Transcript CSC 101

CSC 101
By D. MURRAY
Internet
• The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible
network of interconnected computer networks
that transmit data by packet switching using the
standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of
networks" that consists of millions of smaller
domestic, academic, business, and government
networks, which together carry various
information and services, such as electronic
mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked
Web pages and other documents of the World
Wide Web.
Computer
• A computer is a machine for manipulating data according to a list of
instructions.
• Computers take numerous physical forms. Early electronic
computers were the size of a large room, consuming as much power
as several hundred modern personal computers. [1] Today,
computers can be made small enough to fit into a wrist watch and
be powered from a watch battery. Society has come to recognize
personal computers and their portable equivalent, the laptop
computer, as icons of the information age; they are what most
people think of as "a computer". However, the most common form of
computer in use today is by far the embedded computer. Embedded
computers are small, simple devices that are often used to control
other devices—for example, they may be found in machines ranging
from fighter aircraft to industrial robots, digital cameras, and even
children's toys.
Software
• consisting of programs, enables a computer to
perform specific tasks, as opposed to its
physical components (hardware) which can only
do the tasks they are mechanically designed for.
The term includes application software such
word processors which perform productive tasks
for users, system software such as operating
systems, which interface with hardware to run
the necessary services for user-interfaces and
applications, and middleware which controls and
co-ordinates distributed systems.