Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Technology
Eliezer A. Albacea
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of the author and the UP Open University.
Module 1 Introduction, 1
Objectives, 1
What is Information Technology?, 1
What is a Computer and Computer Science?, 3
What is Telecommunications Technology?, 5
Evolution of Computing and Computing Machines, 5
Evolution of Digital Computers, 9
First Generation (1939-1954): Vacuum Tube, 10
Second Generation (1954-1959): Transistor, 14
Third Generation (1959-1971): Integrated Circuits, 15
Fourth Generation (1971-Present): Microprocessors, 17
Types of Computers, 20
request of a client then sends back its reply to the ATM instructing the
ATM what to do. For example, if the client wants to withdraw some money,
then this information is sent to the main computer that debits from the
account of the client the amount he wants to withdraw. Then, the main
computer instructs the ATM to release an amount equivalent to the amount
being withdrawn by the client.
Another example is the mailing system in the Internet. Suppose one wants
to send (sender) an electronic mail to another person (receiver)
geographically located somewhere else. The system allows a user to enter
his mail through a local computer. Then, the local computer sends the
message via communication lines to the computer where the account of
the receiver resides.
Activity 1-1
E-commerce or electronic commerce is the purchasing, selling, and
exchanging of goods and services over computer networks (such
as the Internet) through which transactions or terms of sale are
performed electronically.
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During the early days of computers, the programs were simply designed
to carry out elaborate mathematical calculations. You write a program to
perform the desired calculations, submitted the program to the computer,
and wait. The computer crunched your numbers and produced the results
onto several reams of wide paper. The computer, in short, was used as a
number-cruncher during the early days of computers. But now, computers
can manipulate almost any type of data. Not only is it used to manipulate
numbers but also text, sound, graphics and video data.
This will produce the result 15 on the display of the calculator. The
calculator accepts information and manipulates the information based
on a certain sequence of instructions, unfortunately the sequence of
instructions is inputted by the user one by one (by pressing the keys).
Hence, it cannot qualify as a computer based on the definition because
the instructions need to be stored inside the calculator before it can be
considered a computer.
How about the scientific calculators that have built-in (stored) functions
in them? Can they be considered computers? For example, we want to
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4 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
Computer Science, on the other hand, is the science that deals with the
theory and methods of processing information in digital computers, design
and development of computer hardware and software, and the
applications of computers. Computer science combines concepts in
mathematics, engineering and psychology.
Activity 1-2
Which of the following involved computers?
a. Cell phone
b. A programmable washing machine
c. Transistor radio
d. PlayStation 2
e. Airplane Black Box
f. Airline reservation system
UP Open University
Module 1 5
Activity 1-3
Which of the following involved telecommunication technology?
a. Cell phone
b. A programmable washing machine
c. PlayStation 2
d. Airplane Black Box
e. Airline reservation system
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6 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
The oldest surviving counting board, though, is the Salamis tablet, used in
Babylonia circa 300 BC., discovered in 1899 on the island of Salamis. It is
a slab of marble marked with 2 sets of eleven vertical lines (10 columns), a
blank space between them, a horizontal line crossing each set of lines and
Greek symbols along the top and bottom.
Activity 1-4
The first computing device was _____.
a. Chinese abacus
b. Japanese abacus
c. Salamis tablet
d. Korean abacus
The Numeral Zero (650 AD). The Hindus invented the written zero that
led to the development of written decimal arithmetic. The Hindu people
in India invented a written symbol for zero, an essential step to doing
written calculations. The concept of zero and place values was integral to
the use of the abacus (a zero value was represented by a bead in the down
position), but, before a symbol zero was introduced by the Hindus there
could be no real decimal arithmetic calculation in writing.
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Activity 1-5
Match:
Activity 1-6
True or False.
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8 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
The Slide Rule (1621 AD). The slide rule was invented by William Oughtred
in about 1621. The slide rule is based on Napiers ideas about logarithms -
it has logarithmic scales that can be slid past each other to allow
approximations to multiplication to be carried out quickly and easily. It
consists of at least two divided rules or scales, namely: a fixed outer pair
and a movable inner one. It has a movable sliding window cutting across
the rules. The slide rule is primarily used for multiplication, division and
scientific functions like taking the roots and logarithms. It does not
generally perform addition and subtraction.
The Calculating Clock (1623 AD). The calculating clock is the first real
machine that was designed by Wilhelm Schickard in Germany. It is
considered a real machine because it is gear driven. It was called the
calculating clock and was based on Napiers logarithms but this time they
were etched on rotating cylinders with gears in a large machine housing.
The machine could add, subtract, multiply and divide.
The Pascaline (1642 AD). The Pascaline was invented by Blaise Pascal in
1642. This device is a gear-driven one-function calculator. The device is
able to add two decimal numbers. Using tens complement it is also possible
to subtract. Example: 65 - 27 can be computed as 65 + 73 without carry,
where 73 is the complement of 27.
The Leibniz Wheel (1673). The Leibniz Wheel is the first general-purpose
calculating machine invented by Gotfried von Leibniz in Germany. Leibniz
improved the Pascals design by operating using a cylinder of stepped
teeth instead of using interconnected gears. The Leibniz wheel is a four-
function (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) calculator.
Activity 1-7
Which of the following is the first real machine for computation?
a. Slide rule
b. Calculating clock
c. Leibniz wheel
d. Pascaline
The Jacquard Loom (1801). The industrial revolution (mid 1700s) brought
about advances in the weavers loom that allowed it to use a system of
punched cards to program patterns of colors in woven fabric. Joseph Marie
Jacquard invented a power loom with an automatic card reader.
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Activity 1-8
True or False.
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10 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
Sir John Ambrose Fleming worked to develop the first rectifier and in
1904, while working for the Marconi Company, he was faced with the
problem of detecting weak wireless signals. He was inspired by his work
with Edisons lamps back in 1889 and decided to try inserting one of the
lamps in an oscillatory circuit containing a galvanometer. He had found
the solution to the problem of rectifying high frequency wireless circuits.
The next big step in the development of the vacuum tube came along with
Lee de Forest. In 1905, de Forest was working with lamps as well and
developed what would become one of the most important developments
in vacuum tube history; the Audion. In all great developments, there must
come some controversy. Lee de Forest held steadfast in his assertion that
he developed the Audion independently from Flemings research. Lee de
Forest applied for and was granted a patent for the Audion on November
13, 1906.
The Audion was brought to AT&T with the idea of using them in telephone
repeaters for longer distance signal transmission. AT&T was so impressed,
they purchased some of Lee de Forests patents for $50,000 and assigned
their electrical unit, Western Electric (WECo), to develop and improve the
Audion. Western Electric was the critical step in the evolution of the
vacuum tube. WECo took a crude, unreliable device and converted it into
a high standard of reliability and longevity. The advancement of the WECo
tubes started with a 101A. There were many refinements and adjustments
applied to the WECo line. These refinements gave us such beauties as the
101D, the 205D, the 252A, and the venerable 300B.
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Module 1 11
Activity 1-9
Match
Using vacuum tubes, John V. Atanasoff in 1937 designed the first digital
electronic computer and in 1939, Atanasoff and Clifford Berry
demonstrated the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) prototype.
The ABC was the worlds first electronic digital computer. The ABC was
built by John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry of Iowa State University
during 1937-42. It incorporated several major innovations in computing
including the use of binary arithmetic, regenerative memory, parallel
processing, and separation of memory and computing functions.
Konrad Zuse in Germany and in 1941 developed in secret the Z3. The
Z3s architect was a German engineer called Konrad Zuse, who developed
his first machine, the Z1, in his parents living room in Berlin in 1938.
Although based on relays, the Z3 was very sophisticated for its time; for
example, it utilized the binary number system and could perform floating-
point arithmetic.
Across the Atlantic a major need for supporting the war effort was to
decrypt the intercepted messages of the German forces. Encrypted in the
early years using the US designed ENIGMA (The Enigma is a complex
mechanical encoder used by the Germans and they believe it to be
unbreakable), a team at Bletchley Park halfway between Oxford and
Cambridge Universities, including Alan Turing, built a series of machines
culminating in 1943 with Colossus.
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Activity 1-10
The first electronic digital computer is ___.
a. Z1
b. Z3
c. Atanasoff- Berry Computer
d. Colussus
John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert built in 1946 the ENIAC computer,
the first large-scale general-purpose electronic computer. Built at the
University of Pennsylvanias Moore School of Electrical Engineering ENIAC
is an acronym for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, but
its birth lay in World War II as a classified military project known only as
Project PX. The ENIAC is important historically, because it laid the
foundations for the modern electronic computing industry.
Activity 1-11
True or False.
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Activity 1-12
Match
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Activity 1-13
True or False.
The three shared a Nobel Prize. Bardeen and Brattain continued in research
(and Bardeen later won another Nobel Prize). Shockley quit to start a
semiconductor company in Palo Alto. It folded, but its staff went on to
invent the integrated circuit (the chip) and to found Intel Corporation.
Activity 1-14
Which of the following is not involved in the discovery of
transistors?
a. William Shockley
b. John Brattain
c. John Bardeen
d. Walter Brattain
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Tom Watson, Jr. led in 1953 IBM to introduce the model 604 computer, its
first with transistors, that became the basis of 608 model in 1957, the first
solid-state computer for the commercial market.
In 1956, Bendix G-15A small business computer sold for only $45,000,
designed by of NBS.
Activity 1-15
Match
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The original IC had only one transistor, three resistors and one capacitor
and was the size of an adults pinkie finger. Today, an IC smaller than a
one peso coin can hold 125 million transistors.
Activity 1-16
True of False.
The first commercial product using IC was the hearing aid and this was
done in 1963.
DEC in 1968 introduced the first mini-computer, the PDP 8; named after
the mini-skirt.
Activity 1-17
True or False.
____ The first commercial product using IC was the hearing aid.
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Module 1 17
Activity 1-18
The first to apply for a patent for microprocessor is ____.
a. Hoff
b. Mazor
c. Faggin
d. Hyatt
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continuation
Activity 1-19
Match
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20 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
Activity 1-20
In the evolution of computers, one will notice that the technology
goes from big components to small components. In Pentium 4, for
example, packed in one microprocessor chip are 42 million
components or transistors. Will this trend of making the
components smaller and smaller ever end? When will it end?
Types of Computers
Up until the late 1980s, computers were classified as a mainframe, a
minicomputer or a microcomputer. The classification is actually based on
the number of users using the computer at a time.
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Activity 1-21
A type of computer that can be accessed by one user at a time is
___.
a. Mainframe
b. Minicomputer
c. Microcomputer
d. Supercomputer
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22 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
Activity 1-22
True or False.
Activity 1-23
What are the characteristics of laptops that make them suitable to
be called mobile computers?
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Module 1 23
1. smartphone
2. PDA
3. cell phone
4. handheld game console.
Activity 1-24
Match
UP Open University
Module 2
Computer Systems
Organization
The ALU is the functional unit that performs the arithmetic, logical, and
shift operations demanded by the computers instruction set. Basically, it
is a combinational circuit for doing arithmetic, logical, and shift operations.
The ALUs of most computers have a status register and associated logic.
The status register has a carry flag, an overflow flag, a negative-result
flag, and a non-zero flag. These flags are set when the ALU executes
instructions that warrant the setting of these flags. For example, when
executing an instruction that produces an overflow, the ALU will
communicate this through the overflow flag. A dedicated control bus
carries control signals from the control unit to the ALU, and a dedicated
status bus carries status signals from the ALU to the control unit.
Activity 2-1
It is desirable to have a large set of registers in a computer. Why?
What is the advantage of a computer with a large set of registers
over that of a computer with a small set of registers?
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Activity 2-2
Match
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28 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
code bits are often called the condition-code register; this takes the place
of the individual status bits.
Finally, let us look at the control unit. While the CPU is executing the
current instruction, the PC points to the next instruction to be executed.
The job of the control unit is to control the machine cycle (fetch-decode-
execute cycle), which in a very simple computer can be summarized as:
The control unit generates the control signals that regulate the computer.
Normally, the control unit may send microorders, individual signals sent
over dedicated control lines, to control individual components and devices.
An example is the control signal that sets or clears the status flags (or
condition-code register). Such signal may be needed, for example, to carry
out a CLEAR CARRY instruction.
Activity 2-3
True or False.
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Execution of instruction
Earlier, we have shown the machine cycle of a simple computer. Basically,
it is composed of three major steps: fetch, decode and execute. The cycle
starts with an instruction being fetched from memory. The fetch part can
actually be decomposed into several steps:
1. Initiate the reading of the memory location pointed to by the PC. Then,
feed the PC into the ALU and the ALU sets it up so that the PC points
to the next instruction to be executed. When the instruction does not
involve a jump, then the PC is simply incremented by the size of the
instruction; otherwise the location of the jump will be used to set the
PC.
Once the instruction is in IR, the decode step starts. Here, the decoding
circuitry attached to the IR sets the sequence of events for the execution of
the instruction. That is, the instruction is translated into a sequence of
microinstructions that can be handled by the control unit and the ALU.
For example, suppose we have the instruction: ADD R1, R0 (add the
contents of the memory location whose address is in R0 to register R1).
This will be translated to the following:
2. Transfer the value of R1 to the ALU input register. Wait for the memory
read in (1) to finish.
3. Take the value in the MDR. Add this to the contents of the ALU input
register.
4. Take the result from the ALU output register and then place it in R1.
After this sequence of instructions has been set by the decoding circuitry,
the CPU is instructed to start executing these microinstructions. It should
be made clear that the decoding circuitry will usually produce a unique
sequence of instruction for each instruction in the instruction set of the
computer. Hence, we can see that a computer with many instructions
will usually have a more complex circuitry than a computer with very
few instructions.
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30 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
Activity 2-4
A computer with more instructions is more expensive to construct
than a computer with less instructions. Explain why?
Memories
The memory is that part of the computer system where programs and
data are stored. In fact, in our discussion of the processor, we mentioned
that instructions are fetched from the memory. Hence, in our picture of a
program in execution, the program is actually found in the memory and
only the current instruction being executed is in the CPU.
The basic unit of memory is the binary digit called the bit. As we discussed
earlier, a bit may contain a 0 or a 1. Although a bit is the basic unit,
memories are composed of a number of cells (or locations) each of which
can hold an information. If a memory has m cells then they will have an
address 0 to m-1. All the cells of the memory have the same number of
bits. In most computers, the size of a cell is either equal to a byte or equal
to a word. If the cell size is equal to a byte, then the memory is said to be
byte-addressable; while if the size is equal to a word, then the memory is
said to be word-addressable.
Activity 2-5
When a location in memory that is associated with an address
contains 8 bits, then the memory is ____.
a. Bit-addressable
b. Cell-addressable
c. Byte-addressable
d. Word-addressable
e. None of the above
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From the standpoint of the users and the system, the memory is viewed as
a black box. Data transfer between the memory and the CPU takes
place through the use of two CPU registers: Memory Address Register
(MAR) and the Memory Data Register (MDR). In a computer where the
MAR is k bits long and MDR is n bits long, the memory will be addressable
up to 2k. During a memory cycle, n bits of data are transferred between
the memory and the CPU. The transfer takes place in a data bus with n
data lines and address bus with k address lines. It also includes several
control lines.
Activity 2-6
What is the size of the main memory of a computer that generates
32-bit addresses?
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32 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
The most common device use for main memory is actually a capacitor
(capable of holding an electric charge) together with single transistor. This
pair of devices is smaller than the gates required for each flip-flop in one
SRAM. Unfortunately, the capacitors slowly lose their charges due to
leakage, hence there is a need to provide a refresh circuit to maintain the
charges in them. The refresh circuits must refresh the charges every 4
milliseconds in some computers. This change in charges over time is the
reason why this type of RAMs is called dynamic RAMs. Though cheaper
than SRAMs, DRAMs are slower.
Activity 2-7
What is dynamic in dynamic RAM?
Finally, there is a special type of RAM purely dedicated to the video display.
This type of RAM is the Video RAM. The Video RAM is used to display
and manipulate graphic images.
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Activity 2-8
Match
Read-only memory
Information in a writable memory is destroyed when the computer is
switched off. It is useful also to have read-only memory where the contents
are permanently fixed, and remain valid even with no power. Of course,
the information in ROM has to be written there at some stage. In a true
ROM, the content is built in at the time of manufacture. The data in a
ROM are inserted during manufacture, essentially by exposing a
photosensitive material through a mask containing the desired bit pattern
and then etching away the exposed (or unexposed) surface. In a
programmable ROM (PROM), it can be written under computer control,
but only once, and only under special conditions. An EPROM (E for
erasable) is a PROM whose contents, once written, can be erased and
written again. Erasure is usually done with ultra-violet light.
Whatever kind of memory is used, the bits are organized within the circuit
chip so that an address value can be fed in, and the value of the
corresponding word or byte then read or (if not ROM) written. An attempt
to write into read-only memory has no effect.
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34 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
Activity 2-9
Information in ROM is considered permanent but not in EPROM.
Why is it impossible to change the information in a ROM?
Memory caches
The time required to access memory is the main limitation on the speed of
a processor. A technique sometimes used for making access to memory
faster is the use of a memory cache. This is a set of fast memory registers
into which are copied, in advance, those locations in main memory most
likely to be accessed in the near future. Most computers use a memory
cache, and it is estimated that 95% of memory accesses are found in the
cache. The rest must actually access main memory. A write into an address
held in the cache must also write through into the main memory, but not
necessarily immediately.
When the CPU requests for data, it will request it as if the data is in memory.
In reality, however, the cache will be checked first if such data is there.
The memory will be accessed only after a CPU request when the requested
data is not buffered in the cache.
Activity 2-10
What makes a cache faster than an ordinary main memory?
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Magnetic disks
The magnetic disk is the most popular high-capacity secondary storage.
Magnetic disk technology essentially uses magnetic spots on a magnetized
disk. The presence of a magnetic spot represents a 1 and the absence of a
spot represents a 0. Information is recorded on a surface of a disk where
each surface is divided into a number of concentric circles, called tracks.
Typically a disk has several tracks per surface. The number of tracks/
surface of the disk may go up to a few hundreds. Tracks are further divided
into sectors, normally between 8 to 100 sectors. In a floppy disk for example,
single density disks have 8 sectors/track and double density disks have 9
sectors/track. However, the current floppy disks have 36 sectors/track.
To read the magnetic disks, computers are provided with a disk drive.
Each disk drive has a small special-purpose computer associated with it
called the disk controller. The controller helps to transfer information
between the main memory and the disk. To specify a transfer, the program
must provide information on the disk and surface numbers, the track
number, the sector number, the number of bytes to be transmitted, the
main memory address where the information comes from or goes to, and
whether the information is to be written or read.
Activity 2-11
True or False.
Examples of magnetic disks are diskettes and hard disks are given. A
diskette is made up of a thin mylar plastic housed in a hard plastic case.
The most popular is the 3.5" diskette. A hard disk is a metal platter. Several
disks stacked together with space in between form a disk pack. The disk
pack is mounted on a disk drive mechanism that reads the constantly
rotating disk. An access arm accesses the data on the tracks. The access
arms fit in between each of the disk spaces and have read/write heads
that read the magnetic spots on the disk. The read/write head never
actually touch the disk. They float at a very very small distance from the
surface of the disk. Some hard disks are removable. Example of this is the
Zip drive. Zip drive is a drive that reads a removable hard disk. Removable
disk cartridges have faster access time than diskettes, but are slower than
hard disks. Finally, there is the redundant array of inexpensive disks
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Activity 2-12
A hard disk access is faster than a floppy disk access. Why?
Optical memories
Optical memories uses laser technology to create tiny microscopic spots
on the disk surface and use this laser to read from the disk. By reflecting
light off of the disks surface the system can read the binary digit. If there
is no reflection from the light, meaning that the light was shone on a spot
(sometimes called the pit), it is read as 0, if there is a reflection, meaning
that the light was shone on area without a spot (sometimes called the
land), it is read as 1.
Optical disks started mostly as read-only. They are recorded on the disks
by the vendor and cannot be altered or erased. This type of disks are
popularly called write once and read many (WORM) media. One very
popular example of WORM media is the CD-ROM (Compact Disk - Read
Only Memory). A CD-ROM drive is needed to read a CD-ROM. The
technology used for CD-ROM is similar to the technology used in audio
CD. This is the reason why one can listen to an audio CD in a CD-ROM
drive.
Activity 2-13
True or False.
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Module 2 37
Lately, another optical disk storage became very popular. This is the CD-
ReWritable (CD-RW) disk. CD-RW allows the user to write data on the
disk, possibly erase this data and replaced it with some other data. In
short, one can write as many times as one wishes on the disk. The principle
behind the representation of 0s and 1s is similar to that of CD-ROM and
CD-R. Instead of the microscopic gold reflective layer and a photosensitive
dye layer in CD-R, a reversible material is used in order to make the area
erasable and reusable.
Activity 2-14
Which optical disk storage is not writable?
a. CD-ROM d. CD-W
b. CD-R e. None of the above
c. CD-RW
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Finally, there is the Digital Video Disk (DVD) ROM. A DVD-ROM disk is
very similar to CD-ROM disk with much more capacity. The capacity is
up to seven times more than the CD-ROM capacity. DVD-ROM was
originally used to store digital video data. But recently, it has been used to
store data manipulated by computers. This is the reason why DVD is
sometimes called Digital Versatile Disk.
Activity 2-15
Why do DVD-ROMs have more capacity than CD-ROMs?
The magnetic tape was the first kind of secondary memory. A computer
tape drive is similar to a home tape recorder: a tape of usually 2400 feet
long is wound from the feed reel past a recording head to the take up reel.
By varying the current in the recording head, the computer can write
information on the tape in the form of little magnetized spots. Normally,
a magnetic tape has nine tracks and the tracks are divided into frames.
One frame can store 9 bits with the first eight used to store a byte of
information and the 9th bit is a redundant bit, called a parity bit.
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Module 2 39
heads. Each head can read/write on one track. Hence, we can see that
the tracks are circles running on the outside surface of the drum. The
tracks, therefore, are of the same radius all throughout.
Activity 2-16
Magnetic tapes are highly unreliable. Why?
Flash memory
Most secondary memory storage devices like magnetic disks, optical
memories, magnetic drums and magnetic tapes all operates with moving
parts. Hence, these secondary memory devices operate mechanically and
are very slow when it comes to accessing information from them. On the
other hand, random access memory is implemented using integrated
circuitry hence they operate without moving parts or access of information
is done fully electronically. Hence, accessing information from random
access memory is much faster. The only problem with random access
memory is that information is stored only while power is applied to it.
Once power is gone, all information stored in it is also gone.
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40 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
Activity 2-17
True or False.
Flash memories just like magnetic disks may be inserted and taken out of
the computer by the user as he wishes. Normally, a flash memory is inserted
in the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port of your computer.
Activity 2-18
Explain how the flash memory got the adjective flash before its
name.
Input/Output System
A vital component of the computer system is the I/O system. This is the
set of I/O devices in the system, including both physical I/O devices and
I/O interface devices. Physical I/O devices are those that actually perform
I/O such as keyboards, line printers, and video displays. These parts of
the system are necessary as it is through these devices that humans
communicate with the computer and for computers to communicate its
responses to humans.
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Keyboards
The keyboard is an input device that is used mainly for providing computers
with textual input. A typical keyboard has four types of keys, namely:
typing keys, numeric keypad, function keys and control keys.
The typing keys section of the keyboard is where the letter keys are found.
The normal layout of the letter keys is adopted from the layout used by
typewriters. This layout of letter keys is known as the QWERTY layout.
The arrangement of the keys in the QWERTY layout was deliberately made
awkward in order to slow down fast typist. The reason that typewriter
manufacturers did this was because the mechanical arms that imprinted
each character on the paper could jam together if the keys were pressed
too rapidly. Jamming of the mechanical arms, however, is not an issue
anymore in computers. That is why, critics of the QWERTY layout pushed
forward another layout called the Dvorak layout. In this layout, the most
commonly used letters are placed in the most convenient position.
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Num / * -
Lock
7 8 9
Home PgUp +
4 5 6
1 2 3
End PgDn Enter
0 .
Ins Del
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Module 2 43
The function keys, arranged in a line across the top of the keyboard, could
be assigned specific commands by the current application or the operating
system. Control keys provided cursor and screen control.
The control keys allow the user to make large jumps in most applications.
Four keys arranged in an inverted T formation between the typing keys
and numeric keypad allows the user to move the cursor on the display in
small increments. Other common control keys found between the numeric
keypad and typing keys are:
Home
End
Insert
Delete
Page Up
Page Down
There are also control keys found at the bottom of the typing keys. Some
of them are:
Control (Ctrl)
Alternate (Alt)
Escape (Esc)
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Activity 2-19
The part of the keyboard where the letter keys are found.
a. Typing keys
b. Function keys
c. Numeric keypad
d. Control keys
e. None of the above
How does the keyboard work? Underneath the keys is a key matrix that is
basically a grid of circuits. Each circuit is broken at the point just below a
specific key. When you press a key, the broken point below is connected
to each other allowing a tiny amount of current to flow through. A small
processor is provided each keyboard and the job of this processor is to
monitor the key matrix for signs of continuity at any point on the grid.
When the processor finds a circuit that is closed, it simply compares the
position of this with the corresponding position in the character map. The
corresponding position in the character map will produce the code for
the character. The character map usually resides in the Read Only Memory
of the processor. Note that the user may press more than one key, e.g.
Shift key plus the letter A. The keyboard still behaves the same way, i.e. it
detects which points in the grid are closed and check this with the character
map.
Activity 2-20
Why does the key map usually reside in the Read Only Memory of
your computer?
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Video displays
The most common output device used for communicating from computer
to human beings is a display screen. There are two important types of
display in terms of how the information to be displayed is represented.
Activity 2-21
True or False.
In terms of technology used, video display falls into two categories: Cathode
Ray Tubes (CRTs) and Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs).
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2. The LCD systems use long crystalline molecules (liquid crystals) which
change their position when an electric field is applied. An LCD display
consists of a thin layer of liquid crystal sandwiched between two
densely-packed sets of thin wires, one horizontal one vertical. Together
these wires form an interlocking grid, each intersection representing a
dot on the display. This sandwich is in turn sandwiched by two
polarizing filters, again one horizontal and one vertical. The display is
created by matrix addressing whereby each dot is addressed in turn
by passing a current through each horizontal and vertical wire in
sequence, and whenever the combined currents at an intersection are
sufficiently strong the resulting field moves the crystals at that point
so that when seen through the polarizing filters they are opaque (the
dot becomes dark).
Activity 2-22
Explain further how color LCDs operate.
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Cursor-tracking devices
These provide for the input of 2-dimensional positional information. There
are many varieties, e.g. joysticks, light pens, mice, trackballs, touch pads
and graphics tablets.
The most popular of these cursor-tracking devices is the mouse. The main
objective of the mouse is to translate the motion of your hand into signals
that can be used by the computer in order to move the cursor to a desired
position. At present, there are two types of mouse in existence, namely:
the optomechanical mouse and the optical mouse.
The optomechanical mouse uses a ball inside the mouse that touches the
surface of a desktop and that rolls when the mouse moves. Inside the
mouse are two rollers that touch the ball. One of the rollers is oriented to
detect motion in the horizontal direction and the other roller detects motion
in the vertical direction. Each roller is connected to a shaft that spins a
wheel with holes near the outer circumference. When the roller rolls, the
shaft and the wheel spin. On one side of each wheel there is an infrared
light emitting diode (LED) and on the other side of each wheel there is an
infrared sensor. The holes in the wheel break the beam of light coming
from the LED so that the infrared sensor sees pulses of light. The rate of
the pulsing is directly related to the speed of the mouse and the distance it
travels. An on-board processor chip is found in the mouse that is
responsible for catching the rate of pulsing and converts this to speeds
and distances. The chip catches the pulses and converts these to binary
data that is understood by the computer. The chip then sends the binary
data using the mouse cord.
Activity 2-23
Which light emitting diode is used by optomecahnical mouse?
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The optical mouse, on the other hand, uses a camera that takes 1,500
pictures per second. The mouse has a red light emitting diode (LED) that
emits light and bounces this on the surface of a desktop to a complimentary
metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. The CMOS sensor sends each
image to a digital signal processor (DSP) for analysis. The DSP, operating
at 18 MIPS (million instructions per second), is able to detect patterns in
the images and see how those patterns have moved since the previous
image. Based on the change in patterns over a sequence of images, the
DSP determines how far the mouse has moved and sends the
corresponding coordinates to the computer.
Activity 2-24
An optomechanical mouse is prone to malfunction due to the
accumulation of dirt while an optical mouse is not. Explain why.
Printers
Printers are used for hard-copy output of text and graphics. Methods for
the production of the printed image vary. There are several categories:
2. Dot matrix - The symbols are built up as they are printed from patterns
of dots. The printing itself may be done mechanically with an ink ribbon,
by charging the paper electrostatically for later development, or by
propelling ink droplets under the control of electrostatic fields.
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The hammer moves from left to right printing the dots in each column.
For example in the figure above the darkened pins are the pins that
protrude and impact into the ribbon up to the paper at the back.
Activity 2-25
Dot matrix printers are sometimes called noisy printers. How is
this noise generated by dot matrix printers?
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Each nozzle or jet is smaller in size than a human hair. Each nozzle is
provided with a heater or resistor that heats and cools the ink inside
the cartridge. When the ink is heated, a bubble forms. When the heat
source is removed, the bubble bursts sending dots of ink on the page
through the 48 nozzles. These dots form the print characters on the
page.
Such devices are capable of producing good quality, low-cost color prints
quickly and quietly, and at a very low cost. The main disadvantage is that
colors can look muddy or washed out because of inks mixing at dot
edges.
Activity 2-26
The documents produced by inkjets can look muddy or washed
out. Why is this so?
4. Thermal wax - This technology uses a thermal print head to melt wax
from a possibly multicolored ribbon on to the paper. Due to the
elimination of the flow of ink over dot edges, the picture produced is
sometimes grainy but the color quality is superb.
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Activity 2-27
Laser printers are using technology very similar to photocopying
machines that use toners. Explain the similarity.
7. Plotters - These devices are usually used for graphical output. A plotter
may be using a pen or electrostatic. This is often used for very large
printouts of few texts and with very limited color range.
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Activity 2-28
Match
Computer Buses
Most computers are built around a bus that is simply a set of wires or lines
to which the components of the computer (processor, memory, I/O devices,
etc.) are connected. In this section, we discuss the different types of buses
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and how the size of the bus can affect the size of the address space. Also,
the size of the bus is one of the factors that affect the speed of I/O operation
in the system. Hence, it is important to look at how information is being
handled in the bus.
1. The data bus carries items of data from one component to another.
The number of lines is usually equal to the number of bits in a word.
2. The address bus carries addresses. Its size determines the size of the
address space of the computer. The address space is the total number
of memory locations defined in the memory. In a byte-addressable
memory, this is the total number of bytes in the memory, while in a
word-addressable memory it is the total number of words. Small
computers usually have a 16-line address bus, giving a 64K address
space.
Each line in the data, address and control buses represents a bit, and can
be in either the low or high logic state. Normally, only one device at a
time may determine the state of a line, but any number of devices at a
time can sense it.
Activity 2-29
The bus that carries signals which coordinates the components of
the computer is the ____.
a. Data bus
b. Address bus
c. Control bus
d. Memory bus
e. None of the above
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Bus operation
One of the devices attached to the bus, usually the processor, is the bus
master. It is the only device that can initiate activity on the bus. The other
devices are slaves.
For each transfer of information on the bus, the bus master is responsible
for identifying the transmitter (the device that will put the information on
the data bus) and the receiver (the device that will read the information
from the data bus). The bus master itself will be one of these, and the
other will be identified by its address being put on the address bus. The
direction of transmission (master slave or slave master) is determined
by the read/write control line.
For example, if the processor is reading from memory, then it is the master
and receiver, and the memory device is the slave and the transmitter. To
read the data stored at address A, the processor places the number A on
the address bus, and activates the read control signal (send signal using a
control bus); the memory responds by placing the contents of address A
on the data bus. To write a value V at address A, the processor places A
on the address bus and V on the data bus and activates the write control
signal (similarly, send signal using a control bus); the memory immediately
writes the value V in the specified location. Subsequent reading of address
A will now return the value V.
Activity 2-30
True or False.
Bus addressing
Devices attached to the bus are identified by addresses. By continually
monitoring the address lines, a slave can recognize its own address when
the bus master puts it in the bus. The slave must then act as either the
transmitter or receiver in a bus transfer, as determined by the read/write
control line.
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Some devices (e.g. memory units) have a range of addresses, and must
recognize any address in the range. The offset within the range identifies
a location within the device. The interpretation of bus addresses is called
address decoding.
Suppose we want this chip to represent the first 16K bytes of 64K memory.
The address pins, connected to lines 0 to 13 of the address bus, determine
which of the 16K bytes is accessed, but we also have to decode lines 14
and 15 of the address bus to ensure that the chip is active only when they
are both 0. In short, the values of lines 14 and 15 determine which chip is
supposed to be accessed. In a 64K memory there are four chips each with
16K bytes.
Activity 2-31
True or False.
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Bus synchronization
The operations on the bus must be synchronized. For example, the slave
devices must respond to the address bus only when it contains a valid
address, not when it is in the process of changing. A receiving device
must not read the data bus until the transmitter has put the data there.
An asynchronous bus has no common clock, and devices can take their
own time for operations. There are various schemes or protocols for
providing synchronization, which is still necessary. The protocol for an
asynchronous bus with fully-interlocked transmission (also called
handshaking) is usually taken in more advanced courses in computer
organization.
Activity 2-32
Why is there a need to synchronize the operations of a bus?
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Activity 2-33
True or False.
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Module 3
Systems Software
Activity 3-1
Differentiate systems software from applications software.
60 MMS 101: Introduction to Information Technology
Activity 3-2
What are the advantages of having an operating system over a
system without an operating system?
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Activity 3-3
An operating system can be viewed as _____.
a. Ordinary program
b. Resource manager
c. Program manager
d. Set of programs that executes in the system
e. None of the above
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However, regardless of size, the OS is the first program that gets loaded
into the memory of the computer when the machine is started. Once loaded,
some parts of the OS remains permanently in memory while the computer
is running user programs (memory resident). This is usually done for those
set of procedures in the OS that are often requested by the users (or are
involved in the smooth execution of users programs). Other portions of
the OS are swapped in and out of the memory when (non-memory
resident).
Activity 3-4
Why is it important that most of the operating system code is
memory resident?
These said objectives are not mutually exclusive and so a compromise has
to be made in the design of the OS in order to provide an acceptable level
of each objective.
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7. Utilities - provide utilities for the users like date and time, accounting
utilities, and debugging utilities.
In the absence of an operating system, all the functions just described will
have to be written by the user and incorporated in the user program.
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Activity 3-5
Match
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Activity 3-6
True or False.
Almost at the same time card readers, line printers and magnetic tapes
became available. Thus consoles were replaced by these new input devices.
Consequently, device drivers were written for these I/O devices and were
made available to the users.
1. Load the COBOL compiler from the magnetic tape into the computers
memory. Then, initiate the execution of the compiler. Once running,
the compiler will read the COBOL program of the user from the card
reader. Finally, the compiler will write the assembler equivalent of the
COBOL program into a magnetic tape.
2. Load the assembler from the magnetic tape into the computers memory
and initiate its execution. This will produce the binary object of the
program from the assembler version.
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3. Load the binary object of the program and initiate its execution.
Attempts were made to reduce the job set-up time. Some of these attempts
were done by:
will require the loading of the COBOL compiler three times and the
FORTRAN compiler twice. Rearranging the sequence to:
will only need the loading of COBOL and FORTRAN compilers once each.
A variation of the early batch systems is a system where input and output
operations are done off-line. In this system, an inexpensive processor is
used to do input by transferring data and programs from card readers to
magnetic tapes. These input tapes are then transferred to the main
computer where processing occurs. Outputs of the processing are similarly
placed in an output tape, which as in the input operation are printed on
the line printer using another inexpensive processor. Throughput is
obviously improved since doing the input directly from a card reader and
the output to a line printer are much slower than doing it using magnetic
tapes.
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Activity 3-7
Batch processing is basically introduced to ___.
In most of the batch systems, when the current job pause to wait for an I/
O operation to be completed, the CPU lay idle until the I/O operation is
done. For computation-intensive jobs, these waits may be minimal, but
for jobs that require a lot of I/O operations, the CPU might be idle most of
the time. Their solution to this waste of CPU time was the introduction of
multiprogramming. The idea is to divide the memory into several partitions.
Then one user program is loaded into each partition. One of these loaded
programs gets control of the CPU. When the said user program pause to
wait for an I/O operation to be completed, the CPU is given to another
loaded program that can make use of the CPU, i.e., loaded program that
is not waiting for any I/O operation to be completed.
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Activity 3-8
By allowing time sharing, the response time of the system also
improves. Explain.
The PCs are then allowed to communicate with one another via a local
area network. Some of the resources of one particular PC became available
to other PCs in the network. To facilitate this the operating system was
extended to include facilities for computer communication. Copying files
from one PC to another became very easy do as an example of a facility
provided in this set-up. This gave birth to network operating systems.
With a network, it has opened some other possibilities. One is the set-up
where a departmental server is set-up to contain all the software needed
by all the users in the network. The PCs in the network can switch function
to being a terminal for the departmental server accessing its resources or
it can operate independently of the departmental server.
The network has also expanded from a mere local area network to one
called wide area network. The geographical locations of the computers in
the network have also expanded. Hence, this created some inconvenience
to users keeping track of where the resources are located in the network.
The solution being put forward for this is the distributed operating system.
In this type of system, all computer systems connected to a network is
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viewed as one. Hence, a user sees just one system but in reality it is composed
of several computer systems. The facility that makes this single view of all
systems connected to the network is the distributed operating systems.
Only recently, global computing has become possible. The Internet has
essentially made each individual computer a component in a single global
computer system. We have now moved to a situation where each user
uses multiple computers at a time. In this set-up communication, rather
than CPU cycles, is the dominant cost.
Activity 3-9
Define the following operating systems:
Current Trends
At present, there are two types of operating systems that dominate. These
operating systems are the UNIX systems and Windows System.
UNIX
UNIX was developed in the late 1960s by Ken Thompson and Dennis
Ritchie at AT&T Bell Labs.
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UNIX has one view of data and this is called a file. It provides a uniform
view of devices and this view is again a file. Keyboards, video screens,
printers, etc., are considered files in UNIX. Hence, the specific way by
which these devices are accessed is transparent to the user. To illustrate,
processes do not need to distinguish between input coming from a
keyboard from that coming from a legitimate file.
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1. Debian GNU/Linux
2. Fedora Legacy Linux
3. Gentoo Linux
4. Mandrake Linux
5. Red Hat Linux
6. Slackware Linux
7. SuSE Linux
Activity 3-10
Which of the following is not a feature of UNIX ?
Windows
The first version is Windows 1.0. Its major features are the following:
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Windows 2000 was released in 2000. The Windows 2000 server builds on
the strengths of Windows NT technology, integrating standards-based
directory, Web, application, communications, file and print services with
high reliability, efficient management, and support for the latest advances
in networking hardware. Windows 2000 features
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Activity 3-11
Match
Compilers or Translators
A compiler is a program that reads a program in one language, the source
language and translates it into an equivalent program in another language,
the target language. The target language is usually the machine language
of the computer where the program is to be executed and the source
language is any of the available high-level programming languages.
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high-level programming
language
compiler
machine language
Figure 3-1. Operation of a compiler
high-level programming
language
compiler
machine language
procedure in machine
linker
language found in the
library
executable program
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compiler compiler compiler
machine language machine language machine language
procedure in machine
linker
language found in the
library
executable program
Activity 3-12
Why is there a need to translate a high-level programming
language to machine language before execution can occur?
Assemblers
Some compilers do not directly produce machine languages, but rather
they produce the assembly language equivalent of the high-level
programming language program. In this case, there is a need for another
software called the assembler. The assembler is a software that translates
assembly language programs to their machine language equivalents.
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compiler compiler compiler
assembly language assembly language assembly language
assembler assembler assembler
machine language machine language machine language
procedure in machine
linker
language found in the
library
executable program
Activity 3-13
Why do most compilers do not directly produce machine languages
but rather they produce assembly languages instead?
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Device Drivers
A software that controls a device. Every device, whether it be a printer,
disk drive, CDROM drive, screen or keyboard, must have a driver program.
Many drivers, such as the keyboard and screen drivers, come with the
operating system. For other devices, you may need to load a new driver
when you connect the device to your computer. For example, when
connecting a new printer into your computer or connecting a flash disk
into your system will need a separate device driver for each. A device
driver essentially converts the more general input/output instructions of
the operating system to messages that the device type can understand.
Activity 3-14
Why are device drivers for new hardware usually not included in
the operating systems?
Utilities
Utilities are tools provided for housekeeping services that are not readily
available in the operating system. There are so many of these utilities but
some examples are given below.
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Disk Scanner - is a utility that detects and corrects both physical and
logical problems on a hard disk or floppy disk and searches for and removes
unnecessary files.
PDF Viewer is a utility program that allows a user to view files that are
in PDF formats.
Date and Time Utility a utility that prints the current time and date.
Process Viewer a utility that prints on the screen the status of all running
processes in the system.
Whois utility that prints the login name of the user making the query.
Man a UNIX utility that prints the manual entry for a particular UNIX
command.
Cat a utility program that prints on the screen the contents of a file.
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Activity 3-15
Which of the following are utilities?
a. Web browsers
b. Mail client
c. Payroll program
d. Airline reservation system
e. Count the number of characters in a file
f. Find the difference between two files
g. Database management system
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Module 4
Applications Software
Objectives
Database Management
Systems At the end of the module, you
should be able to:
A database is an organized collection of
1. Survey the different
related information or data. An office worker
applications of
may probably encounter several databases in
computers; and
the office. For example, an office usually
2. Differentiate one
keeps track of the addresses and phone
computer application
numbers of its clients and an inventory of its
from another.
supplies.
There are so DBMS available in the market. Microsoft has Microsoft Access
and Microsoft SQL. Other products like Visual FoxPro, InterBase, SyBase
and Oracle are also available in the market.
Activity 4-1
Explain how a DBMS is able to speed up the process of accessing
data from the database compared to a manual database system.
Database concepts
Given below are some of the basic concepts in database. We only give
those concepts necessary for designing a database.
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4. Database File a file containing the values for the attributes of the
entities. A database file can be viewed as a matrix of data, where the
columns indicate the attribute fields (or just fields) and the rows
indicate the entities but more commonly called the records. For
example, a database file of students may look like the following:
sibling(student 1, student 2)
takes(student, course)
Activity 4-2
Match
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student number
name
age
sex
course
address
name of parents
takes(student, course).
78-15144 STAT 1
78-15144 CMSC 56
87-56848 ECON 1
87-56848 MATH 17
90-46352 STAT 1
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Activity 4-3
A phase in database design where attribute are decomposed into
parts.
a. Entity identification
b. Data definition
c. Data refinement
d. Establishing relationships
e. None of the above
This query can be answered using the database files for the entities student
and course and the relationship file created from the relationship
takes(student, course).
Implementing a database
Normally, there is a database management system (DBMS) that is used to
implement a database. The procedure is that all the database files and
relationship files identified will be entered into the DBMS. The DBMS
include a query language that can be used by the user to query the entered
database. For example, one may want to list all male students. A typical
query for this in the query language of a DBMS is:
LIST sex = M.
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Activity 4-4
True or False.
Word processing
Word processing software usually allows the creation, editing, formatting,
storing, and printing of a text document. A text document is anything
that can be keyed in, such as a letter and a report. Although originally
intended for text document, current word processing software allows
graphics to be embedded into a text document.
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the text. The cut and paste facility provided in most operating systems
(like Windows and MacOS) made possible the transfer of non-text data
from other software to the word processor. In fact, most word processors
can be linked with existing database systems to produce exactly the same
document for different entries in the database. This is often referred to as
mail merging. Online spelling checker, grammar checker and thesaurus
are now included in most word processors. Hence, it is now unacceptable
to have a document with misspellings in them. This manual, for example,
was prepared using a word processor.
Activity 4-5
Enumerate the things that can be done by a word processor that
cannot be done by a typewriter.
Desktop publishing
If the objective is to come up with well-designed pages that combine
elaborate charts and graphics with text and headlines in a variety of
typefaces, then what one need is a desktop publishing software. You can
use a desktop publishing software to design sophisticated pages and, with
a high-quality printer, print professional looking final document. Before
desktop publishing came about, people had two alternatives when they
wanted to publish: the traditional publishing process (through the printing
press) or through word processing. However, both had their significant
disadvantages. For example, the quality of the word processors output
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was not so high and facilities like printing text diagonally are not available
in word processors. On the other hand, the service of a printing press was
expensive, and some functions cannot simply be done.
Activity 4-6
What are the facilities available in a desktop publisher that are not
provided by word processors?
Graphics software
Graphics software, also called business-quality graphics software, are
programs that lets you produce charts, graphs, and other visual aids that
look as if they were prepared by a professional graphics artist. While you
can produce graphics faster and make last-minute changes if necessary,
you cannot usually control the appearance of the product when you do it
yourself. Most presentation graphics programs allow you to do the
following:
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Activity 4-7
Differentiate graphics software from a desktop publisher.
Activity 4-8
Give examples of presentation software that are sold in the market.
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Electronic spreadsheets
An accountants spreadsheet is a piece of paper with horizontal and
vertical lines dividing it into rows and columns The spreadsheet program
allows the user to simulate a spreadsheet on screen. Working with a
spreadsheet on a computer eliminates much of the toil of setting up a
manual spreadsheet. In general, it works like this: you enter the data you
want in your spreadsheet and then key in the types of calculations you
need. The electronic spreadsheet program automatically does all the
calculations for you and produces the results. The program does not make
any calculation errors, and if you want a printed copy of the spreadsheet,
it can be done quickly. Also, you can store your electronic spreadsheet on
your disk so that it can be used again. But the greatest labor saving
contribution of the electronic spreadsheet is that when you change one
value or formula in your worksheet, all the rest of the values on the
spreadsheet are recalculated automatically to reflect the change.
Activity 4-9
Get access to any electronic spreadsheet available in your office.
Using the spreadsheet enter the following data
Q1 Q2 Q3
10 15 12
13 19 15
16 18 11
Q1 Q2 Q3 Row Average
10 15 12 12.33
13 19 15 15.66
16 18 11 15.00
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Communications Systems
A lot of work that takes place in an office involves multiple participants.
Message handling systems are usually designed to support this type of
collaborative work. The earliest system was to simply send the document
to the intended receiver. Then, the use of telephones together with the
printed document on paper gained popularity and served this purpose.
This was further improved by the use of fax machines. Now, computers
are used to basically add more functionality and to integrate what the
telephone and fax machines have been providing. Some examples of
communications systems are the electronic mail, bulletin board system,
voice mail, teleconferencing and groupware.
Electronic mails
Electronic mails are messages, usually text, sent from one person to another
via computer. E-mail, as it is commonly called, can also be sent
automatically to a large number of addresses (mailing list). With e-mails,
the bulk of the source-to-destination (and vice versa) correspondence can
be implemented via mailing lists. Information from managers to other
office workers and the responses of the office workers to their manager
are delivered whether they want it or not. With e-mails, no arrangements
as to the schedule of sending and receiving of messages are needed.
Activity 4-10
Obtain an email address from Yahoo.com. Using this email address
send an email to eaalbacea@uplb.edu.ph. If you get a reply, then
you must have successfully used an email system.
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There are many thousands (millions?) of BBSs around the world, most
are very small, running on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines.
Some are so large that the line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe
gets crossed at some point and is not clearly drawn.
In an office, a BBS may be used for posting specific inquiries on any topic
related to the work in the office and for the others to place their responses.
Although an inquiry-response transaction can be handled by e-mail,
implementing it as a bulletin board allows for a kind of interaction wherein
inquiries are visible to all the office workers concerned and who may
perhaps have the same inquiry.
Activity 4-11
In the Internet, there is a bulletin board system on the topic Quit
Smoking. You can access this bulletin board using the address
http://www.quitsmoking.com/bbs.htm. Your job is to read some
of the messages in this bulletin board and reply to one of the
messages. If you can see your reply, then you must have successfully
participated in the discussion in the bulleting board.
Voice mails
Voice mails are basically an automation of the telephone. It is exactly
similar to e-mails except that you send messages by speaking them on
your telephone rather than typing them on your keyboard. Also, you have
to use your telephone for retrieving messages. In this technology, one can
still hear the voice of the sender of the information. However, unlike in a
telephone system where both the sender and receiver have to be on the
phone at the same time, voice mails just like e-mails, can be sent anytime
and played back anytime. Hence, this can be very useful to offices whose
employees are spread across time zones. That means you wouldnt have
to get up at two in the morning just to report to your boss in the United
States anymore.
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Activity 4-12
What can you do in voice mails that cannot be done by an ordinary
telephone?
Teleconferencing
Teleconferencing applications usually include audio conferencing, video
conferencing, and computer conferencing. This is a technology that uses
electronic transmission to permit two or more people to virtually meet
and discuss an idea or issue.
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Activity 4-13
What are the hardware requirements of a computer conferencing
set up?
Groupware
Groupware is a software designed to enable people to collaborate on real
work. It is a new and somewhat unshaped category of commercial
products that help groups and teams worked together by sharing
information and by controlling work flows within the group. The term
groupware has attained wide recognition because of a combination of the
need for groups to work together more effectively and the technical
progress in networks and group support products. Groupware is still new
that its long-term direction is unclear. What is clear, however, is that the
downsizing and rapid organizational change of the 1990s makes the
effective operation of work groups an even more important competitive
issue.
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Activity 4-14
When teams work together by sharing information, there is a
possibility that team members will attempt to access (worst modify)
the same set of information. How does groupware ensure the
correctness of the job being worked by the team?
Activity 4-15
In the chess playing program that was pitted against Gary
Kasparov, where is the intelligence in the program?
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In 1997, NASAs unmanned probe, the Pathfinder, became the latest visitor
to land in Mars successfully, enchanting the public here on Earth with a
series of visually stunning panoramic shots that have inspired scientists to
conduct more extensive exploration of the red planet.
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Activity 4-16
Which of the following is not example of an AI ssytem?
a. Mycin
b. NASAs Pathfinder
c. SONYs AIBO
d. Automatic Teller Machine
e. None of the above
These are but a few examples of AI systems that has been built. The
following are some more examples of systems that uses AI:
Now, you see that this thing called AI has a very large potential of being
applied to anything where human intelligence is required. Can you
imagine a future where everything is run by machines? At this point,
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many questions may ring through your mind. But we have to answer the
most basic one first: What is artificial intelligence?
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Activity 4-17
True or False.
AI Technologies
Although AI found its applications in many areas, there are several
technologies by which these applications can be classified.
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Activity 4-18
What is difficult in translating one natural language to another?
Activity 4-19
An application of NLP where it attempt to automatically translate
text from one language to another.
a. Textual analysis
b. Machine translation
c. Providing interface to users
d. Speech synthesis
e. None of the above
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Speech synthesis gives the machine the ability to speak to its users. Simple
playback of recorded voice is not speech synthesis. What speech synthesis
refers to are the real creation of words from the basic phonemes of a
language and the formulation of different male and female voices. Any
type of software can benefit from this technology as a user you need not
read the output on screen because it can provide output you can simply
listen to while doing whatever it is you might be doing.
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Activity 4-20
Aside from accessing databases and other information in remote
locations through telephones, what other applications of speech
recognition and synthesis can you identify?
Robotics
Robotics is the area of AI concerned the study of robots. It aims to simulate
human motor abilities in machines.
If you think robots are mainly the stuff of space movies, think again. Right
now, all over the world, robots are on the move. They are painting cars at
Ford plants, assembling Milano cookies for Pepperidge Farms, walking
into active volcanoes, driving trains in Paris, and defusing bombs in
Northern Ireland. As they grow tougher, nimbler, and smarter, todays
robots are doing more and more things humans cantor dont want
todo.
Robots wouldnt become possible until the 1950s and 1960s, with the
invention of transistors and integrated circuits. Compact, reliable
electronics and a growing computer industry added brains to the brawn
of already existing machines. In 1959, researchers demonstrated the
possibility of robotic manufacturing when they unveiled a computer-
controlled milling machine that made ashtrays.
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The word robot comes from the Czech word robota, meaning drudgery
or slave-like labor. It was first used to describe fabricated workers in a
fictional 1920s play by Czech author Karel Capek called Rossums
Universal Robots. In the story, a scientist invents robots to help people by
performing simple, repetitive tasks. However, once the robots are used to
fight wars, they turn on their human owners and take over the world.
Activity 4-21
Which of the following are not robots?
a. Traffic light
b. Microwave oven
c. Photocopier
d. Bicycle
e. Car
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Computer vision
Computer vision aims to provide machines with the ability to analyze
sensor data and recognize objects in the physical world. The visual images
are used to control the operations or to instruct computers and other
devices, such as robots.
Fuzzy logic
Uncertainty is the key idea in fuzzy logic. Most often, things arent always
right or wrong, true or false. In making decisions, answers are always
clouded by maybes. In fuzzy logic, everything has a degree of certainty.
This degree of certainty is a value from 0 to 10 for false and 1 for definitely
true. The numbers between 0 and 1 are used to indicate to what extent an
answer is uncertain. These numbers are very important in arriving at a
good solution to the problem. I will not elaborate more on how fuzzy
logic really works because Im sure that if I do it here, youll just get bored
and fall asleep. You may read on this topic later if you are really interested.
Neural networks
Although expert systems have been successfully applied to many business
problems, there are some difficulties that have severely hampered their
development, namely (1) the enormous time and effort required to extract
the experts knowledge and translate it into rules; and (2) the inability of
an expert system to use inductive learning and inference to adapt to
changing relationships in the decision environment. A new technology
called neural network provides solutions to these problems. After it has
been given an initial training set, the system can learn and adapt to new
configurations of the problem.
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neural networks to help pinpoint oil and gas deposits below the earths
surface.
Many major businesses around the world are currently devoting significant
resources to investigate ways in which expert systems, neural networks,
and other AI technologies in general can be used to help them cope with
problem situations and make better and more consistent decisions fast.
Activity 4-22
Which of the following are possible applications of neural network?
Intelligent agents
An agent is defined as a software and/or hardware component capable
to fulfill various tasks on behalf of its user. Essentially, the agent must
manifest personalization to adapt to its user, authorization to act in the
name of the user and specialization to have knowledge in a certain field.
Agents are one of the most important and exciting areas of research and
development in computer science today. Agents are currently being applied
in domains as diverse as computer games and interactive cinema,
information retrieval and filtering, user interface design, and industrial
process control.
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Smart
Collaborative
Agents
Learning Agents
Learn
Cooperate
Autonomous
Collaborative Interface
Agents Agents
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Activity 4-23
Which of the following are possible applications of intelligent
agents?
Expert systems
Among the intelligent systems, expert systems (also called knowledge-
based systems) are the most common since they emerged early and were
in fact the first applications of AI. These systems imitate the abilities of a
human expert in solving problems. Expert systems function as consultants.
MYCIN and MACSYMA, the systems I mentioned to you earlier, are
examples of expert systems. (Note: We will discuss the other intelligent
systems on the list in the last section of this module.)
The first expert system installed for business use was built by General
Electric to capture the knowledge of a senior locomotive repair expert
who was approaching retirement. The system was built to help
repairpersons diagnose mechanical problems. Once the problem is found,
a video tape instructs the repairperson in making the needed repairs.
Each expert system has the ability to make inferences, explain its actions
or decisions, give solutions to complex problems given uncertain
information, and acquire new knowledge.
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Now, lets see what makes an expert system act like a human expert. An
expert system is composed of five general parts: (1) knowledge base, (2)
inference engine, (3) user interface, (4) explanation subsystem, and (5)
knowledge acquisition/refining system. Lets look at each part in more
detail.
Inference engine. Its the brain of the system. Reasoning and coming up
with a conclusion are its main functions. In the process of doing these, it
determines which rule will be applied and what questions to ask the user.
It then makes inferences from the rules applied on the information given.
The newly inferred knowledge is added to its memory.
User interface. It allows the system and the user to communicate. This
communication is usually in a question-and-answer format. Graphical
interfaces may also be used. But in the future, it is expected that users will
use voice and natural languages to communicate with the system.
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Search Module
Explanation
Subsystem Control Module
Knowledge Base
Working Memory
Facts
Activity 4-24
Match
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After knowing the parts of the system, its good if you see the interaction
of these parts. You will see the relationship of these parts in the following
diagram.
You will notice that in the diagram, the inference engine has two modules.
The search module contains a searching algorithm for finding facts and
rules. The control module, of course, controls the process of inference.
The working memory is a kind of database which contains descriptions of
the current problem, the input information, and for storing intermediate
results.
Activity 4-25
Which of the following are possible applications of expert systems?
Multimedia Systems
Multimedia has a very simple definition. It involves any combination of
two or more of the following elements: text, image, animation, sound,
speech, video, and computer programs. These media are digitally controlled
and processed by a computer. In order to get information across, one can
use multimedia to convey their message. Multimedia enhances the
information for better communication and understanding.
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Activity 4-26
Which of the following are possible multimedia applications?
a. Transistor radio
b. Television
c. Electronic mail
d. Voice mail
e. Bulletin Board System
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Module 5
Computer Networks and
Data Communication
Networks
Objectives
A computer network is an interconnected set of
autonomous computers. The computers are
connected to the network and are called hosts or
At the end of the module, you
should be able to:
nodes. Each host is connected to the network by
means of an interfacing device called a packet 1. Discuss the different
switcher or interface message processor (IMP). The networks in existence;
IMPs are usually in the form of a network interface 2. Identify the different
card. The IMPs are connected to each other by network protocols and
transmission lines or communication channels, topologies;
which are often called the subnet or transport 3. Identify the different
system. Figure 5-1 illustrates the different parts of network hardware and
the network. cabling; and
Communication 4. Discuss how data are
Channel transmitted through a
communication channel.
IMPs
Hosts or Nodes
Subnet
Figure 5-1. Computer Network
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Activity 5-1
For what purpose are the IMPs in the network?
2. Wide area networks (WAN) a network where the hosts are farther
apart and are connected by telephone leased lines, radio waves or
satellites. A system of LANs connected in this way forms a WAN. The
largest WAN is the Internet.
Activity 5-2
UPLB has a diameter of about 8 kilometers. The buildings (at least
45 of them) are connected to each other using fiber optic cables.
Obviously, we cannot consider the buildings in UPLB as
geographically close to each other. But, why do we still consider
the network of UPLB as a local area network?
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Networks may also be classified based on how messages are sent from the
sender to the receiver. There are two main categories of networks based
on this, namely, point-to-point networks and broadcast networks.
In the broadcast networks, on the other hand, all nodes share a single
communication channel. A message is broadcasted to everybody in the
network. The main problem with this type of networks is the arbitration
between competing nodes that want to use the channel at the same time.
One example of a broadcast network is the satellite network. A satellite
networks is an application of broadcast network where a satellite provides
a shared channel between nodes that may be widely distributed
geographically (Figure 5-3).
Satellite
Earth Station
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Activity 5-3
What the advantages and disadvantages of point-to-point networks
over broadcast networks?
Network Topologies
There are three popular physical topologies that are used in networks.
These topologies are the bus, star and ring topologies.
The bus topology consists of a main run of cable with a terminator at each
end. All nodes (file server, workstations and peripherals) are connected
to the linear cable. See Figure 5-4 for an illustration of a bus topology.
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nodes
terminators
The star topology is designed with each node (file server, workstation, or
peripheral) connected directly to a central network hub or concentrator.
Messages on a star network pass through the hub or concentrator before
continuing to their destination. The hub or concentrator manages and
controls all functions of the network. It also acts as the repeater of the
flow of messages. Figure 5-5 illustrates a star topology.
nodes
hub or concentrator
In a star topology, new nodes can be installed very easily and the network
is not disrupted when connecting and removing new nodes. However,
the cable length required is much more compared to other topologies.
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not the correct destination, the message is re-transmitted to the next node
in the ring. Figure 5-6 illustrates a ring topology.
nodes
ring
Activity 5-4
Why is the star topology more reliable (more fault-tolerant) than
bus and ring topologies?
Networking Protocols
A protocol is a set of rules that governs the communications between
nodes in a network. These rules includes guidelines that regulate the
following characteristics of a network: access method, allowed physical
topologies, types of cabling and speed of data transfer.
There are five very popular protocols: ethernet, fast ethernet, token ring,
token bus and Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI).
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Ethernet
Ethernet was invented at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s.
The first Ethernet system ran at approximately 3 Mbps and was known
as the experimental Ethernet. The formal specification of Ethernet were
published in 1980 by a multi-vendor consortium that created the DEC-
Intel-Xerox (DIX) standard. This effort turned the experimental Ethernet
into an open production-quality Ethernet system that operates at 10 Mbps.
Ethernet was then adopted for standardization by LAN standards
committee of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE
802).
The IEEE standard was first published in 1985, with the formal title of
IEEE 802.3 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/
CD) Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications. The IEEE standard
has since been adopted by the International Standards Organization (ISO),
which made it a worldwide standard.
Activity 5-5
Match
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After each frame transmission, all stations on the network must contend
equally for the next frame transmission opportunity. This ensures that
access to the channel is fair and that no single host hugs the shared signaling
system. Access to the shared channel is determined by the medium access
control (MAC) mechanism embedded in the Ethernet interface located in
each station. The MAC mechanism is based on a system called Carrier
Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD).
In the Ethernet, each interface must wait until there is no signal on the
channel, then it can begin transmitting. If another interface is transmitting,
there will be a signal on the channel, which is called the carrier. All other
interfaces must wait until a carrier ceases before trying to transmit, and
this process is called carrier sense.
All Ethernet interfaces are equal in ability to send frames on the network.
No interface is prevented from accessing the channel, they all have equal
access to it. This is what is meant by multiple access. Since signals take a
finite time to travel from one end of an Ethernet system to the other, the
first bits of a transmitted frame do not reach all parts of the network
simultaneously. Therefore, it is possible for two interfaces to sense that
the channel is free and to start transmitting their frames simultaneously.
When this happens, the Ethernet has a way to sense the collision of signals
and to stop the transmission and resends the frames (collision detection).
In the event of a collision, the hosts are notified and instantly reschedule
their transmission using a specially designed back off algorithm. A part of
this algorithm, the hosts involved each chooses a random time interval to
schedule the retransmission of the frame. This avoids the same hosts to
have frames colliding in succession.
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Activity 5-6
Why does a host wait a random amount of time in Ethernet before
re-sending after a collision has occurred?
Fast ethernet
For Ethernet networks that need higher transmission speeds, the Fast
Ethernet standard (IEEE 802.3u) was established. Fast Ethernet raises the
speed limit from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps with only minimal changes to the
existing cable structure. There are three types of Fast Ethernet:
Most Fast Ethernet networks use the star topology, in which access is
controlled by a central interface. Two types of star topologies are possible:
broadcast star and switched. In a broadcast start, the central interface is a
hub that sends the messages to all the hosts; while in a switched type, the
central interface is a hub (or switch) that sends messages to their destination
hosts.
Activity 5-7
What is the basic difference of Fast Ethernet from ordinary
Ethernet?
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Token ring
Token ring networks consist of stations directly linked to each other by a
single communication line. Messages travel from host to host around the
ring until it reaches its correct destination. As with the bus network, each
interface must be capable of recognizing its own address to receive a
message. If a message is passed to a host, which is not the correct
destination, the message is re-transmitted to the next host in the ring. To
avoid collision, a method called token passing is usually used.
A token is a frame of bits, which is passed from one host to the next. A
token may be empty or it may contain a message. If an empty token is
received and the station wishes to transmit data, it holds the token and
writes into it: the destination address, its own address and the message.
The token is then passed to the next host. As the token is no longer marked
empty, it means that no other host can transmit a message until this token
becomes empty again. When the token finally reached its destination, the
destination host reads the message and then marked the message as read.
Then it passes this token to the next host. The passing continues until it
reaches the sender. The sender then marks the token empty. The same
token was used to send a message and at the same time it served as an
acknowledgement that the message was received.
At the implementation level, the token may be a special 8-bit pattern, for
example, 11111111. With 11111111, this means that the token is empty.
Bit stuffing is used to prevent this pattern to appear in the data being
passed. When a station wants to transmit a packet, it is required to seize
the token and remove it from the ring before transmitting. To remove the
token, the ring interface, which connects the host to the ring, must monitor
all bits that pass by. As the last bit of the token passes by, the ring interface
inverts it, changing the pattern to 11111110 known as the connector. With
the pattern 11111110, this will be interpreted as what follows is a message.
Those monitoring the channel will never seize the token. Immediately
after the token has been so transformed, the host making the
transformation is permitted to begin transmitting.
Activity 5-8
Why is there no collision in token rings?
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Token bus
Token-bus systems provides a horizontal channel (bus), yet provide access
to this bus channel as if it were a ring. The protocol eliminates the collisions
found in carrier sense channels and allows the use of a non-ring channel.
The protocol uses a control frame called an access token or access right.
Once held by a host, this token gives the hosts exclusive use of the bus.
The token-holding host uses the bus for a period of time to send and receive
data, then passes the token to the next designated host. In the bus topology,
all hosts listen and receive the access token, but only the host allowed to
seize the channel is the host designated in the access token. All other
hosts must wait their turn to receive the token.
The hosts receive the token through a cyclic sequence (Figure 5-7), which
forms a logical ring on the physical bus. This form of token passing is
called explicit token system, because the bus topology causes the ordering
of the hosts use of the channel.
Activity 5-9
The hosts receive the token in cyclic sequence. How is this achieved
in a token bus?
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A dual-attached host on the ring has at least two ports an A port, where
the primary ring comes in and the secondary ring goes out, and a B port
where the secondary ring comes in, and the primary goes out. A station
may also have a number of M ports, which are attachments for single-
attached hosts. Hosts with at least one M port are called concentrators.
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Lost
Channel
Activity 5-10
How is fault-tolerance achieved in FDDI?
Networking Hardware
Networking hardware includes all the computers, peripherals, interface
cards and other equipment needed to perform communication and
processing within the network.
File servers
The file server is the most powerful computer in the network. It is usually
a very fast computer with very large RAM and storage space along with
a very fast interface card. The operating system of the network together
with the software applications that is shared by the different users of the
network usually resides in the file server. The file server is also responsible
with the communication between nodes in the network.
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Activity 5-11
A file server is usually provided with a large RAM and a fast CPU.
Why?
Workstations
All the other computers connected to the network and that use the
resources in the file server are called workstations. Hence, a workstation
does not really need a separate storage (like hard disk space and floppy
disk space). All a workstation need is a network interface card, networking
software and appropriate cables to be able to operate.
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Hubs or concentrators
A hub is a device that provides a central connection point for cables from
the nodes (workstations, file servers, and peripherals) in the network. In a
star topology, for example, twisted-pair cables are used to connect each
node to the central hub. A hub is actually a multislot concentrator into
which one can plug a number of multi-port cards to provide additional
access as the network grows. Some hubs are passive. In which case, the
hub simply allows the signal to go from one node to another. However,
there are active hubs. An active hub electrically amplifies the signals that
pass through it. Hence, this type of hubs acts as repeaters to extend the
length of the network.
Activity 5-12
What are the advantages of active hubs over passive hubs?
Repeaters
When a signal travels along a cable, naturally it slowly losses strength. A
repeater is a device that is used to catch signals on the cable and retransmit
them at a strength equal to the original strength. This obviously is used to
extend the length of the network.
Activity 5-13
Why are repeaters needed in networks where the nodes are far
apart?
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Bridges
A bridge is a device that allows to segment a large network into two local
area networks or to connect two local area networks into one. The
requirement is that both networks must be using the same protocol. A
bridge manages the traffic of information to maintain optimum
performance on both sides of the networks. The bridge examines the traffic
of information passing those known to be in one local area network and
forwarding those for the other network.
Activity 5-14
What is the difference of a bridge from repeater?
Routers
A router is like a bridge except that it selects the best path to route a
message based on its source and destination addresses. The difference
between a bridge and a router is that a bridge simply forward messages
from one local area network to another, whereas a router determines an
optimal route for the messages before forwarding them. Obviously, a router
may have more than one outgoing connection because it selects which
path a message should go, while a bridge has only one outgoing connection
and that is to the other local area network.
Activity 5-15
When do we use a router and when do we use a bridge instead?
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Gateway
A gateway connects two local area networks with totally different
protocols. Hence, a gateway serves to translate messages coming from a
network with a certain protocol to another network with a totally different
protocol.
Activity 5-16
Can a router be the gateway? Can a bridge be the gateway?
Activity 5-17
Match
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Network Cabling
The cable is the medium through which information usually moves from
one node to another. The cables used in a network usually depend on the
topology, protocol and size of the network.
With the differential system each signal is transmitted on two lines at the
same time. On one, the signal is transmitted as a positive (+) signal, on the
other as a negative (-) signal. At the receiving end of the cable the receiver
device gets two signals. Both of them however, have been changed by the
noise that penetrated the cable. The changes came in the form of unwanted
voltage added to the wanted signal. At this point it is important to note
that the unwanted voltage got added to both lines at the same time and
by the same amount. The essence of the differential system is that the
receiver is designed to take the difference between the two signals on the
two lines. In doing that, the noise part of the signal, equal on both lines,
gets eliminated, and what remains is clear signal.
As indicated above, the differential system works well if the noise added
is equal on the two lines, i.e. the positive (+) and the negative (-). To ensure
that the noise hits both of these lines identically, both of them need to
occupy theoretically the same physical space. Practically, the closest we
can get to this requirement is to have the two lines twisted together tightly.
The tighter the twist of (+) and (-) lines the cleaner the transmission, and
the longer the acceptable length of the cable.
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Since a UTP is composed four pairs of wires, one pair is used for outgoing
data and another pair is used for incoming data. The other two pairs are
reserved for telephone use.
Activity 5-18
UTP are not usually used for outdoor wiring. Why?
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Activity 5-19
What is the purpose of the metal mesh wire in STP?
Coaxial cable
Coaxial cable is called coaxial because it includes one physical channel
that carries the signal surrounded (after a layer of insulation) by another
concentric physical channel, both running along the same axis. The outer
channel serves as a ground. The inner physical channel in a coaxial cable
is in the form of a copper conductor that runs at its center. A plastic layer
provides insulation between the center conductor and a braided metal
shield. The metal shield serves as the outer channel. Aside form being
used as a ground, the metal shield is used to block any outside interference
from lights, motors, radio signals and other signals that will interfere with
the signal on the copper wire. Thus, the shield makes coaxial cable highly
resistant to signal interference.
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Activity 5-20
Coaxial cables are less prone to interference than UTP. Why?
A laser at one end of the fiber optic cable switches on and off to send each
bit. Modern fiber systems with a single laser can transmit billions of bits
per second the laser can turn on and off several billions of times per
second. Fiber system with single laser is called single mode fiber optics
system. A newer system uses multiple lasers with different colors of light
to fit multiple signals into the same fiber. This is called multimode fiber
optics systems.
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Activity 5-21
Fiber optic cables are much faster than UTP and coaxial cables.
Why?
Microwave communication
Microwave communication is the transmission of signals by sending
microwaves, either directly (terrestrial microwave) or via a satellite (satellite
communication). Electromagnetic waves with a wavelength on the order
of a few inches are used. Microwaves are longer than infrared radiation
and shorter than radio waves. Microwaves are used extensively for
communication, both in satellite television and for the transmission of
long-distance telephone signals. The receivers for microwave signals are
usually disc-shaped antennae from a foot to a few feet across and are
often seen installed in business locations or near private homes.
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Terrestrial microwave
Terrestrial microwave communication employs earth-based transmitters
and receivers. Usually terrestrial microwave communication is point-to-
point. The microwave frequencies used are in the low-GHz range, which
limits all communications to line-of-sight. Microwave transmissions
typically use a parabolic antenna that produces a narrow, highly
directional signal. A similar antenna at the receiving site is sensitive to
signals only within a narrow focus. Because the transmitter and receiver
are highly focused, they must be adjusted carefully so that the transmitted
signal is aligned with the receiver.
Activity 5-22
True or False.
Satellite communication
Satellite communication is almost similar to terrestrial microwave. The
only difference is that signals are sent from an earth station to a satellite
station (orbiting the earth) that beams back the signal to earth stations.
Usually, however, it beams this back to several earth stations (point to
multipoint) instead of just one station just like in terrestrial microwave.
This requires that the sending and receiving antennas be locked onto each
others location at all times. The satellite must move at the same speed as
the earth so that it seems to remain fixed above a specific spot. These
satellites are said to be in geo-synchronous orbits.
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Activity 5-23
What is the basic difference of terrestrial microwave from satellite
communication?
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The radios in WiFi have the ability to transmit and receive and they have
the ability to convert 1s and 0s into radio waves and then back to 1s and
0s. Some version of WiFi operates at 2.4 GHz while there is another version
that operates at 5 GHz. These frequencies are similar to the frequencies in
your cordless telephone receivers and are not regulated by the government.
These higher frequencies allow for higher data rates. That is why WiFi is
now a popular technology for networking.
Activity 5-24
Why is line of sight not required in broadcast radio communication?
Infrared communication
Infrared communication is suitable for short-range wireless
communication. It cannot penetrate through walls and therefore line of
sight is required. The same infrared frequencies can be reused as many
times as you like, so that infrared frequencies, unlike microwave and radio
frequencies, are not regulated by the government. The most popular
examples of this are the remote controls of home equipment.
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Activity 5-25
True or False.
Data Communication
Data communication refers to the electronic transmission of data. Data
communication is the term used in reference to data that is manipulated
by computers. This should not be confused with telecommunication which
refers to the electronic transmission of any kind of electronic information,
including telephone calls, television signals, data, facsimile and telemetry
from spacecraft. The most common data communication system takes the
form of people at terminals or computers communicating with distant
computers.
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The sound waves caused by speech make the paper cone move. The paper
cones movement is directly proportional to the strength of the air waves
caused by speech. As the cone moves, the coil of wire also moves, being
attached to the cone. Inside is an iron bar which helps to increase the
effect. A corresponding electrical signal is created in the coil, which can
then be sent along a pair of wires to a receiving device that would convert
the electrical signal back into sound waves (vibration of the air).
Paper Cone
Iron Bar
Coil
When Bell started to experiment with his telephone, the telegraph has
been around for almost 30 years. Although a highly successful system,
the telegraph, with its dot-and-dash Morse code, was basically limited to
receiving and sending one message at a time. Bells extensive knowledge
of the nature of sound and his understanding of music enabled him to
conjecture the possibility of transmitting multiple messages over the same
wire at the same time. Although the idea of a multiple telegraph had been
in existence for some time, Bell offered his own musical or harmonic
approach as a possible practical solution. His harmonic telegraph was
based on the principle that several notes could be sent simultaneously
along the same wire if the notes or signals differed in pitch.
On the morning of February 14, 1876, Bell filed a patent for his invention
entitled Improvements in Telegraphy. A few hours later, another
inventor Elisha Gray went to the same patent office and filed a warning
to other inventors that he was working on far speaking telephone. Both
gentlemen were later locked in a legal battle as to who owns the patent
for the telephone. Because Bell was ahead by a few hours, the legal claim
to the telephone patent was awarded to him.
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Two years after the invention of the telephone, i.e., in 1878, Bell set up the
first telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut, and in 1884, long
distance connections were made between Boston, Massachusetts and New
York City.
As more and more customers were connected, the need for more and
more operators to connect calls was required. This quickly became
unworkable, so development began on automating the connection process
between customers, hence, automatic telephone switching exchanges
became a reality and replaced local operators, who were still used to
connect toll (long distance) calls.
At the same time, demand grew to connect customers who lived further
and further away, in rural areas. Electrical signals can only travel so far,
and to provide service to rural customers meant using better cable that
allowed the signals to travel longer distances. Unfortunately, this was
costly, so something had to be done to provide them with service.
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Activity 5-26
How does a party line work?
Now, suppose you want to call a number from other exchanges. That is,
you want a long distance call. Long distance call will require you to dial
an extra number. This number we usually call the area code (or exchange
number). This extra number will be used by the exchange to connect to
another exchange. For example, from an exchange in Laguna you want
to connect to a number in Manila then the number you must dial must
include the exchange number of Manila which is 02. When the exchange
in Laguna receives a number prefix by 02 this phone call will be directed
to the Manila exchange and the Manila exchange will connect the number
to the number being called.
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Telephone Exchange
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1234567
Telephone Exchange
7654321
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1234567
(02) 9876543
Negros Occidental
Exchange (034)
Activity 5-27
Differentiate how a telephone local call is connected compared to
how a telephone long distance call is connected.
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1. cell phone this has a special code or number (sometimes called the
cell phone number) associated with the cell phone. The code is used to
identify the phone, the owner and the service provider of the cell phone.
3. cell site handles connection between the cell phone and MTSO.
Let us trace what happens from the time you turn on your cell phone to
the time somebody wants to call you.
When you first turn on the cell phone, the phone listens for a System
Identification Code (SID), a unique five digit number assigned by the carrier
and National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) on the control
channel. The control channel is a special frequency that the phone and
cell site use to talk to one another about things like call set-up and channel
changing. If the phone cannot find any control channels to listen to, it
knows it is out of range and displays a no service message.
When the cell phone receives the SID, the phone compares it to the SID
programmed into the cell phone. If the SIDs match, the phone knows that
the cell site it is communicating with is part of its home system.
Along with the SID which contains information about the cell site, the
phone also transmits a registration request (the registration request contains
the cell phone number), and the MTSO keeps track of your phones location
in a database this way, the MTSO knows which cell site you are in
when it wants to ring your phone.
When the MTSO gets a call from somebody else for your cell phone number,
the MTSO tries to find you by looking in its database to see which cell site
you are in.
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Once MTSO identified which cell site you can be contacted to, the MTSO
picks a frequency pair that your cell phone will use in that cell site to take
the call.
The MTSO communicates with your cell phone over the control channel
to tell it which frequencies to use, and once your phone and the cell site
switch on those frequencies, the call is connected. You are talking by two-
way radio to the caller.
What happens when you travel outside the range of the cell site where
you are in? As you move toward the edge of your cell site, your cell site
base station notes that your signal strength is diminishing. Meanwhile,
the base station in the cell site you are moving toward (which is listening
and measuring signal strength on all frequencies, not just its own) sees
your phones signal strength increasing. The two base stations coordinate
with each other through the MTSO, and at some point, your phone gets a
signal on a control channel telling it to change frequencies. This hand off
switches your phone to the new cell site.
Activity 5-28
Which of the following is not necessary for the operation of a cell
phone?
a. Cell site
b. Mobile Telephone Switching Office
c. Cell phone
d. Land line
e. None of the above
Transmission modes
There are three modes of transmission namely: simplex, half-duplex and
full-duplex.
Data in a simplex transmission mode is sent one way from the sender to
the receiver. It is not often used because it is impossible to send back error
signals when errors are detected during data transmission. Examples of
communication channels that use simplex transmission are the
communication channel used by television and radio. Note that television
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and radio stations simply send their signals to the receiver and the receiver
is unable to send back signals to the television and radio stations.
Activity 5-29
Give other examples of communication system that uses the simplex
transmission.
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Activity 5-30
Give other examples of communication system that uses the half-
duplex transmission.
BOTH WAY AT
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Activity 5-31
Give other examples of communication system that uses the full-
duplex transmission.
Activity 5-32
Match
Channel capacity
The capacity of a communication channel is the maximum rate at which
information can be transmitted through it without error. For data
communication purposes, it is often measured in bits per second (bps). It
should, however, be differentiated from the term baud that has also been
used as a channel capacity measure by some authors. The term baud refers
to the signaling speed of a line. Signaling speed, or baud, refers to the
number of times in each second the line condition changes. If the line
condition is either the presence or absence of a 1 bit, then the lines signaling
speed in baud is the same as the lines capacity in bits per second (bps).
However, some lines can be in one of four states, which means one line
condition can be used to represent 2 data bits and 1 baud equals 2 bits per
second. If the signals are coded into 8 possible states, then one line
condition represents 3 bits and 1 baud is equal to 3 bits per second. Hence,
we should note that baud rate is not always the same with bits per second.
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There are, however, communication channels that transmit data that are
not digital. For example, telephone lines are used to transmit non-digital
data. In this case, the signals that are sent through this type of
communication channels are described in terms of frequencies. What
happens is that the amplitude of a signal at a given point oscillates rapidly.
The rate of oscillation is referred to as the frequency of the signal and is
described in terms of cycles per second, or hertz (Hz). One thousand cycles
per second is one kilohertz (KHz) and one million cycles per second is one
megahertz (MHz).
Activity 5-33
If a channel is able to transmit in the range 4500 to 10000 Hz.
What is the bandwidth of this channel?
The transmission speeds vary from just a few bits to millions of bits per
second. First there are the sub-voice-grade lines that transmit at rates 45
to 600 bps. These are lines that are not sufficient to carry telephone calls.
Telegraph circuits are example of these. Then, there is the voice-grade
lines which are generally normal telephone channels. The voice-grade
lines are used to carry telephone voice signals but can be used to carry
computer data at speeds from 300 to 19,200 bps. Finally, there are the
wideband lines. These lines can go at speeds of 48,000, 56,000, 64,000, 1.5
millions and even 44.7 million bps. Some of the long distance
communication channels in used today belongs to the wideband channels.
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Activity 5-34
The number of bits per second that an analog line can carry is
related closely to the lines bandwidth. Explain why?
In order to use analog lines to transmit digital data, the bits must be
converted first into a continuous range of frequencies. The process of
converting a digital bit stream into an analog signal is a form of modulation.
The device that performs this conversion is called a modem (modulator/
demodulator). To connect two digital machines using an analog line, there
must be a modem in between the analog line and the digital machine.
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Activity 5-35
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Modulation methods
Modulation methods refer to how the digital signal is altered so that it can
be sent via the analogue communication line. There are a number of
different methods. The more complex methods allow much higher
transmission rates (bits per second) than the simpler methods. The methods
are: amplitude, frequency and phase modulations.
Amplitude modulation uses a single carrier frequency, on for high, off for
low. Note that there is no carrier signal being sent for approximately half
the time. This amplitude modulation method is suitable only for low speed
transmission.
digital signal
carrier signal
modulated signal
Activity 5-36
The amplitude modulation method is suitable only for low speed
transmission. Why?
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The frequency modulation uses two carrier signals, one for high one for
low. The higher frequency is associated with binary 1, the lower frequency
with binary 0. Also called frequency shift keying, this frequency
modulation method is used for 1200 bps modems or slower speeds. This
modulation is usually used to broadcast music and speech compared to
amplitude modulation that is usually used for broadcasting voice data.
Activity 5-37
Frequency modulation usually uses higher frequencies than that
of amplitude modulation. Why?
Phase modulation uses a single carrier frequency and alters the phase of
the carrier. Normally, a change from binary 1 to binary 0 is represented as
a phase shift of 180 degrees. This modulation is the rate at which the
signal changes its relationship to time, expressed as degrees. One complete
cycle of a wave begins at a certain point, and continues till the same point
is reached again. Phase shift occurs when the cycle does not complete,
and a new cycle begins before the previous one has fully completed.
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PHASE SHIFT
Activity 5-38
Phase modulation and frequency modulation are similar. What is
the similarity between the two?
Activity 5-39
Match
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Activity 5-40
Leased lines are more expensive than switched lines. Why?
UP Open University
Module 6
The Internet and the
World Wide Web
The first networking protocol used on the ARPANET was the Network
Control Program. In 1983, it was replaced with the TCP/IP protocol
developed by Bob Kahn, Vinton Cerf and others, which quickly became
the most widely used network protocol in the world.
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In 1990, the ARPANET was retired and transferred to the National Science
Foundation Network (NSFNET). The NSFNET was soon connected to the
Computer Science Network (CSNET), which linked universities around
North America, and then to the European Network (EUnet), which
connected research facilities in Europe. Fueled by the popularity of the
world wide web, the use of the Internet exploded after 1990, causing the
US Government to transfer management to independent organizations
starting in 1995.
The Internet is the most wide spread network in the world. It connects
large and small networks together and even connects individual computer
from the lowly PCs to the large server computers. Once connected to the
Internet a computer can communicate with other computers in the
network.
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Activity 6-1
The Internet is the most wide spread network in the world. Why is
this so?
Internet
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Electronic mail
Electronic mail (E-mail) is a method of sending a message from one user
on a computer, called a source host, to a recipient user on a destination
host. The message is made up of a set of header lines which tell the
computer system how to deliver the message.
To: eaalbacea@yahoo.com
cc: zvja@yahoo.com
From: eaa@ics.uplb.edu.ph
Attachment: picture.jpg
Date: May 30, 2002
Subject: Picture
The body is usually a text which basically is the message being sent. For
example:
Thanks,
eaa
The destination header lines (indicated by To: and cc:) indicate the email
addresses of the recipients of the email message. It obviously tells the system
where to deliver the message.
The attachement line includes all files that goes with the message. The
attachment file may be of any format (pictures, sound, text, etc.).
In general, two distinct sets of programs are used to handle e-mail. E-mail
is based on the client-server model.
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The first is called the user agent (client), which is the program that the
user interacts with to compose outgoing mail, read incoming mail, and
perform all the housekeeping chores necessary to deal with mail messages
(such as deleting old mails and arranging the order of the e-mails, etc.).
The user agent can appear in various forms but the most popular are:
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The second set of programs which the user cannot see operating are the
mail delivery programs (server). These programs are responsible for taking
a mail message from the user agent program and delivering the mail
messages to the destination hosts. Mail delevery programs talk with other
mail delivery programs via the Internet. It is this program that is responsible
for routing messages to the Internet and making sure that an e-mail is
received at the other end.
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Internet
Mail Delivery
User Agent
Program
Activity 6-2
Programs responsible for taking a mail message from the user and
delivering the mail messages to the destination hosts is called ___.
a. User agent
b. Mail delivery programs
c. Mail sending programs
d. User account
e. None of the above
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Activity 6-3
Create a short letter using any word processor available to you.
Using the your Yahoo account created earlier, send this letter as
an attachment to the address eaalbacea@uplb.edu.ph.
Remote login
A facility called telnet is usually provided to allow remote login to another
computer in the Internet. This facility allows a user to execute commands
(use online databases, library catalogs, chat services, and more) on a remote
host as though you were logged in locally. Hence, you can use your own
computer as a terminal to a remote host.
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Activity 6-4
Explain the basic difference of remote login from file transfer
protocol.
Majordomo and Listproc are two other programs that administer e-mail
discussion groups. The commands for subscribing to and managing your
list memberships are similar to those of listserv.
Activity 6-5
Visit the web page of Yahoo Groups in http://groups.yahoo.com/.
Create your own group using your email address and the email
addresses of three to four of your friends. Then, send an email to this
group. If you receive your email then you have successfully created
an email discussion group.
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Usenet news
Usenet is short for Users Network. Usenet is a collection of machines that
receive network news. The idea is that a user can post a message to one of
the news server and this posting is propagated to other news servers in
the network. In other words, the network news is a mechanism for
broadcasting messages, form a local host to large number of hosts across
the world. The mechanism used is called store and forward, which means
that each host that receives a net news article stores it locally and then
forwards or feeds it to other host that is part of the Usenet. People who
have access to the news groups can read messages, post messages and
reply to a particular posting from a local news server.
Activity 6-6
Some newsgroups are moderated. What is meant by a moderated
newsgroup?
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RFC stands for Request for Comments. These are documents created by
and distributed to the Internet community to help define the nuts and
bolts of the Internet. They contain both technical specifications and general
information.
FYI stands for For Your Information. These notes are a subset of RFCs and
contain information of interest to new Internet users.
MUD/MUSH/MOO/MUCK/DUM/MUSE
MUD stands for Multi User Dimension. MUDs, and their variations listed
above, are multi-user virtual reality games based on simulated worlds.
Traditionally text based, graphical MUDs now exist. There are MUDs of
all kinds on the Internet, and many can be joined free of charge.
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Activity 6-7
Match
The World Wide Web provides a single interface for accessing all these
protocols. This creates a convenient and user-friendly environment. It is
no longer necessary to be conversant in these protocols within separate,
command-level environments. The Web gathers together these protocols
into a single system. Because of this feature, and because of the Webs
ability to work with multimedia and advanced programming languages,
the World Wide Web is the fastest-growing component of the Internet.
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The World Wide Web consists of files, called pages or home pages,
containing links to documents and resources throughout the Internet.
Activity 6-8
The World Wide Web is a collection of computer servers. What
does this mean?
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router
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Activity 6-9
Aside from servers and workstations, what other hardware can
be connected to the Internet?
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are companies that provide you with
access to the Internet. This can be via dial-up connection using a modem,
or using a higher speed connection like a leased line.
A major concern with respect to the connections within and to the Internet
is the connection speed or, as it is often called, the bandwidth. In
particular, efficient use of the Web requires lots of bandwidth. This is
because Web users are online, they are directly connected to the Internet.
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Activity 6-10
Describe the roles of ISPs in the Internet.
Activity 6-11
Why is there a need to use two methods of identifying hosts in the
Internet? For what is the domain name and for what is the IP
address?
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server name
organization name
type of organization
country name
Abbreviation Meaning
ac Academic
co Company
com Commercial
edu Educational
gov Government
govt Government
mil Military
net large ISP
org non-profit organization
Activity 6-12
Why is it important that a domain name of a computer is unique?
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eaa@ics.uplb.edu.ph
Activity 6-13
Is it possible for another person to have the same account name
say for example eaa in another mail server?
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The common protocol that is used on the WWW is HTTP, which stands
for Hyper-text Transport Protocol. It is a protocol that adds on or runs on
top of TCP/IP, the common protocol used for communication between
hosts on the Internet. The HTTP simplified the writing of addresses and
automatically searched the Internet for the address indicated and
automatically called up the document for viewing. Each server computer
on the World Wide Web can provide files in any format, such as a graphics
file, text document, multimedia presentation or audio file.
The WWW allows users to link documents together using clickable links.
A browser (viewing application that displays web pages) is used to view
the content that server computers provide. This browser automatically
displays the documents correctly formatted along with the graphic images
or additional multimedia components that the author of the page wishes
to incorporate.
Activity 6-14
True or False.
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To access the World Wide Web, you must use a Web browser. A browser
is a software program that allows users to access and navigate the World
Wide Web. There are two types of browsers:
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Activity 6-15
Aside from Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer and Lynx, name
other Internet browser softwares that are being used today.
Plug-ins
Software programs may be configured to a Web browser in order to
enhance its capabilities. When the browser encounters a sound, image or
video file, it hands off the data to other programs, called plug-ins, to run
or display the file. Working in conjunction with plug-ins, browsers can
offer a seamless multimedia experience. Many plug-ins are available for
free.
File formats requiring plug-ins are known as MIME types. MIME stands
for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was originally developed to
help e-mail software handle a variety of binary (non-ASCII) file
attachments. The use of MIME has expanded to the Web. For example,
the basic MIME type handled by Web browsers is text/html associated
with the file extension .html.
A common plug-in utilized on the Web is the Adobe Acrobat Reader. The
Acrobat Reader allows you to view documents created in Adobes Portable
Document Format (PDF). These documents are the MIME type
application/pdf and are associated with the file extension .pdf. When the
Acrobat Reader has been configured to your browser, the program will
open and display the file requested when you click on a hyperlinked file
name with the suffix .pdf. The latest versions of the Acrobat Reader allow
for the viewing of documents within the browser window.
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Activity 6-16
Which of the following file formats have existing plug-ins?
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Web-based Java applications are usually in the form of Java applets. These
are small Java programs called from an HTML page that can be downloaded
from a Web server and run on a Java-compatible Web browser. A few
examples include live news feeds, moving images with sound, calculators,
charts and spreadsheets, and interactive visual displays. Java applets can
tend to load slowly, but programming improvements should lead to a
shortened loading time.
VRML: VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) allows for the creation
of three-dimensional worlds. These may be linked from Web pages and
displayed with a VRML viewer. Netscape Communicator comes with the
Cosmo viewer for experiencing these three-dimensional worlds. One of
the most interesting aspects of VRML is the option to enter the world
and control your movements within the world.
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Activity 6-17
Match
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Workstation
Activity 6-18
Trace the events that occur from the time you click a hyperlink in
a web page to the time the new web page is displayed on your
screen.
What is a Hyperlink?
A hyperlink is a clickable link to another document or resource. It is
normally shown in blue underline. When a user clicks on a hyperlink, the
client will retrieve the document associated with that link, by requesting
the document from the designated server upon which the document
resides.
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What is a URL?
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a means of specifying the pathname
for any resource on the Internet. It consists of three parts: a protocol part,
a host part and a document name. For instance, the following URL
http://www.uplb.edu.ph/institutes.html
Every file on the Internet, no matter what its access protocol, has a unique
URL. Web software programs use the URL to retrieve the file from the
host computer and the directory in which it resides. This file is then
displayed on the monitor connected to the users local machine.
URLs are translated into numeric IP addresses using the Internet Domain
Name System (DNS). The numeric address is actually the real URL.
Since numeric strings are difficult for humans to use, alphanumeric
addresses are employed by end users. Once the translation is made, the
Web server can send the requested page to the users Web browser.
Activity 6-19
Aside from http, what other protocols can be used in the URL?
HTML tags are not displayed by the web browser. A web page can be
written using a simple text editor such as notepad. The page is then saved
and stored on a web server. When you access that page on a web server
by entering the URL of the page, it is downloaded by your web browser
and then all the HTML tags are interpreted and the information displayed
accordingly.
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<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Eliezer A. Albacea</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY LINK=green VLINK=maroon ALINK=blue>
<table>
<tr>
<IMG SRC=header.jpg>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<FONT FACE=Arial size=2">
<font color=redorange size=3>
<b>Eliezer A. Albacea, PhD</b><br>
</font>
<font color=blue size=2>
Professor of Computer Science<br>
</font>
<font color=blue size=2>
Director<br>
</font>
<a href=http://ics.uplb.edu.ph>Institute of Computer
Science</a><br>
<a href=http://www.uplb.edu.ph>University of the Philippines Los
Baños</a>
<br>
Member, Technical Panel on IT, CHED<br>
Chair, Technical Panel on IT, DOST
</td>
<td>
<FONT Face=Arial SIZE=2">
Hi! Im <b>EA Albacea</b>.<br>Welcome to my corner in
the web.
<br><br>
<a href=contact.html>Contact Address / Numbers</a><br>
<a href=onlineb.html>Computer Science Books: Want to get a
copy?</a><br>
<a href=onlinec.html>Online Courses</a><br>
<a href=family.html>Family</a><br>
<a href=elicv.pdf>Curriculum Vitae</a><br>
</font>
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</td>
</tr></table>
</BODY>
</HTML>
The above HTML source when interpreted by the browser will look like
the following:
Activity 6-20
Search the Internet for web pages that have sound and video on
the page. View the source files and identify the part that defines
the sound and video.
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What is HTML?
HTML is short for HyperText Mark-Up Language. It is a series of tags
enclosed in < and > brackets. For instance, <HEAD> is an HTML tag that
defines a head section of an HTML document. Certain characters are
reserved, such as & < > which are interpreted as HTML codes.
HTML documents are plain-text (also known as ASCII) files that can be
created using any text editor (e.g., Emacs or vi on UNIX machines;
SimpleText on a Macintosh; Notepad on a Windows machine). You can
also use word-processing software if you remember to save your document
as text only with line breaks.
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of Document</title>
</head>
<body>
Textual Information to be displayed
</body>
</html>
When viewed in the browser, the page given in the previously looks like
the one given below.
Activity 6-21
Enumerate as many as you can and give the meanings of tags
used in HTML.
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FAST Search: All the Web, All the Time - returns results quickly from
an extremely large database; responsible for the Lycos MP3 engine
Google - ranks pages by the number of links from pages ranked high
by the service; offers the option to view sites quickly if they are in the
services cache. See also the Google Directory which integrates results
with Google-ranked sites in the Open Directory Project. Also try Google
Search: Unclesam, a searchable database of U.S. government Web sites
(.gov and .mil) ranked by linking popularity.
GovBot - extensive database of U.S. Government Web pages
HotBot - very large database with easy form-based Boolean, field, and
media search options; includes its channel content with the results for
searches on broad or popular terms; clusters results by presenting one
hit per site
Infoseek - accurate search engine of Web sites, Usenet newsgroups,
Reuters news, and companies with field search options; clusters results
by presenting one hit per site; offers recommended and/or reviewed
Web sites for certain topics. Also try GO Translator, the Infoseek
translation service.
Lycos - small database offering the bonus of proximity searching and
the option to control factors in the relevancy ranking of results;
emphasizes search results from the Open Directory
Northern Light - results are organized into concept or location folders;
Special Collection articles available for a small fee; Alerts service tracks
search topics for new documents. Also try usgovsearch to search U.S.
government Web sites (.gov and .mil).
Oingo - meaning-based engine that constructs meanings and
relationships from your search terms to return results, from which
you can choose your desired concept to refine your search; derives
results from the Open Directory and AltaVista
RealNames - search for companies, products, brands, and services on
the Internet; RealNames associated with URLs are registered with the
service for quick lookup of the associated Web site
SearchEdu.com - service that limits results to the .edu, .gov and .mil
top-level domains; also offers to search well-known dictionaries,
encyclopedias, almanacs, etc.
Snap - primarily a directory; choose All Web Pages to supplement
search results from a large database of Web pages compiled by the
Inktomi search engine; if no directory results are found, Web pages
are automatically searched
Thunderstone Website Index - search thousands of sites (vs. Web pages)
from a continuously updated database; adds 25,000 sites per week
TopClick: The Internets Private Search Engine - service that pledges
to abstain from cookies, banner ads, or disclosure of personal data;
uses Google search technology
Web Crawler - search two million pages from the Excite search engine
index
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Activity 6-22
There is a classification of search engines called a metasearch engine.
What is a metasearch engine?
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Electronic Commerce
The term electronic commerce or e-commerce is used to describe carrying
out buying and selling of products and services over the Internet, utilizing
technologies such as the Web, electronic data interchange, email, electronic
fund transfers, and smart cards.
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There two models of e-commerce, namely: B2C and B2B. B2C is short for
Business-to-Consumer model of e-commerce. These are businesses that
sell products or provide services to end-user consumers. While B2B is short
for Business-to-Business model of e-commerce. These are businesses that
sell products or provide services to other businesses.
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Then you provide your personal information so that the pizza you ordered
can be delivered to you.
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Figure 6-14. Provide personal information so that the pizza can be delivered.
Activity 6-23
Search the Internet for e-commerce applications. What are the
common characteristics of these applications?
UP Open University
Module 7
Computer Ethics
Activity 7-1
It is normal to consider an act ethical in one society and unethical
in another. Why is this so?
Denial of service
A denial-of-service attack is characterized by an explicit attempt by
attackers to prevent legitimate users of a service from using that service.
Use of a computer, access to an account and access to search engines are
examples of services. Examples denial-of-service attacks are the following:
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Activity 7-2
Which of the following are denial-of-service attacks?
Hacking
Hacking involves unauthorized access to a computer, its files and
programs. The keyword in the definition is unauthorized access. Some
hackers do unauthorized access by stealing passwords from legitimate
users and getting access to the account of a legitimate user. In some cases,
a hacker may get to access files via openings or bugs in the operating
systems whereby a hacker is allowed to access files even though they do
not own them.
There are many reasons why hackers hacked computers. Some of these
reasons are given below.
1. The first reason is theft of service, if a system offers some type of service
and a hacker has a use for it, they will hack the system. For example,
hacking into a system to use the CPU for free or hacking a system to
use it for sending emails for free.
2. The second reason a hacker may hack into a system is to take valuable
files, e.g., credit-card numbers and list of customers. The information
may be sold by a hacker to rival companies.
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4. The fourth reason hackers break into systems is for the thrill and
excitement of being somewhere you are not authorized to be.
These are just some of the reasons why hackers hacked computers. The
list is, by no means, not exhaustive.
Activity 7-3
Discuss whether the following is a case of hacking or not. Argue
for the position you take.
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Flaming
Flaming is the sending of abusive email or messages to other people or
newsgroups. You flame people when you disrespect their opinion and
become abusive, attacking them personally, calling them names or
questioning their parentage. Flaming is considered bad online conduct
and is not tolerated well in chat rooms or newsgroups. Individuals can
quickly be turned on by other people in the chat room or newsgroup. It is
best to practice good online conduct and avoid getting into personal
confrontations with other people.
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Activity 7-4
What is a flame war?
Spamming
Spam, or sometimes called unsolicited commercial email, is the Internet
version of junk mail. It is an attempt to deliver a message, over the Internet,
to someone who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Almost all spam
is commercial advertising. Potential target lists are created by scanning
Usenet postings, stealing Internet mailing lists, or searching the web for
addresses. Such information is gathered with automated searches to
retrieve e-mail addresses for spamming. The low cost of e-mail spamming
engines offered for sale with millions of email addresses, coupled with the
fact that the sender does not pay extra to send email, has resulted in the
current explosive growth of junk email. Currently, unless the spammer
offers to sell illegal items, there is no legal remedy to use to stop the e-mail
spammers.
FROM: abccompany@hotmail.com
TO: Eliezer A. Albacea (eaalbacea@uplb.edu.ph)
SUBJECT: Used tractors for sale!
Eli!
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ABC Company
777 Rizal Street
Calamba City
Laguna
Activity 7-5
There are spam filters available now for use by email servers.
Outline a method used by these spam filters in order to detect a
spam.
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Activity 7-6
What is the difference of a worm from a virus?
Internet hoaxes
Interspersed among the junk mail and spam that fills our Internet e-mail
boxes are dire warnings about devastating new viruses, Trojans that eat
the heart out of your system, and malicious software that will destroy
everything you have in your hard disk. Added to that are messages about
free money, children in trouble, and other items designed to grab you and
get you to forward the message to everyone you know. Most all of these
messages are hoaxes or chain letters. While hoaxes do not automatically
infect systems like a virus or Trojan, they are still time consuming and
costly to remove from all the systems where they exist.
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Eliezer,
To claim your prize, you have to contact Mr. Ray Brown using the
email address rbrown@yahoo.com and please provide him the
following information:
Name
Address
Contact Numbers (Phone and Fax)
Email Address
Bank Name where you have an account
Bank Account Number
Credit Card Name where you have an account
Credit Card Number
Thank you.
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Activity 7-7
Internet hoaxes are also sometimes called spams. Why?
Activity 7-8
Match
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Privacy Issues
There are many reasons why there is a need to hide your real identity
when you use the Internet. You might want to protect yourself against an
oppressive government, or trying to simply hide yourself from advertisers
in the net.
Although everyone takes privacy in normal life for granted, trying to get
the same level of privacy on the Internet (or even on your own computer)
is a little less accepted, and sometimes a bit more complicated. While the
general attitude is hard to change, many ways exist to enhance your
privacy online. One example of enhancing privacy online is the use of
encryption in every transaction you make in the Internet.
2. Email privacy - what you write in your emails should only be seen by
you and the intended recipients and nobody else. This should be the
ideal situation. It is therefore unethical for systems administrators who
have access to your accounts to read your mail sent folders and
mailboxes.
3. Privacy on the web - the web sites you visited should only be known
to you and nobody else. Because of access logs, the web sites you visited
may be known especially to system administrators who have access to
these logs.
Activity 7-9
Privacy is an issue in the following, except ____.
a. email privacy
b. database privacy
c. privacy on the web
d. personal privacy
e. none of the above
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Activity 7-10
When you post a message in a public bulletin board with your
email address included in the message, they say you are giving up
your privacy. Argue for and against this?
Another social justice issue is what happens in the workplace. Some issues
under this are: electronic monitoring, repetitive strain injuries and
electromagnetic radiation. Electronic monitoring is the system employed
in the office to monitor your activities while in the office. For example, in
some software development companies, the user account of their
programmers are being logged to trace what they have done while in the
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office. The question is, is this ethical? In some countries this is ethical and
legal while in others they are considered unethical and illegal. Are repetitive
injuries an issue? Repetitive strain injuries are almost synonymous to
back injuries. This is the injury you get if you continuously sit in front of
your computer during office hours. The issue is, are you entitled to
compensation for this? Finally, electromagnetic radiation is an old issue.
There is a belief that radiation emitted by your computer monitor is harmful
to your health. But this has not been proven medically yet. The issue again
is, are you entitled to compensation for this?
Activity 7-11
The rich will always have an advantage over the poor when it
comes to access to technology. Since there will always be rich and
poor people, this inequity is permanent. Can you identify some
more examples of permanent inequity?
The US has done a lot in this area of freedom of speech in the Internet.
The most important development in the United States in regards to
censorship and the Internet has been the Communications Decency Act
(CDA). The CDA was voted overwhelmingly into law in 1996, and made
it a criminal offense to send indecent material by the Internet into others
computers. The law was attached to the Telecommunications Reform
Act of 1996 and passed by congress on February 1st of the same year. On
the same day the bill was signed into law the American Civil Liberties
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Union filed suit in Philadelphia on the ground that the statute banned
speech protected by the First Amendment and subjected the Internet to
restrictions that were out of line with regulations faced by other mediums.
After an injunction suspending the enactment of the law was passed in
the US District Court, the case of Reno v. ACLU proceeded to the US
Supreme Court. On June 26, 1997, the Court voted unanimously that the
act was a violation of the First Amendment. This is the reason why you
can find a lot of indecent US-based materials in the Internet.
Finally, some networks employ the use of Internet filters to block access to
sites considered pornographic, for example. Some people consider this as
censorship. Is this an ethical behavior on the side of organizations blocking
access to sites considered by them as harmful.
Again, let look at the US case in this issue. The US passed in December
2000 the Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA) that requires all schools
and libraries receiving e-rate discounts or other federal assistance for
Internet access to install filters on all computers used by adults as well as
minors. The Clinton Administration encouraged filtering as a response to
the Supreme Courts 1997 decision striking down the Communications
Decency Act (CDA), which, is an attempt to block minors from Internet
pornography, criminalized virtually all indecent or patently offensive
communications online.
Activity 7-12
In the Philippines, what law are you violating when you put up
servers with pornographic content?
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In IT, an algorithm can be patented (like the Rivest, Shamir and Adelman
Algorithm for Encryption and Digital Signatures), a program or an online
textbook is copyrightable, and domain names could be considered
trademarks.
There are many issues under intellectual property rights, but we will look
at only several. These are software piracy, plagiarism and software and
the copyright law of the US.
Software piracy
Software piracy is an act of using a software without paying the appropriate
license. Every time we do this, is the same as stealing from the software
developer. The ethical implication is of course quite obvious. Since stealing
is bad, piracy is also bad.
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There are several types of software piracy. Three of them are as follows:
Activity 7-13
Which of the following is piracy?
d. You let your friend use the software which is installed in your
own computer.
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Plagiarism
Another recent issue is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a difficult concept to
define. Plagiarism is considered a form of fraud and/or theft. Plagiarism
occurs anytime that a person copies any written work and claims it as
his/her own. It includes a range of actions from failure to use proper
citation to wholesale cheating. A student who plagiarizes may do so
unintentionally or with planned deliberation. With the advent of the
Internet, plagiarism has become very rampant. The most common type of
plagiarism is the cut-and-paste plagiarism. Students when preparing term
papers simply cut from the Internet text relevant to their topic and paste
this in their term papers. Of course, it is considered cheating and therefore
unethical. The worst type of plagiarism is when the student simply
downloads a term paper from the Internet and submit this as his/her
own. There are many sites in the Internet where term papers are
downloadable for free.
Activity 7-14
Which of the following is plagiarism?
b. You made a report where one paragraph come comes from one
document, another paragraph from another document, and
another comes from another document and so on.
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The first case is the Whelan vs. Jaslow case. In 1985, Jaslow Dental
Laboratory sued Whelan Associates, Inc. on the grounds that Whelans
Dentcom program infringed Jaslows copyright on its Dentalab program
even though both were written using different programming languages.
The court rules in favor of Jaslow arguing that the structure (sequence
and organization) of a computer program is protectable by copyright.
The court found that the coding part is a comparatively small part of
programming and that Ms. Whelan spend a tremendous amount of time
studying Jaslow Labs Dentalab program. Hence, the conclusion of the
court tells us that copyright protection of programs may extend beyond
the code to their structure, sequence and organization.
The second case is the Computer Associates vs. Altai case. The court
decided that Altais program did not infringe one by Computer Associates.
This refers to the second program of Altai. The first version had been
written by an ex-programmer of Computer Associates, who unknown to
Altai copied 30% of the code from a similar program of Computer
Associates. Discovering this, Altai then wrote a second version, using
programmers who are not familiar with the Computer Associates program.
Just like the first case, Computer Associates argued that Altai copied the
structure of the program.
The court concluded that the decision in the first case (Whelan vs. Jaslow)
is fallacious and criticize the previous court as having a somewhat
outdated appreciation of computer science. Hence, this case reverses the
idea that program structure, sequence and organization is copyrightable.
The third case is Apple vs. Microsoft case. In 1989, Apple sued Microsoft
and HP, claiming that the Windows graphical user interface (Windows
2.03 and HPs New Wave) infringed Apples copyright on the look and
feel of Macintosh deskstop. Apple lost the case.
The basis of the court in making a decision was whether the two GUI
presentations were virtually identical. Apple argued substantial similarity.
Finally, a related case is the Lotus look and feel suit. At issue is whether
the menu structure, the arrangement of commands in the menu hierarchy
in Lotus 1-2-3 is copyrightable.
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Lotus sued Paperback Software and Mosaic Software, who had produced
spreadsheets that had the same interface as 1-2-3. There is no copying of
code, but Lotus claimed that copying the interface itself is copyright
infringement. Lotus won the case and Paperback and Mosaic went out of
business.
Lotus then sued Borland over Quattro. Even though Quattros user
interface is different from Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro followed the Lotus menu
hierarchy and Lotus claimed this is copyright infringement. Lotus won at
the District court, but Borland appealed and won in the US First Circuit
court. This case was elevated to the US Supreme court, but the highest
court was split and thus no decision was made on this case.
Activity 7-15
Suppose I write an operating system from scratch but the look and
feel of my operating system is very much like Microsoft Vista. Is
this a copyright infringement case or not?
Computer Crimes
When a country has instituted laws against computer abuses, a computer
abuse becomes a computer crime. But not all abuses constitute a crime.
For example, consider a hacker who breaks into someones computer
system without permission. If the hacker steals confidential data from the
system this is considered a crime in some countries. While a hacker who
simply gets into the system explore the system to see how it works and
what files it contains, though breaching privacy may not be considered a
crime in some countries. But both acts are unethical. Below we show actual
examples of computer crimes. These cases happened in the US where
computer crime laws are well established. Most of these cases resulted to
a conviction of the crime committed.
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On March 1, 2002, the person plead guilty to three felony counts, including
wire fraud; conspiracy to obtain unauthorized computer access to
customer account information from a financial institution; and credit card
fraud. He admitted to masterminding a scheme to defraud Priceline.com;
Southwest Airlines; the Hotel Reservations Network, Inc.; a credit union;
and the credit unions credit card holders by making fraudulent Internet
credit card charges for hotel and airline reservations, totaling more than
$116,000. He obtained the confidential customer account and credit card
information from a credit union employee, who was subsequently
terminated and convicted. He then used the credit card information to
make hotel and airline reservations on the Internet and telephone. Most
of the reservations were made with Priceline.com, Southwest Airlines,
and the Hotel Reservations Network, Inc.
After making the reservation with the credit card information, he typically
enlisted another person to check into the hotel room using the reservation
and credit card information he supplied, and to return the hotel room
keys to him, who then obtained full use of the hotel rooms.
At the plea hearings, the virus creator admitted that he created the Melissa
virus and disseminated it from his home computer. He said that he
constructed the virus to evade anti-virus software and to infect computers
using the Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT operating systems
and the Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000 word processing programs.
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The virus creator described in state and federal court how, using a stolen
America Online account and his own account with a local Internet service
provider, he posted an infected document on the Internet newsgroup
Alt.Sex. The posting contained a message enticing readers to download
and open the document with the hope of finding passwords to adult-
content websites.
Opening and downloading the message caused the Melissa virus to infect
victim computers. The virus altered Microsoft word processing programs
such that any document created using the programs would then be infected
with the Melissa virus. The virus also lowered macro security settings in
the word processing programs. The virus then proliferated via the Microsoft
Outlook program, causing computers to send electronic email to the first
50 addresses in the computer users address book.
Hacking
A Boston man was charged with using his home computer to illegally
gain access to a number of computers, including those controlled by NASA
and an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, where, among other
things, he intercepted login names and passwords, and intentionally
caused delays and damage in communications.
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Beginning in May 1999 and continuing until August, 1999, the hacker
obtained unauthorized access to the same corporate internet account this
time using it to access the NASA computer research project web server
located in Maryland. He seized control of the NASA computer, allowing
him to read, delete or modify any files on the system. He then installed a
sniffer program onto the system to intercept and save login names and
passwords of users that were transferred over the NASA system for his
own later use. The compromised NASA web server did not contain
classified or sensitive information and was not involved in any way with
satellite command or control.
The hacker also used the NASA computer as a platform to launch attacks
on other computer systems, such as an attack on the U.S. Department of
the Interiors web server where he defaced its web page with hacker graphics.
The information also alleges that the hacker accessed various computers
operated by Northeastern University from which he illegally copied a file
containing the names, dates of birth, addresses and social security numbers
of numerous men and women affiliated with the University, either as
students, faculty, administration or alumni. Investigators are not aware
of any use or dissemination of this information. Northeastern University
cooperated fully with investigators on this matter.
Stock fraud
Two former Cisco Systems, Inc., accountants were each sentenced to 34
months in prison for exceeding their authorized access to the computer
systems of Cisco Systems in order to illegally issue almost $8 million in
Cisco stock to themselves.
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placed in two separate Merrill Lynch accounts, with 58,250 of the shares
deposited in an account set up by by one of them and 39,500 shares
deposited in an account set up by the other accountant. In February 2001,
they caused two additional transfers of stock, in amounts of 67,500 shares
and 65,300 shares, to be transferred to brokerage accounts in their names.
The total value of the Cisco stock that they took on these three occasions
(at the time that they transferred the stock) was approximately $7,868,637.
Spamming
In a 1998 lawsuit brought by America Online against an unsolicited
commercial e-mail sender, the judge awarded AOL compensatory and
punitive damages, and permanently barred the commercial e-mail sender
from sending bulk unsolicited commercial e-mail to AOL members or
through AOL services.
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Activity 7-16
Which of the following is not a computer crime in the US?
a. hacking
b. spamming
c. virus creation and unleashing
d. sending of hate email to another person
e. none of the above
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ORIGINAL WORKS
(a)
(n) Computer programs;
The law also clearly states what is legal in terms of reproducing computer
programs.
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Activity 7-17
True or False.
Finally, included in the law are the penalties for infringement of the
Copyright Law.
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This law was tested in the case Microsoft, Corp. vs. Harold Chua. The
case is the first win of Microsoft, Corp. in local courts when it comes to
Intellectual Property Rights violation. A summary of this case is published
in Poblaw Newletter and is given at the next page.
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This is definitely a victory for all those fighting against piracy and for
software companies in particular. Moreover, this is an indication that
the authorities in the Philippines are serious about software crime,
said Rebecca Ho, spokesperson for Microsoft Corp.
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People who are found guilty of violating the new IP Code can be
imprisoned from one to nine years and fined from P50,000 to P1.5
million.
Activity 7-18
Computer programs are copyrightable but not patentable. What
is the difference of a patent from a copyright?
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Sec. 4. Sphere of Application. This Act shall apply to any kind of data
message and electronic document used in the context of commercial
and non-commercial activities to include domestic and international
dealings, transactions, arrangements, agreements, contracts and
exchanges and storage of information.
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Activity 7-19
True or False.
Finally, the law stipulates penalties for certain violations covered by this
law.
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The first hacking case to be filed under Philippine laws went on trial
last May 29, 2002 starting off a groundbreaking legal process that is
being viewed as a test case for Internet-related crimes in the country.
Garcia, who posted a P6, 000 bail for her temporary liberty, did not
grant interviews to the media when she attended the first hearing of
the case in the sala of Judge Maria Cristina Romero of Branch 96 of
the Pasig Metropolitan Trial Court.
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The landmark case was filed in Pasig, a city south of Manila, since
Garcia supposedly used the telephone number of her residence in a
subdivision located in the city to hack into Thames.
During the trial, Robert Lim, counsel for the accused, filed a motion
to dismiss the case. The presiding judge rejected the move saying
the case was only on its first day of trial.
In her counter-affidavit filed in court, Garcia said she did not commit
the crime unauthorized access since the password to the Thames
account was freely given to her by Maalac.
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The second hearing has been set for June 19, wherein the prosecution
is expected to present its two principal witnesses. They are Martin
Salazar of Net Gen IT, the Internet service provider of Thames which
was purportedly able to record the phone number used by Garcia,
and Jaime Noel Santos, co-founder of Thames.
The law will move the Philippines closer to e-government, or, at least,
to the electronic delivery of government services. It mandates that
government as well as government-owned and controlled corporations
use electronic transactions in all its processes. The law also mandates
government to undertake these initiatives within two years or before
June 19, 2002.
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Privacy issues are addressed in the law. One section says that access
to an electronic file, signature or document shall be limited only to
those that are authorized to possess and use it. Electronic keys used
for identity and integrity may only be made available to another upon
consent of the individual in lawful possession of the key. Another
section obliges those who obtain access to an electronic key, signature
or document not to convey or share the same with another. These two
sections are important in that it recognizes that these files are property
of an individual and can be possessed only by another upon the consent
of its owner. It further recognizes the privacy and personal nature of
the key by obliging those who gets to possess it not to share it with
others.
Security issues are addressed also in the law. While the law deals with
penalties, its net effect is to help create a more secure environment for
electronic transactions. This law specifically punishes hacking or
cracking which has been defined as either unauthorized access or
interference in a computer system or any other type of access-
authorized or not- with the intention to destroy, corrupt, alter, or steal
data. Included in this definition is the introduction of viruses. Penalty
is rather steep by contemporary Philippines standards: a minimum
fine of P100,000 and mandatory imprisonment of from six months to
three years.
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Activity 7-20
What computer crimes are covered by the E-Commerce Law of
the Philippines?
References
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Index
4004 Microprocessor, 27
8008 Microprocessor, 27
80286 Microprocessor, 27
80386 Microprocessor, 27
80486 Microprocessor, 27
8080 Microprocessor, 27
8086-8088 Microprocessor, 27
abacus, 6, 7
Abacus, 6, 7
access control, 129, 130
Active Server Pages, 189
Adobe Acrobat Reader, 188
Advanced Micro Devices, 28
agent, 114, 115, 116, 171, 173
AI, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 114, 117
AIBO, 105, 106
Al Gebr Wel Mukabala, 7, 8
Al Khwarismi, 7
Alexander Graham Bell, 148
algorithm, 119
ALU, 35, 36, 38, 39
AMD, 28
amplitude modulation, 163
Analytical Engine, 13, 14
Anti-Virus, 252
Arithmetic Logic Unit, 35
ARPANET, 168
Artificial Intelligence, 2, 90, 104, 107, 250
artificial life, 2
ASCII, 174, 188, 196
assembler, 76
Atlas, 20
ATM, 1, 2, 24, 29, 82
audio conferencing, 102
Audion, 16
automatic job sequencing, 76
Automatic Teller Machine, 1
automation, 24, 101
B, 251
batch operating system, 77
batch system, 77
Bendix G-15A, 24
bit, 25, 26, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 50, 57, 65, 66, 67, 129, 132, 143, 148, 160,
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161, 218
bit-map graphics display, 57
bits per second, 143, 160, 161, 163
Blaise Pascal, 11
Bridges, 138
broadcast, 124, 131
Broadcast Radio Communication, 146
bulletin board system, 100, 176
bus, 35, 40, 43, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 132, 133
bus topology, 126
byte, 25, 39, 40, 43, 50, 65
calculating clock, 10
card reader, 75, 76, 77
Cathode Ray Tubes, 57
CD-R, 48
CD-ROM, 46, 49
Celeron, 28
cell phone, 32, 33, 147
Census Calculators, 15
Central Processing Unit, 34, 71, 72, 73, 77, 79
character display, 56
Charles Babbage, 13
Chat, 178
Clifford Berry, 17
clock, 32, 68
Coaxial Cable, 142, 143
COBOL, 75, 76
Colossus, 18, 19
compiler, 75, 76
Computer vision, 113
computer conferencing, 102
Computer Crimes, 227
Computer Ethics, 206
computer network, 122
computer system, 34, 35, 39, 52, 71, 72, 78, 79, 170, 227, 231, 242, 243
computer technology, 1
computer vision, 2
Concentrators, 137
control keys, 53, 55
control unit, 19, 35, 37, 38
counter, 37, 134, 244
CPU, 31, 34, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43, 69, 71, 73, 77, 78, 208, 210
CPU scheduler, 73
CRT, 20, 57, 58, 98
Cryptography, 252
CSMA/CD, 129, 130
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Cursor-Tracking Devices, 59
Cyrix, 28
Data Communication, 122, 148, 252
database, 32, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 103, 119, 197, 198, 199, 233
Database privacy, 219
Deep Blue, 104
Denial of Service, 207, 252
desknote, 32
desktop computer, 31
desktop publishing, 32, 96, 97
device driver, 72, 73, 75
Difference Engine, 13, 14
disk, 71
disk controller, 44
Disk Operating System, 71
diskettes, 45, 224
display screen, 56
distributed operating system, 79
DIX, 129
domain name, 183, 184, 185
Dot matrix, 61
DRAM, 41
DVD-ROM, 49
Dvorak layout, 53
dynamic RAM, 41
E-commerce, 2, 201
Edison effect, 16
Edward H. Shortliffe, 104
electronic mail, 2, 100, 169, 185
Electronic Recording Machine Accounting, 24
E-mail, 100, 170, 171, 174, 175
Email Addresses, 185
Email privacy, 219
Encryption, 223
ENIAC, 20
Enigma, 18
EPROM, 42
ERMA, 24
Ethernet, 128, 129, 130, 131
Eudora, 171, 174
expert systems, 2, 104, 113, 114, 117
eXtensible Markup Language, 190
Faggin, 26
FAQ, 177
Fast Ethernet, 129, 131
FDDI, 134, 135
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memory-address register, 36
memory-data register, 36
MESM, 20, 21
microcomputer, 29, 30, 31
microorders, 37
microprocessor, 16, 25, 27, 31, 72
Microprocessors, 25
Microsoft Outlook Express, 174
Microsoft Word, 96, 174, 228
Microwave Communication, 144
minicomputer, 29, 30
modulation, 16, 161, 163, 164, 165
Mohammed Ibn Musa Abu Djefar, 7, 8
monitor, 132
mouse, 59, 60, 110, 144, 187, 190
Multi User Dimension, 178
multiprocessor, 72
multiprogramming, 77, 78
Mycin, 104
Napiers Bones, 9
natural language processing, 2, 108, 109
Natural language processing, 108
Netscape Messenger, 174
network, 78, 122, 123, 124, 125, 127, 129, 130, 132, 134, 135
Network Cabling, 139
Network Interface Cards, 136
network operating system, 78
Network Topologies, 126
Networking Hardware, 135
Networking Protocols, 128
neural networks, 2, 114
nodes, 122, 124, 135
notebook, 31, 32
numeric keypad, 53, 54, 55
operating system, 55, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 78, 79, 80, 81, 135, 168
optical character reader, 64
optical mark reader, 64
Optical memories, 46
overflow, 35, 36
packet switcher, 122
Pascaline, 11
Pathfinder, 105
PDA, 32, 33
Pentium, 27, 28
Personal Computer, 71, 78
Personal Computers, 26, 78
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