COMSCI 1100

UNIT 1: INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY CONCEPTS AND MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION SYSTEMS - Collects data, process data into information then converts information into knowledge for a specific purpose

DIFFERENT TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Transaction Processing Systems - TPS's predominant function is to r**__ecord data collected at the boundaries of organizations,__** in other words, at the point where the organization transacts business with other parties. (ATM, POS, etc..)

Management Information Systems - Information systems for planning, control, decision-making, and problem-solving.

On-demand Output - Reports or the output part of MIS.

Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS/DSS) - It takes the optimal course of action, and gathers detailed data and information to help middle/senior

managers make decisions.

Executive Information Systems/Executive Support System (EIS/ESS) - To help high-ranking officers/executives direct an organization to focus on a long-range strategic plan.

Expert Systems - Incorporation of human expertise into a computer system that emulates our decision-making. - AI

Geographic Information System - A database that contains data about part of a city, a country, a state, or even the entire world. (Google Maps, Waze, and other uses especially for agriculture)

 INFORMATION SYSTEMS

CLASSIFICATION BY FUNCTION

Accounting - In accounting, information systems help focus on recording and reporting financial changes and

state, that the purpose of financial systems is to facilitate financial planning and business

transactions.

Finance - information systems help organize budgets, manage cash flow,

analyze investments, and make decisions that could reduce interest payments and increase revenues from financial transactions.

Marketing - Marketing’s purpose is to pinpoint the people what they’re most likely to purchase or what the organization sells and to promote the appropriate products and services to those people. Also, The system identifies trends in the demand for the company’s products and services

Human Resources - Human resource management systems maintain such records, including employees’ pictures,

employee status and tax information, and other data that other systems such as payroll may use.

 INFORMATION SYSTEMS CLASSIFICATION BY BUSINESS FUNCTION

Manufacturing - Manufacturing's’ purpose is to control the inventory in paying suppliers, process customer orders, production schedules, quality assurance, and shipping products.

 INFORMATION SYSTEMS CLASSIFICATION BY SUPPORT FUNCTION

Transaction Processing Systems - TPS's predominant function is to record data collected at the boundaries of organizations, in other words, at the point where the organization transacts business with other parties. (ATM, POS, etc..)

Management Information Systems - Information systems for planning, control, decision-making, and problem-solving

On-demand Output - Reports or the output part of MIS.

Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS/DSS) - It takes the optimal course of action, and gathers detailed data and information to help middle/senior managers make decisions.

Executive Information Systems/Executive Support System (EIS/ESS) - To help high-ranking officers/executives direct an organization to focus on the long-range strategic plan.

Expert Systems - Incorporation of human expertise into a computer system that emulates our decision-making. - AI

Geographic Information System - A database that contains data about part of a city, a country, a state, or even the entire world. (Google Maps, Waze, and other uses especially for agriculture)

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

  • Computing paradigms, which are the core of the architecture
  • It is the process of developing methodical information technology specifications, models, and guidelines using a variety of Information Technology notation processes.

WEB-BASED IT ARCHITECTURES

Refer to those applications or services that are resident on a server that is

accessible using a Web browser. The only client-side software needed to

access and execute these applications is a Web browser environment.

UNIT 2.1: Computer History

Earliest Computing Tools

Sand Tables

  • known to be the earliest device for computation
  • consists of three groves in the sand with a maximum of 10 pebbles in each groove

Abacus

  • derived from the Arabic word ‘abaq’ which means ‘dust’
  • consists of sliding beads arranged on a rack which has two parts: upper part and lower part

Napier Bones

  • small instrument made of 10 rods on

which multiplication table was engraved

  • enabled to perform multiplication and division

Slide Ruler

  • jointly devised by Edmund Gunter & William Oughtred
  • based on the principle that actual distances from the starting point of the rule is directly proportional to the logarithm of numbers printed on the rule

Mechanical Era of Computers

Zeroth Generation

Blaise Pascal

  • He invented the first mechanical adding machine called Pascaline (1642)

Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz

  • He improved Pascal’s machine

Joseph Marie Jacquard

  • He invented a loom that used punch cards to control patterns into woven cloth (1801)

Charles Babbage

  • Father of Modern Computer
  • Difference Engine: used to computer table of numbers using naval navigation and can only add & subtract
  • Analytical Engine: general purpose machine

Herman Hollerith

  • Invented one of the first commercial machine which used punch card to tabulate and process the data collected

Howard Aiken

  • He led the designing of MARK I (1937); improved Babbage’s machine; His machine was considered the first electronic

machine using thousands of relays.

Electronic Era of Computers

First Generation: Vacuum Tubes (Late 1930s – Early 1940s)

AB Computer (Atasoft Berry Computer)

  • First electronic computing machine, which introduced the idea of binary arithmetic, regenerative memory and logic circuits

Colossus

  • World’s first electronic digital computer used to decode intercepted message

John von Neumann machine

  • Developed a concept of storing a program in memory.

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

  • Developed for calculating artillery firing tables

EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer)

  • First electronic computer to use stored program concept

EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Computer)

  • Machine to run the first successful program

UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer)

  • First commercially available computer
  • First general-purpose computer which was designed to handle both numeric and textual information

Second Generation: Transistors (1940s – Early 1960s)

Transistor

  • Was invented at Bell Labs in 1947 but did not see widespread use in computers until the late 1950s
  • Second-generation computers moved from cryptic binary machine language to symbolic or assembly language which allowed programmers to specify instructions in words
  • One of the major developments in this generation includes the progress of machine language to assembly language.

Third Generation: Integrated Circuits (1960s – 1970s)

Integrated Circuits

  • Was the hallmark of the third generation of computers
  • The technology allowed dozens of transistors to be mounted on a single chip together with other electronic components.
  • This generation started using semiconductor memories, microprocessors, and multiprogramming.
  • Another development was the use of an operating system that allowed machines to run many different programs at once with a central program that monitors and coordinates the computer’s memory

Third Generation: Integrated Circuits (1960s – 1970s)

IBM System/360 series

  • Family of computers and their peripherals which are mutually compatible and all worked together

PDP 8

  • Developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
  • The first commercially successful minicomputer

Fourth Generation: Microprocessors (Early 1970s – Present)

Microprocessor

  • Built onto a single piece of silicon, known as chip; about 0.5 cm long and not more than 0.05cm thick

Large Scale Integration (LSI)

  • Approximately 180 transistors

Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI)

  • Approximately 275,000 transistors

Altair 8800 (1975)

  • Developed by MITS (Mirco Instrumentation Telemetry Systems)
  • One of the first microcomputers

Apple II

  • One of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products
  • Designed by Steve Wozniak of Apple Computer

CRAY I

  • A supercomputer designed, manufactured and marketed by Cray Research

Apple Lisa (1983)

  • ‘Lisa’ stood for ‘Local Integrated Software Architecture’
  • First commercial personal computer to use graphical user interface with 1MB RAM, 12 inch black monitor, 2 5 ¼ floppy disk driver, 5MB of profile hard drive and used Motorola 680000 microprocessor

Fifth Generation: Artificial Intelligence (Present and Beyond)

Mega Chips

  • Computers will use Super Large-Scale Integrated chips

Parallel Processing

  • Computers will use multiple processors and perform parallel processing thereby accessing several instructions at one time and working at the same time

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • A series of related technologies that tries to simulate and reproduce human behavior including thinking, speaking, reasoning.

UNIT 2.2: Computer System and

its Components

Computer System - defined as general purpose information processing machine

used to troubleshoot various problems related to data processing

  • allows users to input, manipulate and store data
  • a basic, complete and functional computer

Computer System Components

Two main components:

  • Hardware - tangible parts
  • Software – intangible parts: data and programs

Computer Hardware - physical machine, consisting of mechanical parts and electronic circuits

Several major units:

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

  • defined as the major component of a computer
  • also known as the ‘processor’ or the “electronic brain” of the computer
  • consist of the electronic circuits which are necessary to perform a variety of operations on the data

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Major components:

  • Arithmetic Logic Unit

  • Control Unit

  • Registers

Main Memory (RAM)

  • where data and numerous programs are currently being executed by the CPU are stored
  • contents are both temporary and volatile
  • contains operating system program, application program currently in use and the data that is being processed when the computer is in use

Secondary Memory

  • provides stable storage for both programs and data in a longer period of time
  • often referred to as the disk

Disk drives

  • are also known as mass storage devices because of their capacity to store relatively large amounts of data and many programs.

Input/Output Devices

  • used in getting and displaying information
InputOutput
KeyboardsPrintings/Plotters
Pointing DevicesMonitors
Sensors
Card Readers
Remote Control

Basic Computer Hardware Operations

Units that implement the ISPO function:

  • Input unit – inputs the data and programs for computer processing
  • Storage unit – stores the input data and programs
  • Processing unit  – conducts calculations on the input data and controls input

unit, storage unit, and output unit

  • Output unit – output the result of computer processing in a certain format

Computer Software  – set of computer programs and algorithms that tells the

computer what to do and how to do it.

Three categories:

  • System Software
  • Programming Software
  • Application Software