The Hardware Components of a Computer System are basically the platform for all electronic and informatic functionalities that a computer could have and actually that has and it still takes time to develop and perfect. The history of programming and computational devices pretty much have very close or absolute attachments. While modern computer were invented there were different marcs that are keystone for what we got nowadays, like the first computational device, the first program, the first compiler and others. 

So far, the computers have take solid establishments on most of people’s lives and the capabilities and possibilities have increase, also characteristics such as size and appearance have come to be very convenient and pleasant.

Computers have 5 main parts:

The main part of a computer is defined as the CPU whichs means Central Processing Unit, The CPU is the component of a computer's circuitry that performs data manipulation and executes program instructions. It conducts arithmetic and nonnumeric operations in the arithmetic/logic unit (ALU) and control functions in the control unit (Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science, 2022).

Random-Access Memory (RAM) is the second of the main parts of the computers and it is also called Short Term Memory or Volatile Memory due to its information is lost when the computer shutdowns or restarts.

Storage Devices are a means for computers to retain or keep information even when computers shut down and capacities stores tend to go from megabytes to many gigabytes.

Input Devices: Are usually peripherals that will let you take actions on the interface or programs, such as keyboards, mouses, scanners and cameras. There are other kinds of input devices, such as Audio Devices like Microphones or even gaming controllers.

Output Devices:

Are usually peripherals that would have an external action such as Printers, Monitors, Speakers, and others.

There are other components of computers that are actually very important like the Motherboard, also sound cards, video cards and etcetera.

Computers have an electronic component with integrated circuits, that have microprogramming, and it is essential for the computer to work. Also, the ALU performs the mathematical operations on a programmable device, it adds, multiplies, divides and subtracts. It also carries out binary numbers and then numbers are stored on high-speed storage circuits called registers. After this when computers are functioning and we have screens and images, and there are interfaces, algorithmically based languages and other languages have develop, also it has being possible to draw and modify images or even scan images, which makes a lot possible.

Applications or application software takes a great part of the could do-s of computers, from desktop computers to cellphones, and other devices. Most basically but essentially, able to perform word processing, tables and presentations. Also listen to music, watch movies or make phone calls, but there are many many applications nowadays, with different functionalities.

Thanks to the Computer Hardware we are able to conveniently utilize and do all what we do with computers nowadays. There was an electronic development, but there was a mathematical development also that adhered and had to surge for computers to understand signals and numbers. More in depth there are other ways that computers can perform different operations and tasks, just like with databases. Databases could make different data compilations that can also gets retrieved. Databases have different functions such as storing information or automatically performing calculations. Database management in general requires rigorous teaching or training. Databases is widely used all over the world, for example on stores, libraries, enterprises and on the government.

            The development of computers and computer hardware also have to mention the expansion of common networks and the internet. It is actually very implemented on computers nowadays and that pretty much has also develop a need for protecting data which we could call Network Security. It does take training or a lot of teaching to learn how to Manage Networks in most cases.

References:

Sadiqui, Ali. Computer Network Security, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2020. ProQuestEbook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ashford-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6123268.

Najarian JP. Computer architecture. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science. 2022. Accessed August 27, 2024.

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=ers&AN=89316933&site=eds-live&scope=site

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2019). Computing technology for all, zyBooks,https://learn.zybooks.com/zybook/TEC101:_Fundamentals_of_Information_Technology_&_Literacy_(TED2430A)

As the world of the Technologies of Information grow there are certain vulnerabilities that need caution from users. Different kinds of attacks with different purposes can occur. Spying, Phishing, disruption and steeling of information happen every time and they arise the necessity to protect your information and systems on a home and enterprise levels. While it can be an easy task, it all depends on the level of protection that you or your company could want or you or they could need and there are different actions that can be taken.

Ping Command Attacks mainly work by trying the reachability of a device on different categories, they mostly send ICMP messages with the intention to disrupt or alter the function of data links to infiltrate on Networks or mislead the direction that packets are sent with malicious purposes.

Recommendations are Implementing Port Security measures and Access Control Lists (ACLs).

Host and Port Scanning: Attackers usually use one of these techniques to identify hosts for further examination, which includes network scanning, ping broadcast and Denial of Service (2007, Analysis of Network Communication Attacks).

Recommendations are Implementing Port Security Measures and utilizing Firewalls.

Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: Information can be deliberately sent to halt ports on a switch and that could make an information overflow causing system disruption and making way for different kinds of treats like impersonation and infiltration.

Recommendations are Port Security Measures and Intrusion Preventions Systems and Intrusion Detection Systems (IPS and IDS).

Ping of Death (Long ICMP): When packets larger than the allowed (65536 bytes) by the IP Protocol are sent, the packet can be dropped, and which requires an action by the OS. When the action is taken, attackers could infiltrate by acquiring network information and there could be threats.

Recommendations: Implement Port Security Measures and Access Control Lists (ACLs).                                                                                      

Different security incidents that could lead to threats, Information loss and information exposal could be against you or your company and for that there are different security measures that could be taken. That includes Computer Viruses and Social Engineering.

Computer Viruses: Are programs that usually run on computers and that usually spread by e-mail and affect the function of the system while putting data and personal information at risk.

For Computers Viruses it is recommended to use Antivirus.

Social Engineering: Involves users with malicious intentions trying to steal information or infiltrate on data by any means, it could be by psychological manipulation, or even trying to scam you, by phone, in person or so on.

It is recommended information awareness and protect your assets and data.

At its different levels, security can be applied and tested and that can start by common means leading to more in depth techniques to control unwanted activity on your systems and programs. It is recommended to keep your information on a healthy and secure environment, thus keeping good technological habits its important. For that at its most basic levels, it is important to protect your computer with Anti Viruses and Firewalls. Depending on the level of usage your or your company might have there could be other measures that would have to be taken and that would require a very technical learning or opt to purchase security services by a professional or professionals.

I choose the Sales Industry and which I have some experience with.  In most jobs nowadays computers could be a great tool and they are actually used and have become as traditional as very important. Computers and other devices are nowadays fundamental on a lot of Sales Industry businesses, by holding databases and accounting procedures. Employees could be easily trained on different positions thanks to their knowledge using computers, even from basic knowledge. The evolution of computers have help get better approaches on what the demands of jobs are nowadays. With better hardware on servers(more space, faster parts, etcetera) and better software. Apart of Computers and Servers, other devices could play a role on the operations a company could have. There could also be communication with other sites worldwide or even other companies, making the process a lot more easier and effective. The possibilities have expanded a lot on these and other industries since the Informatics have being evolving. In the following ten years new technologies and improvements will definitely make even things better on the Sales Industry, possibly making things even easier. I consider we can not tell yet what all of those inventions are going to be yet, but now with A.I and IoT, things have get a huge turn. Possibly more wireless possibilities are ahead, more ways for Automation and more ways for Machine Learning could exist that we have not seen yet. I think Operating Systems will have a better look and will have more interactive features.

Paul

I used the ping and traceroute commands for google.com, windows.com and linksys.com.

With google.com we ping 142.251.33.78 and we sent 4 packets and received 4 back and we did not lose any packets. The times were 22ms, 21ms, 29ms and 28ms. TTL=60, TTL=60, TTL=60, TTL=60.

When we traceroute we see that we went by 8 destinations and at the end we reach our destination address(142.251.33.78).

With windows.com we ping 142.251.33.78, we also sent 4 packets and received 4 and we neither lost any packets. The times were 280ms, 192ms,185ms, 211ms. TTL=113, TTL=113, TTL=113, TTL=113.

When we traceroute we see that we went by 17 destinations, we went by different routes and at the end we reach the destination IP Address(142.251.33.78).

With linksys.com we ping 104.22.65.98, we also sent 4 packets and received 4 back and we neither lost any packets. The times were 21ms, 26ms, 24ms, 25ms. TTL=59, TTL=59, TTL=59, TTL=59.

When we traceroute, we see that we went by 8 hops, at the end we reach our destination IP Address 104.22.65.98.

With ping commands you could see if there’s a response to domains or IP Addresses, pretty much you can also see if you have connectivity with devices too.

With traceroute you can check the path that a message takes to reach a destination, and you can identify where is an error when trying to communicate.

If a ping request or traceroute times out it could be due to connectivity issues, it could also just happen, on that case you might want to ping again.

If you have an error response you could have connectivity issues, you could also have any kind of problem like IP errors or mismatches, it is important to verify everything is configured as expected(when possible).

Sometimes geographical locations and distances make a roundtrip be a little bit longer, but it is not always the case.

Paul

Computer applications take a part of the field of Information Technology and for users, these sometimes are essentials tools for them to withstand projects and complete tasks that otherwise maybe would not take place. Also, these applications have become very primordial tasks on our lives.

Some computer applications have become very familiar in our lives, because they compile a lot of characteristics that make them a really great tool and make our lives easier, while giving superior results, defying other human methods for completing tasks.

There are different computer applications like Word Processor Applications, Spreadsheet applications, Presentation app basics, Database basics and other applications that are actually main frame of a computer and they are used by millions every day. Each application has different functions and characteristics and that’ easy to recognize.

A Word Processor is a computer application to create formatted text which means that it creates different style of text, text size, margins, colors, columns, and etcetera. It also supports images and drawings. A disadvantage of Word Processors could be that for being able to approach all of its functionalities you might have to pay. Another one is that it is really basic, that basic that it does not have any programming languages capabilities.

A spreadsheet is a computer application that have cells organized into columns and rows and are used for input, make calculations and creating graphical charts. A disadvantage of Spreadsheet applications could be that for being able to approach all of its functionalities you might have to pay, and another one could be that the most used Spreadsheet applications work only for Basic Statistics (Pretty much but Excel have really a lot of capabilities and possibilities for Scientists and Engineers for example).

Presentation Apps are used to create presentations and slideshows that can be accompanied by pictures and animations, sometimes graphics (that it is also a great functionality on Microsoft Power Point) and sounds. One disadvantage of Presentation Apps could be that for being able to approach all of its functionalities you might have to pay and another one could be that for Presentations, Presentation Apps could reduce human interaction).

Database Applications: A database application basically collects data and gives the capabilities of information retrieval. You could use a database management system (DBMS to create, maintain and access database systems). On disadvantage could be that if you have not learn to use databases and you wanted to understand how does your database work you would not be able to do it so easily.

Computer applications have unified and centralized characteristics and workability that pretty much make life simpler on different purposes and while some rapidly expand, other have achieve very solid functionalities that will have its changes too. It is very difficult not to see the advantages of these approaches nowadays and we could also elaborate a point of view.

Paul

Spotify is a mobile app that is mainly designed for streaming music from millions of artists and millions of songs, it also lets you stream about five million podcasts. This is a mobile app, but there is also a web app and there is also an application(For computers).

So you basically can create an account, you can choose a subscription and pay by adding a payment method. You can play music by creating an account but, you are going to be able to skip six tracks per hour, if you pay for Spotify Premium you can skip as many songs as you want. Additionally no ads with Premium, ads without a Suscription.

The app has icons that you can use to navigate and do different things, which makes the application very interactive and an interface you easily get familiar with and will like.

Spotify has a fun interface and also it is very simple. You can choose on between Music, Podcasts and Audiobooks. You can look music for its genre, for its artist, for its album and for its song, additionally there are different premade playlists you can select from by different titles like: Relaxing Massage, Peaceful Meditation, Stress Relief, Dreamy Forest Music, Yoga and Meditation, etcetera. You will get artwork for the Artist and artwork for every album there is for the artist. You can also create your own playlists.

If you like a song you can tell you like it and you can go back and see what songs you liked an play them back, additionally you can add music to your library and even download it(You can choose if you want to download it with your phone’s or tablet data or you can download it with your Wifi. You can share music with people by different ways like by SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, other social medias.

You can go to different radios on the app basically, they sometimes go by Artists but also similar or contemporary artists could be found. The radio could be very fun if you have certain preferences and maybe don’t have time to make a playlist or already have listen to the ones you already have.

If you are an artist there is an option for you to be able to upload your music, people can be able to play it and that could pay you.

If there was something that I would add to this Application would be functionality of Streaming Videos because it doesn’t have it and for example Youtube Music has it and it is great.

Another recommendation for improvement could be to be able to Live Stream Videos, so artists could go online and people from all around the world could watch them.

Lastly it would be great to be able to buy tickets to concerts on the app.

Paul

 Programming is possible thanks to the evolution of computing, different predecessors that gave born do their invents and others for their follow up on developing programming and programming languages since centuries ago and until nowadays. Computers and other devices take the forward on being the most common ways of a programmable device and they have a way to understand each other and that is by using common Programming languages.

Utilizing Scratch has being very fun, I have utilize other websites to learn to execute and learn code and I think this one is a great beginning to understand the logic of creating or using algorithms to make things work. It takes some time to learn how to do things, specially those that could be defined as more complicated, but that is the only problem I encountered with Scratch. I did my program and it has being a great experience, it is great to know you learn how to use the blocks and move around. With this assignment I gained some panorama because I get introduced to learn at least some about coding and that is already great. I think Scratch is a more basic way of programming, the other languages seen on the book would be more sophisticated and they most likely require you to have some more math knowledge, specially high-level languages.

There are some talkable differences between the programming languages and that has to be its functions field function (such as Web Development, Client-Server, etcetera) and its learning orientation function, also with its structure and execution methods.

Programming Languages:

Machine Language: Understands 0s and 1s with different instructions.

Assembly Language: Textual human-understandable of machine languages(2019, Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S.)

High-level languages: Have higher instructions, such as Python, Java, etcetera.

I think the easiest one was Machine Language because it had only four instructions that were Input, Add, Output and Stop.

Machine Language could be very effective for learning and before learning other languages.

Assembly Language could work great for expositions were people could more easily make use of the language.

Higher Level Languages are great for different purposes: Like for example Java could be great for developing software, Python could be great for designing applications and JavaScript could be great for designing Web Applications.

Java is the most popular programming language for its multiplatform ambient, it is also the most taught language in universities.

Computing jobs are very high ranked nowadays, and it is required to learn some programming on must of them, while some others focus more on programming, thus programming training is very advanced. Learning to program for people from other careers also leaves excellent intellectual results and even great possibilities for embarking on different projects. Programming is a great field, and it could represent a very fun lifestyle to many.

Here is the link for my Scratch project: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1050697494