ITP 101 Intro to Information

Technology

Information Technology

Overview •  Information Systems •  People •  Software •  Hardware •  Data

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Information System •  Group of all networks, computers, and persons

involved in the collection, processing, storage, analysis, and dissemination of data and information within a particular environment –  Definition is pieced together from various resources

•  "Computers are everywhere" •  A computer is an electronic device that processes

data, converting it into information that is useful to people

•  Any computer is controlled by programmed instructions –  Gives the machine a purpose and tells it what to do

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Information System •  5 components to Information Systems

– People – Procedures – Software – Hardware – Data

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People •  Most common point of failure J •  Two types of people:

– End Users – Everyone else

•  System Designers •  Administrators •  Auditors •  Management

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System Software •  Operating System – controls all the hardware

functionality and provides a platform for executing applications

•  Personal Computers: –  Windows, MacOS, Unix/Linux

•  Real-Time Operating Systems/Embedded OS –  LynxOS, Windows CE –  Used for satellites, Laser Printers, etc.

•  Cell phones: –  Palm OS/webOS, BlackBerry (RIM),

Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android, and iPhone OS

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Application Software •  Everything you “double-click” on the desktop •  Web Browsers •  Email Software:

– Outlook, Thunderbird, Eudora •  Productivity Software:

– Examples: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint •  Multimedia Software:

– Examples: Adobe Creative Suite •  Games

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Software “Shrink-wrapped” software

•  Written for a variety of platforms

•  MS Windows •  MS Office, Adobe Creative

Suite •  Video Games

•  Are digital downloads killing software outlets?

Custom Applications

•  Typically written for a very customized platform, with very specific hardware requirements

•  Electronic Medical Records software (EMR)

•  Enterprise resource planning software (ERP)

•  Database back-ends

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Software •  Web Applications

–  Facebook, MySpace –  Google Mail, Calendar, Docs –  All run through the web

browser

•  Is the web browser the new application platform?

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Computers – Server Class Supercomputers •  “Most powerful type of

computer” •  All custom built •  Specialized Tasks

–  Weather forecasting –  Quantum physics modeling –  Nuclear physics modeling –  Cryptanalysis –  Playing chess

•  http://www.top500.org/

Mainframes •  A powerful multi-user computer

capable of supporting many hundreds or thousands of users simultaneously

•  Are prebuilt and customized •  Used for processing a lot of

data –  Payroll for McDonalds

corporation –  Insurance claims for AAA

•  Over 90% of market belongs to IBM

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Supercomputer Example – Watson •  Artificial intelligence computer system capable of

answering questions posed in natural language •  Built by IBM •  Can process 500 gigabytes, the

equivalent of a million books per second •  With 80 TeraFLOPs, it is currently

98th on the Top 500 Supercomputers list •  In 2011, Watson competed on the quiz show

Jeopardy! –  Watson beat Brad Rutter, the

biggest all-time money winner, and Ken Jennings, the record holder for the longest championship streak

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Computers •  Minicomputer – A multi-user computer

capable of supporting from 10 to 100s of users simultaneously –  Now dead

•  Workstation – A powerful, single-user computer

•  Personal computer – A small, single-user computer based on a microprocessor that also has a keyboard for entering data, a monitor for displaying information, and a storage device for saving data –  Desktops –  Laptops, notebooks

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More Computers •  Hand-held devices

– Smartphones – Blackberry, HTC, Samsung, Intel, Motorola, iPhone

– Personal Desktop Assistant (PDA), Tablet – Game Boy, Nintendo DS,

PlayStation Portable (PSP) •  Video game consoles

– Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, PS3

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Hardware •  Electronic components that make computers

do wonderful things for us J •  Brief breakdown (to be discussed in depth

later) –  “System Unit” – contains processor and memory –  Input/Output (I/O) devices – Secondary Storage – hard drives,

floppy, CD/DVD, etc. – Communication devices – modem,

network interface card (NIC)

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Files •  Contain information •  “Unprocessed data” becomes processed when

opened by a particular program •  Typical types of files

–  Documents - .txt .doc .docx .pdf –  Worksheets - .xls .xlsx .csv –  Database files - .mdb .accdb –  Presentations - .key .ppt .pptx –  Image files - .gif .jpg .tiff .png –  Audio files - .wav .mp3 –  Video files - .mpeg .divx .avi –  Web files - .htm .html .css

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Unprocessed vs. Processed Files Google Google

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History of Computers •  Timeline of Computer History

–  http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/ •  Illustrated History of Computers

–  http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/History.htm

•  Triumph of the Nerds –  http://www.pbs.org/nerds/timeline/

•  History of Computing Hardware –  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

History_of_computing_hardware

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