I.B.

COMPUTER SCIENCE

SYSTEM FUNDAMENTALS
COMPUTER SYSTEMS
We use the term “computer” to define a variety of things
The word is a derivative of the word “computes”, which
has Latin and French origins (computāre and putāre)
meaning to think, estimate, count, and figure
We also assume it is a device we have created to assist
with this (usually electronic in nature), so it could be
defined as a built device that thinks and counts
The word “system” also comes from the Latin “systema”
which means an organized whole composed of parts
So we are talking about an organized collection of built
parts that help us to think and count
COMPUTER SYSTEMS (CONT’D)
This is also the way we consider computers or
computing devices in our modern world, it brings up
images of a variety of devices including desktop
computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones, etc. as well
as all the
peripheral
devices (devices
that add on to the
main computing
device)
COMPUTER SYSTEMS (CONT’D)
Jobs for people with Computer Science degrees include a “System
analyst” who is someone who specializes in analyzing, designing, and
implementing computer systems
This means they are familiar with the types of systems and analyzes
what would be best for the users within a particular system
The term “system analyst” is also an umbrella term that includes:
Change management analyst – who manages changes in
computing systems within specific users systems
Business analyst – who manages how a specific business policies
interact with technology ad can be enhanced by computing systems
Software analyst – who manages how the software side of the
computing system works with a specific users system
Up to this point in our Computer Science education, we have focused on
the software that goes on the devices through our programming
COMPUTER SYSTEMS (CONT’D)
The term “analyst” is now often replaced with words like “developer”,
“administrator” or “architect” and the variety of devices and
platforms have further decomposed this concept to include jobs like:
Software system developer Network system architect
Business information analyst Computer programmer
Web developer Game QA (quality assurance)
tester
Database administrator
Software application developer
All falling under the general umbrella of “Computer Science”
In addition, the discipline of Engineering now also includes
Computer Engineering which overlaps in some content with
Computer Science
COMPUTER SYSTEMS (CONT’D)
Here are some facts about these jobs from 2014/2015:
COMPUTER SYSTEMS (CONT’D)
Here are some facts
about these jobs from
2014/2015:
COMPUTER SYSTEMS (CONT’D)

Computer
Science
Computer
Software
Development
(programming)
In this
unit, we
will look at
some of the
fundamentals of Computer
a computer System Computer
system analyst Analyst Engineering
(hardware)
and its relation (management)
to the I.B.
curriculum
Students let us examine ...

COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER
SYSTEM
WHAT THE I.B. CURRICULUM SAYS:

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COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM
In working with a computer system, some terminology needs
to be used:
Hardware: The physical components that make up a computer
(including but not limited to the CPU, monitor or screen,
keyboard, mouse or touchpad)
Software: The non-physical (digital/electronic) programs and
other operating data used by the computer system
Peripheral: A hardware device that is connected to a host
computer but not a part of the core computer architecture, but
expands the hosts capabilities (e.g. printer, mouse, monitor,
keyboard, etc.)
Network: a series of points (or nodes) interconnected by
communication paths on the system – networks can
interconnect with other networks to form larger networks (e.g.
the internet) and contain smaller sub networks within the
network
Human Resources: The department of the system that deals
with the administration, management, and training of human
personnel
COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM (CONT’D)
Client: a piece of computer hardware or software (although the humans
are often also called clients) that accesses a service made available by a
server – there are three types of clients:
1) Fat clients – performs the bulk of processing operations itself and
does not necessarily rely on the server
2) Thin clients – rely on the resources of the server (including
applications)
3) Hybrid clients – a mix of the other two architectures
Clients usually connect to servers or one
another creating either client-server
networks or peer-to-peer networks
Server: is a combination of software and
hardware that processes and delivers
data to clients in a network
COMPONENTS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM (CONT’D)
Hardware in a server may vary from server to server based on the purpose of
the server – likewise different servers may have different processing powers,
based on how much traffic they receive
Router: is a device that forwards data packets between computer networks –
clients connect to a router and any incoming or outgoing connections are
managed by the router
Firewall: is something in a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to
or from a private network
Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination
of both and are used to prevent unauthorized internet users from accessing
private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets
All messages entering or leaving the intranet
pass through the firewall, which examines each
message and blocks those that do not meet the
specified security criteria
Students let us examine ...

SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

WHAT THE I.B.
CURRICULUM
SAYS:
WHAT THE I.B. CURRICULUM SAYS:

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SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS
Now that we have established some terminology, and we need to
design a new system or modify an existing system, so we need to
analyse what’s going on first – this can be done a number of ways
including: observation, focus groups, and interviews
Observation is the process of monitoring a system while it is at
work (ex: An awkward man stands behind a store clerk for one
whole day, seeing how she works)
Pros: as it is not based on numerical statistics, it can explore
topics in great detail and depth, and uninstructive observation
will create extremely natural data
Cons: a functioning system that is being observed will always
act different than it does normally, and the non-statistical data
can be difficult to analyze and can cause generalizations
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
Focus Groups is a form of research in which a group of people,
generally stakeholders, are gathered together and questioned on their
opinions towards a project or product (questions are generally asked in
an interactive group setting where the participants are free to talk with
other members in the group)
Pros: are the researcher can interact with the participants, pose
follow-up questions or ask questions that probe more deeply, and
results can be easier to understand than complicated statistical data,
and the researcher can get
information from non-verbal
responses, such as facial
expressions or body language
(information is provided more
quickly than if people were
interviewed separately)
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
Cons: Respondents may not feel encouraged to provide accurate or
honest answers, and may not be fully aware of their reasons for any
given answer because of lack of memory on the subject, or even
boredom – also the number of respondents who choose to respond to a
survey question may be different from those who chose not to respond,
thus creating biased data (survey question answer options could lead to
unclear data because certain answer options may be interpreted
differently by respondents – ex: the answer option “somewhat agree”
may represent different things to different subjects, and have its own
meaning to each individual
respondent. ’Yes’ or ‘no’ answer
options can also be problematic, the
respondents may answer ”no” if the
option “only once” is not available)
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
Interview is a face to face meeting, that consists of an
interviewer asking the interviewee questions that should
be pertinent to the topic of the interview
Pros: you get direct feedback from stakeholders, you
can ask any question you want, and can change the
direction of the interview, people tend to be more
truthful face to face, you
can see how people
physically react to certain
questions, and you can
discuss a topic in depth
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
Cons: it takes a long time to interview everyone, it is quite
costly as people have to stop working to go to the interview
and you have to pay the interviewers, since it take so long
you are likely to choose a small group of people to interview
and if you have badly selected this group than some of the
information you collect may be useless – for an effective
interview interviewers must take a lot of time to prepare, and
the interviewees privacy be
compromised if they are put
in a position where they are
asked about something that
they do not want/need to
answer
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
Once we have some initial information about the system from
our observations, focus groups, and interviews of the
stakeholders – now we can look deeper into the system
We can understand the workflow of the system
What are the entry points (inputs) and exit points
(outputs) of the system
What are the competitors (e.g. competing software)
and could we learn from them
What suggestions from within the system to improve
could we incorporate (from the stakeholders)
Now we move to start making changes, and the first change is
sometimes called a prototype
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
The prototype is essentially a change to the system designed to
be tested by the users of the system to make sure it:
Meets the requirements of the system
Matches the capabilities of the previous system
Improves on the capabilities of the previous system
Measuring if this is accomplished is by once again involving the
stakeholders and “testing” if these criteria are being met or if
there is a “bug” in the prototype to report (essentially a “bug”
would mean one of those criteria is not being met in some way)
Then we would return to redesign the prototype and test again
This process is often called a design cycle, iterative system, or
a feedback loop
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
This process could be thought of simply…

Or more
complex…

Or even more specific

(for example when prototyping
software)…
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
The process of prototyping has been used in software development (in
some form) since the 1970s and can sometimes use terminology like
“alpha phase” and “beta testing” as it applies to prototyping
The basic process of prototyping involves the following steps:
1. Identify basic requirements – including the input and output
information desired, but details, such as security, can typically be
ignored
2. Develop Initial Prototype – that includes only user interfaces
3. Review – where the customers, including end-users, examine the
prototype and provide feedback on additions or changes
4. Revise and Enhance – using the feedback both the specifications and
the prototype can be improved
Negotiation about what is within the scope of the product may be
necessary, and if changes are introduced then a repeat of steps #3 and #4
may be needed
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
An iterative system helps you find problems quickly because it makes it easy to try it again
Problems can be quickly fixed through an iteration which should be tested to make sure the "fixes"
went through and solved, and it also finds any new usability problems by the new changed design
Iterative design is specifically aimed to teach you through messing up repetitively until you get it
right resulting in a more successful final product, and when applied early in the development stage,
significant cost savings are possible
Different companies use different variations on a feedback loop, iteration, prototyping model (for
example…)
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
Once the prototype is in place, the system starts testing and providing feedback on
the system
Failing to include the end user in the process can lead to several problems
including:
The end product not meeting their requirements
Being inappropriate from the intended use
The system might have a bias towards the developers and not all users
This feedback with developers, users, the hardware, the software, etc. within a system
can sometimes be summarized as “Information Technology” (or “IT”)
Information technology (IT) can be defined as:
“The use of any computers, storage, networking and other physical devices,
infrastructure and processes to create,
process, store, secure and exchange all
forms of electronic data”
However, the use of IT and computing systems does
have some social and ethical concerns around it’s
use…
SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSIS (CONT’D)
One such concern could be the rate at which
technology is being introduced and issues
that may arise from insufficient testing in
critical situations (such as air traffic control)
The ultimate fear of many people is that future
systems will be programmed to make
decisions that would be better taken by humans, such as the decision to deploy nuclear
weapons (i.e. Skynet and the terminators)
There are also social impacts such as internet addiction, where people feel that they can
never get away from IT and are trapped on a “digital treadmill”
These ethical concerns leads to the term “digital citizenship” – which can be defined as
appropriate behavior that represents the responsible, ethical and legal approach that individuals
take in any situation with respect to the
use of IT
Digital citizenship permeates, in one way or
another, all of the preceding social and ethical
considerations, and these may be related to
changes in attitudes towards the use of IT
systems, or new developments in IT such as
social networking or cyber bullying
Students let us examine ...

HUMAN INTERACTION WITH THE

SYSTEM
 WHAT THE I.B. CURRICULUM SAYS:

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get
started
HUMAN INTERACTION WITH THE SYSTEM
Now that the computer system is established with a user feedback loop, we can focus on
making the system more “user-friendly” – which can be described using the word
“usability”
Usability can be defined by 5 quality components:
1. Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they
encounter the design?
2. Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
3. Memorability: When users
return to the design after a
period of not using it, how
easily can they re-establish
proficiency?
4. Errors: How many errors do
users make, how severe are
these errors, and how easily
can they recover from the errors?
5. Satisfaction: How pleasant is it
to use the design?
HUMAN INTERACTION WITH THE SYSTEM (CONT’D)
Modern terminology includes the
acronym “UX” meaning “User
Experience”, which is defied as “the
process of enhancing user satisfaction
with a product by improving the usability,
accessibility, and pleasure provided in
the interaction with the product”
This often combines with “UI” or “User
Interface”, which is defined as
“everything designed into an information
device with which a person may interact.
This can include display screens,
keyboards, a mouse and the appearance
of a desktop. It is also the way through
which a user interacts with an application
or a website”
HUMAN INTERACTION WITH THE SYSTEM (CONT’D)
That being said, different users can still encounter usability issues, such as:
Blindness prevents you from seeing the screen
Without hands, you cannot use the keyboard or mouse
Without technical knowledge, device connection may be difficult
If the OS is too complex then users may have issues navigating it
Bad eye sight will make it hard to see the screen if it is too small and if the text
is too small a size
Health issues and limited hand mobility such as arthritis may pose various
issues such as small qwerty keyboards won’t be usable
Bad hearing will make it hard to use devices with low speaker volumes
While outdoors, the sun may hamper screen brightness (it must be high to be
visible)
Handheld devices must fit in your hand comfortably and should not slip
Medical conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease may hinder ability to use their
hands, and buttons and controls may be too small and users with less mobility
on their hands may find it challenging
HUMAN INTERACTION WITH THE SYSTEM (CONT’D)
Various solutions have been created to assist with these including:
Sip and Puff: solutions are ideal for people who have limited or no
motor capability to operate switch activated devices, including
computers, augmentative communication devices, adapted toys,
environmental control systems and devices accessed or controlled by
scanning – sip/puff technology is also popular for wheelchair navigation
Voice Recognition Software: (speech-to-text) allows users to speak into a
microphone and software on the computer translates the voice to text, and (text-to-
speech) speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech, where the
system converts normal language text into speech (other systems render symbolic
linguistic representations like phonetic transcriptions into speech)
Keyboards: there are various different types of braille keyboards that the visually
impaired use, including standard keyboards that have braille letters on the keys –
but most commonly you get the chorded braille keyboard such as electronic braille
note takers (these keyboards do not have a separate key for each letter, as there is
one key for each dot of a braille cell – so to type one letter, all of the keys that
correspond to the dots in that letter are pressed at the same time)
Trackball: a pointing device like an upside-down mouse with an exposed
protruding ball, where the user rolls the ball with the thumb, fingers, or the
palm of the hand to move a pointer (it has no limits on effective travel, so
mobility impairment use trackballs, and with the dominance of
graphically-oriented operating systems it increases usability)
HUMAN INTERACTION WITH THE SYSTEM (CONT’D)
Even the system itself can have usability issues that need resolving –
some examples could be:
Automatic feedback system: Is the feedback of good enough quality, is
it clear enough, is there enough feedback, is it given quickly enough, are
the people providing feedback of the right skill level, and is their
feedback valid?
Internet Service Provider (ISP) downtime or inability to connect to
system servers (e.g. to access shared files)
Depending on the complexity of the system, employees may have
trouble learning how to work with it (the system might be complex to set
up)
The dictionary of voice recognition software may be limited and
doesn’t include certain words (such as slang terms), as well as if the
user has a speech impediment then the software may have trouble
recognizing what they are saying (not to mention accents from different
languages)
Students let us examine ...

PLANNING AND SYSTEM

INSTALLATION
WHAT THE I.B. CURRICULUM SAYS:
WHAT THE I.B. CURRICULUM SAYS:
WHAT THE I.B. CURRICULUM SAYS:

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PLANNING AND INSTALLATION
Having designed a system and considered human interaction with that system. It is time to plan
and implement the new system
Change is always hard for a system, so managing this change it important – leading to the term
“change management”
Change Management refers to any approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations
using methods intended to re-direct the use of resources, business process, budget allocations, or
other modes of operation that significantly reshape a company or organization
Change Management will benefit the aims of the company and monitor assumptions, risks,
dependencies, costs, return on investment, dis-benefits and cultural issues affecting the aim of the
company
Change Management involves:
Explaining why change is taking place, the benefits of successful change (what is in it for us,
and you) as well as the details of the change (when? where? who is involved? how much will it
cost? etc.)
Devise an effective education, training system
Counter resistance from the employees of companies and
persuade them to change
Provide personal counseling (if required) to alleviate any
change-related fears
Monitor the change and address any updates
PLANNING AND INSTALLATION (CONT’D)
The need for change management is based on the need to
make sure that new systems work with the old systems
Often the term is “legacy system”
Legacy system is an old method, technology, computer
system, or application program, "of, relating to, or being a previous or outdated computer
system" implying that the legacy system is out of date or in need of replacement
Disadvantages: The cost of maintaining an older system can be higher than maintaining a
more updated version
The staff might not be familiar with such an outdated version of the system
Tech support may no longer be available
The data in the current system might not be compatible with newer systems and
conversion may not be possible
Legacy systems
are usually more
vulnerable to
security threats
due to lack of
security patches
PLANNING AND INSTALLATION (CONT’D)
In the change over, this might be a complicated process as you might be moving from:
Different hardware to a different technology (e.g. desktops to laptops, laptops to
tablets, iPhones to Android phones, etc.)
Different OS (e.g. Apple to Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.)
Different software (e.g. Microsoft Office to Google Docs, etc.)
Different file system (e.g. server file storage to cloud storage)
Or even a combination of change factors to manage
One more modern solution is to move to “Software as a Service” or “SaaS” in which
clients typically access software on the internet (via a web browser), and will typically pay
by a subscription to use the service (which might also include file storage)
The Application Service Provider (ASP)
will build and maintain the
infrastructure needed to host the software
The ASP can update, test, and access user
behavior – making it easier to identify areas
that need improving
The biggest criticism of SaaS is security
PLANNING AND INSTALLATION (CONT’D)
Once we have a new system, we also need to bring all of our previous data into the new
system
This is typically described as “data migration” – which is defined as “the process of
transferring data between storage types, formats, or computer systems. It is a key
consideration for any system implementation, upgrade, or consolidation”
Problems that can arise:
Corruption: data can become corrupted in transfer, data is unusable whilst being
transferred, for large files this can be problematic as well as for files that people are likely
to be using
File Formats: the way one system saves a file in a format may not be compatible with the
new system
Date / Time / Currency / Language: the system of storing dates, times, currency, or
even the international languages may not be compatible in
data migration
Cost: because in order to migrate data to new storage you have
to own the new storage and you need to pay for enough storage
for all your needs (which may not be possible)
PLANNING AND INSTALLATION (CONT’D)
The system has been developed and tested, it is working
correctly and doing everything that was agreed during the
design stage
The business is waiting in eager anticipation for the new
system to be handed over to them
A key decision is which method of the four different methods of
installation will be chosen, these are:
1. Direct
2. Parallel
3. Phased
4. Pilot
We will examine each one…
PLANNING AND INSTALLATION (CONT’D)
Direct method: (or “plunge”) is where the company literally
switches off the old system and switches on the new one
This is probably the most straightforward method but is also
probably the riskiest
Advantages Disadvantages
New system available to everyone in Most risky method - if something goes wrong,
company immediately there is nothing to fall back on
Have to transfer all of the data to the new one
Often the cheapest method of installation
before the old one can be switched off
There will be a period of time where no
system is available because can't have old
Don't need to keep duplicate sets of data
one working while new one is being switched
on
There will be a period of upheaval while the
system is brand new and staff are finding
their way around it
PLANNING AND INSTALLATION (CONT’D)
Parallel method: is a more popular method than the previous one
With a parallel changeover the organization runs both the old and new system in parallel
for a time, then once the organization is sure that the new system is working properly and
that staff are ready to begin using it they will make the decision to completely change over
During a quiet period, perhaps during the night or at a weekend, the data is fully
transferred from the old system which is then shut down

Advantages Disadvantages
Less risky than the direct method, because if
Time consuming as data has to be entered
the new system fails, the old system is still
onto both systems
up-to-date
Less stress for staff as they still have the One system can become out of sync. with the
security of the old system other
Staff can take their time to learn to use the Maintaining duplicate sets of data can lead to
new system errors

Extra cost of running and maintaining two

systems
PLANNING AND INSTALLATION (CONT’D)
Phased Changeover: is considered a compromise between parallel and direct
changeovers
In a phased changeover, the new system is implemented one stage at a time
As an example, consider a company working toward installing a new financial system, and
it implements the new system one department at a time, the company converts accounts
receivable, accounts payable, payroll, and so on
Advantages to phased changeovers are their low cost and isolated errors
The main disadvantage is the process takes a long time to complete because phases
need to be implemented separately
Pilot Changeover: the new system is tried out at a test site before launching it company-
wide
For example, a bank may first test the system at one of its branches, and this branch is
referred to as the pilot, or beta, site for the program
Since parallel changeovers tend to be expensive, using the pilot changeover technique
allows companies to run the new system next to their old but on a much smaller scale
This makes the pilot changeover method much more cost-effective
After the kinks are worked out of the system at the test site, companies usually opt to use
the direct changeover technique to launch the system company-wide
PLANNING AND INSTALLATION (CONT’D)
Students let us examine ...

USER FOCUS
WHAT THE I.B. CURRICULUM SAYS:

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USER FOCUS
Moving away from analysis of the entire system, let us now
focus on the individual users
For our users, the new system can present challenges that
can be addressed through documentation and training
The quality and availability of these can affect the rate of
implementation of the new system
Documentation can include in-app help, online support,
and printed manuals
Training can include self-instruction (including trial and
error), formal direct instruction classes, and remote online
training (e.g. YouTube tutorials)
USER FOCUS (CONT’D)
Manual: people who do not know how to use a product can refer to the
manual, and can be very useful for some people who like having a
structured collection of information and help
Sometimes, a simple Google search may be faster though
FAQs and readme.txt files are commonly included with software and
detail many things from installation instructions to operating instructions
Troubleshooting Guide: is a form of problem solving, often applied to
repair failed products or processes, can be a logical, systematic search
for the source of a problem so that it can be solved as it quickly finds
the problem and presents a number of solutions to help solve the
problem – however, one disadvantage is that these may not contain the
user’s specific problem thus not
presenting a viable solution
USER FOCUS (CONT’D)
Formal Training: is generally more expensive than the
alternatives as it requires a professional trainer and
facilities, and the gathering all of the trainees together can
be problematic or complicated
Fortunately, it does however ensure a certain level of skill that may not be as certain
with other methods - having a trainer also ensures the ability of trainees being able
to receive help and ask questions
Self Instruction: tends to be quite cheap, you can move at your own pace, you can
teach yourself at any time, you can build your own ‘lesson plan’ and improve your
weaknesses – but, you may get inadequate explanations of topics and therefore
spend more time trying to figure things out. you are unlikely to be able to ask very
specific questions, you will get minimal external guidance
Online Training: training is provided through course management applications,
multimedia resources, the Internet, videoconferencing, etc.
This has an advantage of flexibility – in terms of time and place (as it can be far
more comfortable comparing to traditional ways of learning), save money, and time
is not as limited as it would be in a formal and traditional lesson
Students let us examine ...

SYSTEM BACKUP
WHAT THE I.B. CURRICULUM SAYS:

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SYSTEM BACKUP
Despite best efforts to design a system for our users and give
the users training and documentation, errors can still occur
One such error is data loss, and some examples of data loss
include:
1. User Error: they could accidentally delete some files, over
write them, or just plain simply forget to save
2. Malicious Actions of a Third Party: someone else may
break your device storage
3. Theft: someone may steal your data, either physically or through hacking
4. Viruses and Malware: which can do things like transfer (steal) personal data, to deleting everything
on a hard drive (these include worms, Trojan horses, spyware, scareware, time bombs etc.)
A Trojan Horse is a program that has the appearance of a useful and desired function but
performs other undesired functions without you knowledge
Worms are programs that enable the duplication and spread of copies of themselves throughout a
system
5. Hardware Malfunction: Some storage devices come with defects, and may be the cause of data
loss, and these defects can be severe enough to cause the whole medium to 'fry' or just loss a small
portion of the data
6. Natural Disaster: where things such as earthquakes, floods, wars, etc. can destroy your hardware –
they may also be caused by things like power failure, or fires (a little less ‘natural’)
SYSTEM BACKUP (CONT’D)
Let us examine the consequences of a data loss occurring…
Medical Records: may result in serious consequences for the patient and the family, as
medical records include data such as current or old diseases, allergies, vaccination and
previous diseases or conditions that have run in your family – so if this data was lost it would
cause a huge health risk to the patient
Banking Records: banks still hold a lot of your personal information such as name, address,
age, etc. and of course your bank accounts, so if this data is lost or stolen they will have
access to all of that
Government Agencies: will quite possibly be the sector that will own the most information
regarding a certain individual, anything ranging from your address to your social security
number and so on, and would cause serious social and security risks and damage if
someone was to gain access of it
Credit Card records: losing data may damage the company’s reputation, for example when
companies like Amazon are hacked, important data like personal details and credit card
information might be used against the users and this creates a feeling of insecurity between
the company and the customers
Privacy is a big issue with data loss, as customers information might be put available on the
internet
SYSTEM BACKUP (CONT’D)
To try to prevent data loss, data backup systems are put in place – some
examples include:
Physical backups: using more than one physical devices like RAID
(Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) drives where two copies of the data
are held on two physical disks, and the data is always identical
Online backups: or “cloud” backups, which work like physical backups but
off site
Antivirus software: to prevent malicious virus software from running on your
computer and/or recover from it
Physical security: by locking doors, or having somebody guarding the area
where the data is stored can
prevent somebody from physically
stealing any data or having access
to it where they could delete the
data
Students let us examine ...

SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT
WHAT THE I.B. CURRICULUM SAYS:

Let’s get started

SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT
With all aspects of our system up
and running, our software will still
need updates and we need
strategies for managing this:
Application (“App”) updates: whenever the software is started, the
updater will run, comparing the current version on the PC to the latest
version that is on the internet, and if the internet version is newer than
current local version, then the newest version will automatically be
downloaded and installed (users can choose settings that they will be
asked whether or not the update is allowed to take place)
OS updates: it is also automated to occur (often at non-use hours like
early in the morning) to protect the OS from cyber attacks as well as fix
any software bugs or improvements – these are often categorized into
critical and non-critical updates
SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT (CONT’D)
Java update: Java runs inside a “virtual
machine” that allows Java software to be
deployed to multiple platforms, but needs
to often be updated (again automatically or
through user choice)
Hardware updates: often called “driver”
updates or “firmware” updates help keep
the specific hardware (e.g. video card,
keyboard, printer, etc.) communicating and
working (performing) properly – the
problem with hardware updates is that they
are not always automated and it forces the
user to check the specific hardware’s
website to see if an update is available
I.B. COMPUTER SCIENCE
Please
move on to
today’s
assignment

Wednesday, November 30, 2016