Hardware makes the first layer in the computer. It includes motherboard, CPU, RAM, HDD, Power supply and the case. Every computer has these components, but they might not be in the same place. The motherboard is the main circuit board, which also can connect other boards with its wires, and can add chips to most of the PC computers. CPU is the brain of the computer; it does the calculations and compares processes in order to make the computer work. It contains metal connectors or pins on the side. The modern CPU should have a small fan on top of it to cool heat down, so, the CPU should be right under the fan and about half of the CPU can be seen. RAM transfers information quickly, since the RAM disk loses its contents once the computer turns off, files should be copied back to the hard disk- HDD, at the start up and when it turns off. The power supply is a big block with a fan at the side. It can be recognized easily as it supplies power. It converts AC (alternate current) current to DC (direct current), AC can reverse directions, but DC, only flows in the same direction.
The case covers the whole system and wires, so it will look more organized, instead of a mess. The main point of the case is to reduce the chance of computer freezes and crashes, and to keep out dust that goes inside the hardware.
In the past, the hardware that people used was called mainframe. They were very large, one mainframe took up the whole room. The processor or the terminal in the mainframe acted as a CPU, and the tape in the mainframe acted as the hard drive. When people had to type out essays, for example, they had to set up a program and type it on the punchcard. There was a card reader- the information would pass through the terminal, it ran through and sorted things out, calculated the data and then it would transfer into a big printer to print the output. If there was one mistake, since there was no screen to see where it was made, people had to check where it had gone wrong after printing it, and then they had to print it again. Of course, these actions take a long time, so the computers that people have now, are faster and more efficient.
The next layer is the software. There's application software and operation system software. The difference between these two, are that application software consists of thing games, Microsoft documents, databases, graphics, spreadsheets etc. Operation system software are important programs that run the computer, for example, Windows 7 and Linux.
In the past, people had to do the programming design. They needed to sort out data and other things in order to get what they wanted, for example, coordinates and math calculations, programs like Fortran, Pascal, c-program. People in the past might have used Fortran to analyze data in physics, science. They would have had to set up the program first, because there was no CD rom disk like nowadays to transfer it in the computer and appear on the screen. They had to type out a program in order to make shapes and coordinate drawings.
The third layer is network. Networks allow people to communicate with any computers when they’re connected to the Internet. Networks use IP/TCP (Internet Protocol/ Transmission Control Protocol) route messages based on IP address of the destination. It is the identity of the computer. Each number of the IP address can be 0 to 255, and written as 4 numbers separated by periods. Each one is unique to avoid duplicates. To send the packets, they break down digital communications into packets, which make the division to equal sized packets. They are sent individually to their destination through the network, and it sorts the order out when all the packets arrive at the same place. The routes also affect the speed when packets are transferring, some routes will break when there are problems, and they use another route so the packets can arrive at different times. The header is the beginning of the packet that starts to work, they have to sort out the IP address of the computer, destination, the length of the packet bytes, and the total number of packets that are needed to complete the transfer.
The fourth layer is people, which is the online community. An online community, for example, Facebook, Twitter and Myspace, are homes for people. They go to those online websites a lot. The main reasons are that it is free, they can chat with people, they can find their old friends and communicate by chatting and mailing, share information and even have relationships. They can also take part in online learning, which will also help them progress in their education instead of just learning through textbooks. It increases students' knowledge because textbook knowledge is limited, but the internet is broad.
The negative thing is just the same when a blog goes bad. People in an online community usually have an account to log into in order to join the online community. Here are the disadvantages: since people voice their opinions and persuade others to join them, for example, about social position, it would make it a controversial problem, on which some people disagree and some agree. The trouble makers would post bad comments to the person, and the person's social reputation would be lower, since people gossip in communities.
There could also be hacking, which is very common these days. Some people do this without reason. They want to own your account and say bad things to other people, in order to destroy your reputation. Some websites might need money for games and other applications, the hackers might want to take your money and move it to their own accounts.
Not only online communities, but also the computer has influenced the world. For personal uses, it is definitely convenient. There's a technology called Wi Fi, which enables people to use internet without being connected to a router by a wire. It is also user friendly, not like the technology in the past. The negative influences are that people would get addicted to computers. A newspaper article described how there are some people who died because they were playing online games non-stop. Another negative side effect is that it's also bad for eye sight and people can develop slower reactions. If people become addicted to the Internet, it will definitely affect their education, their thinking skills and their social skills. From society's point of view, it will also cause pollution. New technology is released nearly every month, and people always love to buy new items and gadgets. This causes a huge amount of electronic garbage. Since some parts of the computer cannot be reused, it causes a big problem, because computer hardware like the shell of the laptop are made out of plastic, and this plastic cannot decompose.
Computing systems are very common nowadays, since computing is already one of the most important things in our daily lives, and they're being used by the majority of people in society. People should understand about the basics of how a computer system works and the correct use of internet so they can integrate into the society.
References:
http://www.webopedia.com/
http://wiki.answers.com/
http://www.livinginternet.com/i/iw_packet_packet.htm
Interview from my dad
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