Communication and Computer Application

Board of Studies

Prof. H. N. Verma Prof. M. K. Ghadoliya

Vice- Chancellor Director,
Jaipur National University, Jaipur School of Distance Education and Learning
Jaipur National University, Jaipur
Dr. Rajendra Takale
Prof. and Head Academics
SBPIM, Pune

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Subject Expert Panel

Dr. Ramchandra G. Pawar Ashwini Pandit

Director, SIBACA, Lonavala Subject Matter Expert
Pune

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Content Review Panel

Gaurav Modi Shubhada Pawar

Subject Matter Expert Subject Matter Expert

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Copyright ©

This book contains the course content for Communication and Computer Application.

First Edition 2013

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Address
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All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not, in any form or by any means including electronic
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system or be broadcasted or transmitted.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Index

I. Content....................................................................... II

II. List of Figures........................................................ VII

III. List of Tables.......................................................VIII

IV. Abbreviations.........................................................IX

V. Application. .............................................................111

VI. Bibliography......................................................... 117

VII. Self Assessment Answers................................... 120

Book at a Glance

I
Contents
Chapter I........................................................................................................................................................ 1
Introduction to Computers.......................................................................................................................... 1
Aim................................................................................................................................................................. 1
Objectives....................................................................................................................................................... 1
Learning outcome........................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Computers Everywhere............................................................................................................................. 2
1.2 History and Evolution............................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 Classification............................................................................................................................................. 3
1.3.1 Definitions, Concepts and Features.......................................................................................... 3
1.4 Data Representation.................................................................................................................................. 4
1.5 Error Detecting Codes............................................................................................................................... 5
Summary........................................................................................................................................................ 6
References...................................................................................................................................................... 6
Recommended Reading................................................................................................................................ 6
Self Assessment.............................................................................................................................................. 7

Chapter II...................................................................................................................................................... 9
Computer Components and Information Processing Cycle..................................................................... 9
Aim................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Objectives....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Learning outcome........................................................................................................................................... 9
2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 10
2.2 Components............................................................................................................................................ 10
2.3 Input Devices.......................................................................................................................................... 10
2.3.1 Keyboard................................................................................................................................. 10
2.3.2 Pointing Devices......................................................................................................................11
2.3.3 Pen Input Devices....................................................................................................................11
2.3.4 Video Input Devices.................................................................................................................11
2.3.5 Audio Input Devices............................................................................................................... 12
2.3.6 Graphic Capture Devices........................................................................................................ 12
2.3.7 Code Numbers........................................................................................................................ 12
2.3.8 Optical Input Devices............................................................................................................. 13
2.4 Central Processing Unit.......................................................................................................................... 13
2.4.1 Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)................................................................................................. 13
2.4.2 Control Unit (CU)................................................................................................................... 14
2.4.3 Primary Memory..................................................................................................................... 14
2.5 Output Devices........................................................................................................................................ 15
2.5.1 Visual Output Devices (Soft copy)......................................................................................... 16
2.5.2 Audio Output Devices (Soft copy).......................................................................................... 16
2.5.3 Hardcopy Devices (print and film)......................................................................................... 17
2.5.4 Computer Output Microfilms (COM)..................................................................................... 17
2.6 Data Storage............................................................................................................................................ 17
2.6.1 Auxiliary Storage/Secondary Storage..................................................................................... 17
2.6.2 Magnetic Disk . ...................................................................................................................... 18
2.6.3 Magnetic Tapes....................................................................................................................... 19
2.6.4 Optical Disks........................................................................................................................... 19
2.6.5 Flash Memory......................................................................................................................... 21
2.6.6 USB Drives............................................................................................................................. 21
2.6.7 Removable Hard Drives.......................................................................................................... 21
2.6.8 Smart Cards............................................................................................................................. 22
2.6.9 Optical Cards.......................................................................................................................... 22
Summary...................................................................................................................................................... 23
References.................................................................................................................................................... 23
Recommended Reading.............................................................................................................................. 23
Self Assessment............................................................................................................................................ 24

II
Chapter III................................................................................................................................................... 26
Hardware and Software............................................................................................................................. 26
Aim............................................................................................................................................................... 26
Objectives..................................................................................................................................................... 26
Learning outcome......................................................................................................................................... 26
3.1 Introduction . .......................................................................................................................................... 27
3.2 Hardware................................................................................................................................................. 27
3.2.1 Motherboard............................................................................................................................ 27
3.3 Software.................................................................................................................................................. 27
3.4 Programming Languages........................................................................................................................ 28
3.4.1 Machine Language.................................................................................................................. 28
3.4.2 Assembly Language................................................................................................................ 28
3.4.3 High Level Language.............................................................................................................. 28
3.4.4 Fourth Generation Language.................................................................................................. 28
3.4.5 Natural Language.................................................................................................................... 29
3.5 Systems Software.................................................................................................................................... 29
3.5.1 BIOS....................................................................................................................................... 29
3.5.2 Operating System (OS)........................................................................................................... 29
3.5.3 Utility Software....................................................................................................................... 31
3.6 Application Software.............................................................................................................................. 31
Summary...................................................................................................................................................... 33
References.................................................................................................................................................... 33
Recommended Reading.............................................................................................................................. 33
Self Assessment............................................................................................................................................ 34

Chapter IV................................................................................................................................................... 36
Communication and Networks.................................................................................................................. 36
Aim............................................................................................................................................................... 36
Objectives..................................................................................................................................................... 36
Learning outcome......................................................................................................................................... 36
4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 37
4.2 Computer Networks................................................................................................................................ 37
4.3 Goals of Networks.................................................................................................................................. 37
4.4 Communication Channels....................................................................................................................... 37
4.4.1 Wired Channels (Twisted-pair Wire, Coaxial Cable and Fibre-optic Cable).......................... 38
4.4.2 Wireless Channels (Radio Link, Microwave Link, Satellite Communication)...................... 39
4.5 Transmission Technology....................................................................................................................... 40
4.5.1 Broadcast Networks . ............................................................................................................. 40
4.5.2 Point-to-Point or Switched Networks .................................................................................... 41
4.5.3 Bandwidth............................................................................................................................... 41
4.6 Network Configuration........................................................................................................................... 42
4.6.1 Client-Server Network............................................................................................................ 42
4.6.2 Peer-to-peer Network.............................................................................................................. 42
4.7 Network Models...................................................................................................................................... 42
4.7.1 OSI Reference Model............................................................................................................. 42
4.7.2 TCP/IP Protocol...................................................................................................................... 45
4.8 Network Topologies................................................................................................................................ 45
4.9 Types of Networks.................................................................................................................................. 49
Summary...................................................................................................................................................... 51
References.................................................................................................................................................... 51
Recommended Reading.............................................................................................................................. 51
Self Assessment............................................................................................................................................ 52

III
Chapter V..................................................................................................................................................... 54
Data processing........................................................................................................................................... 54
Aim............................................................................................................................................................... 54
Objectives..................................................................................................................................................... 54
Learning outcome......................................................................................................................................... 54
5.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 55
5.1.1 Data......................................................................................................................................... 56
5.1.2 Information............................................................................................................................. 56
5.1.3 Types of Data.......................................................................................................................... 56
5.2 Input, Processing and output................................................................................................................... 56
5.2.1 Input........................................................................................................................................ 56
5.2.2 Processing............................................................................................................................... 57
5.2.3 Output..................................................................................................................................... 57
5.3 Architecture of Computer System........................................................................................................... 57
5.3.1 The Control Unit (CU)............................................................................................................ 57
5.3.2 The Immediate Access Store (IAS)........................................................................................ 58
5.3.3 ALU stands for Arithmetic and Logic Unit............................................................................ 58
5.4 Concepts of Files..................................................................................................................................... 58
5.4.1 File contents............................................................................................................................ 58
5.4.2 Operations on the file.............................................................................................................. 59
5.4.3 File Organisation..................................................................................................................... 59
5.4.4 Relative File............................................................................................................................ 60
5.4.5 Indexed Files........................................................................................................................... 61
5.5 Protecting Files....................................................................................................................................... 62
5.6 Storing files............................................................................................................................................. 62
5.6.1 Backing up files...................................................................................................................... 62
5.7 File Terminology..................................................................................................................................... 63
5.7.1 Records................................................................................................................................... 63
5.7.2 Fields....................................................................................................................................... 64
5.8 Data Capturing........................................................................................................................................ 64
5.8.1 Direct Data Capturing............................................................................................................. 64
5.8.2 Data Capture Forms................................................................................................................ 65
5.9 Verification.............................................................................................................................................. 66
5.9.1 Editing and Checking.............................................................................................................. 67
Summary...................................................................................................................................................... 69
References.................................................................................................................................................... 69
Recommended Reading.............................................................................................................................. 70
Self Assessment............................................................................................................................................ 71

Chapter VI................................................................................................................................................... 73
Operating Systems...................................................................................................................................... 73
Aim............................................................................................................................................................... 73
Objectives..................................................................................................................................................... 73
Learning outcome......................................................................................................................................... 73
6.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 74
6.2 Operating System.................................................................................................................................... 74
6.2.1 Functions of Operating System............................................................................................... 74
6.2.2 Operating System as User Interface........................................................................................ 74
6.3 History of Operating System.................................................................................................................. 76
6.4 Disk Operating System .......................................................................................................................... 76
6.4.1 History of DOS ...................................................................................................................... 76
6.4.2 Components of MS-DOS........................................................................................................ 76
6.4.3 Internal Command.................................................................................................................. 77
6.4.4 External Commands................................................................................................................ 80
6.5 UNIX....................................................................................................................................................... 82

IV
 6.5.1 MEM....................................................................................................................................... 82
6.5.2 FILTER................................................................................................................................... 83
6.5.3 ATTRIB................................................................................................................................... 84
6.5.4 DELTREE............................................................................................................................... 84
6.5.5 EDIT....................................................................................................................................... 84
6.6 Batch Files.............................................................................................................................................. 84
6.7 Batch System.......................................................................................................................................... 85
6.8 Time Sharing Systems............................................................................................................................ 86
6.9 Multiprogramming.................................................................................................................................. 87
6.10 Spooling................................................................................................................................................ 88
6.11 Essential Properties of the Operating System Batch............................................................................. 88
6.11.1 Time Sharing......................................................................................................................... 88
6.11.2 Interactive............................................................................................................................. 88
6.11.3 Real time system................................................................................................................... 89
6.11.4 Distributed............................................................................................................................. 89
Summary...................................................................................................................................................... 90
References.................................................................................................................................................... 90
Recommended Reading.............................................................................................................................. 91
Self Assessment............................................................................................................................................ 92

Chapter VII................................................................................................................................................. 94
Internet and Network Security.................................................................................................................. 94
Aim............................................................................................................................................................... 94
Objectives..................................................................................................................................................... 94
Learning outcome......................................................................................................................................... 94
7.1 Internet.................................................................................................................................................... 95
7.2 Internet Architecture............................................................................................................................... 95
7.2.1 Protocol................................................................................................................................... 95
7.2.2 IP Address .............................................................................................................................. 95
7.2.3 Domain Name Service............................................................................................................ 95
7.2.4 Packet Switching..................................................................................................................... 95
7.2.5 Internet Routers....................................................................................................................... 96
7.2.6 Backbones............................................................................................................................... 96
7.3 Network Security.................................................................................................................................... 96
7.3.1 Understanding Potential Threats............................................................................................. 96
7.3.2 Steps towards Security............................................................................................................ 97
7.4 Uses of Internet....................................................................................................................................... 98
Summary...................................................................................................................................................... 99
References.................................................................................................................................................... 99
Recommended Reading ............................................................................................................................. 99
Self Assessment.......................................................................................................................................... 100

Chapter VIII.............................................................................................................................................. 102

World Wide Web....................................................................................................................................... 102
Aim............................................................................................................................................................. 102
Objectives................................................................................................................................................... 102
Learning outcome....................................................................................................................................... 102
8.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................................... 103
8.2 Functioning of the WWW..................................................................................................................... 103
8.2.1 Web Page.............................................................................................................................. 104
8.2.2 URL....................................................................................................................................... 104
8.2.3 Web Server . ......................................................................................................................... 104
8.2.4 HTTP..................................................................................................................................... 104
8.2.5 HTML................................................................................................................................... 104
8.3 Using the WWW................................................................................................................................... 105

V
 8.3.1 Web Browser......................................................................................................................... 105
8.3.2 Searching for Information . .................................................................................................. 105
8.3.3 Search Techniques................................................................................................................ 105
8.4 Advanced Application: Emergence of Web 2.0.................................................................................... 106
Summary.................................................................................................................................................... 108
References.................................................................................................................................................. 108
Recommended Reading............................................................................................................................ 108
Self Assessment.......................................................................................................................................... 109

VI
List of Figures
Fig. 2.1 Schematic representation of a computer system ............................................................................ 10
Fig. 2.2 Disk sectors..................................................................................................................................... 18
Fig. 2.3 Track sectors.................................................................................................................................... 18
Fig. 2.4 Logical layout of magnetic disk...................................................................................................... 19
Fig. 4.1 OSI reference model........................................................................................................................ 43
Fig. 4.2 Bus topology.................................................................................................................................... 46
Fig. 4.3 Star topology................................................................................................................................... 47
Fig. 4.4 Ring topology.................................................................................................................................. 47
Fig. 4.5 Tree topology................................................................................................................................... 48
Fig. 4.6 Mesh topology................................................................................................................................. 49
Fig. 5.1 Block diagram of CPU.................................................................................................................... 57
Fig. 5.2 Relative File - Organisation............................................................................................................. 60
Fig. 5.3 Files and folders arranged in a hierarchy......................................................................................... 61
Fig. 5.4 Sample data capture form................................................................................................................ 66
Fig. 5.5 Form filled by the customer............................................................................................................. 66
Fig. 6.1 Conceptual view of a computer system........................................................................................... 75
Fig. 6.2 Memory layout for a simple batch system....................................................................................... 85
Fig. 6.3 Memory layout for a multiprogramming system............................................................................. 87
Fig. 6.4 Spooling........................................................................................................................................... 88
Fig. 8.1 Basic hypertext enhanced by searches........................................................................................... 103

VII
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Computer evolution......................................................................................................................... 3
Table 4.1 Types of networks......................................................................................................................... 50
Table 5.1 Types of Data................................................................................................................................ 56
Table 5.2 File terminology............................................................................................................................ 63
Table 5.3 Records.......................................................................................................................................... 63
Table 5.4 Fields............................................................................................................................................. 64
Table 5.5 Types of validation........................................................................................................................ 68
Table 6.1 History of OS................................................................................................................................ 76
Table 6.2 Some Special $ Parameters Are Given Below.............................................................................. 80
Table 7.1 Types of threats and consequences............................................................................................... 96

VIII
Abbreviations
ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit
ARPA - Advanced Research Project Agency
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
BIOS - Basic Input Output System
BPS - Bits Per Second
CD - Compact Disk
COM - Computer Output Microfilms
CPU - Central Processing Unit
CRT - Cathode Ray Tube Displays
CU - Control Unit
DNS - Domain Name System
DPI - Dots Per Inch
DRAM - Dynamic RAM
DTP - Desktop Publishing
DVD - Digital Video Device or Digital Versatile Device
EDO RAM - Enhanced Data Output DRAM
EEPROM - Electronically Erasable PROM
EHF - Extremely High Frequency
EPROM - Erasable PROM
Gbps - Gigabits Per Second
GUI - Graphical User Interface
HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language
HTTP - The Hypertext Transfer Protocol
I/O - Input/Output
IAS - Immediate Access Storage
ICC - Integrated Circuit Card
ISCII - Indian Standard Code for Information Interchange
ISO - International Standards Organisation
LAN - Local Area Network
LCD - Liquid Crystal Display
LED - Light Emitted Diode
LLC - Logical Link Control
MAC - Media Access Control
MAN - Metropolitan Area Network
MICR - Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface
NSF - National Science Foundation
OC - Optical Carrier
OCR - Optical Character Readers
OMR - Optical Mark Readers
OS - Operating System
OSI - Open System Interconnection
PCB - Printed Circuit Board
PDAs - Personal Digital Assistants
PIMs - Personal Information Managers
PROM - Programmable ROM
RAM - Random Access Memory
RDRAM - RAM bus DRAM
ROM - Read Only Memory
SDRAM - Synchronous DRAM
SHF - Super-high frequency

IX
SRAM - Static RAM
STP - Shielded Twisted Pair
TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
URI - Uniform Resource Identifier
URL - Uniform Resource Locator
UTP - Unshielded Twisted Pair
VDT - Visual Display Terminals
VLF - Very Low Frequency
WAN - Wide Area Network
WORM - Write Once Read Many
WWW - World Wide Web
WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get

X
Chapter I
Introduction to Computers

Aim
The aim of the chapter is to:

• explain the concepts and features of computers

• elucidate ‘data representation’

• explicate the significance of computers in daily life

Objectives
The objectives of the chapter are to:

• explain important stages of computer evolution

• determine the method of data representation, and its standardisation

• enlist error-detecting methods

Learning outcome
After end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• identify characteristics and features of computer

• understand the method of data representation

• recognise error-detecting methods

1
Communication and Computer Application

1.1 Computers Everywhere

Computers are showing up everywhere you look, and even in places you can't see. Computers check out your
groceries, pump your gas, dispense money at the ATM, and turn the heat on and off, control the way your car runs.
They are everywhere!

In fact, computer is rapidly becoming, if it hasn't already gotten there, as tightly woven into the fabric of our lives
as the automobile. The analogy runs quite deep.

When automobiles were new, many people said "Those smelly, loud, complicated things will never replace the
horse!" and "Those things break down in just a few miles, while my faithful horse goes on and on and repairs itself!"
Nowadays it's hard to imagine the world without all the variety of four-wheeled, internal combustion vehicles. How
many can you name? Sedans, pickup trucks, fire engines, front-end loaders, 4-wheelers, golf carts, bulldozers,
cranes, vans, dump trucks and so on. We have an "automobile" for every purpose under heaven - and in different
models and colours, too. So it is with computers. There are different kinds of computers for different purposes with
variety in size, expense, and ability.

We can have a brief overview of how the computers we use today were developed and evolved to the current
stage.

1.2 History and Evolution

Historically, the word computer has been derived from the Latin word ‘computere,’ which means to calculate.
Therefore, the term computer can logically be applied to any calculating device. The Abacus, the first “automatic”
computer was invented in china as a first attempt at automating the counting process. Abacus is a machine which allows
the user to remember his current state of calculations while performing more complex mathematical operation.

Pioneers
Gottfried Leibniz Wilhelm, Blaise Pascal, Charles Babbage are the fore fathers of modern computers.
• Blaise Pascal invented one of the first mechanical calculator: The Pascaline
• Gottfried Leibniz Wilhelm invented the binary system which is the foundation of virtually all modern computer
architectures. It is used internally by modern computers. Made up of 0s and 1s, it is used for card readers, electric
circuits, and vacuum tubes.
• Charles Babbage is credited with invention of the first mechanical computer, called the Difference Engine,
which eventually led to more complex and advanced designs. He originated the concept of a programmable
computer.

Computer evolution as per the generations has been tabulated below:

Switching
Generation Years Storage device Software Applications
device
First 1949-55 Vacuum tubes Acoustic delay Machine and Mostly scientific, later
lines and later assembly simple business systems
magnetic drum. I K languages.
byte memory Simple
monitors
Second 1956-65 Transistors Magnetic core High level Extensive business
main memory, language. applications,
tapes and disk Fortran , Cobol, engineering design
peripheral memory Algol batch optimisation
100 Kbyte main operating
memory system

2
 Third 1966-75 Integrated High speed Fortran IV, Data base management
circuits (IC) magnetic cores. Cobol 68, PL/1, systems, online systems
Large disks (100 time shared
MB). IM byte main operating
memory system
Fourth (first 1975-84 Large scale Semi conductor Fortran 77, Personal computers,
decade) integrated memory. Pascal, Cobol Integrated CAD/CAM.
circuits, Winchester disk. 74 Real time control.
microprocessors 10 M byte main Graphics oriented
memory 1000 M systems
byte disks
Fourth 1985-91 Very large Semiconductor C, C++ Java, Simulation,
generation scale IC. Over memory. 1 GB Prolog visualisation, parallel
(second 3 million main memory. 100 computing multimedia
decade) transistors per GB disk
chip
Fifth 1991- Parallel Attachable hard Use of artificial Voice recognition and
generation present computing and drives, USB intelligence response to natural
superconductors drives used to add language
memory

Table 1.1 Computer evolution

1.3 Classification
Earlier, computers were classified as microcomputers, minicomputers, super minicomputers, main frames computers
and supercomputers. Due to technological advances, this classification is irrelevant in today’s time.

Now, all computers use microprocessors. Based on the mode of use, they can be classified as palmtop, laptop,
desktop and work station.

1.3.1 Definitions, Concepts and Features

A computer is an electronic device that executes the instructions in a program. A computer has four functions:

Input Accepts data

Processing Processes data
Output Produces output
Storage Stores results

The computer is omnipresent mainly for following features:

‚‚ Speed: A computer can do billions of actions per second.
‚‚ Reliability: Failures are usually due to human error, one way or another.
‚‚ Storage: A computer can store huge amounts of data.
• In technical parlance, the term computer refers specifically to an electronic computer. Virtually all computers are
“digital” because they are composed of digital (electronic) circuits built with microscopic transistors. Therefore,
they can only process digital data (discrete electronic signals).
• Most “real world” data is “analog” (continuous electronic signals, e.g. light, sound, movement and so on).
Therefore, it must be converted to digital (A/D conversion) when encoded and vice versa (D/A conversion)
when being decoded.

3
Communication and Computer Application

• Based on the above features, we can define a computer as essentially, an electronic device that can receive and
store data and perform a set of instructions called programs. The computers act upon these programs in a pre-
determined and predictable fashion to process the data in a desired manner.

The following words are so basic to computers that it is virtually impossible to talk about computers without using
them. Therefore, below are some preliminary definitions and details shall be covered later:
• Computer: It is an electronic machine that processes data (digital) into human information (numeric, text, or
physical) or controls electrical devices.
• Microcomputer: Computer based on a microprocessor
• Computer System: Hardware, software, data and procedures for using the system
• Hardware: Physical equipment of a computer system
• Software: Program that are installed and “run” on the computer
• Firmware: Software that is permanently stored in a computer’s read only memory
• Program: Set of step-by-step instructions, in a computer language, that commands a computer to execute a
specific task in finite time.

1.4 Data Representation

The characters and numbers fed to a computer and the output from the computer must be in a form readable and
usable by the people. For this purpose, natural language symbols and decimal digits are appropriate. These constitute
the external data representation. On the other hand, the representation of data inside a computer must match the
technology used by the computer to store and process data. All data to be stored and processed in computers are
transformed or coded as strings of two symbols, one symbol to represent each state.
• The two symbols used are 0 and 1. These are known as Binary digits or bits, an abbreviation for data
representation.

There are 4 unique combinations of two bits:

00 01 10 11
There are 8 unique combinations or strings of 3 bits each:
000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111
• Each unique string of bits may be used to represent or code a symbol. In order to code the 26 capital letters of
English, at least 26 unique strings of bits are needed. Five bits are sufficient as 32 strings of 5 bits each can be
formed.
• Coding of characters has been standardised to facilitate exchange of recorded data between computers. The
most popular standard is known as ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). This uses 7
bits to code each character.
• Besides codes for characters, in this standard, codes are defined to convey information such as end of line, end
of page and so on.
• In addition to ASCII, another code known as ISCII (Indian Standard Code for Information Interchange) has
been standardised by the Indian Standards Organisation. It is an eight bit code which allows English and Indian
script alphabets to be used simultaneously.
• A string of bits used to represent a character is known as byte. Characters coded in ISCII need 8 bits for each
character. The byte is commonly understood as a string of 8 bits.
Thus,
‚‚ 1 bit = 0 or 1, on or off
‚‚ 1 byte = 8 bits
‚‚ 1 kilobyte (K or KB) = 1024 bytes
‚‚ 1 megabyte (MB) = 1024 kilobytes

4
• You might wonder, why 1024 instead of 1000 bytes per kilobyte? That is because computers don't count by tens
like we do. Computers count by twos and powers of 2. Therefore, 1024 is 2 times itself ten times, i.e.
1024 is 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2

1.5 Error Detecting Codes

Errors may occur in recording data on magnetic surfaces due to bad spots on the surface or because of electrical
disturbances during data transmissions between units. The principle used to detect errors in codes is the introduction
of an extra bit along with each character code. A common method is the use of parity check bit. A parity check bit
is appended to the 7 bits of the code of each character in such a way that the total number of 1s in each character
code is even.

For example, the ASCII code of the letter E is 1000101. The number of 1s in the string is odd. A parity check bit 1
is appended to this string to obtain a code which is now 8 bits long and has an even number of 1s in it. If the ASCII
code of a character has already an even number of 1 s, then the parity check bit appended is 0. Whenever a character
is read from storage or received from a remote location, the 1s in its code are counted. It has to be even, if it is odd,
then at least one bit is wrong. A single error in any of the 8 bits of the code will definitely be detected.
Two errors cannot be detected in this scheme. But as the probability of more than 1 error occurring in practice is
small, this scheme is commonly accepted and is adequate. There are other error-detecting codes devised which can
detect more than one errors, and also correct those errors.

5
Communication and Computer Application

Summary
• Historically, the word computer has been derived from the Latin word ‘computere,’ which means to calculate.
Therefore, the term computer can logically be applied to any calculating device.
• The characters and numbers fed to a computer and the output from the computer must be in a form readable
and usable by the people.
• Errors may occur in recording data on magnetic surfaces due to bad spots on the surface or because of electrical
disturbances during data transmissions between units
• Computers are classified in to a number of generations based on the electronic technology used in constructing
the computer, and the associated system software and applications.
• As the physical devices used for storage and processing of data in computers are two-state devices, it is necessary
to transform or code all data using only two symbols.
• The American Standards Institution has evolved a standard code to represent characters to be stored and processed
by computers. The code is known as the ASCII code.
• Detection of errors during data processing is possible by adding an extra bit in the code. The bit appended to
the code is known as the parity check bit.

References
• Shelly, B. G., Freund, M. S. & Vermaat, M., 2010. Introduction to Computers, 8th ed. Cengage Learning.
• Joshi, R., 2006. Introduction To Computers, Gyan Publishing House.
• Introduction to Computers [Pdf] Available at: <http://220.227.161.86/20059ipcc_paper7A_vol1_cp1.pdf>
[Accessed 27 May 2013].
• Introduction to Computers [Pdf] Available at: <http://www.cengagesites.com/academic/assets/sites/5096/
dc_chapter1.pdf> [Accessed 27 May 2013].
• History of Computers [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvKxJ3bQRKE&list=
PL4D468968D6E4AF6C> [Accessed 27 May 2013].
• Dakshinamurthi, K., 2013. Classification of Computer [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=-yD3EtqnHwQ> [Accessed 27 May 2013]

Recommended Reading
• Venkatachalam, S., 1996. An Introduction to Computers, Pitambar Publishing.
• Gipp, J., 2008. Spotlight on Introduction to Computers, 2nd ed. Cengage Learning.
• Introduction to Computer Science, 2/e, 2nd ed. Pearson Education India

6
Self Assessment
1. The first automatic computer was ____________,
a. Vacuum tubes
b. Abacus
c. Transistors
d. Mini computer

2. Match the following

1. Blaise Pascal A. The binary system
2. Gottfried Leibniz Wilhelm B. Difference engine
3. Charles Babbage C. Mechanical calculators
a. 1-C, 2-A, 3-B
b. 1-C, 2-B, 3-A
c. 1-A, 2-C, 3-B
d. 1-B, 2-A, 3-C

3. The concept of programmable computers was originated by ____________.

a. B Pascal
b. Gottfried Leibniz Wilhelm
c. Charles Babbage:
d. Ada Lovelace Byron

4. Use of integrated circuits as a switching device was started from which generation of computers?
a. Third
b. Second
c. First
d. Fifth

5. Computers are classified as palmtop, laptop, desktop and work station based on ____________.
a. operating system
b. year of evolution
c. name of inventor
d. mode of use

6. Which of the following is not a feature of the computer?

a. Speed
b. Storage
c. Economy
d. Reliability

7. The two digits 0 and 1 used for data representation are known as ____________
a. symbols
b. bits
c. bytes
d. switch

7
Communication and Computer Application

8. A string of bits used to represent a character is known as ____________.

a. bit
b. code
c. byte
d. circuit

9. American Standard Code for Information Interchange has helped: (State which is not TRUE)
a. Standardise coding of characters
b. Facilitate in information exchange
c. Serve as an international standard
d. Detect errors

10. The common error detecting method is known as ____________

a. mega byte
b. parity check bit
c. bit
d. giga byte

8
Chapter II
Computer Components and Information Processing Cycle

Aim
The aim of the chapter is to:

• explain the components of computer

• explicate the information processing cycle

• elucidate the secondary storage devices

Objectives
The objectives of the chapter are to:

• expain the role of various input devices

• explicate important stages of computer processing in the CPU

• enlist various output devices

Learning outcome
After end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• understand the features of central processing unit

• describe various types of output devices

• identify secondary storage devices

9
Communication and Computer Application

2.1 Introduction
The first chapter described how data is represented for computers. Data in the form of binary digits is used by the
computer to give desired results. But how does the computer receive and use the data, how it is processed, how are
the results generated and conveyed?

To understand the information processing cycle of a computer, we first need to study about the parts or components
of a computer.

2.2 Components
As with most products, computers are designed in a variety of ways. There are, however, major similarities regardless
of the brand (e.g. Dell, Gateway, IBM) of the computer. A computer system accepts data as an input: processes that
data and provides data as output. During the processing the data must be stored. The processing is controlled by a
sequence of instructions - the program - which is stored in the computer. The basic components of a computer system
are therefore input devices, processor, backing storage devices and output devices. This fit together as depicted in
the following figures as a schematic representation, as well as the actual representation of a computer.

INPUT
Keybord
Digitizer (e.g. mouse)
Sorcon

CONTROL UNIT (CU) SECONDARY STORAGE

C Diskette, Hard Disk, Optical*
PRIMARY STORAGE
P (RAM and ROM) COMMUNICATIONS
U Telecommunications (modem)
ARITMETIC LOGIC UNIT (ALU)
Networks: Direct Connections

OUTPUT
Video (Screen)
Audio (Speaker)
Printer/Plotter

Fig. 2.1 Schematic representation of a computer system

(Source: http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/985/1/Unit%201.pdf)

2.3 Input Devices

The computer needs an input in some form to proceed with the next steps. Input and output devices are collectively
called I/O devices. Input devices (and also output devices) are the hardware interfaces between the human user and
computer system, but (as always) hardware is ‘driven’ by software, so when we talk about an I/O device, remember
there is an associated ‘device driver.’

2.3.1 Keyboard
• Keyboard is the most common data entry device having more than 100 keys on it. Almost all general-purpose
computers are supplied with a keyboard.
• When you press a key, a number (code) is sent to the computer to tell it which key you have pressed. Keyboards
are often used in conjunction with a screen on which the data entered are displayed.
• The keys on a keyboard are usually arranged in the same order as those on a typewriter. This layout of keys is called
QWERTY because Q-W-E-R-T-Y is the order in which the letters occur on the top row of the keyboard.

10
• Keyboards are widely used because they provide flexible method of data entry and can be used in most
applications. However, they do have limitations like entry using keyboard is a slow form of data entry process
and is prone to error.

2.3.2 Pointing Devices

These are also called Cursor Control Devices. Cursor Control Devices are used to place the cursor (a highlighted
screen location indicating where the next action will occur), select menu items, and control the computer by ‘clicking
buttons’ on the screen. If these are built into the computer they are called Integrated Pointing Devices. A few such
devices available are:
• Mouse: A standard device of GUI (Graphical User Interface). New versions are optic and have no moving parts.
An LED (Light Emitted Diode) records a reflected light which senses motion over a flat surface.
• Trackballs: Like an ‘upside-down mouse’: it has the advantage of being stationary.
• Joysticks: A hand-held stick that pivots about one end indicating 360 degree directions.
• Track point or pointing stick: A miniature joystick that responds to the touch of a single finger.
• Track pads: A touch sensitive surface that translates finger motion into cursor motion.

2.3.3 Pen Input Devices

These are based on screens that sense the location of a special pen that is connected to the terminal. Following are
some of the devices:
• Light pens either detect the monitor’s light or emit light that can be picked up by a specially designed
monitor.
• Styluses are pens with electronic point heads which activate pixels on the monitor, usually a LCD display.
• Handwriting recognition software translates alphanumeric to digitised equivalents: normally these needs to be
‘trained’ to recognise an individual’s carefully printed letters, numbers, and symbols. These have been rather
primitive, but significant advances have been made recently. They are the primary input device of hand-held
PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and PIMs (Personal Information Managers) state –of-the- art readers
reportedly are very accurate.
• Digitizing tablets are similar to light pens or styluses except one draws on a tablet rather than the screen.
• Touch screen recognises human touch and allows selection of menu items displayed on a monitor by touching
them.

2.3.4 Video Input Devices

Following are the various video input devices:
Digital cameras
• Digital cameras have optics like regular photographic cameras: however, they record the single images
electronically (rather than on photographic film) in digital form. These images are stored in camera’s RAM
(Random Access Memory), which like that in a computer is volatile.
• The images can be displayed immediately or stored on a secondary storage medium, e.g. a diskette, and processed
later using image processing software.

Digital video cameras

• These are digital cameras which can store sequences of digital images on magnetic tape and play them back as
‘movies.’ They are similar to camcorders, but camcorders store their images as analogue data.
• Digital video cameras are essential features of video conferencing where remote computers can actually control
a remote camera and remote users can share applications and collaborate on ‘whiteboards.’

11
Communication and Computer Application

Analogue image converters

• Photographs taken with regular cameras and videos recorded with camcorders store their images as analogue
data.
• There are special kinds of hardware that can take these images (scanning photographs or converting camcorder
tapes) and convert them to digital images which, like any other digital image, can be processed by computers.

2.3.5 Audio Input Devices

Following are the various audio input devices:
Digitized audio signals
• Audio (analogue) signals can be converted to digital signals by analogue to digital converters, processed by a
computer and converted back with digital to analog converters. This allows computer manipulation of music
(See MIDI, below), speech or any recordable sounds.
• Synthetic audio signals can be created by the computer.
• Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) devices allow the input and output to any musical instrument
capable of electrical I/O. The music, once digitised in the computer’s memory can be processed by musical
software giving incredible opportunities for creativity and innovation.

Voice input and speech recognition

• Microphones convert spoken words (analog signals) to digital signals that can be processed by a computer.
(Words are ‘digitised’)
• Digitized words are compared to ‘voice templates’ stored in memory.
‚‚ Customisable devices can be ‘trained’ to recognise an individual’s speech
‚‚ Current systems are still rather primitive and have limited vocabularies: however, rapid developments are
being reported.
• If a word is recognised, it is processed: if not, then the user has to give a recognisable input.

2.3.6 Graphic Capture Devices

Image scanners are popular examples of graphic capture devices. When a page of text already exists, like the page
that you are reading now, it can be directly put into a computer using a scanner. Scanner can be used to input not
only the texts, but also the photographs, drawings and so on. Image Scanners (Gray-scale or colour) digitize the
pictures (which are analog data). The resulting bitmapped images (Each pixel has a collection of bits that define its
colour) can be easily modified by graphics programs. The resolution of bitmapped images is measured in dpi, i.e.,
dots per inch.

2.3.7 Code Numbers

Barcode readers
• The bar code is a pattern of thick and thin bars divided by thick and thin spaces. Only the relative separations
and thickness of the bars are important.
• Barcodes can be printed in different sizes and colours. The barcode is read either by passing a light-pen over it
or by passing the bar code over a flatbed scanner.
• Barcodes are suitable for data input when all that is necessary is to identify an item, and the data input simply
comprises a code.
• The reading of the barcode records a transaction, and information is fed back to a computer database. Barcode
systems are easy to operate and have very low error rates.
• Occasionally, a scanner can read a barcode number incorrectly. A check digit is included in the barcode number
to reduce such incidents.

12
Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR)
• This input device is widely used by banks to process the tremendous volume of checks being received by
them.
• This can be seen at the bottom of a check leaf, where some code numbers are written using a special ink that
contains magnetisable particles of iron oxide.

Magnetic stripe code

• It is a short length of magnetic tape which may be stuck on the surface of a tag, card or document. On plastic
cards such as credit cards, the stripe is usually sealed in.
• Stripes store data in the form of magnetic spots which represent the 1’s and 0’s of the ASCII code.

Smart cards
• These have a memory store in the form of a very thin integrated circuit sealed into them.
• These can be used to store data about a customer, which can be updated as transactions are made using the
card.

2.3.8 Optical Input Devices

Following are the optical input devices:
Optical Character Readers (OCR)
• This device is similar in concept to MICR. Characters in a special font are printed on a document, and the reader
scans the document for reflected light patterns, then translates those patterns into a pattern of electrical signals,
which are passed to the computer store.

Optical Mark Readers (OMR)

• These are similar to OCR except that the reader recognises marks in appropriately positioned boxes rather than
characters.
• These are found in areas where responses are one out of a small number of alternatives and the volume of data
to be processed is large. One can notice the usage OMR in bank examinations.

2.4 Central Processing Unit

The data given as an input to the computer is then processed at the Central Processing Unit (CPU). It can be thought
of as a collection of processing and storage units within an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and Control Unit (CU)
that are linked internally and externally by busses which carry binary signals between. Higher the bandwidth or
processing speed of CPU the faster the machine is.

2.4.1 Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)

The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), as the name indicates, performs all the arithmetic and logic operation. ALU
consists of:
• Accumulator: It is the main data register where all the intermediate results of a calculation are kept (accumulated)
until the final result is determined (which is then stored in memory).
• Data registers are supplemental storage registers that support the operations of the accumulator.
• Computational circuits (e.g. a binary adder) performs mathematical operations.
• Operational circuits that perform logic operations: Here, all math operations are performed in binary numbers
and all logic operations are performed using binary operations. Math operations include addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division. Logical operations allow programs to contain repetition and selection, the two
essential control structures of programming. Logical operations performed by ALU include comparing two
quantities: keeping a counter and deciding the further route.

13
Communication and Computer Application

2.4.2 Control Unit (CU)

This unit controls the internal functioning of a computer and input/output units. The role of control unit in CPU
is that of a ‘manager’ or ‘a traffic cop.’ In other words, it controls and co-ordinates all hardware operations. The
components of CU (greatly oversimplified for illustrative purposes) are:
• Decoders interpret program instructions (object code written in machine language).
• Timer (or clock) sequences all CPU activities.
• Logical gates and circuits distribute signals which activate various components of the CPU.
• Program counter/register keeps track of the next instruction to be executed
• Registers is a group of (usually) bistable devices that are used to store information like instructions, address
and so on, within a computer system for high-speed access.

Primary CU
Functions of primary CU are:
• Read and interpret machine language instructions
• Control the transmission of data between ALU, registers, cashes, primary memory, and auxiliary memory
• Control the sequence of execution of program instruction (i.e. govern branching, jumping around within a
program) which allows repetition and selection
• Direct ALU as to what math or logic operations to perform.

2.4.3 Primary Memory

• Primary memory, also called main memory or internal memory, provides temporary storage of programs in
execution and the data being processed.
• It is known as Immediate Access Storage (IAS) as this is the portion of CPU which can be accessed directly.
• From the hardware point of view, the primary memory is formed by a large number of basic units referred to as
‘memory cells.’ Each memory cell is a device or an electronic circuit that has two or more stable states, which
represents the binary numbers 0 (Zero) or 1 (One).
• The computer can retrieve any item of data or any instruction stored in primary memory at lightning speed. The
modern computer does this in a few nano seconds.
• Primary memory can be further grouped into Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM).
Cache memory (small, fast RAM) is designed to hold frequently used data. Summary of the features of each
as given below:

Random Access Memory (RAM)

• This memory allows writing as well as reading of data, unlike ROM on which data cannot be written.
• It is a volatile storage because the contents of RAM are lost when the power (computer) is turned off. If you
want to store the data for later use, you have to transfer all the contents to a secondary storage device.

There are several types of RAM, the most popular of which include:
‚‚ Dynamic RAM (DRAM), although its name sounds sophisticated, is the oldest and simplest (and therefore
the slowest) type of RAM used today. The word ‘dynamic’ comes from the fact that it must be electronically
‘refreshed’ constantly in order to maintain the stored data.
‚‚ Static RAM (SRAM), unlike DRAM, does not need to be refreshed: its storage is fixed (as long as power
is supplied to the computer). This newer, more dependable, type of RAM is faster but more expensive than
DRAM. SRAM is often used for cache memory.
‚‚ Enhanced Data Output DRAM (EDO RAM) is a type of RAM that improves the memory access time on faster
microprocessors such as the Intel Pentium. EDO RAM was initially optimised for the 66 MHz Pentium.
‚‚ Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) is a new form of RAM that can be synchronised to the clock speed of the
computer, a powerful feature that optimises data access by the system buses.

14
 ‚‚ Ram bus DRAM (RDRAM) is Intel’s designated successor to SDRAM having an effective speed of 800 MHz
and a peak data transfer rate of 1.6 GBps. However, it has yet to prove itself, and there are several rivals,
e.g. DDR SDRAM, that are slower but have 64b bus widths thus providing comparable transfer rates.

Read Only Memory (ROM)

• Another type of microcomputer memory is read only memory. Data is ‘burnt’ into the ROM chip at the time
of manufacturing.
• Unlike RAM, the data on the ROM is non-volatile, i.e. data is not lost when the computer is switched off.

Following are the popular ROMs:

‚‚ Programmable ROM (PROM) can be programmed to record information using a facility known as a PROM-
programmer. Once the chip has been programmed, the recorded information cannot be changed.
‚‚ Erasable PROM (EPROM) is erased by shining ultraviolet light on the exposed chip. To write to or erase
from EPROM, one must use a PROM burner.
‚‚ Electronically Erasable PROM (EEPROM) is more convenient than EPROM, because it can be erased
electronically and can be written to in bytes.
‚‚ Flash Memory, a special type of EEPROM, can be erased and rewritten in multi-byte blocks rather than the
single bytes characteristic of EEPROM. Flash memory is most often used to hold control code such as the
Basic Input/output System (BIOS) in a personal computer: these are often called ‘flash BIOS’.

Cache Memory (small, fast RAM)

• It is designed to hold frequently used data. In general, Cache (high speed RAM that is configured to hold the
most frequently used data) is used to improve system performance.
• Memory cache or CPU cache is a dedicated bank of high-speed RAM chips used to cache data from primary
memory.
• When data is read from primary memory, a block larger than immediately necessary is stored in the cache under
the assumption that the next data needed by a program will be located near the data being read: when that data
is needed, it will then be waiting in the high speed cache.
• Memory Cache may be either built into the CPU (level 1, or L1, cache, e.g. Pentiums and PowerPCs) or contained
in separate chips (level 2, or L2, cache,).
• After the data received through the input devices is processed in the central processing unit, the data in the form
of result is dispatched through the output devices.

2.5 Output Devices

Output devices are the means by which computer systems communicate with people. Output devices accept data
from the processor and convert them into the required output format. The convenience of use of these devices and
the quality of their results has a significant impact on the effectiveness of a computer system. In other words, output
devices translate the data in the processor into a format that is suitable for people to use. Most ‘real world’ data is
analogue, i.e. it consists of continuous signals like sounds, pictures, voltage and so forth.

However, computers can only process digital data (discrete signals): therefore, input usually involves analogue to
digital conversion (A/D hardware) and output reverses the process using D/A converters. Output can be sub-classified
as either direct (to/from I/O devices) or indirect (to/from secondary storage). Output can also be divided into another
two kinds: hard copy output (paper, microfilm, etc.) provides a permanent record while soft copy output (visual,
audio, tactile, or action) is transient. Action output facilitates control of electromechanical devices, e.g. robotics.
For the sake of convenience, let us follow the given classification to discuss the output devices.

15
Communication and Computer Application

2.5.1 Visual Output Devices (Soft copy)

• Cathode Ray Tube Displays (CRTs)
‚‚ These are the most commonly seen output device. The computer screen is made of CRTs. They are also
called monitors or visual display terminals (VDTs).
‚‚ Monitors look identical to a television screen. They produce fast and virtually costless output of
information.
‚‚ CRTs use faster scan technology to portray images as bitmapped graphics on a phosphorescent screen.
Electrons are fired at the screen and light up tiny dots of phosphor, which then glow for a short period of
time. Each point is called a picture element or pixel.
‚‚ Since the phosphors glow momentarily, the electronic gun keeps on firing the electron beam at regular
intervals. This refreshing mechanism is measured in Hertz (Hz) or cycles per second. A low refresh rate
leads to screen flicker.
‚‚ Monochrome monitors use one colour images (usually black) on a one colour background (usually white),
e.g. old mainframe monitors. These are now virtually obsolete in PCs.
‚‚ On the other hand, colour monitors use a triad of red, green, and blue phosphor dots which are stimulated
in varying degrees to produce a wide range of colours.
‚‚ Composite video monitors (like TVs) have one electron gun. However, composite video has lower resolutions
than RGB monitors. RGB monitors use three electron beams which give a higher resolution display. Virtually,
all modern monitors are RGB.
‚‚ The quality of the screen display or its resolution depends on the number of pixels on the screen. Resolution
indicates the ability to show details: the more pixels per inch, the higher the resolution.
• Bitmapped CRTs allows individual pixels to be addressed thereby producing greater screen control: this is
the origin of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) applications that can incorporate high resolution
graphics (e.g. all modern PC monitors).
• On the other hand, old fashioned character-addressable CRTs only address or manipulate groups of pixels
(that form alphanumeric) and are inherently non-WYSIWYG and have crude graphics (e.g. mainframe and
minicomputer monitors).
• Vector Graphics screens create images by the electron gun tracing between specified points on the screen rather
than scanning every row: they are limited to special types of graphics monitors.
• Flat Panel Display, first introduced in watches and clocks in 1970s, is a technology now applied to display
terminals. They eliminate flicker and radiation and minimise size problems of CRTs. Further, they are popular for
their low energy consumption. However, the quality of the images is relatively poor. Hence, they are commonly
used in portable devices because of compactness and low energy requirements.
• Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is the most popular type, which has a thin layer of liquid crystal molecules divided
into small squares forming pixels that are held by two glass sheets. When power is applied to a square it turns
opaque. LCDs used to come in limited size, brightness and clarity, but current technology has significantly
improved.
• Gas-plasma displays give the best image (though low contrast), but they cannot be battery operated.
• Project Display is a small sized screen of the displays discussed above. Project displays provides an enlarged
image and could be projected on a large screen. These systems can be connected directly to the processor and
the output will be displayed on the large screens.

2.5.2 Audio Output Devices (Soft copy)

• The audio output device converts the digital signals and gives the output in an audible format. Speech synthesisers
transform digital computer signals into voice output. The voice maybe choppy and unnatural, but it is easily
understood. Audio output units have a varied application.
• Speech synthesizers use different methods of output. In the word analysis method, entire digitised words from
the computer’s vocabulary are combined under computer control, into digitised sentences and then converted
to analogue output. This requires a huge amount of memory.

16
• In the constructive synthesis method, the basic elements of speech, called ‘phonemes’ (only 40 in the English
language) are used to construct speech output governed by timing, pitch and inflection controls. This has minimal
memory requirements.

2.5.3 Hardcopy Devices (print and film)

Printers and Plotters
Printers
These are used to print the output data on paper. Such output is referred to as printout or hard copy. Printers can be
classified as follows, based on various characteristics:
• Image Formation (measured in dpi):
‚‚ Full character alphanumeric (no graphics) have a separate symbol on a ball, daisy wheels, thimble, band,
belt or chain mechanism.
‚‚ Dot-matrix alphanumeric and graphics are formed by patterns of dots from a single print head.
‚‚ Raster scan images (alphanumeric/graphics), e.g. laser printers, are like copiers.
• Image Transfer
‚‚ Impact printers transfer images by, the print head striking a ribbon like a typewriter.
‚‚ Non-impact printers transfer images by heat (electro-thermal and thermal-transfer printers), electrostatic
charge (laser printers), or by ‘drawing’ with ink jets.

Number of characters printed at one time, measured in ppm (pages per minute):
‚‚ Serial (bi-directional) printers print one alphanumeric or graphics pixel at a time.
‚‚ Chain printers transfer one line of alphanumeric or pixels at a time.
‚‚ Page printers (laser printers) utilise a combination of raster scan and xerographic technologies to produce
one whole page at a time.

Plotters
Though a few printers listed above are capable of producing graphics, there are a few special plotters exclusively
to print a good quality drawing and graphs. There are two types of plotters:
• Flatbed plotters have a drawing instrument (pen, ink-jet, electrostatic head, or heater element) that moves both
horizontally and vertically, under the control of input voltages, over a flat piece of stationary paper.
• Drum plotters have a drawing pen that move vertically, while the paper on a drum rotates under it.

2.5.4 Computer Output Microfilms (COM)

• Special computers can produce their output directly onto microfilm. In this way, vast amounts of data in human
readable form can be stored in a very small space without the need of large quantities of paper.
• The microfilm is read by using a special device which magnifies the text and pictures so that they can be seen
with naked eyes.

2.6 Data Storage

Storage refers to the media and methods used to keep information available for later use. Some things will be
needed right away while other won't be needed for extended periods of time. Therefore different methods of storage
are appropriate for different uses. The RAM, ROM, earlier described as a part of CPU, is the main memory of a
computer. Main memory keeps track of what is currently being processed. These memory chips are the fastest, but
most expensive, type of storage. It is volatile, meaning that turning the power off erases all of the data.

2.6.1 Auxiliary Storage/Secondary Storage

Auxiliary storage holds what is not currently being processed. This is the part that is ‘filed away’, but is readily
available when needed. It is non-volatile, meaning that turning the power off does not erase it.

17
Communication and Computer Application

The primary storage has already been discussed: the secondary storage devices are as follows.

2.6.2 Magnetic Disk

• A magnetic disk is a circular platter of plastic, which is coated with magnetised material. One of the key
components of a magnetic disk is a conducting coil named as Head (Read-write head) which performs the job
of reading and writing on the magnetic surface. The head remains stationary while the disk rotates below it for
reading or writing operation.
• All magnetic disks are similarly formatted, or divided into areas called tracks, sectors and cylinders.
• Disk sector is a wedge-shape piece of the disk, shown in grey. Each sector is numbered.

Fig. 2.2 Disk sectors

(Source: http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/lesson6/lesson6-3.htm)

Fig. 2.3 Track sectors

(Source: http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/lesson6/lesson6-3.htm)

• A track sector is the area of intersection of a track and a sector, shown in grey.
• The head of disk is a small coil and reads or writes on the position of the disk rotating below it: therefore, the
data is stored in concentric set of rings called tracks. The width of a track is equal to the width of the head. To
minimise the interference of magnetic fields and to minimise the errors of misalignment of head, the adjacent
tracks are separated by inter track gaps. As we go towards the outer tracks, the size of a track increases but to
simplify electronics same numbers of bits are stored on each track

18
 Sector

Inter Sector gap

Disk or Intra track gap
Platter

Intra track gap

Fig. 2.4 Logical layout of magnetic disk

(Source: http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/4831/1/unit%201.pdf)

• Floppy disks and hard disks are commonly used types of magnetic disk. Several other kinds of removable
magnetic media are in use, such as the Zip disk. All of these have a much higher capacity than floppy disks, but
each type of media requires its own drive.

Hard Disks
• These consist of 1 or more metal platters which are sealed inside a case. The metal is one which is magnetic.
• The hard disk is usually installed inside the computer's case, though there are removable and cartridge types,
also.
• Technically, a hard drive controls the motion of the hard disks containing the data. Though, most people use
‘hard disk’ and ‘hard drive’ interchangeably.

Floppy Disks
• A floppy disk is made of a flexible thin sheet of plastic material with a magnetic coating and grooves arranged
in concentric circles with tracks.
• Disk is removable from the reading device attached to the computer and therefore provides unlimited storage
capacity.
• The floppy disks are available in two sizes - 5.25 inches and 3.5 inches with capacity ranging from 360 KB to
1.44 MB per disk. However, use of floppy disks has completely stopped, due to the volatility and availability
of other improved mediums.

2.6.3 Magnetic Tapes

• Magnetic tapes are mounted on reels or a cartridge or a cassette of tape to store large volumes or backup data.
• These are cheaper and since are removable from the drive, they provide unlimited storage capacity. Information
retrieval from tapes is sequential and not random.
• These are not suitable for on-line retrieval of data, since sequential searching will take long time. These are
convenient for archival storage, or for backup.
• The tapes are one of the earliest storage devices having low cost, low speed, portability.

2.6.4 Optical Disks

In optical storage devices, the information is written using laser beam on a plastic coated disk which can store digital
data as tiny pits etched in the surface.

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Communication and Computer Application

Characteristics of optical disks

• They are formed of layers
• Data is in a spiral groove, starting from the centre of disk
• Data is in digital format (1s and 0s)
• 1s and 0s are formed by how the disk absorbs or reflects light from the tiny laser beam.

Working of optical disks

• An optical disk is made up of polycarbonate (a plastic). The data is stored on a layer inside the polycarbonate.
A metal layer reflects the laser light back to a sensor.
• To read the data on a disk, laser light shines through the polycarbonate and hits the data layer. How the laser
light is reflected or absorbed is read as a 1 or 0 by the computer.
• In a Compact Disk (CD), the data layer is near the top of the disk, the label side.
• In a DVD, the data layer is in the middle of the disk. A DVD can actually have data in two layers. It can access
the data from one side or from both sides.
• This is how a double-sided, double-layered DVD can hold 4 times the data that a single-sided, single-layered
DVD can.

Types of optical disks

Following are the types of optical disks
Read Only
• The most common type of optical disk is the CD-ROM, which stands for Compact Disk Read Only Memory.
It looks just like an audio CD but the recording format is quite different. CD-ROM disks are used for storing
computer software.
• DVD stands for Digital Video Device or Digital Versatile Device: DVDs are used for recording movies and
store large amounts of data.
• Write Once Read Many: The CDs and DVDs that are commercially produced are of the Write Once Read Many
(WORM) variety. They can't be changed once they are created. That is, they allow writing only once, while
data may be read many times.
• The data layer is physically moulded into the polycarbonate. Pits (depressions) and lands (surfaces) form the
digital data. A metal coating (usually aluminium) reflects the laser light back to the sensor. Oxygen can seep
into the disk, especially in high temperatures and high humidity. This corrodes the aluminium, making it too
dull to reflect the laser correctly.
• CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks are readable for many years, if stored in good condition.

Write Once
• The optical disks that you can record on your own computer are CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R disks, and called
as writable or recordable disks.
• Here, the metal and data layers are separate and metal layer can be of gold, silver, or a silver alloy.
• Gold layers are best because gold does not corrode. Naturally, the best is more expensive. Sulphur dioxide in
air can seep in and corrode silver over time.
• The data layer is an organic dye that the writing laser changes. Once the laser modifies the dye, it cannot be
changed again. Ultraviolet light and heat can degrade the organic dye.
• A writable disk is useful as a backup medium when long-term storage of data is required. It is less efficient for
data that changes often, since a new recording is required each time the changed data is saved.

20
Rewrite
• An option for backup storage of changing data is rewritable disks, i.e. CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW,
DVD+RAM.
• The data layer for these disks uses a phase-changing metal alloy film. This film can be melted by the laser's heat
to level out the marks made by earlier data and then again the new data can be recorded with laser.
• We can erase and write on these disks as many as 1000 times, for CD-RW, and even 100,000 times for the
DVD-RW types.

Advantages of optical disks

• Physical: An optical disk is much sturdier than tape or a floppy disk. It is physically harder to break or melt or
warp.
• Delicacy: It is not sensitive to being touched, though it can get too dirty or scratched to be read, but it can be
cleaned.
• Magnetic: It is entirely unaffected by magnetic fields.
• Capacity: Optical disks hold a lot of data, especial the double-sided DVDs.
• For software providers, an optical disk is a great way to store the software and data that they want to distribute
or sell.

Disadvantages of optical disks

• Cost
‚‚ The cost of a CD-RW has dropped drastically in short period of time.
‚‚ The cost of disks can add up, too. Recordable disks (one time only) are also getting cheaper. But we have
to be careful about the capacity and maximum recording speed.
‚‚ For commercial use, the read/write drives are quite cost effective. For personal use, they are available and
are cheap enough to use for data storage for everyone.
• Duplication
‚‚ It is not quite as easy or as fast to copy an optical disk as it is to copy files to a USB flash drive. You need
the software and hardware for writing disks

2.6.5 Flash Memory

• Several different brands of removable storage cards, also called as memory cards, are available in the market.
These are solid state devices that read and write data electrically and not magnetically.
• Devices like digital cameras, mobile phones and the like. may use compact flash, smart media, memory stick
or another flash memory card.
• Laptops use PCMCIA cards, which are a type of flash memory. They are as solid as hard disks.

2.6.6 USB Drives

• It is also known as flash drive, jump drive, flash pen, key drive etc.
• They can be plugged in to a USB port of computer, without any requirement of drivers.
• The storage capacities vary from 8MB to 128GB or more.

2.6.7 Removable Hard Drives

Various types of special drives that compress data are available. Since they provide high storage capacity, they can
be used for back up as well.

21
Communication and Computer Application

2.6.8 Smart Cards

• A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC) is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated
circuits.
• There are two broad categories of ICCs. Memory cards containing only non-volatile memory storage components,
and perhaps dedicated security logic. Microprocessor cards containing volatile memory and microprocessor
components.
• The card is made of plastic. The most common smart card applications are: credit cards, electronic cash, computer
security systems and so on.

2.6.9 Optical Cards

The material is comprised of several layers that react when a laser light is directed at them. The laser burns a tiny hole
(2.25 microns in diameter) in the material which can then be sensed by a low power laser during the read cycle.
• The presence or absence of the burn spot indicates a 1 or 0. Because the material is actually burned during the
write cycle, the media is a ‘Write Once Read Many’ type and the data is non volatile (not lost when power is
removed).
• Optical cards hold on the order of 1,000x the amount of information as the typical smart card and the data, once
written, is permanent and cannot be erased or altered in any way. Optical cards, unlike smart cards, are also
impervious to electric and magnetic fields and also to static electricity.

Thus, we now have a complete picture of what the computer consists of and how all the components work together
as a process. The idea of how data is received, and how it is processed to give the desired outputs in a required
format should be clear.

22
Summary
• The core components of a computer are input devices, processor, backing storage devices and output devices.
• Data to be processed by computer needs to be converted in a machine readable form which can be done using
various input devices listed.
• Input can be provided by using any of the options like keyboard, pointing devices, pen input devices, video and
audio input devices or graphical capture.
• This data is then processed at the CPU which comprises of the Arithmetic Logic Unit, Control Unit and the
Primary Memory, i.e. RAM, ROM and cache.
• The processed data can be obtained by various output devices. Options for output are visual output devices like
the monitor, audio output devices, hardcopies through printers and computer output micro films
• The processed data can also be stored in various secondary storage devices. These storage devices are magnetic
disks, magnetic tapes, optical disks, flash memory, USB drives, smart cards, etc.
• Storage is useful for further reference and back up.

References
• Shelly, B. G. & Vermaat, E. M., 2009. Discovering Computers: Living in a Digital World : Fundamentals, 6th
ed. Cengage Learning.
• Shim, K. J., 2002. Information Systems and Technology for the Noninformation Systems Executive: An Integrated
Resource Management Guide for the 21st Century, CRC Press.
• Information Processing 10, 20, 30 Curriculum Guidelines [Pdf] Available at: <http://www.edcentre.ca/resources/
info10/currmain.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Computer Fundamentals and Troubleshooting, [Pdf] Available at: <http://infosecawareness.in/downloads/
handbooks/computer-fundamentals-and-troubleshooting.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Prof. Kumar, A., 208. Lecture -1 Introduction to Computer Architecture [Video online] Available at: <http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TzMyXmzL8M> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Janossy, J., Computer components [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZH3H7XIUuc>
[Accessed 28 May 2013]

Recommended Reading
• P. Norton, 2002. Introduction To Computers (Sie), Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
• Shelly, B. G. & Vermaat, E. M., 2008. Discovering Computers 2009, Cengage Learning.
• Shelly, B. G. & Vermaat, E. M., 2011. Discovering Computers, Brief: Your Interactive Guide to the Digital
World, Cengage Learning

23
Communication and Computer Application

Self Assessment
1. The layout of keys is called QWERTY because
a. QWERTY is easy to type
b. Q-W-E-R-T-Y is the order in which the letters occur on the top row of the keyboard.
c. It is the name of the keyboard
d. It is the basic design of keyboard

2. Immediate access storage is also known as ____________

a. primary memory
b. secondary memory
c. magnetic disk
d. optical disk

3. Which is not a part of graphical capture type of input?

a. Barcode
b. Smart card
c. Digitizing tablet
d. Optical character readers

4. Track balls, joysticks and track pads are all types of ____________ devices.
a. pen
b. converting
c. signal
d. pointing

5. Arithmetic logic unit does not constitute of ____________

a. data registers
b. decoders
c. computational circuits
d. accumulator

6. Which of the following is not a type of RAM?

a. DRAM
b. SRAM
c. DDRAM
d. SDRAM

7. ____________is a dedicated bank of high-speed RAM chips used to cache data from primary memory.
a. RAM
b. ROM
c. Flash memory
d. Memory cache

24
8. Cathode ray tube display is also known as ____________
a. monitor
b. logical gate
c. computational circuit
d. action output

9. Which of the following is a volatile memory?

a. Floppy disk
b. Optical disk
c. Cache memory
d. Flash memory

10. Which type of storage device uses electricity to write data?

a. Hard disk
b. Flash memory
c. Floppy disk
d. Magnetic tapes

25
Communication and Computer Application

Chapter III
Hardware and Software

Aim
The aim of the chapter is to:

• explain the types of hardware and software

• elucidate the concept of programmin language

• explicate systems software

Objectives
The objectives of the chapter are to:

• determine the role of motherboard as an important hardware component

• explain the concept of system software and some important types

• explicate application software and its types

Learning outcome
After end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

• undertsand the concept of BIOS

• describe the functions of operating system

• identify the types of operating system

26
3.1 Introduction
All physical contents of computer are hardware. This form is given to all electrical and mechanical devices attached
to the computer for the purpose of input, process, and storage and output operations. Primary hardware is the CPU
and its other units i.e. circuits and IC's. Secondary harware is the memory or storage area of computer.

Software is a general term used for computer Programs. A computer program is a planned, step by step set of
instructions that directs the computer what to do and how to do. It turns the data into information - that makes a
computer useful.

3.2 Hardware
The electrical, electronic, mechanical, and magnetic components that make up the computer system are together termed
as ‘hardware.’ These include components that are responsible for user input, display, and mathematical processing. The
CPU, disk drives, internal chips and wiring, modem, peripheral devices like the monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer,
speakers and so forth are together termed as computer hardware. Most of the components of hardware have been
described and discussed in chapter 2. But an important component to be described here is the ‘Motherboard.’

3.2.1 Motherboard
A motherboard is the central Printed Circuit Board (PCB) in many modern computers and holds many crucial
components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes
alternatively known as the main board or system board. It is the main component inside the case, consisting of large
rectangular board with integrated circuitry that connects the rest of the parts of the computer including the CPU,
the RAM, the disk drives (CD, DVD, hard disk, or any others) as well as any peripherals connected via the ports
or the expansion slots.

Components directly attached to the motherboard include:

• The Central Processing Unit (CPU)
• The chip set, mediating communication between the CPU and the other components of the system, including
main memory
• RAM (Random Access Memory)
• The Basic Input Output System (BIOS), including boot firmware and power management. The tasks of BIOS
are handled by operating system drivers.
• Internal Buses which connect the CPU to various internal components and to expansion cards for graphics and
sound.
• External Bus Controllers that support ports for external peripherals. These ports may be controlled directly by
the south bridge I/O controller or based on expansion cards attached to the motherboard through the PCI bus.

3.3 Software
Computer software, or just software, is the collection of computer programs and related data that instructs a computer
to perform desired task or action. We can also say software refers to one or more computer programs and data held
in the storage of the computer for some specific purposes. The term was coined to contrast to the old term hardware
(meaning physical devices). In contrast to hardware, software is intangible, meaning it "cannot be touched."

There are two broad categories of software;

• Systems software
• Application software.

The process of software development is called programming. Knowledge of programming languages is must to
develop various programs. We will first have a brief overview about programming languages and then on the types
of software.

27
Communication and Computer Application

3.4 Programming Languages

Programming languages are developed with the primary objective of facilitating a large number of people to use
computers without the need to know in detail the internal structure of the computer. Languages are also designed
to be machine independent. Ideally, one should be able to execute a program on any computer regardless of its
manufacturer or model. We can choose any language for writing a program according to the need. But a computer
executes programs only after they are represented internally in binary form (sequences of 1s and 0's). Programs
written in any other language must be translated to the binary representation of the instructions before they can be
executed by the computer.

Important categories or generations of programming languages are described below.

3.4.1 Machine Language

• This is a sequence of instructions written in the form of binary numbers consisting of 1's. 0's to which the
computer responds directly. The machine language was initially referred to as code, although now the term code
is used more broadly to refer to any program text.
• An instruction prepared in any machine language will have at least two parts. The first part is the Command or
Operation, which instructs the computer about the function to be performed. All computers have an operation
code for each of its functions.
• The second part of the instruction is the Operand or it tells the computer where to find or store the data that has
to be manipulated.
• Just as hardware is classified into generations based on technology, computer languages also have a generation
classification based on the level of interaction with the machine. Machine language is considered to be the first
generation language.

3.4.2 Assembly Language

• When symbols (letters, digits or special characters) are used for the operation part, the address part and other
parts of the instruction code, then such representation is called as an assembly language program.
• This is considered to be the second generation language. Machine and assembly languages are referred to as
low level languages since the coding for a problem is at the individual instruction level.

3.4.3 High Level Language

• High level languages are also called procedural languages. Programming languages such as C, COBOL,
FORTRAN and BASIC are high level languages. As the time and cost for creating machine and assembly
languages are high, the high level languages were developed.
• A program written in a high level language should be translated into a machine compatible form and this is
done by software (language translator) called compiler. A compiler takes a high-level-language program and
translates it into an executable machine-language program. There is another kind of software called interpreter
which also does the translation.

3.4.4 Fourth Generation Language

• Fourth Generation Language, referred to as 4GL, is a high level language that requires significantly fewer
instructions than a third generation language does to accomplish a particular task. Thus, the programmer should
be able to write a program faster in 4GL than in the third generation language.
• Most 4GLs are non-procedural, i.e. the programmer does not have to give the details of procedure in a program,
but instead specify what is desired.

28
3.4.5 Natural Language
• Programming languages that use human language to give people more natural interaction with computers are
natural languages. Natural languages allow questions or commands to be framed in a more conversational
way.
• Natural languages are the part of the field of study known as Artificial Intelligence. Artificial intelligence is a
group of related technologies that attempt to develop machines capable of emulating human-like qualities such
as learning, reasoning, communicating, seeing, and hearing.

Using any of the suitable programming language, one can write a software program. As described earlier, there are
two types of software, which are discussed underneath;

3.5 Systems Software

System software is computer software designed to operate the computer hardware and to provide and maintain a
platform for running application software.

The most basic types of system software are:

• The computer BIOS and device firmware, which provide basic functionality to operate and control the hardware
connected to or built into the computer.
• The operating system (prominent examples being Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux), which allows
the parts of a computer to work together by performing tasks like transferring data between memory and disks
or rendering output onto a display device. It also provides a platform to run high-level system software and
application software.
• Utility software, which helps to analyze, configure, optimise and maintain the computer.

3.5.1 BIOS
• The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) is the most fundamental software of a computer system. It is the firmware
that ‘boots’ your computer, i.e. it starts computer when it is switched on. (This feature is the basis of the BIOS
being called a ‘bootstrap program,’ particularly in older computer terminology.)
• It checks your system hardware, loads the operating system and files system from secondary storage into RAM,
executes the operating system and then turns control of the system over to the operating system.
• The BIOS also assists the operating system by governing the flow of data to and from peripheral devices, thus
acting as an interface between input/output devices and the operating system.
• The BIOS typically is provided on EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory).
This makes it possible to upgrade system BIOS by ‘flashing your BIOS’, i.e. writing a new program to the
firmware.

3.5.2 Operating System (OS)

An operating system is an essential component of a computer system and its primary objective is to make computer
system convenient to use and utilise computer hardware in an efficient manner. An OS is a large collection of
software, which manages resources of the computer system, such as memory, processor, file system and input/output
devices. It keeps track of the status of each resource and decides who will have a control over computer resources,
for how long and when.

Functions of operating system

• Allocating system resources: The operating system directs the traffic inside the computer, deciding what resources
will be used and for how long.
• Time: Time in the CPU is divided into time slices which are measured in milliseconds. Each task that CPU does
is assigned a certain number of time slices. When time expires, another task gets a turn and the first task must
wait until it has another turn. Since time slices are so small, you usually can't tell that any sharing is going on.
Tasks can be assigned priorities so that high priority (foreground) tasks get more time slices than low priority
(background) tasks.

29
Communication and Computer Application

• Memory: Memory must be managed also by the operating system. All those rotating turns of CPU use leave
data waiting around in buffers. Care must be taken not to lose data. One way to help out the traffic jam is to use
virtual memory. This includes disk space as part of main memory. While it is slower to put data on a hard disk,
it increases the amount of data that can be held in memory at one time. When the memory chips get full, some
of the data is paged out to the hard disk. This is called swapping. Windows uses a swap file for this purpose.
• Input and output: Flow control is also part of the operating system's responsibilities. The operating system
must manage all requests to read data from disks or tape and all writes to these and to printers. To speed up the
output to printers, most operating systems now allow for print spooling, where the data to be printed is first
put in a file. This frees up the processor for other work in between the times when data is going to the printer.
A printer can handle limited at a time. Without print spooling, one has to wait for a print job to finish before
doing anything else. With it, one can request several print jobs and go on working. The print spool will hold all
the orders and process them in turn.
• Monitoring system activities: Following are the activities monitored by the OS:
‚‚ System performance :A user or administrator can check to see whether the computer or network is getting
overloaded. Changes could be made to the way tasks are allocated. System performance would include
response time and CPU utilisation.
‚‚ System security: Some system security is part of the operating system, though additional software can add
more security functions. For multiple users who are not all allowed access to everything, there must be a
logon or login procedure where the user supplies a user name or ID and a password. An administrator must
set up the permissions list of who can have access to what programs and data.
• File and disk management: Keeping track of what files are where is a major job. An operating system comes
with basic file management commands, where, a user needs to be able to create directories for storing files. A
user needs to copy, move, delete, and rename files. This is the category of operating system functions that the
user actually sees the most. A more technical task is that of disk management. Under some operating systems,
hard disk can be divided up or partitioned into several virtual disks. The operating system treats each virtual disk
as a physically separate disk. Managing several physical and/or virtual disks can get pretty complex, especially
if some of the disks are set up with different operating systems.

Types of operating system

• Batch operating system: It requires grouping of similar jobs consisting programs, data and system commands.
The suitability of this type of processing is in programs with large computation time with no need of user
interaction or involvement. Some examples of such programs include payroll, forecasting, statistical analysis,
and large scientific number crunching programs. Users are not required to wait while the job is being processed.
They can submit their programs to system and collect the results later.
• Multiprogramming operating system: Multiprogramming operating systems, compared to batch operating
systems, are fairly sophisticated. They have a significant potential for improving system throughput and resource
utilisation with very minor differences. Different forms of multiprogramming operating system are multitasking,
multiprocessor and multi-user operating systems.
• Network operating system: A network operating system is a collection of software and associated protocols that
allow a set of autonomous computers, which are interconnected by a computer network, to be used together
in a convenient and cost-effective manner. In a network operating system, the users are aware of existence of
multiple computers and can log into remote machines and copy files from one machine to the other.
• Distributed operating system: A distributed operating system is one that looks like an ordinary centralised
operating system but runs on multiple independent CPUs. The key concept here is transparency. In other words,
the use of multiple processors should be invisible to the user. Another way of expressing the same idea is to
say that user views the system as virtual uni processor but not as a collection of distinct machines. In a true
distributed system, users are not aware of where their programs are being run or where their files are residing;
they are all handled automatically and efficiently by the operating system.

30
3.5.3 Utility Software
Utility software is a kind of system software designed to help analyse, configure, optimise and maintain the
computer. A single piece of utility software is usually called a utility. Utility software usually focuses on how the
computer infrastructure, including the computer hardware, operating system, and application software and data
storage operates. Due to this focus, utilities are often rather technical and targeted at people with an advanced level
of computer knowledge.

3.6 Application Software

Application software is written to enable the computer to solve a specific data processing task. A number of powerful
application software packages, which does not require significant programming knowledge, have been developed.
These are easy to use and learn, as compared to the programming languages. Although such packages can perform
many general and special functions, there are applications where these are not found to be adequate. In such cases,
application program is written to meet the exact requirements. A user application program may be written using one
of these packages or a programming language.

The most important categories of software packages available are:

• Data Base Management Software
• Spreadsheet Software
• Word Processing, Desktop Publishing (DTP), Presentation Software and Graphics Software
‚‚ Data Communication Software
‚‚ Statistical and Operational Research Software.

We will have a brief overview of some of the application soft wares.

Word Processing
• Word processing is the most used computer application, which has largely replaced the typewriter. It facilitates
revision and correction of documents before they are printed.
• An existing document can be used as a template, or pattern, for a new one. So the user doesn't have to recreate
standard documents from scratch each time. This is a major time-saver and helps keep things consistent.
• Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Lotus WordPro, and Open Office Writer are some examples of word processing
programs.
‚‚ Purpose - to produce documents
‚‚ Main advantage
-- easy to edit documents
-- can reuse existing documents as a template.

Spread sheets
• A spreadsheet is the application of choice for most documents that organise numbers like budgets, financial
statements, grade sheets, and sales records.
• A spreadsheet can perform simple or complex calculations on the numbers entered in rows and columns. Examples
of spreadsheet programs are MS Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro, and Open Office Calc.
‚‚ Purpose - organising numbers
‚‚ Main advantage
-- can calculate using formulas
-- auto-update of related numbers when data changes
-- can display data in graphs and charts.

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Communication and Computer Application

Database Management Software

• A database is a collection of data that is to be managed, rearranged, and to be added to later. With a database
one can sort the data by name or city or postal code or by any individual item of information recorded.
• One can create forms to enter or update or just display the data or create reports that show just the data of interest,
like members who owe dues and so on.
• Both spreadsheets and databases can be used to handle much the same information, but each is optimised to handle
a different type most efficiently. The larger the number of records, the more important the differences are.
• Examples of databases are MS Access, dBase, FoxPro, Paradox, Approach, Oracle, Open Office Base.
‚‚ Purpose - managing data
‚‚ Major Advantages
-- can change the way data is sorted and displayed.

Graphics Software
• Graphics programs deal with pictures, static or moving, flat or 3D. There are an amazing number of different
formats for images in the world and no one program can handle them all.
• Adobe Photoshop is the most widely used graphics program for professionals. Paint Shop Pro is popular because
it offers most of Photoshop's features at a lower cost and with a friendlier interface. There are many other
programs, of which, some specialise in handling photographs or animations or creating logos.
‚‚ Purpose - to create and edit images
‚‚ Major Advantages
-- important tool for professionals in photo or image processing
-- easily creates illustrations, logos.

32
Summary
• A computer system is a combination of hardware and software.
• Computer hardware is the physical part of a computer.
• These include components that are responsible for user input, display, and mathematical processing. The CPU,
motherboard, disk drives, internal chips and wiring, modem, peripheral devices like the monitor, keyboard,
mouse, printer, speakers and so on are together termed as computer hardware.
• Computer software is the intangible part unlike the hardware.
• Soft wares are classified as systems and application software.
• Both the systems software and the application software are responsible for roles as their names suggests. Systems
software operates the hardware and maintains a platform for running application soft wares.
• As people need language to write, computer also requires languages to write software programs (both system
software programs and application software programs.) They are known as programming languages.
• Programming languages are categorised as machine language, assembly language, high level language, and
natural language. Appropriate language is chosen to write programs for systems or application software.

References
• Bose, K. S., 1996. Hardware And Software Of Personal Computers, New Age International.
• Gookin, G., 2011. PCs For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons.
• Introduction To Computers: Hardware and Software [Pdf] Available at: <http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.
ca/~tamj/2005/231W/notes/acrobat/computers_economy.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• BASIC CONCEPTS IN COMPUTER HARDWARE AND BASIC CONCEPTS IN COMPUTER HARDWARE
AND SOFTWARE [Pdf] Available at: <http://wikieducator.org/images/1/11/Basic_Concepts_in_Computer_
Hardware_and_Software.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Intro to Computer Hardware Chapter 1.wmv [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ZOKsmiLcSlo> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Lecture - 3 Introduction To System : Hardware [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=FOyuMclwymw> [Accessed 28 May 2013]

Recommended Reading
• Schneidewind, F. N., 2012. Computer, Network, Software, and Hardware Engineering with Applications, John
Wiley & Sons.
• Sichel, E. D., 1997. The computer revolution: an economic perspective, Brookings Institution Press.
• Preez, D. A., Dyk, V. V. & Cook, A., 2008. FCS Computer Hardware & Software L3, Pearson South Africa

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Communication and Computer Application

Self Assessment
1. The electrical, electronic, mechanical and ____________components that make up the computer system are
together termed as ‘hardware’.
a. maintenance
b. magnetic
c. automatic
d. logical

2. Which component of the motherboard mediates communication between the CPU and the other components
of the system, including main memory?
a. Chip set
b. RAM
c. Bios
d. Bus controller

3. Functions of an operating system are; state which one of the following is false?
a. Allocating resources
b. Monitoring system activities
c. Creating resources
d. File and disk management

4. Multitasking, multiprocessor and multi-user operating systems are sub types of which operating system?
a. Network operating system
b. Distributed system
c. Batch operating system
d. Multi programming operation system

5. Data is paged out to the hard disk in case memory chips get full, this is known as ____________
a. mapping
b. swapping
c. flagging
d. flapping

6. Operation and operand are parts of which category of programming language?

a. Machine language
b. COBOL
c. Assembly language
d. Natural language

7. Identify the system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimise and maintain the computer;
a. Windows
b. DOS
c. Operating system
d. Utility software

34
8. Time in the CPU is divided into ____________.
a. slices
b. sections
c. factors
d. quarters

9. Which of the following is a non-procedural language?

a. Natural language
b. Fourth generation language
c. FORTRAN
d. C+

10. ____________are easy to learn and use as compared to the programming languages.
a. System soft wares
b. Machine language
c. Application soft wares
d. Operation soft wares

35
Communication and Computer Application

Chapter IV
Communication and Networks

Aim
The aim of the chapter is to:

• explain the communications and network between computers

• elucidate types of communication channel

• explicate the standard networking protocols

Objectives
The objectives of the chapter are to:

• explain the role of communication channels in networks

• elucidate client-to-peer and peer-to-peer network configuration

• enlist the types of topology for networks

Learning outcome
After end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• identify and list network communication channels

• understand wired and wireless communication channels

• describe types of topologies and types of networks

36
4.1 Introduction
A standalone computer in today’s context is not very useful, but coupled with communication technology; it opens
up an enormous repository of information to its users. The concept of data communication evolved from sharing
the computation power of a computer along with various resources available in a computer environment such as
printers, hard disk and so on.

With increasing demand for exchange of information across the globe, the need for data communication has increased
in many folds. Due to physical constraints involved in connecting two remote points, physical data communication
has emerged as an instant solution.

4.2 Computer Networks

In human life, people connect and relate to each other for various reasons like friendship, common goals, and common
work area. Whatever the reason may be, these connections form networks of people. Similarly, for computers,
although a standalone computer is of great help and assistance, when more than one computer is involved as a part
of network, their beneficial value increases enormously. Computers may be networked (physically), through wires
or connected without wires. We will have a detailed account of definitions, and concepts related to communication
and computer networks in this chapter.

Computer networks may be defined as, “a collection of computers and devices interconnected by communication
channels that facilitate communication among users and allows users to share resources.”

4.3 Goals of Networks

Networks are set up to satisfy certain basic goals. Some of the goals that a network should achieve are:
• Cost reduction by sharing hardware and software resources
• Provide high reliability by having multiple sources of supply
• Provide an efficient means of transport for large volumes of data among various locations
• Provide inter-process communication among users and processors
• Reduction in delay driving data transport
• Increase productivity by making it easier to share data amongst users
• Repairs, upgrades, expansions, and changes to the network should be performed with minimal impact on the
majority of network users
• Standards and protocols should be supported to allow many types of equipment from different vendors to share
the network (inter operability)
• Provide centralised/distributed management and allocation of network resources like host processors, transmission
facilities and so forth.

4.4 Communication Channels

To network computers, a physical or non-physical connection needs to be established. This can be achieved using
communication channels.
• A communication channel is the path—transmission medium—over which information travels in a communication
system from its source to its destination. Channels are also called links, lines, or media.
• Communication devices use analog electromagnetic signals representing data to transmit information from
one device to another. Electromagnetic signals can travel through vacuum, air or other transmission media like
wire, fibre optics and so on.
• Communication channels which use a physical medium for transmission (twisted pair wire, coaxial cable, and
fibre optic cable) are called wired channels. Communication channels which do not require any physical medium
for transmission (radio, microwave and communication satellite) are called wireless channels.
• The basis for all communication channels both wired and wireless, are the electromagnetic spectrum. The
spectrum covers frequencies for voice, radio waves, infrared light, visible light, and ultraviolet light and X,
gamma and cosmic rays.

37
Communication and Computer Application

4.4.1 Wired Channels (Twisted-pair Wire, Coaxial Cable and Fibre-optic Cable)
These media are also called guided media since they provide a conduit from one device to another, a signal travelling
along any of these media is directed and contained by the physical limits of the medium.

Wired communication channels use the following physical media:

• Twisted-pair wire
• Coaxial cable
• Fibre-optic cable

Optical fibre is a glass or plastic cable that accepts and transports signals in the form of light. Let us look more
closely at each of the medium.

Twisted-pair Wire
• Twisted-pair and coaxial cable use metallic (copper) conductors that accept and transport signals in the form
of electrical current. Twisted-pair wire are of two types: Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) and Shielded Twisted
Pair (STP).
‚‚ Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) is the most common type and also used in telephone lines. A twisted pair
consists of two conductors (copper) each with its own coloured plastic insulation and twisted around each
other. Twisted pair configuration reduces interference from electrical field as compared to parallel pair
configuration. Unshielded twisted pair is currently the cable standard for most networks. It is relatively
inexpensive, easy to install, very reliable, and easy to maintain and expand. UTP support a maximum data
rate of 155 Mbps.
‚‚ Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) wire has a metal foil or braided mesh covering that encases each pair of
insulated conductors. The metal casing prevents the penetration of electromagnetic noise and the quality of
transmission improves. In all other respects it resembles UTP.

Coaxial Cable
• Coaxial cable (simply called coax) has a central core conductor of solid or standard wire (usually copper) enclosed
in an insulating sheath, which is, in turn, encased in an outer conductor of metal foil, braid or a combination of
the two (also usually copper).
• The outer metallic wrapping serves both as a shield against noise and as the second conductor, which completes
the circuit.
• This outer conductor is also enclosed in an insulating sheath, and the whole cable is protected by a plastic cover.
Coaxial cable carries signals of higher frequency ranges than twisted-pair wire. Often many coaxial cables are
bundled together.
• As a result of extra insulation, coaxial cable is much better than twisted pair wiring at resisting noise. Also, it
is faster than UTP (supports a maximum data rate of 200 Mbps).

Fibre-optic Cable
• The cable consists of a core made of fine glass or plastic fibre. The core is surrounded by a refractive layer
called the cladding that effectively traps the light and keeps it bouncing along the central fibre. In most cases,
the cladding is covered by a buffer layer that protects it from moisture.
• The entire cable is encased in an outer jacket. Both core and cladding can be made of glass or plastic but must
be of different densities. In addition, the core must be ultra pure and completely regular to ensure distortion-
free signals.
• Since light has higher frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum than other types of radiation such as radio waves,
a single fibre-optic channel can carry more information than most other means of information transmission.
• Hundreds of strands of optical fibres (each as thin as human hair) can be housed in a single fibre-optic cable. They
represent the most promising type of transmission medium and their usage is fast increasing with the time.

38
The major advantages of fibre-optic cable are:
• Noise resistance: since fibre-optic transmission uses light rather than electricity, noise (electromagnetic
interference) is not a factor.
• Less signal attenuation: s signal can run for miles without requiring regeneration.
• Higher bandwidth: a fibre-optic cable can support much higher bandwidth than both twisted-pair and coaxial
cable. It can support data rates of the order of gigabits per second (Gbps).
• The data rates are limited not by the medium but by the signal generation and reception technology available.

The main disadvantages of fibre-optic cable are:

• high cost
• difficulties in their installation/maintenance
• fragility.

4.4.2 Wireless Channels (Radio Link, Microwave Link, Satellite Communication)

• Wireless channels transport electromagnetic waves from one point to another through the atmosphere or space
without using a physical conductor.
• The section of electromagnetic spectrum designated for wireless channels called radio spectrum ranges from
3GHz to 300 GHz and is divided into eight bands each regulated by government authorities.
• These bands are rated from very low frequency (VLF) to extremely high frequency (EHF). Radio link, microwave
link and satellite communication utilise frequencies in the radio spectrum for data communication.

Radio Link
• Radio link, also called as broadcast radio, deals with transmission of data over long distance. A transmitter is
required to send messages and a receiver to receive them.
• Depending upon the type of the service, it uses a range of frequencies (3 kHz to 30MHz). In the lower frequencies
of radio spectrum, several broadcast radio bands are reserved for conventional AM/FM radio, broadcast television
and private radio services.
• Radio link can support a bandwidth up to 2 Mbps. It is easy to install and involves low recurring costs.

Microwave Link
• Microwave link, also called as microwave radio, utilises point to point radio transmissions at the super-high
frequency (SHF) and extremely high frequency (EHF) bands. Microwaves do not follow the curvature of the
earth and therefore require line-of-sight transmission and reception equipment.
• Microwave dishes, which contain transceivers (sending and receiving devices) and antennas are set up on towers
or buildings to establish the link.
• Microwave stations need to be placed at some distances (a few kilometres) from each other with no obstruction
in between. The size of the dish varies with the distance.
• A string of microwave relay stations is used with each station receiving incoming messages, boosting the signal
strength, and relaying the signal to the next station.
• Microwave link supports a bandwidth up to 45Mbps and is widely used in data communication.

Satellite Communication
• To overcome line-of-sight constraint of microwave earth stations, communication satellites (microwave ‘sky
stations’) are used. Communication satellites are microwave relay stations in orbit around the earth.
• Transmitting a signal from a ground station to a satellite is called up linking; the reverse is called down
linking.

39
Communication and Computer Application

• Geosynchronous satellites are most commonly used in data communication. A geosynchronous satellite is placed
in geostationary earth orbit (nearly 36,000 km directly above the equator) where it travels at the same speed as
the earth and appears to an observer on the ground to be stationary.
• Consequently, microwave earth stations are always able to beam signals to a fixed location above. The orbiting
satellite has solar powered transceivers to receive the signals, amplify them and re-transmit them to another
earth station.
• Satellite communication provides transmission capabilities to and from any location on earth, no matter how
remote.
• This advantage makes high quality communication available to less developed regions without requiring huge
investment in ground-based infrastructure.
• Satellite communication supports high bandwidths capable of carrying large amounts of data and ensures low
error rates.

4.5 Transmission Technology

After connecting computers using some communication channel described above, data needs to be transmitted from
one computer to another. Transmission technology is necessarily used to do so. There are two types of transmission
technologies:
• Broadcast networks
• Point-to-point or Switched networks

4.5.1 Broadcast Networks

Broadcast networks have a single communication channel that is shared by all the machines on the network. In this
type of network, short messages sent by any machine are received by all the machines on the network. The packet
contains an address field, which specifies for whom the packet is intended. All the machines, upon receiving a packet
check for the address field, if the packet is intended for itself, it processes it and if not the packet is just ignored.

This mode of operation is known as Broadcasting. Some broadcast networks also support transmission to a subset
of machines and this is known as Multicasting. One possible way to achieve multicasting is to reserve one bit to
indicate multicasting and the remaining (n-1) address bits contain group number. Each machine can subscribe to
any or all of the groups. Broadcast networks are easily configured for geographically localised networks. Broadcast
networks may be static or dynamic, depending on how the channel is allocated.

The different types of broadcast networks are:

• Packet Radio Networks
• Satellite Networks
• Local Area Networks.

Packet Radio broadcasting differs from satellite network broadcasting in several ways. In particular, stations have
limited range introducing the need for radio repeaters, which in turn affects the routing, and acknowledges schemes.
Also the propagation delay is much less than for satellite broadcasting.

LAN (Local Area Network) is a computer network that spans over a relatively small area. Most LANs are confined
to a single building or group of buildings within a campus. However, one LAN can be connected to other LANs
over any distance via telephone lines and radio waves. A system of LANs connected in this way is called a wide-
area network (WAN). There are many different types of LANs, Ethernets being the most common for PCs. A more
detailed description of LAN will be covered later in the chapter.

40
4.5.2 Point-to-Point or Switched Networks
• Point–to-point or switched, networks are those in which there are many connections between individual pairs
of machines. In these networks, when a packet travels from source to destination it may have to first visit one
or more intermediate machines.
• Routing algorithms play an important role in point-to-point or switched networks, because often multiple routes of
different lengths are available. An example of switched network is the international dial-up telephone system.
• In Switched network, the temporary connection is established from one point to another for either the duration
of the session (circuit switching) or for the transmission of one or more packets of data (packet switching).

Two types of point- to-point or switched networks are:

Circuit Switched Networks
• Circuit Switched networks use a networking technology that provides a temporary, but dedicated connection
between two stations no matter how many switching devices are used in the data transfer route.
• This was originally developed for the analog based telephone system in order to guarantee steady and consistent
service for two people engaged in a phone conversation.
• Analog circuit switching has given way to digital circuit switching, and the digital counterpart still maintains
the connection until broken (one side hangs up.) This means, bandwidth is continuously reserved and “silence
is transmitted” just the same as digital audio in voice conversation.

Packet Switched Networks

• Packet Switched Networks use a networking technology that breaks up a message into smaller packets for
transmission and switches them to their destination.
• Unlike circuit switching, which requires a constant point-to-point circuit to be established, each packet in a packet-
switched network contains a destination address. Thus, all packets in a single message do not have to travel the
same path. They can be dynamically routed over the network as lines become available or unavailable.
• The destination computer reassembles the packets back into their proper sequence. Packet switching efficiently
handles messages of different lengths and priorities.
• Higher-level protocols, such as TCP/IP, IPX/SPX and NetBIOS, are also packet based and are designed to ride
over packet-switched topologies. Public packet switching networks may provide value added services, such as
protocol conversion and electronic mail.

To understand the transmission technology better, we also need to understand the concept of ‘bandwidth’ and its
significance in data transmission.

4.5.3 Bandwidth
• The bandwidth of a communication channel determines its information-carrying capacity. Bandwidth implies
how much data in form of text, voice, video and so on, can be sent through a communication channel in a given
amount of time.
• For analog signals, bandwidth is expressed in hertz (Hz) and specifies the range of frequencies that the channel
is capable of transmitting without interference or signal loss.
• Here bandwidth indicates the difference between the lowest and highest frequencies transmitted.
• For example, a microwave link within the range of 800-900 megahertz has a bandwidth of 100 megahertz.
The wider the bandwidth, the faster is the data transmission. The narrower the bandwidth the greater the loss
of transmission power, which is overcome by using relays or repeaters that rebroadcast the original signals.
Broadband connections are characterised by very high speed.
• For digital signals, bandwidth is measured in bits per second (bps). The type of the communication channel
determines the channel’s bandwidth.

41
Communication and Computer Application

For example, fibre-optic cable used for high speed internet access has more bandwidth than conventional copper-wire
telephone lines. High quality voice, music and video transmissions require high bandwidth of the communication
channel. Bandwidth plays a critical role while designing a network.

4.6 Network Configuration

Configuration refers to the design of computers within a network to obtain maximum efficiency. There are two
types of network configuration:

4.6.1 Client-Server Network

• Client-Server architecture is one in which the client (personal computer or workstation) is the requesting machine
and the server is the supplying machine, both of which are connected via a local area network (LAN) or wide
area network (WAN).
• A client/server network is called Centralised or Server based network. The client contains the user interface and
may perform some or all of the application processing. Servers can be high-speed microcomputers, minicomputers
or even mainframes.
• A database server maintains the databases and processes requests from the client to extract data from or update
the database. An application server provides additional business processing for the clients.
• The term client/server is sometimes used to contrast a peer-to-peer network, in which any client can also act as
a server. In that case, a client/server entails having a dedicated server.
• However, client/server architecture means more than dedicated servers. Simply downloading files from or
sharing programs and databases on a server is not true client/server either. True client/server implies that the
application was originally designed to run on a network and that the network infrastructure provides the same
quality of service as traditional mini and mainframe information systems.

4.6.2 Peer-to-peer Network

• A type of network in which each workstation has equal capabilities and responsibilities is called peer-to-peer
network. Each workstation acts as both a client and a server.
• There is no central repository for information and there is no central server to maintain.
• Data and resources are distributed throughout the network, and each user is responsible for sharing data and
resources connected to their system. This differs from client/server architectures, in which some computers are
dedicated to serving the others.
• Peer-to-peer networks are generally simpler and less expensive, but they usually do not offer the same performance
under heavy loads. A peer-to-peer network is also known as a distributed network.

4.7 Network Models

In order to divide the workload and to simplify the system design, most of the networks today are organised as a
series of stacked layers with each layer stacked over another system design. It is furthermore simplified because
with a layered architecture, the design has to only concern about the layer in question and not worry about the
architecture in a macro sense.

Network protocols are standards that allow computers to communicate. A protocol defines how computers identify
one another on a network, the form that the data should take in transit, and how this information is processed once
it reaches its final destination. Protocols also define procedures for handling lost or damaged transmissions or
"packets.”

4.7.1 OSI Reference Model

• The Open System Interconnection (OSI) model is a set of protocols that attempt to define and standardise the
data communications process; we can say that it is a concept that describes how data communications should
take place.

42
• The OSI model was set by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) in 1984, and it is now considered the
primary architectural model for inter-computer communications.
• The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model describes how information from a software application
in one computer moves through a network medium to a software application in another computer.
• The OSI reference model is a conceptual model composed of seven layers specifying particular network functions
and into these layers are fitted the protocol standards developed by the ISO and other standard bodies.
• The OSI model divides the tasks involved with moving information between networked computers into seven
smaller, more manageable task groups. A task or group of tasks is then assigned to each of the seven OSI
layers.
• Each layer is reasonably self-contained so that the tasks assigned to each layer can be implemented independently.
This enables the solutions offered by one layer to be updated without affecting the other layers.

OSI MODEL
Application Layer
Facilitates communication between
software application like outlook, IE
DATA
Presentation Layer
Data Representation and Encryption

Session Layer
Interhost Communication L
A
SEGMENTS
Transport Layer Y
End-to-End connection and reliability E
R
Network Layer S
PACKETS path determination and logical
addressing

Data Link Layer

FRAMES MAC and LLC - Physical Addressing

Physical Layer
Media, signal and binary
BITS transmmission

Fig. 4.1 OSI reference model

(Source: http://www.networkguruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/osi-reference-model.jpg)

As seen in the figure, there are 7 layers of the OSI model. These are as follows:
Application Layer (Layer 7)
• The application layer is probably the most easily misunderstood layer of the model. This top layer defines the
language and syntax that programs use to communicate with other programs.
• The application layer represents the purpose of communicating in the first place.
• For example, a program in a client workstation uses commands to request data from a program in the server.
Common functions at this layer are opening, closing, reading and writing files, transferring files and e-mail
messages, executing remote jobs and obtaining directory information about network resources and so on.

Presentation Layer (Layer 6)

• The presentation layer performs code conversion and data reformatting (syntax translation). As a translator of
the network; it makes sure that the data is in the correct form for the receiving application.
• When data are transmitted between different types of computer systems, the presentation layer negotiates and
manages the way data is represented and encoded.

43
Communication and Computer Application

• For example, it provides a common denominator between ASCII and EBCDIC machines as well as between
different floating point and binary formats. Sun’s XDR and OSI’s ASN.1 are two protocols used for this
purpose.
• This layer is also used for encryption and decryption and it also provides security features through encryption
and decryption.

Session Layer (Layer 5)

• The session layer decides when to turn communication on and off between two computers. It provides the
mechanism that controls the data-exchange process and coordinates the interaction (communication) between
them in an orderly manner.
• It sets up and clears communication channels between two communicating components. It determines one-way
or two-way communications and manages the dialogue between both parties.
• For example, it makes sure that the previous request has been fulfilled before the next one is sent. It also marks
significant parts of the transmitted data with checkpoints to allow fast recovery in the event of a connection
failure.

Transport layer (Layer 4)

• The transport layer is responsible for overall end-to-end validity and integrity of the transmission, i.e. it ensures
that data is successfully sent and received between two computers.
• The lower data link layer (layer 2) is only responsible for delivering packets from one node to another. Thus, if
a packet gets lost in a router somewhere in the enterprise internet, the transport layer will detect that. It ensures
that if a 12MB file is sent, the full 12MB is received.
• If data is sent incorrectly, this layer has the responsibility of asking for retransmission of the data. Specifically,
it provides a network-independent, reliable message-independent, reliable message-interchange service to the
top three application-oriented layers.
• This layer acts as an interface between the bottom and top three layers. By providing the session layer (layer
5) with a reliable message transfer service, it hides the detailed operation of the underlying network from the
session layer.

Network layer (Layer 3)

• The network layer establishes the route between the sending and receiving stations. The unit of data at the
network layer is called a packet. It provides network routing and flow and congestion functions across computer-
network interface.
• It makes a decision as to where to route the packet based on information and calculations from other routers,
or according to static entries in the routing table.
• It examines network addresses in the data instead of physical addresses seen in the Data Link layer.
• The network layer establishes, maintains, and terminates logical and/or physical connections. It is responsible
for translating logical addresses, or names, into physical addresses. The main device found at the network layer
is a router.

Data Link Layer (Layer 2)

• The data link layer groups the bits that we see on the Physical layer into Frames. It is primarily responsible for
error-free delivery of data on a hop. The data link layer is split into two sub-layers i.e.,
‚‚ The Logical Link Control (LLC)
‚‚ Media Access Control (MAC).
• The data link layer handles the physical transfer, framing (the assembly of data into a single unit or block),
flow control and error-control functions (and retransmission in the event of an error) over a single transmission
link; it is responsible for getting the data packaged and onto the network cable. The data link layer provides the
network layer (layer 3) reliable information-transfer capabilities.

44
• The main network device found at the data link layer is a bridge. This device works at a higher layer than the
repeater and therefore is a more complex device.
• It has some understanding of the data it receives and can make a decision based on the frames it receives as to
whether it needs to let the information pass, or can remove the information from the network. This means that
the amount of traffic on the medium can be reduced and therefore, the usable bandwidth can be increased.

Physical Layer (Layer 1)

• The data units on this layer are called bits. This layer defines the mechanical and electrical definition of the
network medium (cable) and network hardware. This includes how data is impressed onto the cable and retrieved
from it.
• The physical layer is responsible for passing bits onto and receiving them from the connecting medium. This layer
gives the data-link layer (layer 2) its ability to transport a stream of serial data bits between two communicating
systems; it conveys the bits that move along the cable.
• It is responsible for ensuring that the raw bits get from one place to another, no matter what shape they are in,
and deals with the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the cable.

4.7.2 TCP/IP Protocol

• TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
• It is a protocol suite used by most communications software. TCP/IP is a robust and proven technology that was
first tested in the early 1980s on ARPA Net, the U.S. military’s Advanced Research Projects Agency Network,
and the world’s first packet-switched network.
• TCP/IP was designed as an open protocol that would enable all types of computers to transmit data to each other
via a common communications language.
• TCP/IP is a layered protocol similar to the ones used in all the other major networking architectures, including
IBM’s SNA, Windows' NetBIOS, Apple’s AppleTalk, Novell’s NetWare and Digital's DECnet.
• There are 4 layers. Layering means that after an application initiates the communications, the message (data) to
be transmitted is passed through a number of stages or layers until it actually moves out onto the wire.
• The data are packaged with a different header at each layer. At the receiving end, the corresponding programs
at each protocol layer unpack the data, moving it “back up the stack” to the receiving application.
• TCP/IP is composed of two major parts: TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) at the transport layer and IP
(Internet Protocol) at the network layer.
• TCP is a connection-oriented protocol that passes its data to IP, which is connectionless one. TCP sets up a
connection at both ends and guarantees reliable delivery of the full message sent. TCP tests for errors and
requests retransmission if necessary, because IP does not do that.

4.8 Network Topologies

Topology refers to the shape of a network, or the network’s layout. How different nodes in a network are connected
to each other and how they communicate with each other is determined by the network's topology. Topologies are
either physical or logical.

Some of the most common network topologies are:

• Bus topology
• Star topology
• Ring topology
• Tree topology
• Mesh topology

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Communication and Computer Application

The parameters that are to be considered while selecting a physical topology are:
• Ease of installation
• Ease of reconfiguration
• Ease of troubleshooting.

Bus Topology
• In Bus topology, all devices are connected to a central cable, called the bus or backbone. The bus topology
connects workstations using a single cable.
• Each workstation is connected to the next workstation in a point-to-point fashion. All workstations connect to
the same cable.

Backbone
Cable tap
Terminator

Drop cable

Fig. 4.2 Bus topology

(Source: http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/7399/1/Unit%201.pdf)

Advantages of Bus Topology

• Installation is easy and cheap when compared to other topologies
• Connections are simple and this topology is easy to use
• Requires less cabling.

Disadvantages of Bus Topology

• Used only in comparatively small networks
• As all computers share the same bus, the performance of the network deteriorates when the number of computers
is increased beyond a certain limit
• Fault identification is difficult
• A single fault in the cable stops all transmission.

Star Topology
• Star topology uses a central hub through which all components are connected. In a Star topology, the central
hub is the host computer, and there is a terminal at the end of each connection.
• Nodes communicate across the network by passing data through the hub. A star network uses a significant amount
of cable as each terminal is wired back to the central hub, even if two terminals are side by side but several
hundred meters away from the host. The central hub makes all routing decisions, and all other workstations
can be simple.

46
 Fig. 4.3 Star topology
(Source: http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/7399/1/Unit%201.pdf)

Advantages of Star Topology

• Easy to install and wire
• No disruptions to the network when connecting or removing devices
• Easy to detect faults and to remove parts.

Disadvantages of Star Topology

• Requires more cable length than a linear topology
• If the hub, switch, or concentrator fails, nodes attached are disabled
• More expensive than linear bus topologies because of the cost of the hubs, etc.

Ring Topology
• In ring topology, all devices are connected to one another in the shape of a closed loop, so that each device is
connected directly to two other devices, one on either side of it.
• Each terminal is connected to two other terminals (the next and the previous), with the last terminal being
connected to the first. Data is transmitted around the ring in one direction only; each station passing on the data
to the next station till it reaches its destination.
• Information travels around the ring from one workstation to the next. Each packet of data sent on the ring is
prefixed by the address of the station to which it is being sent. When a packet of data arrives, the workstation
checks to see if the packet address is the same as its own, if it is, it grabs the data in the packet. If the packet
does not belong to it, it sends the packet to the next workstation in the ring.
• The common implementation of this topology is token ring. A break in the ring causes the entire network to
fail. Individual workstations can be isolated from the ring.

Fig. 4.4 Ring topology

(Source: http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/7399/1/Unit%201.pdf)

47
Communication and Computer Application

Advantages of Ring Topology

• Easy to install and modify the network
• Fault isolation is simplified
• Unlike bus topology, there is no signal loss in ring topology because the tokens are data packets that are re-
generated at each node.

Disadvantages of Ring Topology

• Adding or removing computers disrupts the entire network
• A break in the ring can stop the transmission in the entire network
• Finding fault is difficult
• Expensive when compared to other topologies.

Tree Topology
• Tree topology is a LAN topology in which only one route exists between any two nodes on the network. The
pattern of connection resembles a tree in which all branches spring from one root.
• Tree topology is a hybrid topology. It is similar to the star topology but the nodes are connected to the secondary
hub, which in turn is connected to the central hub. In this topology, groups of star-configured networks are
connected to a linear bus backbone.

Fig. 4.5 Tree topology

(Source: http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/7399/1/Unit%201.pdf)

Advantages of Tree Topology

• Installation and configuration of network is easy
• Less expensive when compared to mesh topology
• Faults in the network can be detected
• The addition of the secondary hub allows more devices to be attached to the central hub
• Supports multiple cable types like shielded twisted pair cable, unshielded twisted pair cable, ordinary telephone
cable and so forth.

Disadvantages of Tree Topology

• Failure in the central hub brings the entire network to a halt
• More cabling is required when compared to bus topology because each node is connected to the central hub.

48
Mesh Topology
• Mesh topologies are used in critical connection of host computers (typically telephone exchanges). Alternate
paths allow each computer to balance the load to other computer systems in the network by using more than
one of the connection paths available.
• A fully connected mesh network therefore has n (n-1)/2 physical channels to link n devices. To accommodate
these, every device on the network must have (n-1) input/output ports.

Fig. 4.6 Mesh topology

(Source: http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/7399/1/Unit%201.pdf)

Advantages of Mesh Topology

• Use of dedicated links eliminates traffic problems
• Failure in one of the computers does not affect the entire network
• Point-to-point link makes fault isolation easy
• It is robust
• Privacy between computers is maintained as messages travel along dedicated path.

Disadvantages of Mesh Topology

• The amount of cabling required is high
• A large number of I/O (input/output) ports are required.

4.9 Types of Networks

For using any of the suitable communication channels, network configuration, and topology, there are different types
of networks which are based on geographical areas of work. Common examples of network are Novell network,
ARPANET and internet.

Features of Local Area Network (LAN) are:

• All connected devices in the network share the transmission media
• Each device connected in the network can either operate standalone or in the network

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Communication and Computer Application

• Area covered is small

• Data transfer rates are high, usually 1Mbps-100Mbps (Million of bits per second)
• Each device connected in the network can communicate with any other device in network
• Cost of setting up the network is usually low.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN):

Metropolitan Area Network is a computer network designed for a town or city. In terms of geographic area, MAN’s
are larger than LANs, but smaller than wide-area networks (WANs). MAN’s are usually characterised by very high-
speed connections using fibre optical cable or other digital media.

The typical characteristics of a MAN are:

• Confined to a larger area than a LAN and can range from 10km to a few 100km in length
• Slower than a LAN but faster than a WAN
• Operates at a speed of 1.5 to 150 Mbps
• Expensive equipment
• Moderate error rates.

Wide Area Network (WAN)

Wide Area Network is a computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. Typically, a WAN consists
of two or more local-area networks (LANs). They can connect networks across cities, states or even countries.

Computers connected to a wide-area network are often connected through public networks, such as the telephone
system. They can also be connected through leased lines or satellites.

The typical characteristics of a WAN are:

• A WAN can range from 100km to 1000km and the speed between cities can vary form1.5 Mbps to 2.4 Gbps
• WAN supports large number of computers and multiple host machines
• Various segments of network are interconnected using sophisticated support devices like routers and
gateways
• Usually the speed is much slower than LAN speed
• Highest possible error rate compared to LAN & MAN.

An overview and comparison of different characters of types of networks is given below.

MAXIMUM
NETWORK SIZE TRANSMISSION MEDIA
DISTANCE
Local Area Network Confined to building or Cable is used Covers up to 10 km
campus
Metropolitan Area Network confined to city Different hardware & Covers the area of a city
Network or town transmission media are used or town
Wide Area Network Larger than MAN Telephone lines, radio waves, Covers a number of
leased lines or satellites cities or countries

Table 4.1 Types of networks

(Source: http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/7399/1/Unit%201.pdf)

Thus, computers in a networked environment provide numerous advantages when compared to computers in a
standalone environment. The immense benefits that the computer networks provide are in the form of excellent
sharing of computational resources, computational load, and increased level of reliability, economy and efficient
person-to-person communication.

50
Summary
• Computer network is a collection of computers and a device interconnected by communication channels that
facilitate communication among users and allows users to share resources.
• Communication channels which use a physical medium for transmission (twisted pair wire, coaxial cable, and
fibre optic cable) are called wired channels. Communication channels which do not require any physical medium
for transmission (radio, microwave and communication satellite) are called wireless channels.
• The basis for all communication, a channel both wired and wireless, is the electromagnetic spectrum. The
spectrum covers frequencies for voice, radio waves, infrared light, visible light, and ultraviolet light and X,
gamma and cosmic rays.
• Configuration refers to the design of computers within a network to obtain maximum efficiency. There are two
types of network configuration, client-to-server and peer-to-peer.
• There are two types of transmission technologies, broadcast networks and point-to-point or switched
networks
• Standards for network communication followed are OSI reference model and TCP/IP protocol
• Topology refers to the shape of a network, or the network’s layout. How different nodes in a network are
connected to each other and how they communicate with each other is determined by the network's topology.
Topologies are either physical or logical.
• Some of the most common network topologies are: bus topology, star topology, ring topology, tree topology,
and mesh topology.
• Types of networks are LAN, MAN, WAN. Common examples of network are Novell network, ARPANET and
internet.
• Benefits that the computer networks provide are in the form of excellent sharing of computational
resources, computational load, and increased level of reliability, economy and efficient person-to-person
communication.

References
• Kesidis, G., 2007. An Introduction to Communication Network Analysis, John Wiley & Sons.
• Stallings, W., 2007. Data And Computer Communications, 8/E, 8th ed. Pearson Education India.
• Hoang, D. B. & Pye, K. J., Computer Communication Networks - Lecture Notes [Pdf] Available at: <ftp://cs.istu.
ru/public/docs/other/_New/Sciense/books.pdox.net/Lecture@2520Notes/Computer%20Communication%20
Networks%20-%20Latrobe.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Computer networks, data communication and Internet [Pdf] Available at: <http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/
nieuwenhuysen/courses/chapters/network.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Protocols and Computer Networks part 1 [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Q3SsVO0eSOU> [Accessed 28 May 2013]
• Prof. Ghosh, S., Lecture -1 Emergence of Networks & Reference Models [Video online] Available at: <http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DZLItfbqtQ&list=PLD6F332057F76C54C> [Accessed 28 May 2013]

Recommended Reading
• Kasera, S. & Narang, N., 2005. Communication Networks: Principles and Practice, Tata McGraw-Hill
Education.
• Bagad, V.S. & Dhotre, I. A., 2009. Computer Communication Networks, Technical Publications.
• Mir, F. N., 2006. Computer and Communication Networks, Pearson Education.

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Communication and Computer Application

Self Assessment
1. Which of the following is not a goal of computer networks?
a. Cost reduction by sharing hardware and software resources
b. Provide high reliability by having multiple sources of supply
c. Increase productivity by making data un-sharable
d. Repairs, upgrades, expansions, and changes to the network should be performed with minimal impact on
the majority of network users

2. Noise resistance, higher bandwidth, and less signal attenuation are advantages of using which type of connecting
channel?
a. Shielded twisted pair cable
b. Fiber optic cable
c. Unshielded twisted pair cable
d. Coaxial cable

3. Geosynchronous satellite is placed in geostationary earth orbit where it travels at the ____________as the
earth.
a. same speed
b. double speed
c. half the speed
d. maximum speed

4. When broadcast networks support transmission to a subset of machines, it is known as ____________.

a. broadcasting
b. transmission
c. networking
d. multicasting

5. Routing algorithms play an important role in which type of network transmission?

a. Switched networks
b. Packet radio networks
c. Satellite networks
d. Broadcast networks

6. OSI model is a set of protocols that attempt to define and____________-the data communications process.
a. authorise
b. standardise
c. speed-up
d. ease

7. ‘Packet’ is the unit of data in which layer of the OSI model?

a. Application layer
b. Transport layer
c. Network layer
d. Physical layer

52
8. TCP/IP is a protocol suite used by most ____________software.
a. network
b. systems
c. application
d. communications

9. Which are the parameters that are to be considered while selecting a physical topology? (State which is not
TRUE)
a. Ease of installation
b. Ease of drawing the network
c. Ease of reconfiguration
d. Ease of troubleshooting

10. Computers connected to a wide-area network are often connected through: (State which is not TRUE)
a. Connectors
b. Public networks,
c. Leased lines
d. Satellites

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Communication and Computer Application

Chapter V
Data processing

Aim
The aim of this chapter is to:

• introduce data processing

• elucidate architecture of computer system

• discuss types of data

Objectives
The objectives of this chapter are to:

• explain data capturing

• discuss organisation of relative file

• define data and information

Learning outcome
At the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• analyse various operations performed on files

• explain CPU organisation

• understand file organisation

54
5.1 Introduction
Data processing is any computer process that converts data into information. The processing is usually assumed
to be automated and running on a mainframe, minicomputer, microcomputer, or personal computer. Because data
are most useful when well-presented and actually informative, data processing systems are often referred to as
information systems to emphasise their practicality. Nevertheless, both terms are roughly synonymous, performing
similar conversions; data-processing systems typically manipulate raw data into information, and likewise information
systems typically take raw data as input to produce information as output.

To better market their profession, a computer programmer or a systems analyst that might once have referred, such
as during the 1970s, to the computer systems that they produce as data-processing systems more often than not
nowadays refers to the computer systems that they produce by some other term that includes the word information,
such as information systems, information technology systems, or management information systems.

In the context of data processing, data are defined as numbers or characters that represent measurements from the real
world. A single datum is a single measurement from the real world. Measured information is then algorithmically
derived and/or logically deduced and/or statistically calculated from multiple data. Information is defined as either
a meaningful answer to a query or a meaningful stimulus that can cascade into further queries.

More generally, the term data processing can apply to any process that converts data from one format to another,
although data conversion would be the more logical and correct term. From this perspective, data processing becomes
the process of converting information into data and also the converting of data back into information. The distinction
is that conversion doesn’t require a question (query) to be answered.

For example, information in the form of a string of characters forming a sentence in English is converted or encoded
from a keyboard’s key-presses as represented by hardware oriented integer codes into ASCII integer codes after
which it may be more easily processed by a computer not as merely raw, amorphous integer data, but as a meaningful
character in a natural language’s set of graphemes and finally converted or decoded to be displayed as characters,
represented by a font on the computer display. In that example we can see the stage-by-stage conversion of the
presence of and then absence of electrical conductivity in the key-press and subsequent release at the keyboard from
raw substantially meaningless integer hardware-oriented data to evermore-meaningful information as the processing
proceeds toward the human being.

A more conventional example of the established practice of using the term data processing is that a business has
collected numerous data concerning an aspect of its operations and that this multitude of data must be presented in
meaningful, easy-to-access presentations for the managers who must then use that information to increase revenue or
to decrease cost. That conversion and presentation of data as information is typically performed by a data processing
application.

When the domain from which the data are harvested is a science or engineering, data processing and information
systems are considered too broad of terms and the more specialised term data analysis is typically used, focusing
on the highly-specialised and highly-accurate algorithmic derivations and statistical calculations that are less often
observed in the typical general business environment. This divergence of culture is exhibited in the typical numerical
representations used in data processing versus numerical; data processing’s measurements are typically represented
by integers or by fixed point or binary-coded decimal representations of real numbers whereas the majority of data
analysis’s measurements are often represented by floating point representation of real numbers.

Practically all naturally occurring processes can be viewed as examples of data processing systems where “real
world” information in the form of pressure, light, etc. are converted by human observers into electrical signals in the
nervous system as the senses we recognise as touch, sound, and vision. Even the interaction of non-living systems
may be viewed in this way as rudimentary information processing systems. Conventional usage of the terms data
processing and information systems restricts their use to refer to the algorithmic derivations, logical deductions, and
statistical calculations that recur perennially in general business environments, rather than in the more expansive
sense of all conversions of real-world measurements into real world information in, say, an organic biological system
or even a scientific or engineering system.

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Communication and Computer Application

5.1.1 Data
Data are any facts, numbers, or text that can be processed by a computer. Today, organisations are accumulating
vast and growing amounts of data in different formats and different databases. This includes:
• operational or transactional data such as, sales, cost, inventory, payroll, and accounting
• non-operational data, such as industry sales, forecast data, and macro economic data
• meta data - data about the data itself, such as logical database design or data dictionary definitions

5.1.2 Information
The patterns, associations, or relationships among all this data can provide information. For example, analysis of
retail point of sale transaction data can yield information on which products are selling and when.

5.1.3 Types of Data

Think about any collected data that you have experience of; for example, weight, sex, ethnicity, job grade, and consider
their different attributes. These variables can be described as categorical or quantitative. The table summarises data
types and their associated measurement level, plus some examples. It is important to appreciate that appropriate
methods for summary and display depend on the type of data being used. This is also true for ensuring the appropriate
statistical test is employed.

Type of Data Level of Measurement Examples

Nominal (no inherent order in categories) Eye color, ethnicity, diagnosis

Categorical Ordinal (categories have inherent order) Job grade, age groups

Binary (2 categories – special case of above) Gender

Quantitative Discrete (usually whole numbers) Size of household (ratio)

(Interval/Ratio) (NB Continuous (can, in theory, take any value in Temperature °C/°F (no absolute
units of measurement a range, although necessarily recorded to a zero) (interval) Height, age (ratio)
used) predetermined degree of precision)

Table 5.1 Types of Data

5.2 Input, Processing and output

Whenever a computer is used it must work its way through three basic stages before any task can be completed.
These are input, processing and output. A Computer works through these stages by running a program. A program
is a set of step-by-step instructions which tells the computer exactly what to do with the input in order to produce
the required output.

5.2.1 Input
The input stage of computing is concerned with getting the data needed by the program into the computer. Input
devices are used to do this. The most commonly used input devices are the mouse and the keyboard.

56
5.2.2 Processing
The program contains instructions about what to do with the input. During the processing stage the compute follows
these instructions using the data which has just been input. What the computer produces at the end of this stage, the
output, will only be as good as the instructions given in the program. In other words if garbage has been put in to
the program, garbage is what will come out of the computer. This is known as GIGO, or Garbage in Garbage Out.

5.2.3 Output
The output stage of computing is concerned with giving out processed data as information in a form that is useful
to the user. Output devices are used to do this. The most commonly used output devices are the screen, which is
also called a monitor or VDU and the printer.

5.3 Architecture of Computer System

This is the ‘brain’ of the computer. It is where all the searching, sorting, calculating and decision making takes place.
The CPU collects all of the raw data from various input devices (such a keyboard or mouse) and converts it into
useful information by carrying out software instructions. The result of all that work is then sent to output devices
such as monitors and printers.

The CPU is a microprocessor - a silicon chip - composed of tiny electrical switches called ‘transistors’. The speed
at which the processor carries out its operations is measured in megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz (GHz). The higher
the number of MHz the faster the computer can process information. A common CPU today runs at around 3 GHz
or more. The Intel Pentium processor and the Athlon are examples of a CPU.

Inputs and Outputs

PARTS OF A CPU

Control Unit ARITHMETIC

& LOGIC
UNIT
Immediate Access (ALU)
Store

Backing Store

Fig. 5.1 Block diagram of CPU

5.3.1 The Control Unit (CU)

The Control Unit (CU) co-ordinates the work of the whole computer system and it has three main jobs:
• It controls the hardware attached to the system. The Control Unit monitors the hardware to make sure that the
commands given to it by the current program are activated.
• It controls the input and output of data, so all the signals go to the right place at the right time.
• It controls the flow of data within the CPU.

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Communication and Computer Application

5.3.2 The Immediate Access Store (IAS)

The Immediate Access Store (IAS) holds the data and programs needed at that instant by the Control Unit. The
CPU reads data and programs kept on the backing storage and store them temporarily in the IAS’s memory. The
CPU needs to do this because Backing Store is much too slow to be able to run data and programs from directly.
For example, let’s pretend that a modern CPU was slowed down to carry out one instruction in 1 second, then the
hard disk (i.e., Backing Store) would take 3 months to supply the data it needs! So the trick is to call in enough of
the data and programs into fast Immediate Access Store memory so as to keep the CPU busy.

5.3.3 ALU stands for Arithmetic and Logic Unit.

It is where the computer processes data by either manipulating it or acting upon it. It has two parts:
• Arithmetic part - does exactly what you think it should - it does the calculations on data such as 3 + 2.
• Logic part - This section deals with carrying out logic and comparison operations on data. For example working
out if one data value is bigger than another data value.

5.4 Concepts of Files

A computer file is a piece of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, that is available to a computer
program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage. A file is durable in the sense that it remains available
for programs to use after the current program has finished. Computer files can be considered as the modern counterpart
of the files of printed documents that traditionally existed in offices and libraries.

5.4.1 File contents

As far as the operating system is concerned, a file is in most cases just a sequence of binary digits. At a higher level,
where the content of the file is being considered, these binary digits may represent integer values or text characters,
It is up to the program using the file to understand the meaning and internal layout of information in the file and
present it to a user as a document, image, song, or program. At any instant in time, a file has might have a size,
normally expressed in bytes, that indicates how much storage is associated with the file.

Information in a computer file can consist of smaller packets of information (often called records or lines) that
are individually different but share some trait in common. For example, a payroll file might contain information
concerning all the employees in a company and their payroll details; each record in the payroll file concerns just
one employee, and all the records have the common trait of being related to payroll this is very similar to placing all
payroll information into a specific filing cabinet in an office that does not have a computer. A text file may contain
lines of text, corresponding to printed lines on a piece of paper.

The way information is grouped into a file is entirely up to the person designing the file. This has led to a plethora
of more or less standardised file structures for all imaginable purposes, from the simplest to the most complex.
Most computer files are used by computer programs. These programs create, modify and delete files for their own
use on an as-needed basis. The programmers who create the programs decide what files are needed, how they are
to be used and (often) their names.

In some cases, computer programs manipulate files that are made visible to the computer user. For example, in a
word-processing program, the user manipulates document files that she names herself. The content of the document
file is arranged in a way that the word-processing program understands, but the user chooses the name and location
of the file, and she provides the bulk of the information (such as words and text) that will be stored in the file.

Files on a computer can be created, moved, modified, grown, shrunk and deleted. In most cases, computer programs
that are executed on the computer handle these operations, but the user of a computer can also manipulate files if
necessary. For instance, Microsoft Word files are normally created and modified by the Microsoft Word program in
response to user commands, but the user can also move, rename, or delete these files directly by using a file manager
program such as Windows Explorer (on Windows computers).

58
5.4.2 Operations on the file
The operations which are performed on the file are as follows:
• Opening a file to use its contents
• Reading or updating the contents
• Committing updated contents to durable storage
• Closing the file, thereby losing access until it is opened again

5.4.3 File Organisation

There are various kinds of files and each has its own kind of orgnisation. These file organisations are explained
below:
Sequential File
Access to records in a Sequential file is serial. To reach a particular record, all the preceding records must be read.
As we observed when the topic was introduced earlier in the course, the organisation of an unordered Sequential
file means it is only practical to read records from the file and add records to the end of the file (OPEN..EXTEND).
It is not practical to delete or update records. While it is possible to delete, update and insert records in an ordered
sequential file, these operations have some drawbacks.

Problems accessing ordered Sequential files

Records in an ordered sequential file are arranged, in order, on some key field or fields. When we want to insert,
delete or amend a record we must preserve the ordering. The only way to do this is to create a new file. In the case of
an insertion or update, the new file will contain the inserted or updated record. In the case of a deletion, the deleted
record will be missing from the new file.

The main drawback to inserting, deleting or amending records in an ordered sequential file is that the entire file
must be read and then the records written to a new file. Since disk access is one of the slowest things we can do in
computing this is very wasteful of computer time when only a few records are involved. For instance, if 10 records
are to be inserted into a 10,000 record file, then 10,000 records will have to be read from the old file and 10,010
written to the new file. The average time to insert a new record will thus be very great.

Inserting records in an ordered Sequential file

To insert a record in an ordered Sequential file:
• All the records with a key value less than the record to be inserted must be read and then written to the new
file.
• Then the record to be inserted must be written to the new file.
• Finally, the remaining records must be written to the new file.

Deleting records from an ordered Sequential file

To delete a record in an ordered Sequential file:
• All the records with a key value less than the record to be deleted must be written to the new file.
• When the record to be deleted is encountered it is not written to the new file.
• Finally, all the remaining records must be written to the new file.

Amending records in an ordered Sequential file

To amend a record in an ordered Sequential file:
• All the records with a key value less than the record to be amended must be read and then written to the new
file.
• Then the record to be amended must be read the amendments applied to it and the amended record must then
be written to the new file.
• Finally, all the remaining records must be written to the new file.

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Communication and Computer Application

5.4.4 Relative File

As we have already noted, the problem with sequential files is that access to the records is serial. To reach a particular
record, all the proceeding records must be read. Direct access files allow direct access to a particular record in the file
using a key and this greatly facilitates the operations of reading, deleting, updating and inserting records. COBOL
supports two kinds of direct access file organisations -Relative and Indexed.

Organisation of Relative files

Records in relative files are organised on ascending relative record number. A Relative file may be visualised as
a one dimension table stored on disk, where the relative record number is the index into the table. Relative files
support sequential access by allowing the active records to be read one after another.

1 Rec001

2 free

3 Rec003

4 Rec004

Relative 5 free
Record
Number 6 free

7 Rec007

325 Rec325

326 Rec326

327 free

328 Rec328

Fig. 5.2 Relative File - Organisation

Relative files support only one key. The key must be numeric and must take a value between 1 and the current
highest relative record number. Enough room is allocated to the file to contain records with relative record numbers
between 1 and the highest record number.

For instance, if the highest relative record number used is 10,000 then room for 10,000 records is allocated to the
file. Figure 1 below contains a schematic representation of a Relative file. In this example, enough room has been
allocated on disk for 328 records. But although there is room for 328 records in the current allocation, not all the
record locations contain records. The record areas labeled “free”, have not yet had record values written to them.

Accessing records in a Relative file

To access a record in a Relative file a Relative Record Number must be provided. Supplying this number allows the
record to be accessed directly because the system can use the start position of the file on disk, the size of the record,
and the relative record number to calculate the position of the record.

Because the file management system only has to make a few calculations to find the record position the Relative
file organisation is the faster of the two direct access file organisations available in COBOL. It is also the most
storage efficient.

60
5.4.5 Indexed Files
While the usefulness of a Relative file is constrained by its restrictive key, Indexed files suffer from no such limitation.
Indexed files may have up to 255 keys, the keys can be alphanumeric and only the primary key must be unique. In
addition, it is possible to read an Indexed file sequentially on any of its keys.

Organisation of Indexed files

An indexed file may have multiple keys. The key upon which the data records are ordered is called the primary
key. The other keys are called alternate keys. Records in the Indexed file are sequenced on ascending primary key.
Over the actual data records, the file system builds an index. When direct access is required, the file system uses
this index to find, read, insert, update or delete the required record.

For each of the alternate keys specified in an Indexed file, an alternate index is built. However, the lowest level of an
alternate index does not contain actual data records. Instead, this level made up of base records which contain only
the alternate key value and a pointer to where the actual record is. These base records are organised in ascending
alternate key order. As well as allowing direct access to records on the primary key or any of the 254 alternate keys,
indexed files may also be processed sequentially. When processed sequentially, the records may be read in ascending
order on the primary key or on any of the alternate keys.

Since the data records are in held in ascending primary key sequence it is easy to see how the file may be accessed
sequentially on the primary key. It is not quite so obvious how sequential on the alternate keys is achieved. This is
covered in the unit on Indexed files.

Organizing files and floders

(root)

Logfile

Widgets

Foobar

Payroll

Employees

Timecards

Salaries

Managers

Leads

Clerks

Fig. 5.3 Files and folders arranged in a hierarchy

In modern computer systems, files are typically accessed using names. In some operating systems, the name is
associated with the file itself. In others, the file is anonymous, and is pointed to by links that have names. In the
latter case, a user can identify the name of the link with the file itself, but this is a false analogue, especially where
there exists more than one link to the same file.

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Communication and Computer Application

Files (or links to files) can be located in directories. However, more generally, a directory can contain either a list
of files, or a list of links to files. Within this definition, it is of paramount importance that the term “file” includes
directories. This permits the existence of directory hierarchies. A name that refers to a file within a directory must
be unique. In other words, there must be no identical names in a directory. However, in some operating systems,
a name may include a specification of type that means a directory can contain an identical name to more than one
type of object such as a directory and a file.

In environments in which a file is named, a file’s name and the path to the file’s directory must uniquely identify
it among all other files in the computer system no two files can have the same name and path. Where a file is
anonymous, named references to it will exist within a namespace. In most cases, any name within the namespace
will refer to exactly zero or one file. However, any file may be represented within any namespace by zero, one or
more names. Any string of characters may or may not be a well-formed name for a file or a link depending upon
the context of application. Whether or not a name is well formed depends on the type of computer system being
used. Early computers permitted only a few letters or digits in the name of a file, but modern computers allow long
names (some up to 255) containing almost any combination of unicode letters or unicode digits, making it easier to
understand the purpose of a file at a glance. Some computer systems allow file names to contain spaces; others do
not. Such characters such as / or \ are forbidden. Case-sensitivity of file names is determined by the file system.

Most computers organise files into hierarchies using folders, directories, or catalogs. (The concept is the same
irrespective of the terminology used.) Each folder can contain an arbitrary number of files, and it can also contain
other folders. These other folders are referred to as subfolders. Subfolders can contain still more files and folders
and so on, thus building a tree-like structure in which one “master folder” (or “root folder” — the name varies from
one operating system to another) can contain any number of levels of other folders and files. Folders can be named
just as files can (except for the root folder, which often does not have a name). The use of folders makes it easier
to organise files in a logical way.

5.5 Protecting Files

Many modern computer systems provide methods for protecting files against accidental and deliberate damage.
Computers that allow for multiple users implement file permissions to control who may or may not modify, delete,
or create files and folders. A given user may be granted only permission to modify a file or folder, but not to delete
it; or a user may be given permission to create files or folders, but not to delete them. Permissions may also be used
to allow only certain users to see the contents of a file or folder. Permissions protect against unauthorised tampering
or destruction of information in files, and keep private information confidential by preventing unauthorised users
from seeing certain files.

Another protection mechanism implemented in many computers is a read-only flag. When this flag is turned on for a
file (which can be accomplished by a computer program or by a human user) the file can be examined, but it cannot
be modified. This flag is useful for critical information that must not be modified or erased, such as special files that
are used only by internal parts of the computer system. Some systems also include a hidden flag to make certain
files invisible; this flag is used by the computer system to hide essential system files that users must never modify.

5.6 Storing files

In physical terms, most computer files are stored on hard disks spinning magnetic disks inside a computer that
can record information indefinitely. Hard disks allow almost instant access to computer files. On large computers,
some computer files may be stored on magnetic tape. Files can also be stored on other media in some cases, such
as writeable compact discs, Zip drives, etc.

5.6.1 Backing up files

When computer files contain information that is extremely important, a backup process is used to protect against
disasters that might destroy the files. Backing up files simply means making copies of the files in a separate location
so that they can be restored if something happens to the computer, or if they are deleted accidentally.

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There are many ways to back up files. Most computer systems provide utility programs to assist in the back-up process,
which can become very time consuming if there are many files to safeguard. Files are often copied to removable
media such as writeable CDs or cartridge tapes. Copying files to another hard disk in the same computer protects
against failure of one disk, but if it is necessary to protect against failure or destruction of the entire computer, then
copies of the files must be made on other media that can be taken away from the computer and stored in a safe,
distant location.

5.7 File Terminology

There are a few terms that you need to understand when learning about file system. These will be explained over
the next couple of pages. File can store data or information in various formats. Suppose in a file data is stored in
the tables just like the one below:

First Name Last Name Address City Age

Mickey Mouse 123 Fantasy Way Anaheim 73

Bat Man 321 Cavern Ave Gotham 54

Wonder Woman 987 Truth Way Paradise 39

Donald Duck 555 Quack Street Mallard 65

Bugs Bunny 567 Carrot Street Rascal 58

Wiley Coyote 999 Acme Way Canyon 61

Cat Woman 234 Purrfect Street Hairball 32

Tweety Bird 543 Itotltaw 28

Table 5.2 File terminology

5.7.1 Records
As you saw previously, each table stores can hold a great deal of data. Each table contains a lot of records. A record
is all of the data or information about one person or one thing. In the table below, all of the information about each
cartoon character is stored in a ‘row’ or record.

First Name Last Name Address City Age

Mickey Mouse 123 Fantasy Way Anaheim 73

Bat Man 321 Cavern Ave Gotham 54

Wonder Woman 987 Truth Way Paradise 39

Donald Duck 555 Quack Street Mallard 65

Bugs Bunny 567 Carrot Street Rascal 58

Records
Wiley Coyote 999 Acme Way Canyon 61

Cat Woman 234 Purrfect Street Hairball 32

Tweety Bird 543 Itotltaw 28

Table 5.3 Records

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Communication and Computer Application

What information could you find in the record for Cat Woman?
What do you think the database at your school stores records about?
How about the library? What records would be stored on that database?

5.7.2 Fields
Each table contains a lot of records. A record is made up of lots of individual pieces of information. Look at Wonder
Woman’s record; it stores her first name, last name, address, city and age. Each of these individual pieces of information
in a record are called a ‘field’ A ‘field’ is one piece of data or information about a person or thing.

First Name Last Name Address City Age

Mickey Mouse 123 Fantasy Way Anaheim 73

Bat Man 321 Cavern Ave Gotham 54

Wonder Woman 987 Truth Way Paradise 39

Donald Duck 555 Quack Street Mallard 65

Bugs Bunny 567 Carrot Street Rascal 58

Wiley Coyote 999 Acme Way Canyon 61

Cat Woman 234 Purrfect Street Hairball 32

Tweety Bird 543 Itotltaw 28

Fields
Table 5.4 Fields

What fields can you find about Tweety Bird?

What fields do you think would be stored in your student record on the school database?
What fields would be stored in a book record in the library database?

5.8 Data Capturing

Any database or information system needs data entered into it, in order for it to be of any use. There are many methods
which can be used to collect and enter data, some manual, and some automatic. We will also look in particular detail
at designing an effective paper-based data capture form.

5.8.1 Direct Data Capturing

Here are some of the methods that can be used to capture data directly.

Barcode reader
A bar code reader uses visible red light to scan and ‘read’ the barcode. As the red light shines across the light and dark
bands of the barcode, so the reflected red light is also lighter and darker (do you see that on the picture opposite?)
The Hand Scanner senses the reflected light and translates it into digital data. The digital data is then input into the
computer. The computer may display the results on a screen and also input it into the correct fields in the database.
Typical uses:
• Shop - to find details on the product sold and price
• Library - record the ISBN number of the book and the borrower’s card number
• Warehouse - to check the labels on boxes delivered against what is recorded on the delivery sheet.

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Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR)
The numbers at the bottom of a cheque are written in a special ink which contains iron particles. This ink is magnetised
and commonly called ‘magnetic ink’. It can be read by a special machine called a Magnetic Ink Character Reader
(MICR).

Optical mark readers (OMR)

An Optical Mark Reader is a scanning device that reads carefully placed pencil marks on a specially designed form
or document. A simple pen or pencil mark is made on the form to indicate the correct choice e.g. a multiple choice
exam paper or on the National Lottery ticket selection form.

The completed forms are scanned by an Optical Mark Reader (OMR) which detects the presence of a mark by
measuring the reflected light. Less light is reflected where a mark has been made. The OMR then interprets the
pattern of marks into a data record and sends this to the computer for storage, analysis and reporting. This provides
a very fast and accurate method of inputting large amounts of data, provided the marks have been made accurately
and clearly.

Optical character recognition (OCR)

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) enables the computer to identify written or printed characters. An OCR system
consists of a normal scanner and some special software. The scanner is used to scan the text from a document into
the computer. The software then examines the page and extracts the text from it, storing it in a form that can be
edited or processed by normal word processing software. The ability to scan the characters accurately depends on
how clear the writing is. Scanners have been improved to be able to read different styles and sizes of text as well as
neat handwriting. Although they are often up to 95% accurate, any text scanned with OCR needs careful checking
because some letters can be misread. OCR is also used to automatically recognise postcodes on letters at sorting
offices.

Speech Recognition
The user talks into a microphone. The computer ‘listens’ to the speaker, then translates that information to written
words and phrases. It then displays the text on to the monitor. This process happens immediately, so as you say the
words, they appear on the screen. The software often needs some “training” in order for it to get used to your voice,
but after that it is simple to use.

5.8.2 Data Capture Forms

Although there are many methods of capturing data automatically, many businesses prefer to capture it manually.

Paper-based data capture forms

This is the most commonly used method of collecting or capturing data. People are given a form to fill in with their
personal details, e.g. name, address, telephone number, date of birth etc. Once the form is completed, it is given to
a member of staff who will enter the data from it, into a database or information system.

Computerised data entry forms

A member of staff could type the information directly into a computerised data entry form whilst the customer is
with them. They ask the question in the order it appears on the form and enter the answer using a keyboard. More
commonly though, the details will be typed in by copying what was written on the paper-based data capture form.
When this method is used, it is important that the fields on both forms are laid out in the same order to speed up the
process of entering the data.

Designing Data Capture Form

A data capture form looks simple enough to design, don’t you just type out a few questions, put a couple of boxes
for customers to fill in their information and then print it out? No, it’s not as simple as that. If you want to collect
good quality data, you need to think carefully about the design of the form. All forms should have the name of the
organisation at the top.

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Communication and Computer Application

GREYSIDE YOUTH CLUB

Memebership Application Form

Please complete the top section of this membership apliccation form.

Then send the form to The Youth Club, 15 Greyside Park, Liverpool,
Merseyside, L2 3XJ.

Fig. 5.4 Sample data capture form

They should also have an explanation to tell the customer what the form is for, in this case ‘membership application
form’, or ‘data collection form’, or ‘customer details form’ or something similar. Lastly, they should give the customer
instructions to tell them what they should do with the form once they have completed it. Here it tells the person
filling the form in, to send it back to the address given.

Title:  Mr  Miss Tick one box

 Other (Please State Here: )

Travel Arrangement If the information is incorrect, please click the appropriate choice

 Bicycle  Train  Bus  Walks  Car  Coach  Taxi  Other  Route

Dietary Needs

Meal Arrangement If the information is incorrect, please click the appropriate choice
 Free school meal  Paid school meal  Sandwiches  Home  Other

Fig. 5.5 Form filled by the customer

Where possible, it is a good idea to try to limit the options that people can enter. If you can manage to do this, then
you can set up your computerised system with a drop down box that gives all of the options on the form – making
it faster for staff to enter the data. For Example: The first form shown above, limits the choice of title to ‘Mr’ or
‘Miss’. This is sufficient in this case because it is an application form for a childrens’ youth club, so it is unlikely
that there will be any ‘Mrs’ or ‘Dr’ or ‘Reverend’

The second form gives people the different options for travel; they have to tick one of the options since there isn’t
any room for them to write something different. The same method has been used for types of lunches.

5.9 Verification
It was mentioned that validation cannot make sure that data you enter is correct, it can only check that it is sensible,
reasonable and allowable. However, it is important that the data in your database is as accurate as possible. Have
you ever heard of the term ‘Garbage in, garbage out’ or ‘GIGO’? This means that if you enter data that is full of
mistakes (garbage in) then when you want to search for a record you will get data with mistakes presented to you
(garbage out).

This is where Verification can help to make sure that the data in your database contains as few mistakes as possible.
Verification means to check something twice. Think about when you choose a new password, you have to type it in
twice. This lets the computer check if you have typed it exactly the same both times and not made a mistake. The
data in your database can be verified or checked twice.

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 FRUIT COLOUR SIZE
Apple Yellow Medium
Orange Orange Medium
Strawberry Red Small
Banana Yellow Medium
Cherry Red Small
Grape Green Small
Melon Yellow Large
Blacberry Black Small

This can be done in different ways:

• Somebody else can check the data on the screen for you against the original paper documents.
• You could print out your table and check it against the original paper documents.
• You could type in the data twice (like you do with your password), and get the computer to check that both sets
of data are identical.

Other methods of verification include control, batch or hash totals. To find out more about these, visit the mini-
website on Validation and Verification.

5.9.1 Editing and Checking

As well as choosing the correct data types to try to reduce the number of errors made when entering data into the
database, there is another method that can be used when setting up the table. This is called ‘Validation’. It is very
important to remember that Validation cannot stop the wrong data being entered, you can still enter ‘Smiht’ instead
of ‘Smith’ or ‘Brown’ instead of ‘Green’ or ‘78’ instead of ‘87’.

What Validation can do, is to check that the data is sensible, reasonable and allowable. This page will not go into
any great depth about different methods of validation as there is a whole mini-website on Validation alone. Go and
have a look at it to find out more details about the best kind of Validation to use and the reasons why. Some of the
types of Validation that you could set up for your database are:

Validation Example
Type Check
If the datatype number has been chosen, then only
that type of data will be allowed to be entered i.e. 2, 3, 4
numbers. Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms
If a field is to accept certain choices e.g. title might Brown, Green, Blue, Yellow, Red
be restricted to ‘Mr’, ‘Mrs’, ‘Miss’ and ‘Ms’ then
‘Dr’ wouldn’t be allowed.

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Communication and Computer Application

Range Check
A shop may only sell items between the price of  ₤
10.00 and  ₤ 50.00 . To stop mistakes being made,
a range check can be set up to stop   ₤500.00 being
entered by accident.
>=10 AND <=50
A social club may not want people below the age of
18 to be able to join.
>=18
Notice the use of maths symbols:
>‘greater than’
< ‘less than’
= ‘equals’
Presence Check
There might be an important piece of data that you
want to make sure is always stored. For example,
a school will always want to know an emergency
School Database: Emergency contact number
contact number, a video rental store might always
DVLA Database: Date test passed
want to know a customer’s address, a wedding
Electoral Database: Date of birth
dress shop might always want a record of the brides
Vet’s Database: Type of Pet
wedding date.

A presence check makes sure that a critical field

cannot be left blank, it must be filled in.
Picture or format check
Some things are always entered in the same format.
Think about postcode, it always has a letter, letter,
number, number, number, letter and letter e.g. CV43
9PB. There may be the odd occasion where it differs
Postcode: CV43 9PB
slightly e.g. a Birmingham postcode B19 8WR, but
Telephone Number (01926) 615432
the letters and numbers are still in the same order.

A picture or format check can be set up to make sure

that you can only put letters where letters should be
and numbers where numbers should be.

Table 5.5 Types of validation

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Summary
• Data processing is any computer process that converts data into information.
• A single datum is a single measurement from the real world.
• Data are any facts, numbers, or text that can be processed by a computer.
• Whenever a computer is used it must work its way through three basic stages before any task can be
completed.
• A program is a set of step-by-step instructions which tells the computer exactly what to do with the input in
order to produce the required output.
• The input stage of computing is concerned with getting the data needed by the program into the computer.
• The most commonly used output devices are the screen, which is also called a monitor or VDU and the
printer.
• The CPU collects all of the raw data from various input devices (such a keyboard or mouse) and converts it into
useful information by carrying out software instructions.
• The Immediate Access Store (IAS) holds the data and programs needed at that instant by the Control Unit.
• A computer file is a piece of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, that is available to a
computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage.
• Information in a computer file can consist of smaller packets of information (often called records or lines) that
are individually different but share some trait in common.
• The programmers who create the programs decide what files are needed, how they are to be used and (often)
their names.
• Files on a computer can be created, moved, modified, grown, shrunk and deleted.
• Records in an ordered sequential file are arranged, in order, on some key field or fields.
• In the case of an insertion or update, the new file will contain the inserted or updated record.
• Direct access files allow direct access to a particular record in the file using a key and this greatly facilitates the
operations of reading, deleting, updating and inserting records.
• A Relative file may be visualised as a one dimension table stored on disk, where the relative record number is
the index into the table.
• An indexed file may have multiple keys.
• Most computers organise files into hierarchies using folders, directories, or catalogs.
• Many modern computer systems provide methods for protecting files against accidental and deliberate
damage.

References
• Thierauf, J. B. & Niehaus, F. J., 1980. An introduction to data processing for business, Wiley.
• Micallef, A. B., 1971. An introduction to data processing, Cummings Pub. Co.
• Kumar, V. & Kumar, D., LESSON 1 INTRODUCTION TO DATA PROCESSING [Pdf] Available at: <http://
www.ddegjust.ac.in/studymaterial/pgdca/ms-09.pdf> [Accessed 24 May 2013].
• 2 Data Processing Concept [Pdf] Available at: <http://download.nos.org/srsec330/330L2.pdf> [Accessed 24
May 2013].
• An Introduction to Data Visualization & Processing - Uttam Grandhi [Video online] Available at: <http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=EC-8VxXJER4> [Accessed 24 May 2013].
• Dr. Garg, N., 2008. Lecture - 1 Introduction to Data Structures and Algorithms [Video online] Available at:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWg7U0OEAoE> [Accessed 24 May 2013].

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Communication and Computer Application

Recommended Reading
• Robichaud, B., Muscat, J. E. & Hall, A., 1977. Introduction to Data Processing, 2nd ed. Greg Division, McGraw-
Hill.
• Carver, K. D., 1974. Introduction to data processing, John Wiley & Sons Australia, Limited.
• Harris, L. M., 1986. Introduction to data processing: mainframes, minis, and microcomputers, 3rd ed. Wiley.

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Self Assessment
1. ___________ is defined as either a meaningful answer to a query or a meaningful stimulus that can cascade
into further queries.
a. Data processing
b. Information
c. Datum
d. Technology

2. _________ are defined as numbers or characters that represent measurements from the real world.
a. Data
b. Numbers
c. Queries
d. Cells

3. Match the following

1. Operational or transactional data A. Nominal

2. Non-operational data B. Data about the data itself

3. Meta data C. Forecast data

4. Categorical data D. Inventory

a. 1-A, 2-D, 3-C, 4-B
b. 1-B, 2-A, 3-D, 4-C
c. 1-D, 2-C, 3-B, 4-A
d. 1-C, 2-B, 3-A, 4-D

4. The CPU is a microprocessor - a silicon chip - composed of tiny electrical switches called __________.
a. transistors
b. megahertz
c. microchips
d. processor

5. Which of the following statements is false?

a. The higher the number of MHz the faster the computer can process information.
b. A common CPU today runs at around 3 GHz or more.
c. The Intel Pentium processor and the Athlon are examples of a operating system.
d. The speed at which the processor carries out its operations is measured in megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz
(GHz).

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Communication and Computer Application

6. A computer ________ is a piece of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, that is available
to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage.
a. disk
b. storage
c. digit
d. file

7. __________ files allow direct access to a particular record in the file using a key and this greatly facilitates the
operations of reading, deleting, updating and inserting records.
a. Relative file
b. Direct access
c. Sequential file
d. Indexed files

8. ___________ may have up to 255 keys, the keys can be alphanumeric and only the primary key must be
unique.
a. Relative file
b. Direct access
c. Sequential file
d. Indexed files

9. Any string of __________ may or may not be a well-formed name for a file or a link depending upon the context
of application.
a. characters
b. numbers
c. symbols
d. data

10. What allows instant access to computer files?

a. Magnetic tape
b. Records
c. Hard disks
d. Fields

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Chapter VI
Operating Systems

Aim

The aim of this chapter is to:

• introduce basic organisation of computer systems

• elucidate history of DOS

• discuss batch files and batch system

Objectives
The objectives of this chapter are to:

• explain spooling

• discuss essential properties of the operating system batch

• define operating system, functions, history and evolution

Learning outcome
At the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• analyse multiprogramming

• explain time sharing system

• understand internal and external commands of DOS

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Communication and Computer Application

6.1 Introduction
An operating system acts as an intermediary between the user of a computer and computer hardware. The purpose
of an operating system is to provide an environment in which a user can execute programs in a convenient and
efficient manner. An operating system is software that manages the computer hardware. The hardware must provide
appropriate mechanisms to ensure the correct operation of the computer system and to prevent user programs from
interfering with the proper operation of the system.

6.2 Operating System

An Operating system is a program that controls the execution of application programs and acts as an interface between
the user of a computer and the computer hardware. A more common definition is that the operating system is the one
program running at all times on the computer (usually called the kernel), with all else being applications programs.
An Operating system is concerned with the allocation of resources and services, such as memory, processors, devices
and information. The Operating System correspondingly includes programs to manage these resources, such as a
traffic controller, a scheduler, memory management module, I/O programs, and a file system.

6.2.1 Functions of Operating System

Operating system performs three functions:
• Convenience: An OS makes a computer more convenient to use.
• Efficiency: An OS allows the computer system resources to be used in an efficient manner.
• Ability to Evolve: An OS should be constructed in such a way as to permit the effective development, testing
and introduction of new system functions without at the same time interfering with service.

6.2.2 Operating System as User Interface

Every general purpose computer consists of the hardware, operating system, system programs and application
programs. The hardware consists of memory, CPU, ALU, I/O devices, peripheral device and storage device. System
program consists of compilers, loaders, editors, OS etc. The application program consists of business program,
database program. The Figure shows the conceptual view of a computer system.

74
 user user user user
1 2 3  n

compiler assembler text editor  database

system

system and application programs

operating system

Computer Hardware

Fig. 6.1 Conceptual view of a computer system

Every computer must have an operating system to run other programs. The operating system coordinates the use of
the hardware among the various system programs and application program for a various users. It simply provides
an environment within which other programs can do useful work.

The operating system is a set of special programs that run on a computer system that allow it to work properly.
It performs basic tasks such as recognising input from the keyboard, keeping track of files and directories on the
disk, sending output to the display screen and controlling the peripheral devices. OS is designed to serve two basic
purposes:
• It controls the allocation and use of the computing system‘s resources among the various user and tasks.
• It provides an interface between the computer hardware and the programmer that simplifies and makes feasible
for coding, creation, debugging of application programs.

The operating system must support the following tasks. The tasks are:
• Provides the facilities to create, modification of program and data files using and editor.
• Access to the compiler for translating the user program from high level language to machine language.
• Provide a loader program to move the compiled program code to the computer‘s memory for execution.
• Provide routines that handle the details of I/O programming.

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Communication and Computer Application

6.3 History of Operating System

Operating systems have been evolving through the years. Following table shows the history of OS.

Generation Year Electronic devices used Types of OS and devices

First 1945 – 55 Vacuum tubes Plug boards

Second 1955 – 1965 Transistors Batch system

Third 1965 – 1980 Integrated Circuit (IC) Multiprogramming

Fourth Since 1980 Large scale integration PC

Table 6.1 History of OS

6.4 Disk Operating System

Disk Operating System (specifically) and disk operating system (generically), most often abbreviated as DOS
(not to be confused with the DOS family of disk operating systems for the IBM PC compatible platform), refer
to operating system software used in most computers that provides the abstraction and management of secondary
storage devices and the information on them (e.g., file systems for organising files of all sorts). Such software is
referred to as a disk operating system when the storage devices it manages are made of rotating platters (such as
hard disks or floppy disks).

In the early days of micro computing, memory space was often limited, so the disk operating system was an extension
of the operating system. This component was only loaded if it was needed. Otherwise, disk-access would be limited
to low-level operations such as reading and writing disks at the sector-level. In some cases, the disk operating system
component (or even the operating system) was known as DOS. Sometimes, a disk operating system can refer to the
entire operating system if it is loaded off a disk and supports the abstraction and management of disk devices. An
example is DOS/360. On the PC compatible platform, an entire family of operating systems was called DOS.

6.4.1 History of DOS

In the early days of computers, there were no disk drives; delay lines, punched cards, paper tape, magnetic tape,
magnetic drums, were used instead. And in the early days of microcomputers, paper tape or audio cassette tape or
nothing were used instead. In the latter case, program and data entry was done at front panel switches directly into
memory or through a computer terminal / keyboard, sometimes controlled by a ROM BASIC interpreter; when
power was turned off after running the program, the information so entered vanished.

Both hard disks and floppy disk drives require software to manage rapid access to block storage of sequential and
other data. When microcomputers rarely had expensive disk drives of any kind, the necessity to have software to
manage such devices (i.e., the disks) carried much status. To have one or the other was a mark of distinction and
prestige, and so was having the Disk sort of an Operating System. As prices for both disk hardware and operating
system software decreased, there were many such microcomputer systems.

6.4.2 Components of MS-DOS

DOS is an Operating System. It works as an interpreter between user and computer. We give English like commands
and it converts it into machine language and after the computer has processed the information, returns the results
to you in English. Ms. Dos consist of four essential programs and a set of additional utilities.

MS-DOS consists of four essentials programs and a set of additional utilities. Four main programs are:
• Boot Record
• IO.SYS
• MSDOS.SYST
• COMMAND.COM

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Booting: Process that starts up a computer is called booting. It checks for proper functioning of all the peripheral
devices attached with the system. It searches for the operating system and, when located, loads it into the main
memory.
• Cold Booting is done by turning on the computer.
• Warm Booting is performed by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del keys simultaneously.

There are two name in DOS and is divided into 2 parts.

• Primary Name
• Secondary or extension.

Primary name is separated from the Secondary name extension with the help of a dot (.) look at the following
example.

Example: ENVOICE. TXT

Primary name can be from 1 to 8 characters long and Secondary name contains 3 or less than 3 characters and is
optional. The extension tells DOS about what kind of file it is. Valid Characters for naming a file are: from A to Z
and the digit 0 to 9

C :\> Is known as DOS/command prompt, where we give the commands.

DOS command divided into 2 parts:

• Internal Commands or Memory-Resident Commands
• External Command or Disk-Residence Commands

6.4.3 Internal Command

There are also called memory-resident commands. These commands are automatically loaded into the computer’s
memory during the booting process. They actually included in the Command.com file. So these commands are
executable immediately after getting the dos prompt. A few internal commands are:
• VER
• VOL
• DATE
• TIME
• CLS
• DIR
• MD
• CD
• PATH
• RD
• COPY CON
• TYPE
• COPY
• DEL
• REN
• PROMT

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Communication and Computer Application

A command can be given in Capitals or Small letters also. The internal commands can execute immediately but
External Commands require special files for their execution without which it is not possible to execute them.

VER: All O/S has its own edition number or release or version number. The version number indicates which edition
of O/S you are working on.
Syntax: VER <Enter>
Example: C:\> Ver <Enter>
Result will be: - Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

VOL: It is used to display volume label and serial number of the current drive
Syntax: Vol [drive:]
Example: C:\> VOL

DATE: Used to display the current system date and prompt for entering new date.
Syntax: Date <Enter>
Example: C:\> date <Enter>

TIME: Displays the current system time and prompt for entering new time.
Syntax: Time <Enter>
Example: C:\> Time <Enter>

CLS: Clears the cluster screen.

Syntax: CLS <Enter>
Example: C:\> CLS <Enter>

DIR: This command displays the list of directories and files with details like date of creation whether it is directory
or file etc.
Syntax: DIR <Enter>
Switches:
/p : To view one screen of files at a time.
/w : Displays only five column of filenames and directories.
/b : Display only file and directory.
/l : Display all the information in lower case letters.

/a : stands for attributes that are given below

/-h : Hidden (or not hidden) files
s/-s : System (or not systems) files
d/-d : Directory (or not Directory) names
r/-r : Read only( or not read only) files

Example:
DIR *.txt : Display all the files with extension .txt
DIR D???.* : Display all the files starting with D and having less than or equal to four characters in the file name
and any extension.

Here “?” And “*” are called “wild card character”

“*” Stand for any number of the character
“?” Stands for nay one character

MD OR MKDIR: Used to create a new Directory or nested Directories

Syntax: MKDIR OR MD [DRIVE:] PATH DIRECTORY NAME
Example: C:\> MD SAMS <Enter>

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CD OR CHDIR: This command allows changing present directory to another directory.
Syntax: CD [DRIVE:] PATH
Example: C:\> CD SAMS and press <Enter>

PATH: This command defines a list of directories DOS Searches for external commands
Syntax: PATH (Display the current Search Path)
PATH; : ( Clear the search path so DOS will search for external commands only in the current directory)

RD: To delete the empty directory.

Syntax: RD [DRIVE:] PATH

NOTE: The directory must be empty when we use RD.

Example: C:\> RD SAMS and press <Enter>
Switches /s – Remove with subdirectories and files.
/q – Don’t ask to confirm.

COPY CON: We use this command to create a new file.

Syntax: COPY CON <FILENAME>
Example: C:\> Copy Con sams.txt <Enter>
Note: - Typing here and when you are done, press Ctr+Z or F6 key followed by Enter to save the current
document.

TYPE: This command allows you to see the contents of an existing file on the screen.
SYNTAX: TYPE <file name>
Example: C:\> TYPE SAMS

COPY: Using this command you can make duplicate files of an existing file from one location to another or one
directory to another with different name or exiting name.

SYNTAX: COPY < SOURCE FILE NAME> <TARGET FILENAME>

Example: C:\> COPY SAMS.TXT A:\TAJ
Example: C:\> COPY*.TXT +*.BAK TARGET FILENAME And Then Press Enter
Example: C:\> COPY SAMS.TXT C:\SAMS_1\FO\RECEPTION And Then Press Enter

You can also have the option to change the name of files as you copy it.
Example: C:\> COPYold.TXT C:\dos\new.txt And Then Press Enter

DEL/ERASE: This command removes one or more files from the disk or current working directories.
SYNTAX: DEL filespec [/p] or ERASE filespec [/p]
Example: C:\> DEL C:*.BAK /P And Then Press Enter
Example: C:\> DEL abc And Then Press Enter
Example: C:\> DEL ????.COM And Then Press Enter
Switches /p –confirmation
/q – In quit mode

REN: Used to change the name of the file or directory.

SYNTAX: REN <file name>
Example: REN sams sams1 <Enter>
Example: REN *.dat *.mst And Then Press Enter

PROMPT: This command allows you to customise the dos prompt

SYNTAX: 1. PROMPT

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Communication and Computer Application

Character Example Description

$Q = Equal Sign

$$ $ Dollar Sign

$t 12:30:06:92 Display current time

$ d tue 09-07-2007 Display current date

$v msdos version 6.2 show dos version number

$g > Greater than sign

$L < Less than sign

Table 6.2 Some Special $ Parameters Are Given Below

Most people like to set their prompt to $p$g which display the current directory followed by > sign.
Example: PROMPT $P$G <Enter>

TREE: It is used to display directory structure of a specified directory graphically

Syntax : TREE [drive:] [path] [/f]
[/F] : displays the names of the files in each directory

6.4.4 External Commands

These are also called Disk-Resident Commands. These commands are meant for special purpose. These are found
in separate files on Hard Disk or Floppy Disk, So that they don’t typically consume valuable memory space. They
are loaded into memory only when called. Some External Commands are:
• Xcopy
• Move
• FC
• Doskey
• Mem
• FILTER
‚‚ More
‚‚ Sort
‚‚ Find
• Attrib
• Deltree
• Edit
• Tree

XCOPY
This command is faster than Copy Command and allows you to copy entire directories/disk including all the sub
directories and files to destination.

Syntax : XCOPY Source [Target][/Y][-Y] [/P][/E]

SWITCHES:
/-Y : Prompts before copying over existing files.

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/y : Overwrites existing files without prompting.
/p : Ask before copying each file.
/e : Copying empty directory also.
/s : Copying subfolders.

EXAMPLE: XCOPY C:\SAMS D:\SAMS /S/E

MOVE
This command moves a file or group of files from one directory to another and also one disk to another disk. It can
also be used to rename directories.

Syntax: Move [Path File Name] [Destination file name path]

Swiches:
/-Y : Prompt before it overwrites while it copies file that already exists.
/Y : Overwrites existing files without prompting.

EXAMPLE: move c:\sams\fo.txt to d:

EXAMPLE: move c:\sams\fo.txt to d:\ new_sams

FC
Stands for File Compare. If you wish to compare two files or two sets of files then you may use this command. This
command has the capability to differentiate between the files and display the difference.

Syntax: FC <files spec 1> <files spec2> [/a][/b][/c][l][/n]

Switches
/a : This switch displays only the first and last line of each group.
/b : Compare the files in library mode ( byte-by-byte)
/c : Ignore the case of letters./l : Compare the files in text mode.
/n : Displays the line number for lines that are different.

EXAMPLE: FC first.txt second.txt\n and then Press <enter>

DOSKEY
Dos can remember only the last command you had entered. But in order to make DOS remember all the commands
you enter you will have to load a DOSKEY utility. Also Used To Create Macros
Syntax: DOSKEY and Press <Enter>
Display message on the screen.
DOSKEY Installed.

NOTE :To display all commands from the history list one the screen.

Example: DOSKEY / History or /h < Enter>.

Now when DOSKEY is in memory, it can help store all the commands which you enter so that any of those commands
need not be typed again to be executed. And this all are called HISTORY LIST. Now when you want the same
command to be done you can use right arrow key or ‘F1’ or ‘F3’ Issuing following command.

Second feature of DOSKEY is Doskey Macro. Using this macro you can create own command and latter you can
run it on the system prompt.

For example “EXAMPLE: - DOSKEY C= CLS”

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Communication and Computer Application

Now if you type at the system prompt only C and press enter it will clear the screen.

Recalling Commands: Some key is provided to recall recent commands you have run since installing DOSKEY

Key Strok Effect

Up Arrow Display the Preceding Command and further list.
Down Arrow Show the next command you executed after the one that’s being displayed
Page Up Display the oldest command that is still in Doskey
Page Down Show the most recent command that you executed
F7 Display the entire list of command that you executed
F9 Selects a command
Alt+F7 Erase the command history list.
Alt+F10 Erase all macros in memory
Esc Clear the command line.
Ctrl-T Command separator

6.5 UNIX
UNIX is one of the very oldest operating systems in the computer world, and is still widely used today. However, it
is not a very conspicuous operating system. Somewhat arcane in its operation and interface, it is ideally suited for
the needs of large enterprise computing systems. It is also the most common operating system run by servers and
other computers that form the bulk of the Internet. While you may never use UNIX on your local PC, you are using
it indirectly, in one form or another, every time you log on to the ‘net.

While few people run UNIX on their own systems, there are in fact a number of different versions of UNIX
available for the PC, and millions of PC users have chosen to install “UNIX” operating systems on their own desktop
machines. There are dozens of variants of the basic UNIX interface; the most popular one for the PC platform is
Linux, which is itself available in many flavors. While UNIX operating systems can be difficult to set up and require
some knowledge to operate, they are very stable and robust, are efficient with system resources and are generally
free or very inexpensive to obtain.

UNIX operating systems are designed to use the “UNIX file system”. The phrase is in quotes, because there is no
single UNIX file system, any more than there is a single UNIX operating system. However, the file systems used
by most of the UNIX operating system types out there are fairly similar, and rather distinct from the file systems
used by other operating systems, such as DOS or Windows.

As an operating system geared specifically for use on the PC, Linux is the UNIX variant that gets the most attention
in PC circles. To improve its appeal, the programmers who are continually working to update and improve Linux
have put into the operating system compatibility support for most of the other operating systems out there. Linux
will read and write to FAT partitions, and with newer versions this includes FAT32.

6.5.1 MEM
This command displays amount of total available memory (low, Expanded and Extended) and all currently
programs.
Syntax: MEM [/f][/p][/m]

Switches:
/f : Using this switch MEM display all the areas of memory that are fee.
/p : Use this option to display the information one screen at a time.
/m : Display information about how a specified program is using memory.

Example: MEM/p and then press <Enter>

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6.5.2 FILTER
A Powerful feature of DOS is its use of filters to process data directly. A DOS FILTER can process in unique way
any data that passes through it and can change what we see on the screen.

There are three FILTERS include in DOS.

• MORE: More command used to pause vertical Scrolling on the display screen, after each screenful, The display
pauses and the message - - More - - appears. Pressing any key displays the next screen.
EXAMPLE: C:\> MORE < TYPE FILE.TXT and then press <Enter>
EXAMPLE: C:\> DIR /MORE and then press <Enter>
• SORT: Reads, Sorts in Order and sends the data to the screen, file or to another device. Sort to arrange data in
an order.
SYNTAX: SORT [drive:][Path][filename][/r][+n]

Switches:
[drive:][Path][filename] : Specifies the name and location of the file to be searches. It must be preceded
by the redirection character (<).
[/r] : Sort lines in reverse ASCII Order ( Z-A)
[+n] : Sorts line starting with the contents in column n. The default is 1.

EXAMPLE: C:\> SORT < NAME .TXT and then press <Enter>
EXAMPLE: C:\> SORT /+20 < PHONE .TXT and then press <Enter>
EXAMPLE: C:\> DIR / SORT > PHONE .TXT and then press <Enter>

Note: Sort command doesn’t distinguish between upper and lower case. It can sort file of maximum 63 k size.
Combining Input & Output redirection:
EXAMPLE: C:\> SORT < NAME .DAT > SORTNAME.DAT and then press <Enter>
Here the sort command is being directed to take its input from <name.dat and after sorting, send its output to
the > sortname.dat file.

• FIND: The find Filter is used to search a file one or more designated character (called a text string) Depending
upon the form of the FIND Command. Each line having (or not having) the text string is sent to an output devices.
Such as the Screen, a file or the printer. The text string is always typed within quotes (“Text Sring”).
SYNTAX: FIND [/v][/c][/n] “String “ [d:] [path][filename]
Switches:
[/v] : Displays all the lines that do not contain string.
[/c] : Display the total number of lines found to contain the string.
[/n] : Display the line number as well as the line that contains the string.
[/i] : Ignores uppercase or lowercase during the search.

Where:
“String” : Specifies one or more alphabet or numeric character whose maximum length should not
be more than 250 characters and must be enclosed in double quotes.

[d:] [path][filename]: Specifies the name and location of the file to be searches EXAMPLE: C:\>
FIND “Rajni” my.txt per.txt and then press <Enter>
EXAMPLE: C:\> DIR/ FIND “TXT” and then press <Enter>

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6.5.3 ATTRIB
Every File on the Disk has its own description like size, space occupied, the type, the date it was created, etc.
Likewise, every file has few attributes. The attributes of a file indicates whether it is a
• Read-Only File: r
• Archive File a
• Hidden File: h
• System File s

With the ATTRIB command you can check the attributes of a file.
SYNTAX: ATTRIB [+r][+a][+h][/+s] [filename]
Switches:
+r, -r : +r Read-Only attribute or, -r turn of Read-Only attribute
+a,-a : +a archive attribute, or -a turn of archive attribute
+h,-h : +h hidden attribute, or –h turn of hidden attribute
+s, -s : +s system attribute and it should not be used generally

Note: While Creating a new file every file gets read only attribute and archive attribute by default.

EXAMPLE: C:\> ATTRIB my.txt +R and then press <Enter>

EXAMPLE: C:\> ATTRIB my.txt +H and then press <Enter>

6.5.4 DELTREE
This command used for deleting an entire directory whether in that directory contains files or subdirectories and
also it will delete hidden files.
Syntax: DELTREE [drive:][path] directories [/y]
EXAMPLE: C:\> DELTREE my.txt and then press <Enter>

6.5.5 EDIT
This is the DOS Editor, which you can use to edit the text file and also creating new file.
Syntax: Edit [drive:][path][filename]
EXAMPLE: C:\> EDIT c:\sams\FO.TXT and then press <Enter>
EXAMPLE: C:\> Edit NEW FILE and then press <Enter>

6.6 Batch Files

It is a collection of DOS commands to perform a certain task or a batch file is nothing but sequence of commands
to perform sequence of operations step by step. Look at the following commands you give step by step to perform
an operation.

Suppose your job is

First - Check the directory
Second - Copy a file called ABC.txt to another disk
Third - Delete ABC.TXT from the present disk
Fourth - Clear the screen

If you do all this steps daily after your hour, then the commands you give would be:
• C:\> DIR <Enter>
• C:\> COPY C:ABC.TXT D: <Enter>
• C:\> DEL ABC.TXT <Enter>
• C:\> CLS <Enter>

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Instead of heating your head daily giving the same set of commands you can do it in a much simpler manner. All
you do is put all the commands in a batch file.

How to create a batch file:

C:\> COPY CON A.bat <Enter>

Note: Here Con means Console that is Keyboard, A the file name and .bat is extension.

It is compulsory that a batch file must have extension .BAT. You will find the cursor below ‘A’ now type
C:\> DIR <Enter>
C:\> COPY A.TXT D : <Enter>
C:\> DEL A.TXT <Enter>
C:\> CLS <Enter>

Now Press the F6 or Ctrl+Z key combination. You shall find ^Z symbol below CLS, Now press Enter. You will
receive the following message: 1files Copied.

And you are returned to the prompt C:\>

Now to execute the Batch File simply type the name of the file.
C:\> A <Enter>

You will see all the commands in the A.Bat come right into action. So instead of typing all those command one after
another performed the same job by just typing the file name.

6.7 Batch System

Some computer systems only did one thing at a time. They had a list of the computer system may be dedicated to a
single program until its completion, or they may be dynamically reassigned among a collection of active programs
in different stages of execution. Batch operating system is one where programs and data are collected together in
a batch before processing starts. A job is predefined sequence of commands, programs and data that are combined
in to a single unit called job.

Fig. 6.1 shows the memory layout for a simple batch system. Memory management in batch system is very simple.
Memory is usually divided into two areas: Operating system and user program area.

Operating
System Resident
Portion

User Program
Area Transient
Program

Fig. 6.2 Memory layout for a simple batch system

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Scheduling is also simple in batch system. Jobs are processed in the order of submission, i.e., first come first served
fashion. When job completed execution, its memory is releases and the output for the job gets copied into an output
spool for later printing. Batch system often provides simple forms of file management. Access to file is serial. Batch
systems do not require any time critical device management.

Batch systems are inconvenient for users because users can not interact with their jobs to fix problems. There may
also be long turnaround times. Example of this system is id generating monthly bank statement. Advantages of
batch system are as follows:
• Move much of the work of the operator to the computer.
• Increased performance since it was possible for job to start as soon as the previous job finished.

Disadvantages of batch system

• Turnaround time can be large from user standpoint.
• Difficult to debug program.
• A job could enter an infinite loop.
• A job could corrupt the monitor, thus affecting pending jobs.
• Due to lack of protection scheme, one batch job can affect pending jobs.

6.8 Time Sharing Systems

Multi-programmed batched systems provide an environment where the various system resources (for example,
CPU, memory, peripheral devices) are utilised effectively. Time sharing, or multitasking, is a logical extension
of multiprogramming. Multiple jobs are executed by the CPU switching between them, but the switches occur so
frequently that the users may interact with each program while it is running.

An interactive, or hands-on, computer system provides on-line communication between the user and the system.
The user gives instructions to the operating system or to a program directly, and receives an immediate response.
Usually, a keyboard is used to provide input, and a display screen (such as a cathode-ray tube (CRT) or monitor)
is used to provide output. If users are to be able to access both data and code conveniently, an on-line file system
must be available. A file is a collection of related information defined by its creator. Batch systems are appropriate
for executing large jobs that need little interaction.

Time-sharing systems were developed to provide interactive use of a computer system at a reasonable cost. A time-
shared operating system uses CPU scheduling and multiprogramming to provide each user with a small portion
of a time-shared computer; each user has at least one separate program in memory. A program that is loaded into
memory and is executing is commonly referred to as a process. When a process executes, it typically executes for
only a short time before it either finishes or needs to perform I/O. I/O may be interactive; that is, output is to a
display for the user and input is from a user keyboard. Since interactive I/O typically runs at people speeds, it may
take a long time to complete.

A time-shared operating system allows the many users to share the computer simultaneously. Since each action or
command in a time-shared system tends to be short, only a little CPU time is needed for each user. As the system
switches rapidly from one user to the next, each user is given the impression that she has her own computer, whereas
actually one computer is being shared among many users.

Time-sharing operating systems are even more complex than are multi-programmed operating systems. As in
multiprogramming, several jobs must be kept simultaneously in memory, which requires some form of memory
management and protection.

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6.9 Multiprogramming
When two or more programs are in memory at the same time, sharing the processor is referred to the multiprogramming
operating system. Multiprogramming assumes a single processor that is being shared. It increases CPU utilisation by
organising jobs so that the CPU always has one to execute. Fig. 4.3 shows the memory layout for a multiprogramming
system.

Operating System

job 1

job 2

job 3

job 4

512M

Fig. 6.3 Memory layout for a multiprogramming system

The operating system keeps several jobs in memory at a time. This set of jobs is a subset of the jobs kept in the job
pool. The operating system picks and begins to execute one of the jobs in the memory. Multi-programmed system
provides an environment in which the various system resources are utilised effectively, but they do not provide for
user interaction with the computer system.

Jobs entering into the system are kept into the memory. Operating system picks the job and begins to execute one
of the jobs in the memory. Having several programs in memory at the same time requires some form of memory
management. Multiprogramming operating system monitors the state of all active programs and system resources.
This ensures that the CPU is never idle unless there are no jobs.

Advantages
• High CPU utilisation.
• It appears that many programs are allotted CPU almost simultaneously.

Disadvantages
• CPU scheduling is requires.
• To accommodate many jobs in memory, memory management is required.

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6.10 Spooling
Spooling is an acronym for simultaneous peripheral operations on line. Spooling refers to putting jobs in a buffer,
a special area in memory or on a disk where a device can access them when it is ready. Spooling is useful because
device access data that different rates. The buffer provides a waiting station where data can rest while the slower
device catches up. Fig 2.3 shows the spooling.

DISK

CARD
PRINTER
READER

Fig. 6.4 Spooling

Computer can perform I/O in parallel with computation; it becomes possible to have the computer read a deck of cards
to a tape, drum or disk and to write out to a tape printer while it was computing. This process is called spooling.

The most common spooling application is print spooling. In print spooling, documents are loaded into a buffer and
then the printer pulls them off the buffer at its own rate. Spooling is also used for processing data at remote sites.
The CPU sends the data via communications path to a remote printer. Spooling overlaps the I/O of one job with
the computation of other jobs. One difficulty with simple batch systems is that the computer still needs to read the
decks of cards before it can begin to execute the job. This means that the CPU is idle during these relatively slow
operations. Spooling batch systems were the first and are the simplest of the multiprogramming systems.

Advantage of Spooling
• The spooling operation uses a disk as a very large buffer.
• Spooling is however capable of overlapping I/O operation for one job with processor operations for another
job.

6.11 Essential Properties of the Operating System Batch

Jobs with similar needs are batched together and run through the computer as a group by an operator or automatic
job sequencer. Performance is increased by attempting to keep CPU and I/O devices busy at all times through
buffering, off line operation, spooling and multiprogramming. A Batch system is good for executing large jobs that
need little interaction; it can be submitted and picked up latter.

6.11.1 Time Sharing

It uses CPUs scheduling and multiprogramming to provide economical interactive use of a system. The CPU switches
rapidly from one user to another, i.e., the CPU is shared between a numbers of interactive users. Instead of having
a job defined by spooled card images, each program reads its next control instructions from the terminal and output
is normally printed immediately on the screen.

6.11.2 Interactive
User is on line with computer system and interacts with it via an interface. It is typically composed of many short
transactions where the result of the next transaction may be unpredictable. Response time needs to be short since
the user submits and waits for the result.

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6.11.3 Real time system
Real time systems are usually dedicated, embedded systems. They typically read from and react to sensor data. The
system must guarantee response to events within fixed periods of time to ensure correct performance.

6.11.4 Distributed
It distributes computation among several physical processors. The processors do not share memory or a clock.
Instead, each processor has its own local memory. They communicate with each other through various communication
lines.

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Summary
• An operating system acts as an intermediary between the user of a computer and computer hardware.
• An operating system is software that manages the computer hardware.
• An Operating system is concerned with the allocation of resources and services, such as memory, processors,
devices and information.
• Every general purpose computer consists of the hardware, operating system, system programs and application
programs.
• In the early days of micro computing, memory space was often limited, so the disk operating system was an
extension of the operating system.
• In the early days of computers, there were no disk drives; delay lines, punched cards, paper tape, magnetic tape,
magnetic drums, were used instead.
• DOS is an Operating System. It works as an interpreter between user and computer.
• Process that starts up a computer is called booting.
• The internal commands can execute immediately but External Commands require special files for their execution
without which it is not possible to execute them.
• Dos can remember only the last command you had entered.
• UNIX is one of the very oldest operating systems in the computer world, and is still widely used today.
• As an operating system geared specifically for use on the PC, Linux is the UNIX variant that gets the most
attention in PC circles.
• Batch operating system is one where programs and data are collected together in a batch before processing
starts.
• A job is predefined sequence of commands, programs and data that are combined in to a single unit called
job.
• Multi-programmed batched systems provide an environment where the various system resources (for example,
CPU, memory, peripheral devices) are utilised effectively.
• An interactive, or hands-on, computer system provides on-line communication between the user and the
system.
• Time-sharing systems were developed to provide interactive use of a computer system at a reasonable cost.
• When two or more programs are in memory at the same time, sharing the processor is referred to the
multiprogramming operating system.
• Spooling is useful because device access data that different rates.

References
• Bhatt, C. P., 2003. An Introduction to Operating Systems: Concepts and Practice, 3rd ed. PHI Learning Pvt.
Ltd.
• Kifer, M. & Smolka, S., 2007. Introduction to Operating System Design and Implementation: The OSP 2
Approach, Springer.
• DISK OPERATING SYSTEM (DOS) [Pdf] Available at: <http://computerbabu.webs.com/-%20New%20Folder/
DISK%20OPERATING%20SYSTEM%20(DOS).pdf> [Accessed 22 May 2013].
• Bhor, H., Rote, U. & Shinde, U., Operating System [Pdf] Available at: <http://mu.ac.in/myweb_test/MCA%20
study%20material/OS%20-%20PDF.pdf> [Accessed 22 May 2013].
• Murphy, M., 2011. Introduction to Operating Systems [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=MzVGL44eq9w> [Accessed 22 May 2013].
• Learn Introduction to O S from the Fundamentals of Operating Systems [Video online] Available at: <http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP-OPjwag4E> [Accessed 22 May 2013].

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Recommended Reading
• Bhatt, 2007. Introduction To Operating Systems: Concepts And Practice An 2Nd Ed., 2nd ed. PHI Learning
Pvt. Ltd.
• Johnson, P., 2004. Introduction To Operating Systems, iUniverse.
• Jaeger, T., 2008. Operating Systems Security, Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

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Self Assessment
1. An ___________ is a program that controls the execution of application programs and acts as an interface
between the user of a computer and the computer hardware.
a. Operating system
b. Hardware
c. Software
d. Function

2. Match the following

1. MS-DOS A. Turning on the computer
2. Cold Booting B. Ctrl+Alt+Del
3. Warm Booting C. COMMAND.COM
4. Secondary name D. 3 or less than 3 characters
a. 1-A, 2-D, 3-B, 4-C
b. 1-C, 2-A, 3-B, 4-D
c. 1-B, 2-C, 3-A, 4-D
d. 1-D, 2-B, 3-C, 4-A

3. Which of the following sentences is false?

a. A command can be given in Capitals or Small letters also.
b. All O/S has its own edition number or release or version number.
c. The internal commands can execute immediately but External Commands require special files for their
execution without which it is not possible to execute them.
d. DIR is used to display volume label and serial number of the current drive.

4. ________ displays the current system time and prompt for entering new time.
a. DATE
b. TIME
c. CLS
d. DIR

5. _________ command allows changing present directory to another directory.

a. MKDIR
b. PATH
c. CHDIR
d. RD

6. Which command is used to make duplicate files of an existing file?

a. CUT
b. COPY
c. PASTE
d. DUPLICATE

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7. Match the following
1. ERASE A. Display directory structure of a specified directory graphically
2. REN B. Customise the dos prompt
3. PROMPT C. Change the name of the file or directory
4. TREE D. Removes one or more files from the disk or current working directories
a. 1-B, 2-A, 3-C, 4-D
b. 1-A, 2-B, 3-D, 4-C
c. 1-D, 2-C, 3-B, 4-A
d. 1-C, 2-D, 3-A, 4-B

8. Which of the followings is not an external command?

a. FC
b. Doskey
c. Mem
d. VER

9. Which of the followings is not an internal command?

a. COPY CON
b. TYPE
c. FILTER
d. DEL

10. _________ command displays amount of total available memory (low, Expanded and Extended) and all currently
programs.
a. MEM
b. FILTER
c. ATTRIB
d. DELTREE

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Chapter VII
Internet and Network Security

Aim
The aim of the chapter is to:

• explain internet’s workflow

• elucidate the different threats, consequences and remedies for network security

• explicate the concept of IP address

Objectives
The objectives of the chapter are to:

• explain the role of TCP/IP in internet architecture

• enlist the types of threats to network security

• explain different options for optimum network security

Learning outcome
After end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• identify and list key internet architecture components

• understand possible threats to the network security

• describe types of measures useful for network security maintenance

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7.1 Internet
Internet is the world's largest network. It is a unique collection of networks of different kinds. It is often described
as “a network of networks” since all the smaller networks are linked together into one giant network called the
Internet.

The use of internet began in 1969 in the U.S. Department of Defence’s Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA)
to provide immediate communication within the department during war. Computers were then installed at U.S.
universities with defence related projects. As scholars began to go online, the network changed from military use
to scientific use.

As Arpanet grew, administration of the system became distributed to a number of organisations, including the
National Science Foundation (NSF). This shift of responsibility began the transformation of the science oriented
Arpanet into the commercially minded and funded internet, which is used by millions today.

7.2 Internet Architecture

Internet has a set architecture which is the basis of its functioning. We need to understand some basic concepts, and
terminologies to understand internet better.

7.2.1 Protocol
Architecture is based in the very specification of the standard TCP/IP protocol, designed to connect any two
networks which may be very different in internal hardware, software, and technical design. Once two networks are
interconnected, communication with TCP/IP is enabled end-to-end, so that any node on the internet has the ability
to communicate with any node irrespective of their location. TCP/IP protocol has been discussed in detail in the
earlier chapter.

7.2.2 IP Address
Every computer on the internet has a unique numerical address, called an Internet Protocol (IP) address, used to route
packets across the Internet. Just as a postal address enables the postal system to send mail to the desired destination
from anywhere around the world, the computer's IP address gives the internet routing protocols the unique information
they need to route packets of information to the computer from anywhere across the Internet.
If a machine needs to contact another by a domain name, it first looks up for the corresponding IP address with the
domain name service. The IP address is the geographical descriptor of the virtual world, and the addresses of both
source and destination systems are stored in the header of every packet that flows across the Internet.

7.2.3 Domain Name Service

The Domain Name System (DNS), as a whole, consists of a network of servers that map internet domain names to
a local IP addresses. The DNS enables domain names to stay constant while the underlying network topology and
IP addresses change. This provides stability at the application level while enabling network applications to find and
communicate with each other using the IP no matter how the underlying physical network changes.

7.2.4 Packet Switching

The key idea of packet switching is the division of each communication into individual, equal-sized packets. These
packets are then sent individually to their destination through the network, and the entire message is reassembled
when all the packets arrive. There are a range of procedures for retransmission of packets that might get lost in the
network. On the internet, a typical packet length is about one kilobyte, or a thousand characters. A large message
may be divided into thousands of individual packets. The beginning of a packet is called the ‘header’ and it records
the following information:
• Source: the IP address of the computer sending the packet
• Destination: the IP address of the destination computer
• Length: the length of the packet in bytes
• Number: total number of packets in the complete message
• Sequence: the number of this packet in the whole list of packets making up this communication.

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Communication and Computer Application

This data provides the information that an internet router needs to get packets and messages to their destination. For
additional reliability, internet packet headers also contain an error correction code, which is a number representing a
mathematical combination of the rest of the packet data. If even a single bit of the packet is changed in transmission,
then recalculation of the error correction code by a router won't match the code transmitted with the message, and
the packet will be discarded and a request made for retransmission.

7.2.5 Internet Routers

Internet routers are specialised computers that interconnect the network by switching communications from one line
to another at cross points. When a computer communicates with another on the internet, it addresses each packet
with the other computer's IP address and then sends it to the closest internet router. The router then uses a routing
algorithm to send the packet across the internet to the destination computer.

7.2.6 Backbones
Backbones are typically fibre optic trunk lines. The trunk line has multiple fibre optic cables combined together to
increase the capacity. Fibre optic cables are designated OC for optical carrier, such as OC-3, OC-12 or OC-48. An
OC-3 line is capable of transmitting 155 Mbps while an OC-48 can transmit 2,488 Mbps (2.488 Gbps). Connecting
all the hardware, protocols and technologies, we have the internet serving millions of users. But the security of the
data transferred, communications using the internet is a big question which needs to be addressed.

7.3 Network Security

A good firm may face potential threats through internet or networking and the protective measures are essential for
securing modern business network and IT infrastructure. Although the knowledge of threats and protective methods
will not stop all attempts at network incursion or system attack, it can empower to eliminate certain general problems,
greatly reducing the potential damages, and quickly detect breaches. With the ever-increasing number and complexity
of attacks, vigilant approaches to security in both large and small enterprises are a must.

7.3.1 Understanding Potential Threats

Threats can come from both internal and external sources. They may be human based, automated or even non
intentional natural phenomenon. Their consequences differ as per the type of virus, type of attack, etc. We will have
a brief view of the threats and consequences.

Threats Internal/External Consequences

e-mail with virus(viruses are External origination, Could infect system reading email and subsequently
explained after the table) internal use spread throughout entire organisation.
Could enter through unprotected ports, compromise
Network with virus External
whole network.
Internal browsing to Could cause compromise on system doing browsing and
Web based virus
external site subsequently affect other internal systems.
External to web If web server is compromised hacker could gain access to
Web server attack
servers other systems internal to network.
External services such as web, email and file transfer
Denial of service attack External
protocol could become unusable
If router is attacked, whole
network could go down.
Firewalls do nothing for this attack. Internal segmentation
Network user attack Internal to anywhere
firewalls can help contain damage.

Table 7.1 Types of threats and consequences.

(Source: http://www.ptsdcs.com/whitepapers/70.pdf)

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Viruses
• A computer virus is a self-replicating computer program that behaves like a biological virus. It spreads by
inserting copies into other executable code or documents.
• Similar to the biological virus, it spreads on its own by multiplying itself throughout the system. There are
different types of viruses, prominent being Trojan horses, worms, and email viruses.
• The Trojan horses are computer programs which pretend to do one thing but actually do damage when they
start it.
• The worms viruses are pieces of software that use computer networks and security flaws to create copies of
self. A copy of the worm will then scan the network for any other machine that has a specific security flaw, and
then replicate itself to the new machine.
• With regards to email viruses, these use email messages, and usually will copy and automatically mail itself to
hundreds of people.

7.3.2 Steps towards Security

Antivirus Software
• Antivirus software scans your PC for signatures of a virus. A virus signature is the unique part of that virus. It
can be a file name, how the virus behaves or the size of the virus file itself.
• Good antivirus software will find viruses that haven't yet infected PC and eliminate the ones that have already
attacked.
• Antivirus software can only protect your computer from viruses trying to infect via email, CD-Rom, floppy
disk, Word documents or other types of computer files. Antivirus software alone will not keep computer 100%
safe and use firewall software is also necessary.

Firewalls
• A firewall is a mechanism by which a controlled barrier is used to control network traffic into and out of an
organisational intranet.
• Firewalls are basically application specific routers. They run on dedicated embedded systems such as an internet
appliance or they can be software programs running on a general server platform.
• In most cases these systems will have two network interfaces, one for the external network such as the internet
and one for the internal intranet side. The firewall process can tightly control what is allowed to traverse from
one side to the other.
• Firewalls can range from being fairly simple to very complex. As with most aspects of security, deciding what
type of firewall to use will depend upon factors such as traffic levels, services needing protection and the
complexity of rules required. The greater the number of services that must be able to traverse the firewall the
more complex the requirement becomes.
• The difficulty for firewalls is distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate traffic. Even private networks are
insecure due to the increased attacks and threats to the networks such as worms, viruses and clever hackers.
• Securing all equipment, including physical infrastructure equipment such as UPS systems etc, is essential for
a smooth and consistent access to services.

The following list is a set of options that could be used in network security:
• Firewalls at all public-private network transit points
• Version controlled and centrally deployed firewall rule sets
• External resources placed in dual firewall, dmz protected networks
• All network hosts lock down unneeded network ports and turn off unneeded services
• All network hosts include centrally managed anti-virus software and utilise central security updates
• Secure central authentication such as radius, windows/kerberos/active directory

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• Centrally managed user management with password policy (must change every three months and must be a
‘secure password’)
• Proactive network scanning for new hosts, out of date systems
• Network monitoring for suspicious behaviour
• Incident response mechanisms (policies, manual, automated and so on).

7.4 Uses of Internet

In spite of all the security issues discussed above, networks, especially internet, are one of the most essential
components of routine life of individuals. This is not to exaggerate, but to underline the significance of internet and
its services in today’s world.

Some of the important applications of internet are:

• Access to remote information
• World wide web
• Person-to-person communication with electronic mail, videoconference, and so on
• Interactive entertainment like video-on-demand, games and so on
• Online shopping, booking, trading, social networking and so on.

98
Summary
• The use of internet began in 1969 at the U.S. Department of Defence’s Advanced Research Project Agency
(ARPA) to provide immediate communication within the department in case of war.
• The key components of internet architecture are the protocol, IP address, domain name service, packet switching,
internet routers, and backbone.
• Securing the modern business network and IT infrastructure demands an end-to-end approach for firms in grasp of
possible security threats and should be associated with protective measures. Threats can come from both internal
and external sources. They may be human based, automated or even non intentional natural phenomenon.
• A computer virus is a self-replicating computer program that behaves like a biological virus. There are different
types of viruses like Trojan horses, worms, and email viruses.
• Securing all equipment, including physical infrastructure equipment is essential. Antivirus software, firewalls,
etc. can be used as measures for secure network usage.
• Internet has enhanced and eased access to remote information and communication, with some of its services
like the World Wide Web.

References
• Oppliger, R., 2001. Internet and Intranet security, 2nd ed. Artech House.
• Kizza, M. J., 2005. Computer Network Security, Springer.
• Dr. James H. Yu & Mr. Tom K. Le, Internet and Network Security [Pdf] Available at: <http://www.nait.org/jit/
Articles/yu101800.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Network Security: History, Importance, and Future [Pdf] Available at: <http://web.mit.edu/~bdaya/www/
Network%20Security.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Prof. Ghosh, S., Lecture - 38 Security [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=3JblSrRT8XE> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Prof. Sengupta, I., 2008. Lecture - 31 Intranet, Extranet, Firewall [Video online] Available at: <http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=vS0khTah3zU> [Accessed 28 May 2013]

Recommended Reading
• McNab, C., 2009. Network Security Assessment: Know Your Network, 2nd ed. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
• Joshi, J., 2008. Network Security: Know It All: Know It All, Morgan Kaufmann.
• Maximum Security, 4th ed. Sams Publishing

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Communication and Computer Application

Self Assessment
1. Since all smaller networks are linked together into one giant network called the internet, it is also known as
____________.
a. internet networks
b. network of networks
c. large network
d. linked network

2. Internet began under which U.S. department?

a. National Defence Agency
b. National Science Foundation
c. Advanced Research Project Agency
d. Advanced Defence Project.

3. Two networks which may be very different in internal hardware, software, and technical design are connected
with the help of?
a. TCP/IP protocol
b. Cables
c. Connectors
d. Communicators

4. An Internet Protocol (IP) address is used to ____________across the internet.

a. packet switching
b. route switching
c. address location
d. route packets

5. The key idea of packet switching is the division of each communication into individual ____________.
a. large packets
b. small packets
c. equal-sized packets
d. uneven packets

6. Which of the following information is not recorded by the packet header?

a. Destination
b. Date
c. Length
d. Sequence

7. Router uses ____________ to send the packet across the internet to the destination computer.
a. route switching
b. routing message
c. packet switching
d. routing algorithm

100
8. The ____________ has multiple fibre optic cables.
a. trunk line
b. hardware
c. connectors
d. switches

9. Trojan horse is a type of:

a. Computer soft ware
b. Computer virus
c. Computer hard ware
d. Security system

10. Firewalls are basically application specific____________.

a. systems
b. hurdles
c. routers
d. protocols

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Chapter VIII
World Wide Web

Aim
The aim of the chapter is to:

• explain the workflow of WWW

• elucidate the ways to use web effectively

• explicate advanced application of WWW

Objectives
The objectives of the chapter are to:

• explain the history of WWW

• enlist the importance of web page, URL, HTML and HTTP

• explain the role of web browsers, search engines

Learning outcome
After end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• identify and list key elements important for functioning of web

• understand the essential factors of WWW

• descrine the uses of search engines and directories

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8.1 Introduction
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a physicist at CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), wrote a proposal for
information management showing how information could be transferred easily over the internet by using hypertext,
the now familiar point-and-click system of navigating through information. He was later joined by Robert Cailliau
in the project.

The idea was to connect hypertext with the internet and personal computers, thereby having a single information
network to help CERN physicists share all the computer-stored information at the laboratory. Hypertext would
enable users to browse easily between texts on web pages using links. The first examples were developed on NeXT
computers.

Berners-Lee created a browser-editor with the goal of developing a tool to make the web a creative space to share
and edit information and build a common hypertext. They thought of various names like: “The Mine of Information”,
“The Information Mesh” for the browser. They settled on a name in May 1990 and it was the World Wide Web
(WWW), now simply referred as “web.”

People often use the terms internet and WWW interchangeably, which is incorrect. The internet and the web work
together, but they are not the same thing. The Internet provides the underlying structure, and the web utilises that
structure to offer content, documents, multimedia, etc.

8.2 Functioning of the WWW

• Simply put, it is the documents referring to each other by links. For its likeness to a spider’s construction, this
world is called the web.
• This is known as the hypertext paradigm. The reader sees a document on the screen with sensitive parts of text
representing the links. A link is followed by mere pointing and clicking.
• Hypertext alone is not practical when dealing with large sets of structured information such as what is contained
in data bases: adding a search to the hypertext model gives W3 its full power.
• Indexes are special documents which, rather than being read, may be searched. To search an index, a reader
gives keywords (or other search criteria). The result of a search is another document containing links to the
documents found.

Figure below will help to understand the explanation more clearly.

Phone Book telephone

A
index
B
Search

Bloggs C
Index
Server

Bloggs, Synthesized
Joe: hypertext
4657
document X
Y
anchor
Z
link You can link to the result
of a search.

Fig. 8.1 Basic hypertext enhanced by searches

(Source: http://www.freehep.org/chep92www.pdf)

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Communication and Computer Application

We will now discuss the key elements of the web, and understand its functioning.

8.2.1 Web Page

• From the user's point of view, the page is the basic unit of the web. Web pages are written in the HTML language
and sent to web browsers via web server using the HTTP protocol.
• A web page has a similar page format as of a book or magazine, with text and graphics displayed in a layout,
and it is displayed in a normal computer application window.
• Collection of related web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are addressed relative to a common
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is called as a website. A web site is hosted on at least one web server.

8.2.2 URL
• Web addresses are recorded in a URL, a logical address of a web page that can always be used to dynamically
retrieve the current physical copy over the internet.
• The key advantage of URL is its universality, since the address is same no matter where in the world it is
used.

8.2.3 Web Server

Every web site is managed by a web server. The web server handles all the network communication with individual
user browsers. The server accepts HTTP requests for web pages, and sends the requested pages to browsers over the
internet. Different web servers have different scalability, robustness, security, transportability, and related features.
A web server may be dedicated for one domain name, or maintain web sites for several domains.

8.2.4 HTTP
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is used by web servers to communicate web pages to web browsers. HTTP
is used when a browser connects to a web server, requests a web page from the server, and downloads the page.
It is the common standard that enables any browser to connect to any server, anywhere in the world. The HTTP
protocol is designed to permit intermediate network elements to improve or enable communications between clients
and servers.

8.2.5 HTML
Hyper Text Mark up Language (HTML) is the publishing language of the World Wide Web. It is a simple and
powerful language used to describe web pages, and is still used as the main interface language to the web.
Each command consists of an opening tag in angle brackets, like <tag>, and a closing tag with an added slash, like
</tag>.

To understand how it exactly helps, we can analyze it step by step.

• We can “move” around the web using “hypertext” — by clicking on special text called hyperlinks which take
us to the next page.
• “Hyper” just means it is not linear — i.e. one can go to any place on the internet whenever they want by clicking
on links — there is no set order to do things in.
• Mark up is what HTML tags do to the text inside them. They mark it as a certain type of text (italicized text,
for example).
• HTML is a language and has code-words and syntax like any other language.

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8.3 Using the WWW
Using the web requires some kind of interface for convenient access to the resources made available. Web browser
is such an interface. Optimum browsing results can be achieved by efficient search methods.

8.3.1 Web Browser

A web browser or internet browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information
resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable users to
easily navigate their browsers to related resources. Although browsers are primarily intended to access the World
Wide Web, they can also be used to access information provided by web servers in private networks or files in
file systems. Some browsers can also be used to save information resources to file systems. Examples of popular
browsers used are, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and so on.

8.3.2 Searching for Information

There are two broad ways to adapt for effective search results. Using a directory site or a search engine helps in
simplifying and filtering search results and save extra time and efforts.

Directory sites
• Directory sites place each web site in their database in one or more predefined subject categories following
review by a moderator.
• A web site is included in a directory site's database only after it has been judged for its usefulness, information,
or otherwise worthwhile.
• Typical reasons a site might not be included in the database are because it isn't unique enough, it isn't guaranteed
to remain around for long, or it doesn't meet some other guideline or criteria.
• Examples of some popular directories are Google directory, Yahoo directory, Internet Public Library and so
on.

Search engines
• Simply put, a search engine enables to search the internet for information of interest. Search engines work by
storing information about many web pages, which they retrieve from the HTML itself. These pages are retrieved
by web crawler (sometimes also known as a spider) — an automated web browser which follows every link
on the site.
• The contents of each page are then analyzed to determine how it should be indexed (for example, words are
extracted from the titles, headings, or special fields called Meta tags).
• Data about web pages are stored in an index database for use in later queries. A query can be a single word. The
purpose of an index is to allow information to be found as quickly as possible. Some search engines, such as
Google, store all or part of the source page (referred to as a cache) as well as information about the web pages,
whereas others, such as AltaVista, store every word of every page they find.
• When a user enters a query into a search engine (typically by using key words), the engine examines its index and
provides a listing of best-matching web pages according to its criteria, usually with a short summary containing
the document's title and sometimes parts of the text. The index is built from the information stored with the data
and the method by which the information is indexed.

8.3.3 Search Techniques

Most search engines support the use of the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT to further specify the search
query. Boolean operators are for literal searches that allow the user to refine and extend the terms of the search.
The engine looks for the words or phrases exactly as entered. Some search engines provide an advanced feature
called proximity search which allows users to define the distance between keywords. There is also concept-based
searching where the research involves using statistical analysis on pages containing the words or phrases searched
for. As well, natural language queries allow the user to type a question in the same form one would ask it to a human.
Example of such site would be Ask.com.

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Communication and Computer Application

8.4 Advanced Application: Emergence of Web 2.0

A revolutionary change that swept the web and allowed users to interact with the data available is the emergence
of Web 2.0. The term Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information
sharing, interoperability, user-cantered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web.

A Web 2.0 site gives its users the free choice to interact or collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue
as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users are limited to the
passive viewing of content that was created for them.

Examples of Web 2.0 include social-networking sites, blogs, wikis, video-sharing sites, hosted services, web
applications, mashups and folksonomies.

Blogs
It is short form for “Web log” - an online diary that keeps a running chronology of entries. Readers can comment
on posts and can connect to other blogs through blog rolls or trackbacks.

Advantages
• Share ideas easily
• Advertise
• Obtain feedback
• Reverse chronology
• Mobilise a community
• Comment threads
• Persistence
• Search ability
• Tags
• Trackbacks

Wikis
It is a web site that anyone can edit directly within the browser. They are huge information resources on wide variety
of topics.

Advantages
• Collaborate on common tasks
• To create a common knowledge base
• A complete revision history is maintained with the ability to roll back changes and revert to earlier versions
• All changes are attributed
• Automatic notification of updates
• Search ability
• Tags
• Monitoring

Electronic Social Network

Online community that allows users to establish a personal profile, link to other profiles (i.e., friends), share content,
and communicate with members via messaging, posts. Examples of social networking sites are Facebook, LinkedIn,
Orkut and so on.

106
Advantages
• Discover and reinforce affiliations
• Identify experts
• Message individuals or groups
• Virtually share media
• Detailed personal profiles using multimedia
• Affiliations with groups and individuals
• Messaging and public discussions
• Media sharing
• “Feeds” of recent activity among members

Micro Blogging
It is a short, asynchronous messaging system. Here, users post messages in general or to specific followers which
are displayed on the user’s page. Popular example of micro blogging site is Twitter.

Advantages
• Distribute time-sensitive information
• Share opinions
• Virtually spread ideas
• Run contests and promotions
• Solicit feedback
• Provide customer support
• Track commentary on firms/products/issues
• Organise protests

RSS
It is an acronym that stands for both “really simple syndication” and “rich site summary”. It enables busy users to
scan the headlines of newly available content and click on an item’s title to view items of interest, thus sparing them
from having to continually visit sites to find out what’s new.

Web 3.0
The difference between web 2.0 and web 3.0 is not very evident and it is considered to be an extension of web
2.0.

The web (web 1.0) before web 2.0 was more about finding and reading available data. Web 2.0 is more interactive,
with users participating in information generation and exchange. Web 3.0 is more about meaning of data, the semantic
web, personalisation and intelligent search.

By the end of this chapter, we can say that the World Wide Web and its constant up gradation and evolution provide
us with the greatest way of creating, accessing and interacting with information around the world.

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Communication and Computer Application

Summary
• The Internet and the Web work together, but they are not the same thing. Internet provides the underlying
structure, and the web utilises that structure to offer content, documents, multimedia and so on.
• Web works by the documents referring to each other by links. For its likeness to a spider’s construction, this
world is called the web. Web page is the basic unit of the web. It is written using HTML and sent to the web
server using the HTTP protocol.
• The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is used by web servers to communicate web pages to web browsers,
while Hyper Text Mark up Language (HTML) is the publishing language of the World Wide Web. It is a simple
and powerful language used to create web pages.
• Using the web requires some kind of interface for convenient access to the resources. Web browser is such an
interface. A web browser or internet browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing
information resources on the WWW.
• There are two broad ways to adapt for effective search results. Directory sites place each web site in their
database in one or more predefined subject categories following review by a moderator. A search engine enables
to search the internet for information of interest. Search engines work by storing information about many web
pages, which they retrieve from the HTML itself.
• Web 2.0 is very interactive, with users participating in information generation and exchange. Web 3.0 is more
about meaning of data, the semantic web, personalisation and intelligent search. We can say that the World
Wide Web and its constant up gradation and evolution provide us with the greatest way of creating, accessing
and interacting with information.

References
• Morville, P. & Rosenfeld, L., 2008. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale
Web Sites, 3rd ed. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
• Burnett, R. & Marshall, D. P., 2003. Web Theory: An Introduction, Routledge.
• World-Wide Web = WWW [Pdf] Available at: <http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/nieuwenhuysen/courses/chapters/
www.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD WIDE WEB [Pdf] Available at: <http://www.eolss.net/Sample-Chapters/
C15/E6-200-03.pdf> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• Prof. Sengupta, I., 2008. Lecture -11 World Wide Web Part-I [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=-2hpoIjNSb4> [Accessed 28 May 2013].
• History of the Internet [Video online] Available at: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2hpoIjNSb4> [Accessed
28 May 2013]

Recommended Reading
• Yeager, N., 1996. Web Server Technology: The Advanced Guide for World Wide Web Information Providers,
Morgan Kaufmann.
• Sebesta, 2008. Programming With World Wide Web, 4/E, Pearson Education India.
• Hawisher, E. G. & Selfe, L. C., 2000. Global Literacies and the World-Wide Web, Routledge

108
Self Assessment
1. The ____________and the Web work together.
a. intranet
b. internet
c. LAN
d. WAN

2. Documents referring to each other by hyperlinks is known as:

a. Hyper text paradigm
b. Hyperlink network
c. Network
d. Internet

3. What gives the web its full power?

a. Connectivity
b. Communication
c. Searching
d. Linking

4. What does the user normally use to search an index?

a. Links
b. Internet
c. WWW
d. Keywords

5. A web site is hosted on ____________.

a. WWW
b. web server
c. internet
d. WAN

6. A logical address of a web page that can always be used to dynamically retrieve the current physical copy over
the Internet, is known as:
a. HTML
b. HTTP
c. URL
d. Web site

7. The web server handles all of the____________with individual user browsers.

a. network communications
b. communications
c. web sites
d. web pages

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Communication and Computer Application

8. ____________ place each web site in their database in one or more predefined subject categories following
review by a human being.
a. Search engines
b. Directory sites
c. Keywords
d. Web servers

9. To specify the search query, most search engines support the use of AND, OR and NOT, which are known as
____________.
a. Proximity search
b. Keywords
c. Boolean operators
d. Concept search

10. Blogs, wikis, video-sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies are all examples
of ____________
a. Web sites
b. Web games
c. Internet sites
d. Web 2.0 services

110
Application I
Computers in Airline Reservations

A computer reservation system or CRS is a computerised system that is used for reservation purpose in airlines,
railways and buses. This computerised system is used to store and retrieve information; and conduct transactions
related to the transport. This was originally designed and operated by airlines.

Thus, computer technology has made the airline reservation system quite effective and less time consuming. It is
observed that reservation system in airlines is almost error free and provide various facilities.

A typical airline system includes following information:

• Flight details: This includes the information like starting destination and end destination, along with the stops
in between, and the number of seats booked/available.
• Customer description: This section includes customer’s name, code, address, phone number, and seat number
allotted. This information is useful for keeping the records of customers for any emergency.
• Reservation description: This includes information like customer’s code number, flight number, date of booking,
and date of travelling.

The computerised reservation system has made the reservation procedure of airlines easier and less time-consuming.
The airlines are able to meet their ticket sales target and maintain their tickets selling ratio. It also reduces confusion
from the point of view of customers. Thus, computer technology has transformed the reservation system in the airline
industry and relieved the customers from a tedious and prolonged reservation procedure.

Questions
1. How is the computer technology useful in the airline reservation?
Answer
The computerised reservation system or CRS is used in the airline reservation. This form of computer technology
is used to store and retrieve information; and conduct transactions related to the transport.

2. What are the advantages of computerised reservation system for the airline industry?
Answer
The advantages of the computerised reservation system for the airline industry are as follows:
• The computerised reservation system has made the airline reservation system quit effective and less time-
consuming.
• It is observed that reservation system in airlines is almost error free and provide various facilities.
• Due to CSR, the airlines are able to meet their ticket sales target and maintain their tickets selling ratio.
• It has also reduced confusion from the point of view of customers and have made travelling a lot more
easier.

3. What information is available on a typical airline system?

Answer
A typical Airline System includes following information:
• Flight details: It includes the information like starting destination and end destination, along with the stops
in between, and the number of seats booked/available.
• Customer description: This section includes customer’s name, code, address, phone number, and seat number
allotted. This information is useful for keeping the records of customers for any emergency.
• Reservation description: It includes information like customer’s code number, flight number, date of booking,
and date of travelling.

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Communication and Computer Application

4. How is the computerised reservation system beneficial from the point of view of customers?
Answer
The computerised reservation system has made the reservation procedure of airlines easier and less time-
consuming. It has reduced the confusion from the point of view of customers. Thus, it has relieved the customers
from a tedious and prolonged reservation procedure. It has eased the payment procedure and has made travelling
a simple procedure.

112
Application II
Computers in Education and Training

Computers have transformed the traditional form of teaching and training. The advent of computers has made
a remarkable change in children’s life. It has enhanced their knowledge and has given a wider scope to search
information they need.

Computers serve as a tool in education and training field. It can be used as different type of tool for different
purposes:
Communications Tool
• e-mail
• cell phones

Publishing Tool
• presentation software
• drawing software
• internet publication
• reports

Research Tool
• internet access
• library card catalogue
• periodical listing
• reference software

Teaching Tool
• drill and practice
• interactive instruction
• modelling
• programming
• tutorials

Advantages of Computers in Education

• Computers help the school children to be in control of their experience, set their own pace, and to select the
level of challenge which they feel comfortable.
• To extract the information, the children make use of all their senses and there is no spoon feeding from their
mentors. Thus, children gain information in less time.
• Computers fascinate the kids and draw their attention, making them more attentive and help in concentrating.
• Computers also help in enhancing creative skills like painting, making up stories, solving puzzles and so
forth.
• Good educational software can make the learning to be a cheerful experience and full of activities for the children.
This reduces the work of teachers and gives them better opportunities in developing the teaching skills.
• Good educational software enables children to develop and practice many skills like letters, numbers, shapes,
colours, rhythm and the likes.

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Communication and Computer Application

Thus, computers have made a remarkable change in education field by implementing good educational soft wares.
This makes teaching easier for the teachers and facilitates quick learning for children.

Questions
1. Explain the role of computers as a teaching tool?
2. How has the training and education transformed after the introduction of computers?
3. What are the advantages of computers in educating school children?
4. How can good educational software reduce the work of teachers?

114
Application III
Computers in Banking

Today’s computer technology has transformed the traditional banking system with the online banking concept. The
online banking is one of the forms that have helped the banks and the customers in various ways. The online banking
is less time –consuming, and has reduced the work of the people. Thus, it has reduced the work of the banks and
made the transaction of money easier.

Origin of Online Banking

The introduction of internet and the popularity of personal computers, both gave an opportunity and challenge for
the banking industry. The concept of online banking slowly began to spread in most of the banks as it reduced a lot
of burden of work of both the bank and the customer. After the online banking concept was established, many banks
faced problems in initial stages of setting the online system. However, slowly, online banking became popular and
was powerful “value added tool” to attract and retain customers. It also helped to eliminate the lengthy banking
transaction procedures, costly paper handling and teller interactions, and made banks to stand firm in competitive
banking environment. Since people are now aware of the online banking concept and are familiar in handling it,
banks have developed stable online banking and offer variety of services online.

The computer technology has helped banking sector to set up different types of banking facilities like:
• PC banking
• home banking
• electronic banking
• internet banking.

Advantages
The advantages of online banking are as follows:
• Convenience: Online banking facilities are available 24 hours, seven days a week, unlike the normal banks. Thus,
online banking is quite convenient. It can be accessed even if a customer is in other country or other state.
• Transaction speed: Online banking sites execute the transactions quicker than the ATM processing.
• Efficiency: Online banking is secured and one can easily access and manage the bank accounts, which include
IRA’s, CD’s and so on.
• Effectiveness: Most of the online banking sites offer different tools like account aggregation, stock quotes,
rate alerts and portfolio managing programs, transfers and so on that are beneficial in managing all assets
effectively.

Disadvantages
There are also some disadvantages of online banking. These are as follows:
• Longer Start-up phase: In order to register with the online banking, the bank should provide ID and this may
take time. The bank sites may take longer time while trying to register for the first time.
• Learning curve: Banking sites may be confusing to some people and they may end up processing incorrect
transactions.
• Bank site changes: Most of the banks may incorporate changes in the bank sites or upgrade the sites and this
may create problems for the customers.
• Lack of Trust: Most of the people find it difficult to trust the bank sites. Old people may find it difficult to trust
the security of the transactions online and prefer the banking transaction to be carried out personally. Also,
people fear the incidents of online account hacking.

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Communication and Computer Application

Most of the people find online banking as a flexible mode of money transaction, and they can view their accounts
at a click. Thus, computer technologies have changed the life of customers and also have transformed the way
banking sector used to work.

Questions
1. How has computer technology transformed the traditional banking concept?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of online banking?
3. Which are the different ways in which computer technology is used in banking sector?
4. How is online banking convenient than the traditional form of banking?

116
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Self Assessment Answers

Chapter I
1. b
2. a
3. c
4. a
5. d
6. c
7. b
8. c
9. d
10. b

Chapter II
1. b
2. a
3. c
4. d
5. b
6. c
7. d
8. a
9. c
10. b

Chapter III
1. b
2. a
3. c
4. d
5. b
6. a
7. d
8. a
9. b
10. c

Chapter IV
1. c
2. b
3. a
4. d
5. a
6. b
7. c
8. d
9. b
10. a

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Chapter V
1. b
2. a
3. c
4. a
5. c
6. d
7. b
8. d
9. a
10. c

Chapter VI
1. a
2. b
3. d
4. b
5. c
6. b
7. c
8. d
9. c
10. 0a

Chapter VII
1. b
2. c
3. a
4. d
5. c
1. b
2. d
3. a
4. b
5. c

Chapter VIII
1. b
2. a
3. c
4. d
5. b
6. c
7. a
8. b
9. c
10. d

121