Computer Systems!

Computer Systems!

1. What is a Computer System?

   • A Computer System is mainly formed when many electronic devices that has been designed with a specific purpose in mind are interconnected.
     • An example of a Computer System would be a printer; it an output device that takes in data from an external device and outputs it onto a piece of paper or card.
     • Computers can range in both power and efficiency; a computer may have six more physical cores than another but it may use up significantly more energy. This means that a person wanting a more powerful computer will have to take this into consideration.

2. Why are Computers so important in the Modern World?

   • Computers are crucial to millions of people in their every day lives; they enable the Global Economy Stock Market to be stable to the extent that thousands of transactions could take place within a few seconds without a crash occurring and they also save many lives every day due to the technological advancements that has taken place in the last ten years that have helped in Crime Scene Investigation, catching dangerous criminals and detecting the cause of a fire.
     • Approximately 35% of teenagers use computers after-school to socialize with each other on a daily basis.
       • During the past ten years, the amount of people using Computers has doubled!
       • Did you know that 87% of American adults use a Computer on a daily basis?
     • Weather predictions and analysis is more accurate now than it has ever been before; thanks to technology, storms and abnormal weather patterns can be spotted weeks or sometimes months in advance to when they will have an impact due to the formulation of Super Computers that can handle large amounts of data at once.
       • Travel and Ticketing sales have drastically risen due to involvement of technology and the advancements that it has brought along with it; now a person can purchase a ticket within moments by just going 'on-line' opposed to walking to their local travel advising center which could potentially take several hours.
       • Sports Presenters now primarily rely on the use of technology in their everyday lives; it enables them to be able to communicate with vast audiences across Earth thanks to the creation of the Internet and the GCN which allow for large amounts of content to be televised at once.
     • In the U.S alone, over five hundred lives are saved yearly thanks to the implementation of devices that send electromagnetic impulses to the heart. Well done technology!
       • Over the last five years, the rate at which Technology has advanced has quadrupled!
       • The Technology Industry is more wealthy than the Medical and the Construction Industry combined!
   • Most banks across the Globe make use of Computers; they are responsible for making crucial calculations and problem solving.
     • Electronic Communication is a valuable part of nearly everybody's life; it enables one person to talk to another half-way across the world within an instant or game with somebody thousands of miles away.
       • Business deals and agreements have arguably been revolutionized the most by the implementation of Computers into today's society; they allow for Company's to confirm deals with each other from across the planet within a matter of seconds via the use of newly developed software such as Skype or FaceTime.

3. Adherence to suitable professional standards in the development, use and maintenance of Computer Systems.

   • Software and Hardware developers constantly take into consideration whether their products will be compatible with most PCs on a daily, and how they do this is quite remarkable; major Graphics Card development companies such as Gigabyte or MSI test their hardware in thousands of Computer Systems so that they can identify whether it has universal or traversal connectivity!
     • This supplies the Technology Industry with thousands of jobs, for example on the assembly line or working around the topic of finance in an office.
   • When creating software, the developers have to think about many aspects of the fast developing technological world in which we live in;

4. What is the importance of Ethical, Environmental and legal considerations when creating Computer Systems?

   • Hacking; wanting to breach a firewall or disable a global communications radar. Well, there is most likely somebody on the Internet that could quite easily do that for you? Wait, you want to help a company in making their software as safe and secure as possible? Well , you have most definitely came to the right place!
     • Some 'White Hats' earn upwards of $75,000 a year working for companies, and helping them in finding weaknesses in the infrastructures of games and websites.
   • Privacy; how do we know if our data is secure with a particular company or insecure?
     • How long does it take for a Copyright law to take effect?
       • It depends on the seriousness of the subject matter at hand, and which law has been violated; if somebody copied a movie illegally, it could be several months before legal actions take place, but if they have hacked into a major games developer's servers and have stolen a patented idea, legal obligations could take effect within a matter of days.
     • Data sharing is the most important activity that takes place on the Internet , but also the most fragile; fraudulent people are everywhere and they will travel an extensive virtual distance to get hold of what ever your sending to the party that you are communicating with.
   • Environmental issues have forever been in debate when it comes to the subject of Computers; many studies show that if a computer is built from highly uneconomical resources, it will have an utterly devastating impact on the Earth's ecosystem but sadly (because of this) more eco-friendly resources are much harder to come across and therefore are subsequently much more expensive!