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Chapter 10: Computing Systems and Networks

Computing Systems

  • A computing system is when various types of computing devices, such as desktop or laptop computers, tablets, servers, routers, and/or sensors, plus software, work together for a use such as managing the power grid, traffic signals, a smart home, or a network such as the Internet.

  • The connections between devices create paths.

  • Routers are computing devices along a path that send the information along to the next stop on the path.

  • The routing is determined at the moment it is needed, meaning it is dynamic.

How the Internet Works

  • The Internet is a network of networks.

  • The word Internet came from “interconnection of computer networks.”

  • The Internet is very hardware driven with wires, cables, and devices such as routers and servers.

Packets and Data Streams

  • Data streams are information transmitted via the Internet.

  • The processing of Internet traffic is done at the sending and receiving locations.

  • At the sending location, the information to be sent, such as a web page, is broken into smaller packets of the same size (except possibly the last one, which could be smaller).

  • Once all packets have arrived at the destination, they are reassembled in order.

    • This is called an end-to-end architecture, because the processing is done at each end.

Protocols

  • Every device on a network is called a “host.”

  • When a device connects to the Internet, it is given an “address” similar to the idea of a mailing address given to homes and businesses.

  • The addresses enable devices to find and communicate with each other.

    • The address is called an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

  • Protocols are a set of rules.

    • These are needed so different equipment made by different companies can communicate with each other.

  • One of the oldest protocols is TCP/IP.

  • TCP creates the packets at the sending location and reassembles them at the receiving one.

    • TCP/IP stands for: Transmission, Control, Protocol/ Internet, Protocol.

  • UDP is another common protocol and stands for: User, Datagram, Protocol.

  • UDP is also built on top of IP similar to how TCP works with IP.

  • UDP does not send a confirmation message back to the sender when packets are received.

Fault-Tolerant

  • There is a lot of redundancy or duplication built into the Internet on purpose.

  • It is built in by providing multiple paths between devices on the Internet.

  • This means that if one point goes down and is not working, then the traffic will be redirected to a different path to get to its ultimate destination.

World Wide Web

  • The World Wide Web (WWW) is an application that runs on the Internet.

  • The World Wide Web is a collection of web pages, documents, and files, written in hypertext markup language (HTML).

  • Web browsers read the HMTL code to know how to display the web page with colors, formatting, images, videos, lists, and more.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

  • HTTP is a protocol used by the World Wide Web.

  • It controls how web page data is requested, sent, and received from the browsers and servers where the web pages are stored.

  • HTTPS should be used for any secure transaction, such as those involving financial data, medical data, and sites that require a password.

Types of Processing

Sequential Computing Systems

  • Most of our day-to-day computational work is done on our local devices in a sequential order, with operations executing one after the other in the specified order.

  • This sequential computing model is more than sufficient for what we do.

  • Sequential systems cannot scale because each step runs after the one ahead of it finishes.

Parallel Computing Systems

  • Sequential processing is too slow to handle these algorithms.

    • That’s when parallel computing can be used to speed up the processing.

  • More computers and processors can be added to scale up and further reduce the amount of time it will take to run the program to a certain point.

  • The speedup of a parallel process is determined by dividing the time it took to process the problem sequentially by the time it took to complete it in parallel.

Distributed Computing Systems

  • This model can handle the speed and memory requirements for heavy-duty processing needs that a single computer cannot due to resource constraints.

  • In this case, the data is spread out among multiple computers.

Next Chapter: Chapter 11: Impact of Computing

I

Chapter 10: Computing Systems and Networks

Computing Systems

  • A computing system is when various types of computing devices, such as desktop or laptop computers, tablets, servers, routers, and/or sensors, plus software, work together for a use such as managing the power grid, traffic signals, a smart home, or a network such as the Internet.

  • The connections between devices create paths.

  • Routers are computing devices along a path that send the information along to the next stop on the path.

  • The routing is determined at the moment it is needed, meaning it is dynamic.

How the Internet Works

  • The Internet is a network of networks.

  • The word Internet came from “interconnection of computer networks.”

  • The Internet is very hardware driven with wires, cables, and devices such as routers and servers.

Packets and Data Streams

  • Data streams are information transmitted via the Internet.

  • The processing of Internet traffic is done at the sending and receiving locations.

  • At the sending location, the information to be sent, such as a web page, is broken into smaller packets of the same size (except possibly the last one, which could be smaller).

  • Once all packets have arrived at the destination, they are reassembled in order.

    • This is called an end-to-end architecture, because the processing is done at each end.

Protocols

  • Every device on a network is called a “host.”

  • When a device connects to the Internet, it is given an “address” similar to the idea of a mailing address given to homes and businesses.

  • The addresses enable devices to find and communicate with each other.

    • The address is called an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

  • Protocols are a set of rules.

    • These are needed so different equipment made by different companies can communicate with each other.

  • One of the oldest protocols is TCP/IP.

  • TCP creates the packets at the sending location and reassembles them at the receiving one.

    • TCP/IP stands for: Transmission, Control, Protocol/ Internet, Protocol.

  • UDP is another common protocol and stands for: User, Datagram, Protocol.

  • UDP is also built on top of IP similar to how TCP works with IP.

  • UDP does not send a confirmation message back to the sender when packets are received.

Fault-Tolerant

  • There is a lot of redundancy or duplication built into the Internet on purpose.

  • It is built in by providing multiple paths between devices on the Internet.

  • This means that if one point goes down and is not working, then the traffic will be redirected to a different path to get to its ultimate destination.

World Wide Web

  • The World Wide Web (WWW) is an application that runs on the Internet.

  • The World Wide Web is a collection of web pages, documents, and files, written in hypertext markup language (HTML).

  • Web browsers read the HMTL code to know how to display the web page with colors, formatting, images, videos, lists, and more.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

  • HTTP is a protocol used by the World Wide Web.

  • It controls how web page data is requested, sent, and received from the browsers and servers where the web pages are stored.

  • HTTPS should be used for any secure transaction, such as those involving financial data, medical data, and sites that require a password.

Types of Processing

Sequential Computing Systems

  • Most of our day-to-day computational work is done on our local devices in a sequential order, with operations executing one after the other in the specified order.

  • This sequential computing model is more than sufficient for what we do.

  • Sequential systems cannot scale because each step runs after the one ahead of it finishes.

Parallel Computing Systems

  • Sequential processing is too slow to handle these algorithms.

    • That’s when parallel computing can be used to speed up the processing.

  • More computers and processors can be added to scale up and further reduce the amount of time it will take to run the program to a certain point.

  • The speedup of a parallel process is determined by dividing the time it took to process the problem sequentially by the time it took to complete it in parallel.

Distributed Computing Systems

  • This model can handle the speed and memory requirements for heavy-duty processing needs that a single computer cannot due to resource constraints.

  • In this case, the data is spread out among multiple computers.

Next Chapter: Chapter 11: Impact of Computing

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