Part 1

Part 1

1. Components of a Data Exchange Application

   • UI
     • “the way in which the information on a computer, phone, etc. and instructions on how to use it are arranged on the screen and shown to the user.”
   • Data
     • “Data refers to basic facts and figures. It is generally raw information that simply includes basic numbers or texts. In computers, it may be in the form of different types of files, such as images, text, graphics, and videos.” (Rogers, 2023)
   • Algorithms
     • “a procedure for solving a mathematical problem (as of finding the greatest common divisor) in a finite number of steps that frequently involves repetition of an operation” (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2024)
   • API
     • “An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of functions that allows applications to access data and interact with external software components, operating systems, or microservices.” (Munceanu, 2021)
   • Client
     • “a client is any computer hardware or software device that requests access to a service provided by a server. Clients are typically seen as the requesting program or user in a client-server architecture. “(Gillis, 2024)
   • Server
     • “A server is a computer or system that provides resources, data, services, or programs to other computers, known as clients, over a network.” (Paessler, 2024)
   • Request
     • “A “request” is a message from a visitor’s browser to a web server to request or send data or to perform an action
   • Resource
     • “A resource is anything that can be used to perform a task or achieve a goal.” (Brave, 2023)
   • End Point
     • “Endpoints are physical devices that connect to a network system such as mobile devices, desktop computers, virtual machines, embedded devices, and servers.” (Microsoft, 2024)
   • REST
     • RESTful API is an interface that two computer systems use to exchange information securely over the internet. Most business applications have to communicate with other internal and third-party applications to perform various tasks.
     • Principles
       • Stateless
       • Client Server
       • Uniform Interface
       • Cacheable
       • Layered System
       • Code on demand
     • HTTP Requests
       • GET
       • POST
       • PUT
       • DELETE
       • HTTP Responses
         • 200
         • 201
         • 204
         • 400
         • 403
         • 404
         • 500

2. Encryption

   • Encryption
     • “Encryption is the basic building block of data security. It is the simplest and most important way to ensure a computer system's information can't be stolen and read by someone who wants to use it for malicious purposes.” (kaspersky, 2024)
     • CIA triad
     • TripleDES
     • Blowfish
     • Twofish
   • Authentication
     • The process of verifying a claimed identity of a user, device, or other entity in a computer system
     • Cards
     • fingerprints
     • Two-factor Authentication
     • Face recognitition
   • Hashing
     • Hashing is a one-way mathematical function that turns data into a string of nondescript text that cannot be reversed or decoded.
     • • MD5
     • • SHA256
     • • LANMAN
     • • NTLM

3. Network Protocols

   • TCP
     • “Transmission control protocol (TCP) is defined as a protocol used by the internet to establish a connection between two remotely hosted applications and deliver a reliable data stream from one to the other. This article explains what TCP is and how it works. It also lists some best practices for operation.” (BasuMallick, 2022)
   • UDP
     • “The User Datagram Protocol, or UDP, is a communication protocol used across the Internet for especially time-sensitive transmissions such as video playback or DNS lookups. It speeds up communications by not formally establishing a connection before data is transferred. This allows data to be transferred very quickly, but it can also cause packets to become lost in transit — and create opportunities for exploitation in the form of DDoS attacks.
   • HTTP
     • “The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the foundation of the World Wide Web, and is used to load webpages using hypertext links. HTTP is an application layer protocol designed to transfer information between networked devices and runs on top of other layers of the network protocol stack. A typical flow over HTTP involves a client machine making a request to a server, which then sends a response message
   • HTTPS
     • “Hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) is the secure version of HTTP, which is the primary protocol used to send data between a web browser and a website. HTTPS is encrypted in order to increase security of data transfer.”
   • FTP
     • “The term file transfer protocol (FTP) refers to a process that involves the transfer of files between devices over a network. The process works when one party allows another to send or receive files over the Internet.”
   • SMTP
     • “SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is a TCP/IP protocol used in sending and receiving email. SMTP is used most commonly by email clients, including Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail and Yahoo Mail.”
   • DNS
     • “The Domain Name System (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. Humans access information online through domain names, like nytimes.com or espn.com. Web browsers interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources.”
   • VPN
     • “A VPN hides your IP address by letting the network redirect it through a specially configured remote server run by a VPN host. This means that if you surf online with a VPN, the VPN server becomes the source of your data.”

4. Datachange Languages

   • JSON
     • Advantages
       • • Easily handles unstructured complex data
       • • Hierarchical data can be easily represented
       • • Human readable format
       • • Smaller file size and faster data transmission
     • Disadvantages
       • • Smaller file size and faster data transmission
       • • Less flexible
       • • Does not support comments or attributes
       • • No error handling
     • “JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition - December 1999. JSON is a text format that is completely language independent but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of the C-family of languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and many others. These properties make JSON an ideal data-interchange language.” (JSON, 2024)
   • XML
     • Disadvantages
       • • Bulky files
     • Advantages
       • • Human readable format
       • • Java compatible
       • • Stores Binary data
     • “XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a markup language similar to HTML, but without predefined tags to use. Instead, you define your own tags designed specifically for your needs. This is a powerful way to store data in a format that can be stored, searched, and shared. Most importantly, since the fundamental format of XML is standardized, if you share or transmit XML across systems or platforms, either locally or over the internet, the recipient can still parse the data due to the standardized XML syntax.” (Mozilla, 2024)