UNIT # 1

(1) INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Information Technology (IT) is the branch of engineering that deals with the use of computers to store, retrieve and transmit information. IT is the area of managing technology and spans a wide variety of areas that include computer software, information systems, computer hardware, programming languages In short, anything that renders data, information or perceived knowledge in any visual format whatsoever, via any multimedia distribution mechanism, is considered part of the IT domain. IT provides businesses with four sets of core services to help execute the business strategy: business process automation, providing information, connecting with customers, and productivity tools. IT professionals perform a variety of functions that range from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, server management, database and software design, as well as management and administration of entire systems.

Information Technology is the branch of engineering that deals with the use of computer and tele-communication to retrieve, store and transmit information. Information Technology plays a vital role in the lives of people. Every field of human activity, may it be his daily life, official life, everything is now influenced under the cover of information technology. Business process is under the IT revolution which is transforming the way we do. Basic business operations like decision making customer service, marketing strategies. Human resource management are done are being reformed with use of Information Technology.

IT plays a key real In Science and Technology sector, as it has changed each and every field a science, right from research and development, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine etc. which require huge amount of data and calculations, which are aided by the IT. The entertainment industry is looking towards a giant leap with the IT as its partner. All entertainment utilities like music, movies, sports etc. are affected by IT. One can have all these services, sitting at home. On the medical care, the IT has varied applications right from the diagnosis where there are latest tools like CT scans, ultrasound, sonography etc. The communication has been the field which was subject Cd to maximum change, the internet automation of reservations the control of air traffic are computerized. IT is now the leader in the game of the technology, it is subject to revolution every moment, as it passes of Using hypertext one can navigate to the related information so that in this era of information overload, we can get the information which is relevant for us Multimedia technology is that technology which combines many multimedia like text, audio, video, graphics etc The most popular current application of multimedia is ECommerce Many voice recognition systems has been developed, which recognize and interpret voice and spoken words But, the scope of these systems are limited as they have a small vocabulary of words.

(2) COMPUTER HARDWARE

Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that comprise a computer system. Computer hardware refers to the physical parts or components of computer such as monitor, keyboard, hard disk, mouse, etc. Refers to objects that you can actually touch, like disks, disk drives, display screens, keyboards, printers, boards, and chips. In contrast, software is untouchable. Software exists as ideas, concepts, and symbols, but it has no substance. A combination of hardware and software forms a usable computing system.

Every computer Consists of the following basic components: 1. Computer Case - Where all of the components are stored.

2. CPU - It is basically the brain of your computer. The CPU is a used to process everything from basic to complex functions in a computer.

3. RAM - RAM is memory that attaches to the motherboard. RAM is hardware used to temporarily store and access data.

4. Motherboard - A Motherboard is the most important component in a computer system. All of the other hardware in a computer system connect to the motherboard.

5. Power Supply - A Power Supply is the sends power to all of the other hardware so they can operate.

6. Hard Drive - A Hard Drive is used for permanently storing files and programs.

7. Disk Drives - Disk Drives can be a floppy drive, CD drive, DVD drive or other possible file storage devices that are used in a computer.

8. Video Card - A Video Card is the part of a computer system that converts binary code from the CPU so you can view it on a monitor.

9. Monitor - The part of a computer that allows you to see what the computer is processing.

10. Keyboard - A keyboard allows a computer user to enter text commands into a computer system.

11. Mouse - A mouse allows a computer user to use a point and click interface to enter commands.

(3) COMPUTER SOFTWARE Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. Software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some reasons. In other words, software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation concerned with the operation of a data processing system.
TYPES OF SOFTWARE

The types of software include web pages developed in languages and frameworks like HTML, PHP, Perl, JSP, ASP.NET, XML, and desktop applications like OpenOffice.org, Microsoft Word developed in languages like C, C++, Objective-C, Java, C#, or Smalltalk. Application software usually runs on an underlying software operating systems such as Linux or Microsoft Windows. Practical computer systems divide software systems into three major classes: system software, programming software and application software. (i) System software System software is computer software designed to operate the computer hardware to provide basic functionality and to provide a platform for running application software. System software includes device drivers, operating systems, servers, utilities, and window systems. (ii) Programming software Programming software includes tools in the form of programs or applications that software developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs such as compilers, debuggers, interpreters, linkers, and text editors, that can be combined together to accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hand tools to fix a physical object.. (iii) Application software Application software is developed to perform in any task that benefits from computation. It is a set of programs that allows the computer to perform a specific data processing job for the user. It is a broad category, and encompasses software of many kinds, including the internet browser being used to display this page.

(4) NETWORK AND INTERNET

Network
A network is a group of two or more computer systems linked together. There are many types of computer networks, including:

 local-area networks (LANs) : The computers are geographically close together (that is, in the same building). wide-area networks (WANs) : The computers are farther apart and are connected by telephone lines or radio waves. campus-area networks (CANs): The computers are within a limited geographic area, such as a campus or military base. metropolitan-area networks MANs): A data network designed for a town or city. home-area networks (HANs): A network contained within a user's home that connects a person's digital devices. In addition to these types, the following characteristics are also used to categorize different types of networks: topology : The geometric arrangement of a computer system. Common topologies include a bus, star, and ring. protocol : The protocol defines a common set of rules and signals that computers on the network use to communicate. One of the most popular protocols for LANs is called Ethernet. Another popular LAN protocol for PCs is the IBM token-ring network . architecture : Networks can be broadly classified as using either a peer-to-peer or client/server architecture. Computers on a network are sometimes called nodes. Computers and devices that allocate resources for a network are called servers. To connect two or more computers together with the ability to communicate with each other. Network Topologies Network topology is the arrangement of the various elements (links, nodes, etc.) of a computer[1][2] or biological network.[3]. Essentially, it is the topological structure of a network, and may be depicted physically or logically. Physical topology refers to the placement of the network's various components, including device location and cable installation, while logical topology shows how data flows within a network, regardless of its physical design. Distances between nodes, physical interconnections, transmission rates, and/or signal types may differ between two networks, yet their topologies may be identical.

(i) Bus
In local area networks where bus topology is used, each node is connected to a single cable. Each computer or server is connected to the single bus cable. A signal from the source travels in both directions to all machines connected on the bus cable until it finds the intended recipient. If the machine address does not match the intended address for the data, the machine ignores the data. Alternatively, if the data matches the machine address, the data is accepted. Since the bus topology consists of only one wire, it is rather inexpensive to implement when compared to other topologies. However, the low cost of implementing the technology is offset by the high cost of managing the network. Additionally, since only one cable is utilized, it can be the single point of failure. If the network cable is terminated on both ends and when without termination data transfer stop and when cable breaks, the entire network will be down.

(ii) Star
In local area networks with a star topology, each network host is connected to a central hub with a point-to-point connection. The network does not necessarily have to resemble a star to be classified as a star network, but all of the nodes on the network must be connected to one central device. All traffic that traverses the network passes through the central hub. The hub acts as a signal repeater. The star topology is considered the easiest topology to design and implement. An advantage of the star topology is the simplicity of adding additional nodes. The primary disadvantage of the star topology is that the hub represents a single point of failure.

(iii) Ring
A network topology that is set up in a circular fashion in which data travels around the ring in one direction and each device on the right acts as a repeater to keep the signal strong as it travels. Each device incorporates a receiver for the incoming signal and a transmitter to send the data on to the next device in the ring. The network is dependent on the ability of the signal to travel around the ring.

(iv) Mesh

Fully connected Fully connected mesh topology The number of connections in a full mesh = n(n - 1) / 2. Note: The physical fully connected mesh topology is generally too costly and complex for practical networks, although the topology is used when there are only a small number of nodes to be interconnected Partially connected

Partially connected mesh topology The type of network topology in which some of the nodes of the network are connected to more than one other node in the network with a point-to-point link this makes it possible to take advantage of some of the redundancy that is provided by a physical fully connected mesh topology without the expense and complexity required for a connection between every node in the network.

(v) Tree
The type of network topology in which a central 'root' node (the top level of the hierarchy) is connected to one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the second level) with a point-to-point link between each of the second level nodes and the top level central 'root' node, while each of the second level nodes that are connected to the top level central 'root' node will also have one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the third level) connected to it, also with a point-to-point link, the top level central 'root' node being the only node that has no other node above it in the hierarchy (The hierarchy of the tree is symmetrical.) Each node in the network having a specific fixed number, of nodes connected to it

at the next lower level in the hierarchy, the number, being referred to as the 'branching factor' of the hierarchical tree.This tree has individual peripheral nodes.

Network Devices (i)Network Repeater A repeater connects two segments of your network cable. It retimes and regenerates the signals to proper amplitudes and sends them to the other segments. When talking about, ethernet topology, you are probably talking about using a hub as a repeater. Repeaters require a small amount of time to regenerate the signal. This can cause a propagation delay which can affect network communication when there are several repeaters in a row. Many network architectures limit the number of repeaters that can be used in a row. Repeaters work only at the physical layer of the OSI network model. (ii)Bridge A bridge reads the outermost section of data on the data packet, to tell where the message is going. It reduces the traffic on other network segments, since it does not send all packets. Bridges can be programmed to reject packets from particular networks. Bridging occurs at the data link layer of the OSI model, which means the bridge cannot read IP addresses, but only the outermost hardware address of the packet. In our case the bridge can read the ethernet data which gives the hardware address of the destination address, not the IP address. Bridges forward all broadcast messages. Only a special bridge called a translation bridge will allow two networks of different architectures to be connected. Bridges do not normally allow connection of networks with different architectures. The hardware address is also called the MAC (media access control) address. To determine the network segment a MAC address belongs to, bridges use one of:

Transparent Bridging - They build a table of addresses (bridging table) as they receive packets. If the address is not in the bridging table, the packet is forwarded to all segments other than the one it came from. This type of bridge is used on ethernet networks. Source route bridging - The source computer provides path information inside the packet. This is used on Token Ring networks.

(iii)Network Router A router is used to route data packets between two networks. It reads the information in each packet to tell where it is going. If it is destined for an immediate network it has access to, it will

strip the outer packet, readdress the packet to the proper Ethernet address, and transmit it on that network. If it is destined for another network and must be sent to another router, it will repackage the outer packet to be received by the next router and send it to the next router. The section on routing explains the theory behind this and how routing tables are used to help determine packet destinations. Routing occurs at the network layer of the OSI model. They can connect networks with different architectures such as Token Ring and Ethernet. Although they can transform information at the data link level, routers cannot transform information from one data format such as TCP/IP to another such as IPX/SPX. Routers do not send broadcast packets or corrupted packets. If the routing table does not indicate the proper address of a packet, the packet is discarded. (iv) Brouter There is a device called a brouter which will function similar to a bridge for network transport protocols that are not routable, and will function as a router for routable protocols. It functions at the network and data link layers of the OSI network model. (v)Gateway A gateway can translate information between different network data formats or network architectures. It can translate TCP/IP to AppleTalk so computers supporting TCP/IP can communicate with Apple brand computers. Most gateways operate at the application layer, but can operate at the network or session layer of the OSI model. Gateways will start at the lower level and strip information until it gets to the required level and repackage the information and work its way back toward the hardware layer of the OSI model. To confuse issues, when talking about a router that is used to interface to another network, the word gateway is often used. This does not mean the routing machine is a gateway as defined here, although it could be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (often called TCP/IP, although not all applications use TCP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email. The terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used in everyday speech without much distinction. However, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not one and the same. The Internet establishes a global data communications system between computers. In contrast, the Web is one of the services communicated via the Internet. It is a collection of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. In addition to the Web, the Internet also powers a multitude of other services, including (among others) email, file transfer, newsgroups, and online games. Web services can exist apart from the internet, such as on a private intranet.

(5) COMPUTING RESOURCES In computational complexity theory, a computational resource is a resource used by some computational models in the solution of computational problems. The simplest computational resources are computation time, the number of steps necessary to solve a problem, and memory space, the amount of storage needed while solving the problem, but many more complicated resources have been defined. A computational problem is generally defined in terms of its action on any valid input. Examples of problems might be "given an integer n, determine whether n is prime", or "given two numbers x and y, calculate the product x*y". As the inputs get bigger, the amount of computational resources needed to solve a problem will increase. Thus, the resources needed to solve a problem are described in terms of asymptotic analysis, by identifying the resources as a function of the length or size of the input. Computational resources are useful because we can study which problems can be computed in a certain amount of each computational resource. In this way, we can determine whether algorithms for solving the problem are optimal and we can make statements about an algorithm's efficiency. The set of all of the computational problems that can be solved using a certain amount of a certain computational resource is a complexity class, and relationships between different complexity classes are one of the most important topics in complexity theory.