Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Computing

Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Computing

1. What is a computer system?

   • A computer system is a collection of hardware and software that works together to achieve a data processing task
   • Systems receive inputs and outputs from the outside. They process these inputs. They output the results from processing
   • A system is separated from the outside world by a system boundary. These boundaries are often called interfaces

2. Standards

   • Standards are conventions and rules
   • De-facto Standards:
     • De-facto standards are used by the vast majority of the market
   • De Jure Standards
     • De jure means you must adopt it if you want to communicate with anyone else
   • Open standards
     • Standards that are pubically available to an exent that software developed can be modified by users
   • Advantages
     • They provide a known level of quality
     • Allows equipment made by different companies to work together as long as they follow the same standards
   • Disadvantages
     • It can take years for de-jure standards to be agreed through commitees
     • They can become out of date almost as soon as they are released

3. Ethical and Legal issues

   • An ethical act is one that is morally 'right'
   • A legal act is one that does not break any laws
   • Some issues include: privacy, data security, espionage, access to sensitive, fair charging for services, copyright and terrorism

4. Environmental Issues

   • Waste
     • Obsolete computers have to be disposed of. They contain toxic materials such as:
       • Lead
       • Cadmium
       • Beryllium
       • Flame retardants
   • Energy
     • Computers and data use a lot of energy, and much of this energy is used to run air-conditioning systems to cool the computers.
     • Methods of reducing energy usage include:
       • Virtual servers that reduce the number of physical servers in a data centre
       • Solid state storage that uses less energy than rotating disk drives
       • Automatic standby switching that turns computers off when they are not in use
       • Laying out equipment so it can be cooled efficiently
       • Setting the air conditioning at an optimum level- not too low
       • Modern screens that are less energy intensive than the old CRT monitors

5. Data Protection