Computer Basics
Computer Basics
Computer Basics
BASICS
MULTI MEDIA CENTRE
SREE NEELAKANTA GOVERNMENT
SANSKRIT COLLEGE
PATTAMBI
Outline
Computer-Brief History
Structure of Computer
Hardware &Software
Operating System
Programme & Utilities
Brief History
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Blaise Pascal(1642) mechanical adding machine
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Charles Babbage(1842)Father of Modern Digital Computers
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First Generation(1942-55)
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Second Generation(1955-1964)
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Third Generation(1964-1975)
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Fourth Generation(1975-1989)
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Fifth Generation(1989- )
First Generation
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Aiken, developed the Mark I in 1944 to ease
this calculating burden.
●
J. Presper Eckert and William Mauchley
developed the ENIAC, Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Calculator
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical
Integrator And Computer)
●
. It occupied 167 sq m (1,800 sq ft), weighed more than
27,000 kg (60,000 lb), and contained more than 18,000
vacuum tubes. Roughly 2,000 of the computer’s vacuum
tubes were replaced each month by a team of six
technicians.
Second Generation
●
In 1947, Bell Laboratories invented the transistor
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Texas Instruments improved the transistor in 1954 by
using silicon rather than germanium.
●
By using transistors in place of vacuum tubes,
manufacturers could produce more reliable
computers. Using transistors was also less expensive
than building a computer with vacuum tubes.
Third Generation
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In 1958, the first integrated circuit was made
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This invention has led to the widespread use of computers
today. Scientists found a way to reduce the size of transistors
so they could place hundreds of them on a small silicon chip,
about a quarter of an inch on each side.16 This enabled
computer manufacturers to build smaller computers.
●
At about this same time, the concept of a programming
language was developed . In 1956, FORTRAN, the first
programming language, was developed.19 Then in 1959,
Grace Hopper invented COBOL.20
Fourth Generation
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In 1971 Intel created the first microprocessor
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The microprocessor was a large-scale integrated circuit which
contained thousands of transistors. The transistors on this one
chip were capable of performing all of the functions of a
computer's central processing unit. The reduced size, reduced
cost, and increased speed of the microprocessor led to the
creation of the first personal computers.
●
In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the first Apple
computer in a garage in California.23 Then, in 1981, IBM
introduced its first personal computer
Fifth Generation?
●
Artificial Intelligence
●
initiative by Japan's Ministry of International
Trade and Industry, begun in 1982, to create a
"fifth generation computer"
●
Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are
still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice
recognition, that are being used today. The use of parallel processing and
superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality.
Quantum computation and molecular and nanotechnology will radically
change the face of computers in years to come. The goal of fifth-
generation computing is to develop devices that respond to natural
language input and are capable of learning and self-organization
What is Computer?
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A device that process data
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Data: Symbols that represents ,pics informations,
sounds, objects
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Processing: The way computer manipulated data
●
CPU processes data
Characteristics of Computers:
Speed
Accuracy
High Storage Capacity
Reliability
Versatality
Automation
Limitations of Computers :
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Lack of Commonsense
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Inability to Correct
●
Dependence on human assistance
Structure of Computer
The diagram below shows a simple structure for the
operation of a computer. Data is obtained for
processing by the computer and then the results of the
processing are output from the system.
Process Output
Input
Data
Storage
Types of Computers
●
Analog Computer
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Digital Computer
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Hybrid Computer
Basic Functions of Computer
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INPUT DATA
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STORE DATA
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PROCESS DATA
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OUTPUT DATA
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CONTROLL ALL OF THE ABOVE
The von Neumann Model of the
PC
Types of Computers
PDA
Desktop
Handheld (HPC)
Laptop
Workstation
Tower
Input
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Convert data analogue to digital
There are a wide range of input devices. Some of these
input devices make use of human touch, light,
magnetism, sound and control sensors.
●
Some examples are
●
Key Board ,Mouse ,Scanner
Process
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Analyse Data
●
Processor (CPU)
The Central Processing Unit (CPU) can be considered the ‘brains’ of
your computer. It consists of a single chip inside a computer that
does most of the work. It takes the information from the input
devices and instructions from memory, processes the information
and then sends the result to storage or to an output device.
Intel ,AMD, Via
The power of the processor is indicated by its operating speed
measured in Mega Hertz, (MHz).
magnification) is manufactured by the Intel
Corporation. It contains more than three million
transistors .
OUTPUT
●
Output digital data to analog
●
Some Examples are
Monitors Printers Speakers
DATA STORAGE
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Copy data for later use
●
The data will be in digital form
Short term storage
Computers use the RAM to store data temporarily while
you work on it. Once you are happy with the job, you
store it on the hard disk.
Long term storage
Floppy disks, magnetic tape, etc can be used to offload
confidential data from the hard disk.
●
Some examples are
●
MEMORY, CDROM.HARD DISK, FLASH DISK
Types of Memory
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Hardware- The electronic circuits,
memory and input/output
components of a
computer system;
the “tangible objects”
Memory
RAM
Hard Disk/Floppy Disk/CD
Tape
CPU/Motherboard
Modem
Power Supply
Software
floppy
drive
cards
hard
drive
motherboard
COMPONENTS
●
Motherboard – (body) acts as a manager
for everything on the computer – connects
all the other components together
●
CPU – Central Processing Unit – (brain)
this does all the work of computing
●
Hard Drive – (long-term memory) holds all
of the information that needs to be stored
between uses of the computer
Mouse
●
Mouse (computer), a common pointing device
●
A mouse is a pointing device that helps a user
navigate through a graphical computer
interface. Connected to the computer by a
cable, it is generally mapped so that an on-
screen cursor may be controlled by moving
the mouse across a flat surface
KEY BOARD
●
Keyboard, in computer science, a keypad device with buttons
or keys that a user presses to enter data characters and
commands into a computer.
●
Function Keys, in computer science, any of the 10 or more
keys labeled F1, F2, F3, and so on that are placed along the
left side or across the top of a keyboard and are used for
special tasks by different programs. A function key is in
essence a “programmable” key whose meaning is defined by
a program or, in some instances, by the user.
●
Alt Key: keys that when pressed in combination with
another key, gives the other key an alternative meaning
●
Ctrl: Control key controlling functions of other keys
PORT
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An interface on a computer to which you can connect a
device. Personal computers have various types of ports.
Internally, there are several ports for connecting
disk drives, display screens, and keyboards.
●
Externally, personal computers have ports for connecting
modems, printers, mice, and other peripheral devices.
Almost all personal computers come with a serial
RS-232C port or RS-422 port for connecting a modem or
mouse and a parallel port for connecting a printer. On PCs
, the parallel port is a Centronics interface that uses a 25-
pin connector. SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
ports support higher transmission speeds than do
conventional ports and enable you to attach up to seven
devices to the same port.
SCSI
●
small computer system interface :A SCSI interface
is used for connecting microcomputers to peripheral devices,
such as hard disks and printers, and to other computers and
local area networks
●
PS2: SMALL ROUND PORT FOR NEW TYPE OF MOUSE
AND KEYBOARD
BUS
●
Bus in computer science, a set of hardware lines—wires—
used for data transfer among the components of a computer
system. A bus is essentially a shared highway that connects
different parts of the system—including the microprocessor,
disk-drive controller, memory, and input/output ports—and
enables them to transfer information
●
The pathways that carry data on the motherboard are
called buses
IDE & PCI
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IDE: integrated drive electronics
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PCI: Short for Peripheral Component Interconnect
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VGA-video graphics array, a graphics display
system for PCs
DISK DRIVES
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Disk Drive, in computer science, a device that reads or writes
data, or both, on a disk medium. The disk medium may be
either magnetic, as with floppy disks or hard disks; optical, as
with CD-ROM (compact disc-read only memory) disks
●
The main components of a disk drive are the motor, which
rotates the disk; the read-write mechanism; and the logic
board, which receives commands from the operating system
to place or retrieve information on the disk
.
COMPONENTS
●
RAM – Random Access Memory – (short-term
memory) holds data and program instructions that
the computer is currently using
●
Floppy and CD-ROM drives – (mouth/ears) allow
you to give data to the computer and take data
away from the computer
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Power Supply – (heart) supplies power to all
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Network Card – (telephone) allows computer to
talk to other computers over a wire
BUSES
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PC's buses are the fundamental data "highways" on the
system board. The "first" bus is the system bus, which
connects the CPU with RAM. In older designs it was a local
bus. In newer designs this bus is called the front side bus
(FSB).
●
I/O buses connect the CPU to all other components, except
RAM. Data are moved on the buses from one component to
another, and data from other components to the CPU and
RAM.
●
The ISA bus, The PCI bus, The USB bus ,The AGP bus
data
●
The signals, which we send each other to
communicate, is data.
●
Our daily data have many forms: sound, letters,
numbers, and other characters (handwritten or
printed), photos, graphics, film. All this data is in its
nature analog, which means that it varies in type.
●
The PC is an electric unit. Therefore, it can only deal
with data, which are associated with electricity. –
digital data
SOFTWARE
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Program
●
DOS
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DATA
Computer Languages
●
Program- A sequence of instructions
directing a computer to
perform a particular
function; a statement of
an algorithm in a
programming language.
●
Operating System-
●
A collection of programs for operating the
computer. Operating systems perform
housekeeping tasks such as input/output
between the computer and peripherals, and
accepting and interpreting information from
the keyboard.
●
Examples are WINDOWS,LINUX,MAC,DOS
Computer Hardware & Software
1. Software : Programs or sequence of
instructions given to a computer to
perform a particular task.
Types of Software :
1. System Software :
Programs needed to manage and support a
computer system and its information processisng
activities.
Eg. Operating system, Programming Language Utility
Programmes etc.
Computer Hardware & Software
1. Application Software :
Programs designed to accomplish a particular
task. That is program for specific application
only
Eg. Program for word processing, Spread sheet,
Animation etc.
Operating System
Booting: #1-
ROM Bios
instructions get
executed. Hardware
check is performed.
Memory
Keyboard
Hard/Floppy Disk and Controller
IO.SYS and MS.SYS system files
Booting: #2-
get ready from hard/floppy disk.
Then CONFIG.SYS
gets read and
executed.
●
Command.com is loaded into memory,
then autoexec.bat file gets read and
command is executed. At this point,
the system will provide a “C:\>“
prompt. The computer is now up and
running.
Some Terms
Bits&Bytes
●
Bits: binary digit, the smallest unit of information in a computer. A bit is
represented by the numbers 1 and 0, which correspond to the states on and
off, true and false, or yes and no. Bits are the building blocks for all
information processing that goes on in digital electronics and computers
●
Bits actually represent the state of a transistor in the logic circuits of a
computer
●
Bits are usually combined into larger units called bytes. A byte is
composed of eight bits.
●
The values that a byte can take on range between 00000000 (0 in decimal
notation) and 11111111 (255 in decimal notation). This means that a byte
can represent 28 (2 raised to the eighth power) or 256 possible states
(0-255).
Number System
●
Each 0 or 1 is called a bit. Bit is an abbreviation of the
expression Binary digit. It is called binary, since it is derived
from the binary number system:
●
0-1 bit
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1-1 bit
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0110-4 bit
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01101011-8 bit
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Numbers, as known in the decimal-system Same numbers in binary system
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0 0
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1 1
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2 10
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3 11
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4 100
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5 101
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6 110
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7 111
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8 1000
Number System
1. Decimal System :
Consists of 10 numbers or symbols
(0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8&9)
Base 10 system
Positional Value system (value
depends upon position
Eg : 4672 – (‘4’is the MSD & 2 is the LSD)
can be written as :
(4X103)+ (6X102)+ (7X101)+ (2X100) = 4672
Number System.....cont..
2. Binary System:
Consists of only 2 numbers or
symbols (0,1)
Base 2 system
Positional Value system
Eg : 11can be written as : 1 0 1 1
(1X23)+ (0X22)+ (1X21)+ (1X20) = 11
Number System.....cont..
1. Bits :
Short form of ‘Binary Digits’
Numbers in a binary number system.
2. Bytes :
Combination of 8 Bits makes one
character (Byte)
Others Measures
Kilobyte (KB) (210) = 1024
Megabyte (MB) (220) = 1048576
Gigabyte (GB) (230) = 1073741824
Terabyte (TB) (240) = 1099511627776
Petaabyte (PB) (250) = 1125899906842624
Exabyte (EB) (260) =
Setabyte (SB) (270) =
Yotabyte (YB) (280) =
Data Representation Standards
BCD System (Binary Coded Decimal)
●
Match the correct term with its definition.
●
___1. LAN (Local Area Network) A. Consists of 2 or more LANs. The
computers are farther apart and are linked by telephone lines, dedicated telephone
lines, or radio waves.
___2. WAN (Wide Area Network) B. Common source that provides shared
services to other machines and manages resources in a network.
___3. Server C. A project that allowed
researchers and military personnel to communicate with each other in an
emergency. The foundation of the Internet.
___4. Clients D. Two or more connected computers sharing
certain resources in a relatively small geographic location.
___5. ARPAnet E. Computers connected to a server
and do not provide services to other computers.
kHz&Mhz
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Because computing is based on powers of 2, kilo- is most
often used to mean 1024 (210). To distinguish between the two
contexts, a lowercase k is often used to indicate 1000, an
uppercase K for 1024. For example, kHz means 1000 hertz,
but K or KB means 1024 bytes.
●
Mega- (M), a prefix meaning 1 million (106). In computing,
which is based on the binary (base-2) numbering system,
mega- has a literal value of 1,048,576, which is the power of
2 (220) closest to one million.
computer networks:
●
Local Area Network (LAN): A LAN is two or more
connected computers sharing certain resources in a
relatively small geographic location
●
Wide Area Network (WAN): A WAN typically
consists of 2 or more LANs. The computers are
farther apart and are linked by telephone lines,
dedicated telephone lines, or radio waves. The
Internet is the largest Wide Area Network
●
Computers running on the Internet
communicate to each other using either the
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or the
User Datagram Protocol (UDP )
Servers & Clients
●
All computers on the Internet can be
lumped into two groups: servers and clients.
In a network, clients and servers
communicate with one another.
●
A server is the common source that :
– Provides shared services and Manages resources.
– Independent computers connected to a server
are called clients
INTERNET
The Internet is a computer network made up of
thousands of networks worldwide. No one knows
exactly how many computers are connected to the
Internet. It is certain, however, that these number in
the millions and are growing.
●
Electronic mail, or e-mail, allows computer users locally and
worldwide to exchange messages. Each user of e-mail has a
mailbox address to which messages are sent. Messages sent
through e-mail can arrive within a matter of seconds.
●
A powerful aspect of e-mail is the option to send electronic
files to a person's e-mail address. Non-ASCII files, known as
binary files, may be attached to e-mail messages. These files
are referred to as MIME attachments.MIME stands for
Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was developed to
help e-mail software handle a variety of file types.
TELNET
●
Telnet is a program that allows you to log into
computers on the Internet and use online
databases, library catalogs, chat services, and
more. There are no graphics in Telnet
sessions, just text. To Telnet to a computer,
you must know its address. This can consist of
words (locis.loc.gov) or numbers
(140.147.254.3).
FTP
●
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is
both a program and the method used to
transfer files between computers. Anonymous
FTP is an option that allows users to transfer
files from thousands of host computers on the
Internet to their personal computer account.
FTP sites contain books, articles, software,
games, images, sounds, multimedia, course
work, data sets, and more.
E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPS
●
One of the benefits of the Internet is the
opportunity it offers to people worldwide to
communicate via e-mail. The Internet is home
to a large community of individuals who carry
out active discussions organized around topic-
oriented forums distributed by e-mail. These
are administered by software programs.
Probably the most common program is the
listserv
USENET NEWS
●
Usenet News is a global electronic bulletin board
system in which millions of computer users
exchange information on a vast range of topics. The
major difference between Usenet News and e-mail
discussion groups is the fact that Usenet messages
are stored on central computers, and users must
connect to these computers to read or download the
messages posted to these groups. This is distinct
from e-mail distribution, in which messages arrive in
the electronic mailboxes of each list member.
CHAT & INSTANT MESSAGING
●
Chat programs allow users on the Internet to
communicate with each other by typing in real time.
They are sometimes included as a feature of a Web
site, where users can log into the "chat room" to
exchange comments and information. Internet Relay
Chat (IRC) is a service through which participants
can communicate to each other on hundreds of
channels
●
A variation of chat is the phenomenon of instant
messaging. With instant messaging, a user on the
Web can contact another user currently logged in and
type a conversation.
PAGES ON THE WEB
●
The World Wide Web consists of files, called pages
or Web pages, containing information and links to
resources throughout the Internet.
●
Access to Web pages may be accomplished by:
– Entering an Internet address and retrieving a page directly
– Browsing through pages and selecting links to move from one page to another
– Searching through subject directories linked to organized collections of Web
pages
– Entering a search statement at a search engine to retrieve pages on the topic
of your choice
RETRIEVING DOCUMENTS ON
THE WEB:
URL&DNS
●
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. The
URL specifies the Internet address of a file stored on
a host computer connected to the Internet. Every file
on the Internet, no matter what its access protocol,
has a unique URL.
●
URLs are translated into numeric addresses using the
Domain Name System (DNS). The DNS is a
worldwide system of servers that stores location
pointers to Web sites. The numeric address, called
the IP (Internet Protocol) address, is actually the
"real" URL.
Anatomy of a URL
●
This is the format of the URL:
●
protocol://host/path/filename For example, this is a URL on
the Web site of the U.S. House of Representatives:
●
http://www.SNGSCOLLEGE.INFO/MAG/INDEX.html
●
Structure of this URL:
●
Protocol: http
●
Host computer name: www
●
Second-level domain name: SNGSCOLLEGE
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Top-level domain name: INFO
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Directory name: MAG
●
File name: INDEX.HTML
Several top-level domains (TLDs)
●
Com-commercial enterprise
●
Edu-educational institution
●
Gov- government
●
Net-network access provider
●
Org-usually nonprofit organizations
●
In-India
●
Info-Informative
HOW TO ACCESS THE WORLD
WIDE WEB:
●
To access the World Wide Web, you must use
a Web browser. A browser is a software
program that allows users to access and
navigate the World Wide Web. There are two
types of browsers:
●
Graphical&Text
●
Graphical:Internet Explorer,Opera,Mozila,
Netscape
●
Text:Lynx
Extending the Browser: Plug-Ins
●
Software programs may be configured to a
Web browser in order to enhance its
capabilities. When the browser encounters a
sound, image or video file, it hands off the
data to other programs, called plug-ins, to run
or display the file.
Beyond Plug-Ins: Active X
●
ActiveX is a technology developed by
Microsoft which make plug-ins less
neccesary. ActiveX offers the opportunity to
embed animated objects, data, and computer
code on Web pages. A Web browser
supporting ActiveX can render most items
encountered on a Web page.
●
Today's World Wide Web presents an ever-diversified
experience of multimedia, programming languages, and real-
time communication
●
Streaming video, Shockwave and Macromedia Flash, Live cams
●
Active Server Pages (ASP). CGI (Common Gateway Interface) Java/Java
Applets: Java
●
VRML: VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language XML: XML
(eXtensible Markup Language)
●
Real-Time Communication :Chat
Current Trends: Blogs and RSS
●
Blog is an easy-to-create Web site that allows users
to share their thoughts with the world managed by a
lightweight content management system. The word
"blog" comes from "Weblog" because a blog consists
of a signed and dated log of individual postings.
●
RSS: RSS allows people to place news and other
announcement-type items into a simple XML format
that can then be pushed to RSS readers and Web
pages. The initials RSS can stand for different things,
including Rich Site Summary or Really Simple
Syndication.
Three major resources for
locating Internet materials
●
subject directory
●
the search engine
●
content on the deep Web.
●
A subject directory is a service that offers a collection of links to Internet
resources submitted by site creators or evaluators and organized into
subject categories. Directory services use selection criteria for choosing
links to include, though the selectivity varies among services. Most
directories are searchable.
●
There are two basic types of directories: academic and professional
directories often created and maintained by subject experts to support the
needs of researchers, and directories contained on commercial portals that
cater to the general public and are competing for traffic
SEARCH ENGINES
●
A search engine is a searchable database of
Internet files collected by a computer program
(called a wanderer, crawler, robot, worm,
spider). Indexing is created from the collected
files, e.g., title, full text, size, URL, etc. There
is no selection criteria for the collection of
files, though evaluation can be applied to the
ranking of results.
search engine service or a
search service.
●
it consists of three components:
●
Spider: Program that traverses the Web from link to
link, identifying and reading pages
●
Index: Database containing a copy of each Web
page gathered by the spider
●
Search engine mechanism: Software that enables
users to query the index and that usually returns
results in relevancy ranked order
●
Search engines Eg:Google,Yahoo.MSN,Rediff
DEEP WEB
●
The deep Web consists of information stored in
searchable databases mounted on the Web.
Information stored in these databases is accessible by
user query. These databases usually search a targeted
topic or aspect of a topic, though entire Web sites
may be contained within a database. Search engine
spiders cannot or will not index this information.
●
The deep Web also consists of multimedia and image
files, and files created in non-standard file types such
as Portable Document Format (PDF).
In brief
●
There are a number of basic ways to access
information on the Internet:
– Go directly to a site if you have the address
– Browse
– Explore a subject directory
– Conduct a search using a Web search engine
– Explore the information stored in live databases on the
Web, known as the "deep Web"
– Join an e-mail discussion group or Usenet newsgroup