Computer and Network Architectures
Computers (types)
● Microcomputer
● Minicomputer
● Personal computer (PC) (Desktop)
● Supercomputer: mainframe enterprise level
● Laptop
● Server: robust in terms of speed and memory
● Mobile
● Smartphone
● Tablet
Computers and data
● Computers recognize the binary digit (bit): 0 and 1
● Bits represent everything in a computer: text, images, etc.
● 8 bits is a byte which can have 256 combinations, Text is represented by 7 bit
alphanumeric combinations (ASCII). For more text characters Unicode is used. For
example, 16 bit UTF means 16 bit Computers and Data
Kilobyte to Zettabyte
● 1000 bytes = 1 kilobyte (or 1K)
● 1000 kilobytes = 1 megabyte (or 1 meg)
● 1000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte (or 1 gig)
● 1000 gigabytes = 1 terabyte
● 1000 terabytes = 1 petabyte
● 1000 petabytes = 1 exabyte
● 1000 exabytes = 1 zettabyte
● 1000 zettabytes = 1 yottabyte = 1024 bytes
● Kilobyte to Zettabyte
Computer Hardware
● Central processing unit (CPU): where the computer chip resides and is related to data
processing speed
● Memory: random access memory (RAM) is the working memory that is lost when the
computer is turned off.
● Auxiliary storage: active storage is where data is stored that is needed continuously. Archival
storage can refer to tape, hard disks, optical drives or cloud
● Input and output devices: keyboard and mouses
Computer Software
● Software programs instructs the hardware what to do
● Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are a common way now for computers to react
with other programs or apps
● Operating systems provide a standardized way for software programs to perform tasks
Programming Languages for Computing
● C, C++, C# – used in many modern applications
● MUMPS – used in many early medical applications, now renamed to M and with many
modern enhancements
● BASIC – common in early days of PCs
● Python – originated as “scripting” languages for
● Unix and Web, but achieving larger-scale use, e.g., in machine learning applications
● Java – attempt to create standard language for Web applications
● JavaScript – scripting language for Web browsers
● R – emerging important language for statistics and data analytics
Database Systems
● Spreadsheets are considered flat files or one dimensional; unlike relational databases which
link tables together for more robust storage and queries
● A database management system (DBMS) is a program that manages the database
● Most common language to query the database is structured query language (SQL)
● There is a trend towards non-relational database systems, like No SQL for large “big data"
The Internet and World Wide Web
● The Internet is the largest and arguably most important large scale international network
● The Internet is a global “network-of-networks” using the Telecommunications
Protocol/Internet Protocol stack (TCP/IP) as the communications standard.
● The TCP/IP stack allows for layering of different standards and technologies based on the
participants in an exchange and the payload being exchanged, The Internet began in the late
1960 as a network known as Advanced Research Projects Agency
● Network (ARPANET) capable of tying together universities and research organizations
securely The Internet and World Wide Web
● The World Wide Web (WWW) operates on top of the Internet and was created by Tim
Berners-Lee in 1989
● The WWW introduced the web browser, a software program that allows for connection to
web servers over the Internet using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
● Web pages are written using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), an implementation of a
markup language, or method for defining formatting of text in a document, which has
become synonymous with the Web
● Achieving interoperability on the Internet depends on global use of standards
● Standards exist for the exchange of data, such as HTTP; the format of data, such as HTML,
and the transport of data, such as TCP/IP
● In a TCP/IP network, each device (host) must have an Internet Protocol (IP) address. IP
addresses can be distributed among different tiers of lower layer networks, or
“sub-networks”
● It is useful to think of the Internet as comprised of two main components, protocols and
hardware
● Each machine addressable on a network is known as a node
● Computers connect to the internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as Bell
South or AT&T The Internet and World Wide Web
