUTER- TO- COMPUTER
Comput er- t o- comput er is cert ainly t he easiest way t o use VoI P. Devices needed t o place a
comput er- t o- comput er I nt ernet t elephone call:
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LESSON 109
I NTERNET SERVI CES
BLOGGI NG
A blog ( web log or weblog) is one of t he popular act ivit ies on t he I nt ernet . Most of t hese
blogs are publicly shared and t he aut hors frequent ly updat e t he cont ent on a regular basis.
WORLD WI DE WEB ( WWW)
The World Wide Web or t he Web consist s of a worldwide collect ion of elect ronic document s.
Each elect ronic document on t he Web is called a web page which can cont ain t ext , graphics,
audio and video. These pages are writ t en in Hypert ext Markup Language ( HTML) .
Every websit e has an address or Uniform Resource Locat or ( URL) . The URL is formed by t he
prot ocol, domain, direct ory and t he document name.
EMAI L
An elect ronic mail or email is t he t ransmission of messages and files via a comput er
net work. A user ut ilises an email program t o creat e, send, receive, forward, st ore, print and
delet e email messages.
THE I NTERNET RELAY CHAT ( I RC)
The I nt ernet Relay Chat ( I RC) is a syst em for chat t ing t hat involves a set of rules and
convent ions, and client / server soft ware.
SEARCH ENGI NES
Search engines are special websit es on t he I nt ernet t o help you find informat ion you need.
E.g ( ht t p: / / www.google.com/ ) is for searching valuable or relevant sit es wit h rankings.
LESSON 110
ADVANCED NETWORKI NG
PERSONAL AREA NETWORK ( PAN)
A Personal Area Net work ( PAN) is a comput er net work used for communicat ion among
comput er devices including PCs, lapt ops, print ers, t elephones, digit al cameras, mobile
phones, video game consoles and personal digit al assist ant s, close t o one person.
VI RTUAL PRI VATE NETWORK ( VPN)
A Virt ual Privat e Net work ( VPN) is a net work t hat uses a public t elecommunicat ion
infrast ruct ure, such as t he I nt ernet , t o remot e offices or individuals wit h secure access t o
t heir organisat ion' s privat e net work.
WI RELESS LAN ( WLAN)
Wireless Local Area Net work ( WLAN) is a t ype of LAN t hat uses high- frequency radio waves
t o communicat e bet ween nodes. WLAN improves user mobilit y, speed and scalabilit y t o
move around wit hin a broad coverage area and st ill be connect ed t o t he net work.
The I EEE st andard for Wireless LANs is 802.11
WORLDWI DE I NTEROPERABI LI TY FOR MI CROWAVE ACCESS ( Wi MAX)
Worldwide I nt eroperabilit y for Microwave Access ( WiMAX) is t he indust ry t erm for
broadband wireless access net work t hat is developed based on t he I EEE 802.16 st andard.
WiMAX is a Wireless Met ropolit an Area Net work ( MAN) t echnology t hat will connect WiFi
hot spot s t o t he I nt ernet and provides a wireless ext ension t o cable and DSL for larger
broadband access.WiMAX would operat e similar t o WiFi but at higher speeds, over great er
dist ances and for a great er number of users.
A WiMAX syst em will have t wo maj or part s:
a WiMAX base st at ion, similar in concept t o a mobile phone t ower
a WiMAX receiver inst alled at home