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Computer

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​These computers came to be called mainframes, though the term did not become common until smaller computers were built. Mainframe computers were characterized by having (for their time) large storage capabilities, fast components, and powerful computational abilities. They were highly reliable, and, because they frequently served vital needs in an organization, they were sometimes designed with redundant components that let them survive partial failures. Because they were complex systems, they were operated by a staff of systems programmers, who alone had access to the computer. Other users submitted “batch jobs” to be run one at a time on the mainframe.

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Information Technology for Managers

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Structure

Unit :1 - Information Technology

Notes

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Fundamentals of Computer Architecture

1.2 Concept of Software and Languages

1.3 Database Management Systems

1.3.2

Introduction

1.3.2 Objectives of Database

1.3.3 Components of DBMS

1.3.4 Advantages of DBMS

1.3.5 Disadvantages of DBMS

1.3.6 Database Basics

1.3.7 Database Management System Facilities

1.3.8 Data Structures

1.4 Data Communication and Networking

1.4.1 Introduction

1.4.2 Data Communication

1.4.3 Data transmission Technique

1.4.4 Transmission Modes

1.4.5 Transmission Media

1.4.6 Communication Channel Configurations

1.5 Networking

1.5.1 Types of Networking

1.5.2 Network Topologies

1.6 Internet

1.6.1 Introduction

1.6.2 Hardware and Software of Internet

1.6.3 World Wide Web (www)

1.6.4

Working of Internet

1.6.5 Characteristics of Web Components

1.6.6 Importance of Internet in Business Applications

1.6.7 Search Engine

1.6.8 Internet / Intranet

1.6.9 Internet Security

1.6.10 Firewall for Network Security

1.7 Multimedia

1.7.1 Creating Multimedia

1.7.2 Application Areas of Multimedia

1.7.3 Future of Multimedia

1.8 E-Commerce

1.8.1 Concepts of E-Commerce

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Information Technology for Managers

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Notes

1.8.2 Characteristics of E-Commerce

1.8.3 E-Commerce Types

1.8.4 Advantages of E-Commerce

1.9 Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

1.9.1 Standards

1.9.2 Specifications

1.9.3 Advantages of Using EDI over Paper Systems

1.10 Summary

1..11 Check Your Progress

1.12 Questions & Exercises

1.13 Further Reading


Objectives
To understand the definition of a computer and its various components.

To understand the concept of memory and its capacities.

To define Database Management Systems along with its components and
understand the facilities available in it.

Explain the representation of data in secondary storage device.

Define data communication and concept of transmission modes.

Understand different transmission media.

Explain concept of networking and internet along with its terminology.

Explain the multimedia and its creation along with its application in various
fields.

Describe E-commerce along with its characteristics and types.

Describe EDI and its implementation.


1.0 Introduction
A computer is an electronic device made up of electronic circuits and wires, etc. In
the modern age, computer is the most advanced tool for solving wide range of practical
problems. More precisely, “a computer is an electronic device which works under the
instructions of stored programmes, automatically accepting result or output of that
processing”.

It manipulates the number of symbols, which it accepts input, processes this input
and reproduces this as output in a formatted manner. The word Computer has been
derived from the word COMPUTE.

Any computer must have a place for holding the instructions and data on which the
programme will operate. The place, which is used for this purpose is called memory and
most often it is referred to as Main Memory.

Computer

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Information Technology for Managers

1.1 Fundamentals of Computer Architecture
Speed: Computers can calculate at very high Speeds.

Storage: Computers have their main memory and auxiliary memory systems. A
computer can store a large amount of data.

Accuracy: The accuracy of a computer system is very high.

Versatility: Computers are very versatile machines. They can perform activities
,ranging from simple calculations to performing complex CAD modeling and simulation
for navigating missiles and satellites.

Automation: Computers can be programmed to perform a series of complex tasks,
involving multiple programmes. Computers can perform things flawlessly.

Diligence: Diligence means being constant and earnest in effort and application.

Computer Uses:

Military application: The first digital computers, with their large and cost, mainly
performed scientific calculations, often to support military objectives.

Creative Art: They have also been used for entertainment, with video games
becoming a huge industry.

Robotics: Computers have been used to control mechanical devices since they
became small and chief.

Net working and the Internet: Computers have been used to coordinate
information in multiple locations.

Different types of Computer Systems
Super Computers: The mightiest computers, and of course the most expensive are
known as Super Computers. They process billions of instructions per second. One uses
super computers for tasks that require mammoth data manipulation, such as worldwide
weather forecasting and weapons research.

Main Frame: In the jargon of the computer trade, large computers are called main
frame. Main frame are capable of processing data at very high speeds – millions of
instruction per second and have access to billions of characters of data. The principal
use of it is for processing vast amounts of data quickly.

Personal Computer: Personal Computer are often called as PC. A PC is based on
a microprocessor originally made by the Intel Company with other companies such as –
AMD. PCs usually use an operating system.

MAC: The computers made Macintoshes which uses power PC processer made
by Motorola are referred as MAC. Macintoshes use operating system, called MAC OS
created Apple.

The Generation of the Computer
A generation refers to the state of improvement in the development of a product.
It also is used for major state of different advancements/achievements of computer
technology. With each new generation, the circuitry has become smaller and more
advanced than the previous generation before it. The time span of era of computer
generation may vary in different prospects.

Notes

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Information Technology for Managers

Notes

a. The First Generation : 1946 – 1958 (The Vacuum Tube Years)

The first generation of computers were huge, slow , expensive and often
undependable and used Vacuum Tubes in CPU’s.

In 1946 two Americans, Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, built the ENIAC
electronic computer which used vacuum tubes instead of the mechanical switches
of the Mark I. The ENIAC used thousands of vacuum tubes, which took up a lot of
space and gave off a great deal of heat.

First generation computers relied on machine language to preform operations and
they could only solve one problem at a time.

Input was based on punched cards and paper taps and output was displayed on
printouts.

b. The Second Generation : 1959 – 1964 (The Era of the Transistor)

33 Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and ushered in the second generation of
computers.

In 1947 three scientists, John Barden, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain, working
at AT&T’s Bell Labs, invented the transistor the which functions like a vacuum tube.

The transistor was faster, more reliable, smaller and much cheaper to build than
vacuum tube.

Second generation computers moved from cryptic binary machine language to
symbolic or assembly languages. High level programming languages such as
versions of COBOL and FORTRAN were also developed at this time.

c. The Third Generation: 1965-1970 (Integrated Circuits – Miniaturising the
Computer)

Integrated Circuits (IC) have started replacing transistors.

The integrated circuits, or as it is sometimes referred to as semiconductor chip,
packs a huge number of transistors onto a single wafer of silicon. Placing such
large numbers of transistors on a single chip vastly increased the power of a single
computer.

Instead of punched cards and printouts, users interacted with third generation
computers through keyboards and monitors and interfaced with an operating
system, which allow the device to run may different applications at one time with a
central programme that monitore the memory.

Computers, for the first time, became accessible to a mass audience because they
were smaller and cheaper than their predecessors.

d. The Fourth Generation: 1971- Today (The Microprocessor)

This generation can be characterised by both the jump to monolithic integrated
circuits (millions of transistors put onto one integrated circuit chip) and the invention
of the microprocessor.

By putting millions of transistors onto on a single chip, more calculation and faster
speeds could be reached by computers.