Information and
Technology
Topic 1: Data and
Information
This is the first topic that I studied under Information and
Technology course. I learnt so many things under this heading, so useful to me
to carryon my studies. Whatever the work, the start should be a great one. Then
only we can continue its flow. Same like that we had a good start with this
topic Data and Information. In my first class of Information Technology our
lecturer Mrs Khairunnisa and taught us valuable things, discussed about
Computer and Internet course, and also gave us a good introduction about
Information Technology.
First of all we studied about what is a computer and what
are the basic operations of a computer? A computer is a machine which is
working or running according to the command or instruction given by the system
and user. Input, output, processing, storage, and communication are the basic
operations that we learnt about.
Then we studied about Evolution of Computers. It’s all about
the history of computers and generations of computers. Under this heading I learnt
so many useful things about the History of computers. Moreover I learnt about
how the Computer Technology changed generation by generation from the beginning
of first generation in 1940 with vacuum tube. There are five generations for
this computer and its technology.
First
Generation (1940 - 1950).
Mostly the vacuum tubes has been used to build computers in
this first generation. The 1st Electronic Computer called ENIAC was
built in this generation in 1945. Around 18000 vacuum tubes were used by the
inventors of ENIAC and it was programmed by manually setting switches. The
inventors are J. Presper Eckert and John Mouchly. They build this computer for
US Army to calculate and design Hydrogen Bombs during World War II.
The first commercial computer also built in this first
generation in 1951 called UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer).
Second
Generation (1950 - 1964).
Vacuum tubes were replaced by Transistors. William Shockley,
John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain were the inventors of this newly introduced
Transistors in second generation computers. Second generations most computers
were IBM 1401. High level languages like COBOL (COmmon Business Oriented
Language) and FORTRAN (Formula Translator) have been used in this generations
computers.
Third
Generation (1964 - 1974)
Integrated Circuits were introduced by replacing the
Transistors in this generation. Integrated circuits are microchips. It combines
thousands of transistors and entire circuit on one computer chip. Users started
to use OS, keyboard and mouse in this third generation. I think this is the
generation that started to think differently on computers and computer
technology to become to the place which is now we are seeing.
Fourth Generation
(1974 - Present)
Fourth generation is the generation which gave the birth to
Modern Computers. As fourth generation computers are the Modern Computers. Two
kind of integrated circuits were used by the computer specialists in this
generations computers. That are VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) and ULSI
(Ultra Large Scale Integration). This integrations were helped to to fit
millions of components into a small chip.
Fifth
Generation (Now and the Future)
This generation is all about Artificial Intelligence. It
means the computers can think, it can give reasons to incidents, and also it
can learn like human. Primary means of input are voice and touch only. This
kind of computers will make a revolution in IT world for sure. It going to
change the way that this world travelling now.
Not only this, I learnt about the categories of computers.
So interesting and amazing when I saw the categories. I was thinking that there
few kind of computers are in the world. But now I knew more than that.
Categories
of Computers
-Embedded Computers
-Mobile Devices/ Computers
-Personal Computers
-Midrange Servers
-Mainframes
-Super Computers
-Hybrid Computers
Embedded computers are mini computers that has been created
for a specific purpose or for a specific work. We can say like that embedded
into a specific product for a specific function.
Mobile computers also small computers that can be fit on
your hand. It contains built in computing or internet capabilities. It’s easy
to use internet while you are walking or working. You don’t have to sit in a
place to to use internet like in PC’s.
Personal computers are the computers fully functioning
portable or desktop, designed for a personal user or a single user at a time.
We can see this kind of computers in every houses nowadays. I think this
computers are very friendly with user than other kind of computers.
Midrange servers are very useful to store data and programs.
It’s like a small cabinet which contains data and programs available or useful
to a small group of users.
Mainframe computers are known as large, expensive, and
powerful computers which is handling hundreds or thousands of connected users
simultaneously. Physically it seems like big computers.
Supercomputers are the most fast, most powerful, and most
expensive computers in the world than any other computers. Mainly this
supercomputers are used for complex computation and processing. This kind of
computers also physically big computers than any other.
After those categories of computers, I learnt about the
definitions about data and information. Before I study this I was confuse about
this. Data means raw facts which can be in the forms of numbers, characters,
symbols, pictures, and sounds. Information also data which is organized and
meaningful. Information is very useful when making decisions. The main thing
about data and information is, data is used as input for processing and
information is output of this processing. There are several roles of
information. Information is used to influence and persuade the users and
people, it can be a capital resource especially for companies that produce
information based products and services, and most importantly it is used in
decision making.
Other than this I learnt about two main basic elements of
information. That elements are Reach and Richness. Reach means the number of
people who are participating sharing information. Richness means the amount of
quality information shared in transaction. It has three main components.
-bandwidth (the amount of information that can be moved from
sender to receiver in a given time);
-customization (whether the information is tailored for an
audience of a particular size);
-Interactivity between 2 parties.
After this section I learnt about Computer System. This
topic also helped me to clear some doubts of mine. In computer system, a
computer converts the data which we give as an input to become information
which is coming out as output. Here, information processing called IP follows
the I-P-O method to process data. I-P-O includes Input, Processing, and Output.
Input can be in programs, commands, and user responses.
Input device are any hardware components that allows users to enter data into a
computer and output is data that has been well organised and processed into a
useful form mainly it can be used in decision making. Output devices are any
hardware components which conveys the information to one or more people. To
change the data into information processing is very important. CPU is the
device which helps to process data into information. This is the main function
of a CPU. CPU consist of three main parts. Arithmetic Logical Unit, Control
Unit, and Registers.
Then I studied about information management under first
topic. Information management means it’s all about managing the information in
an effective way. Many people or users have so many problems about information
systems. This information management will help them to clear or fix the problem
easily. Electronics records management system (RM), Learning management system
(LM), and Customer relationship system (CRM) are the examples for Information
Management System.
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