2nd week-Data Management

There are so many different types of information technologies. How can anyone decide which type of I/T they should purchase?

All information technologies have the ability to:

Capture data (input)

Process and/or convert data

Store data Present data

and most also have the ability to communicate with other I/T

Functionality Ease of use Compatibility Maintainability

TECH TALK
Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, predicted in 1965 that the density of transistor on a chip would double approximately every 18 months. This prediction has proven to be surprisingly accurate. For example, in 1961 a chip had 4transistors, and in 1971 it had 2,300. In 1979 a chip had 30,000, by 1997 it had 7.5 million, and by 2000 it had 40 million. Since the price had stayed essentially the same, this meant that the computer power per dollar had doubled approximately every 18 months.

Performance Category 1. 2. Functionality Capacity Speed Price performance Reliability Operating condition Ease of use Quality of user interface Ease of becoming proficient Portability

Typical Issue Raised What types of processing is the technology supposed to perform, and what capabilities does it have?

How easy is it to use this technology?

3. Compatibility Conformance to standards Interoperability

How easy is it to get this technology to work with complementary technologies?

4.

Maintainability Modularity Scalability Flexibility

How easy is it to keep the technology operating over time?

Software can essentially be viewed as being the instructions that tell the hardware what to do.
Systems software
Application software

System software is a set of programs that manage the operation of the computer hardware (input, output, secondary storage devices). It communicates directly with the hardware and is required for the hardware to operate.

Operating systems Utility programs (to format disks, backup files, recover data, compress data, protect from viruses) Language translator (to translate commands from programming languages into the machine language understood by computer hardware)

Application software is software used to complete specific tasks or to participate in different forms of entertainment. Applications (payroll system, inventory control system, computer games) Programming, markup, and scripting languages (COBOL, PASCAL, C, VB, Java, HTML, etc.) Application generators and productivity tools (spreadsheet software, presentation software, multimedia authoring tools)

Voice recognition, natural language interpreters

User

Application Software (Word processing, Spreadsheet, Email, Database Management,)

Utility Programs

System Software

Language Translator

Hardware (computer, peripheral devices)

Natural Languages Ultimate in user friendliness Machine efficiency is irrelevant Query Languages User friendly Easy to understand Inquiry-oriented Less machine efficient

Fourth-Generation Languages User friendly Easy to understand Application-oriented Powerful instructions Less machine efficient
Third-Generation Languages Easy to understand Application-oriented Somewhat machine efficient Assembler Language Machine efficient Complex Somewhat difficult for human to understand and apply Machine Language Machine efficient Complex Difficult for human to understand and apply

Functionality (what it does) Memory and storage requirements Ease of use and minimum required level of skills Reliability (stability, lack of errors) Available support (is there a toll-free, 24-hour phone support number to call?) Compatibility (with existing hardware and other applications)

Characteristics of Software

Input devices Processors and main memory Secondary storage devices Output devices
Hardware component
Input device Secondary storage Main memory Central processing unit Output device

Information Processing Activity

Accept data Store data Process data Present data

Examples
Keyboard, mouse, barcode scanner Diskette, HD, CD-ROM RAM Microprocessor Printer, speaker, screen

Keyboards Pointing devices Voice input systems Touch-sensitive screens Handwriting recognition Bar-code scanners Image scanner Biometric systems

Capacity and speed (how much, and how quickly, can the device accept data?) Reliability (and durability) Accuracy (error rate) Portability (can you take the input device with you to the aisles of a store?) Compatibility (with other devices)

Characteristics of Input Devices

Processor: a device that performs data manipulation functions; it can be considered the brain of a computer. Memory: often called RAM (Random Access Memory) is the short-term memory of a computer

Computing speed (clock speed measured in MHz or GHz) Processing speed (measured in MIPS and FLOPS) Bus capacity (measured in width-number of bits-and speed in MHz) Storage capacity of RAM (measured in MB or GB)

Characteristics of CPU, RAM

TECH TALK
A bit is a binary digit, namely a 0 or 1. A byte is generally 8 bits, which give 256 (28)different possible combinations allowing the representation of 256 different characters (26 uppercase letters, 10 digits, etc.) Kilobyte (KB) Approximately 103 (one thousand) bytes Megabyte (MB) Approximately 106 (one million) bytes Gigabyte (GB) Approximately 109 (one billion) bytes Terabyte (TB) Approximately 1012 (one trillion) bytes

Has larger capacity, is less expensive, and is slower than primary memory.

Capacity (measured in megabytes, gigabytes, or terabytes) Speed of access (measured in milliseconds) Portability (internal or external, physical size, ease of connection) Reliability Compatibility (able to connect to multiple devices

Characteristics of Secondary Storage

Speed (how quickly can the device output data) Compatibility (with other hardware components) Reliability Quality (clarity of sound, resolution of image) Portability (can you easily carry the output device with you?)

Characteristics of Output Devices