Systems Material (Back to basic)

What is a
1. Processor:
A processor, or "microprocessor," is a small chip that resides in computers and other
electronic devices. Its basic job is to receive input and provide the appropriate output. While
this may seem like a simple task, modern processors can handle trillions of calculations per
second.

The central processor of a computer is also known as the CPU, or "central processing unit."
This processor handles all the basic system instructions, such as processing mouse and
keyboard input and running applications. Most desktop computers contain a CPU developed
by either Intel or AMD, both of which use the x86 processor architecture. Mobile devices,
such as laptops and tablets may use Intel and AMD CPUs but can also use specific mobile
processors developed by companies like ARM or Apple.

2. RAM:

Random-access memory, or RAM, is one of the most important components in all devices,
from PCs, to smartphones, to games consoles. Without RAM, doing just about anything on
any system would be much, much slower. Not having enough for the application or game
you’re trying to run can bring things to a crawl or even prevent them from running at all.

Short-term memory

RAM is essentially your device’s short-term memory. It temporarily stores (remembers)

everything that runs on your PC, like all the services in Windows, your web browser, your
image editing tool, or the game you’ re playing. You do not want the CPU digging through
your slower storage, like a hard drive or even a solid-state drive (SSD), every time you
request a new browser tab or load a new enemy to shoot. As fast as storage is compared to
drives of years gone by, they’re still far slower than RAM. Its volatile in nature.

3. ROM:

Short for read-only memory, ROM is a storage medium that is used with computers and other
electronic devices. As the name indicates, data stored in ROM may only be read. It is either
modified with extreme difficulty or not at all. ROM is mostly used for firmware updates. A
simple example of ROM is the cartridge used with video game consoles, which allows one
system to run multiple games. Its non-volatile in nature.
Short for read-only memory, ROM is a storage medium that is used with computers and other
electronic devices. As the name indicates, data stored in ROM may only be read. It is either
modified with extreme difficulty or not at all. ROM is mostly used for firmware updates. A
simple example of ROM is the cartridge used with video game consoles, which allows one
system to run multiple games. Its non-volatile in nature.

4. Cache:

cache -- pronounced CASH -- is hardware or software that is used to store something, usually
data, temporarily in a computing environment.

A small amount of faster, more expensive memory is used to improve the performance of
recently accessed or frequently accessed data that is stored temporarily in a rapidly accessible
storage media that's local to the cache client and separate from bulk storage. Cache is
frequently used by cache clients, such as the CPU, applications, web browsers or operating
systems (OSes).

How cache works:

When a cache client needs to access data, it first checks the cache. When the requested data is
found in a cache, it's called a cache hit. The percent of attempts that result in cache hits is
known as the cache hit rate or ratio.

If the requested data isn't found in the cache -- a situation known as a cache miss -- it is
pulled from main memory and copied into the cache. How this is done, and what data is
ejected from the cache to make room for the new data, depends on the caching algorithm or
policies the system uses.
 5. Virtual Memory:

Virtual Memory is a storage allocation scheme in which secondary memory can be addressed
as though it were part of main memory. The addresses a program may use to reference
memory are distinguished from the addresses the memory system uses to identify physical
storage sites, and program generated addresses are translated automatically to the
corresponding machine addresses.

The size of virtual storage is limited by the addressing scheme of the computer system and
amount of secondary memory is available not by the actual number of the main storage
locations. It is a technique that is implemented using both hardware and software. It maps
memory addresses used by a program, called virtual addresses, into physical addresses in
computer memory.

Memory measurement metrics:

1 Bit = Binary Digit
8 Bits = 1 Byte
1024 Bytes = 1 Kilobyte
1024 Kilobytes = 1 Megabyte
1024 Megabytes = 1 Gigabyte
1024 Gigabytes = 1 Terabyte
1024 Terabytes = 1 Petabyte
1024 Petabytes = 1 Exabyte
1024 Exabytes = 1 Zettabyte
1024 Zettabytes = 1 Yottabyte
1024 Yottabytes = 1 Brontobyte
1024 Brontobytes = 1 Geopbyte

What is ASCII and UNICODE?

ASCII:

ASCII is the acronym for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. It is a
code for representing 128 English characters as numbers, with each letter assigned a number
from 0 to 127. For example, the ASCII code for uppercase M is 77. Most computers use
ASCII codes to represent text, which makes it possible to transfer data from one computer to
another.
The advantages of and disadvantages of ASCII code are given below.      
      Advantages:
1. ASCII code use English language so it can store all alphanumeric characters.
2. ASCII code takes less space as it has only 256 characters.
Disadvantages:
1. ASCII code uses only ENGLISH language.
2. A document written in other code can’t be read by ASCII code and it will display
some characters only instead of the content.

UNICODE:

The Unicode Standard provides a unique number for every character, no matter what
platform, device, application or language. It has been adopted by all modern software
providers and now allows data to be transported through many different platforms, devices
and applications without corruption. Support of Unicode forms the foundation for the
representation of languages and symbols in all major operating systems, search engines,
browsers, laptops, and smart phones—plus the Internet and World Wide Web (URLs, HTML,
XML, CSS, JSON, etc.).

The emergence of the Unicode Standard and the availability of tools supporting it are among
the most significant recent global software technology trends.

What is virtualization?
Virtualization is technology that lets you create useful IT services using resources that are
traditionally bound to hardware. It allows you to use a physical machine’s full capacity by
distributing its capabilities among many users or environments.

In more practical terms, imagine you have 3 physical servers with individual dedicated
purposes. One is a mail server, another is a web server, and the last one runs internal legacy
applications. Each server is being used at about 30% capacity—just a fraction of their
running potential. But since the legacy apps remain important to your internal operations, you
have to keep them and the third server that hosts them, right?
Traditionally, yes. It was often easier and more reliable to run individual tasks on individual
servers: 1 server, 1 operating system, 1 task. It wasn’t easy to give 1 server multiple brains.
But with virtualization, you can split the mail server into 2 unique ones that can handle
independent tasks so the legacy apps can be migrated. It’s the same hardware, you’re just
using more of it more efficiently.

Keeping security in mind, you could split the first server again so it could handle another task
—increasing its use from 30%, to 60%, to 90%. Once you do that, the now empty servers
could be reused for other tasks or retired altogether to reduce cooling and maintenance costs.

What is Information System?

Information Systems is an academic study of systems with a specific reference to information

and the complementary networks of hardware and software that people, and organizations use
to collect, filter, process, create and also distribute data

Types of Information System

•Transaction Processing System (TPS)

Transaction processing systems are used to record day to day business transactions of the
organization. They are used by users at the operational management level. For example,
banks that give out loans require that the company that a person works for should have a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the bank. If a person whose employer has a MoU
with the bank applies for a loan, all that the operational staff must do is verify the submitted
documents. If they meet the requirements, then the loan application documents are processed.
If they do not meet the requirements, then the client is advised to see tactical management
staff to see the possibility of signing a MoU.
Examples of transaction processing systems include

• Point of Sale Systems – records daily sales

• Payroll systems – processing employees’ salary, loans management, etc.
• Stock Control systems – keeping track of inventory levels
• Airline booking systems – flights booking management

Management Information System (MIS)

Management Information Systems (MIS) are used by tactical managers to monitor the
organization's current performance status. The output from a transaction processing system is
used as input to a management information system. The MIS system analyzes the input with
routine algorithms i.e. aggregate, compare, and summarizes the results to produced reports
that tactical managers use to monitor, control and predict future performance. For example,
input from a point of sale system can be used to analyze trends of products that are
performing well and those that are not performing well. This information can be used to make
future inventory orders i.e. increasing orders for well-performing products and reduce the
orders of products that are not performing well.

Examples of management information systems include

• Sales management systems – they get input from the point of sale system

Decision Support System (DSS)

Decision support systems are used by senior management to make non-routine decisions.
Decision support systems use input from internal systems (transaction processing systems
and management information systems) and external systems. The main objective of decision
support systems is to provide solutions to problems that are unique and change frequently.
Decision support systems use sophisticated mathematical models, and statistical techniques
(probability, predictive modeling, etc.) to provide solutions, and they are very interactive.

Examples of decision support systems include

• Financial planning systems – it enables managers to evaluate alternative ways of

achieving goals. The objective is to find the optimal way of achieving the goal. For
example, the net profit for a business is calculated using the formula Total Sales less
(Cost of Goods + Expenses). A financial planning system will enable senior
executives to ask what if questions and adjust the values for total sales, the cost of
 goods, etc. to see the effect of the decision and on the net profit and find the most
optimal way.
• Bank loan management systems – it is used to verify the credit of the loan applicant
and predict the likelihood of the loan being recovered.

Components of Information System

The main components of information systems are computer hardware and software,
telecommunications, databases and data warehouses, human resources, and procedures. The
hardware, software, and telecommunications constitute information technology (IT), which is
now ingrained in the operations and management of organizations.

• Computer hardware

Today throughout the world even the smallest firms, as well as many households, own or
lease computers. Individuals may own multiple computers in the form of smartphones,
tablets, and other wearable devices. Large organizations typically employ distributed
computer systems, from powerful parallel-processing servers located in data centres to widely
dispersed personal computers and mobile devices, integrated into the organizational
information systems.

• Computer software

Computer software falls into two broad classes: system software and application software.
The principal system software is the operating system. It manages the hardware, data and
program files, and other system resources and provides means for the user to control the
computer, generally via a graphical user interface (GUI). Application software is programs
designed to handle specific tasks for users. Smartphone apps became a common way for
individuals to access information systems.

• Telecommunications

Telecommunications are used to connect, or network, computer systems and portable and
wearable devices and to transmit information. Connections are established via wired or
wireless media. Wired technologies include coaxial cable and fiber optics. Wireless
technologies, predominantly based on the transmission of microwaves and radio waves,
support mobile computing.
 • Databases and data warehouses

Many information systems are primarily delivery vehicles for data stored in databases. A
database is a collection of interrelated data organized so that individual records or groups of
records can be retrieved to satisfy various criteria. Typical examples of databases include
employee records and product catalogs. Databases support the operations and management
functions of an enterprise. Data warehouses contain the archival data, collected over time,
that can be mined for information to develop and market new products, serve the existing
customers better, or reach out to potential new customers. Anyone who has ever purchased
something with a credit card—in person, by mail order, or over the Web—is included within
such data collections.

• Human resources and procedures

Qualified people are a vital component of any information system. Technical personnel
include development and operations managers, business analysts, systems analysts and
designers, database administrators, programmers, computer security specialists, and computer
operators. Procedures for using, operating, and maintaining an information system are part of
its documentation. For example, procedures need to be established to run a payroll program,
including when to run it, who is authorized to run it, and who has access to the output.

Threats for Information System

Information Security threats can be many like Software attacks, theft of intellectual property,
identity theft, theft of equipment or information, sabotage, and information extortion. Any
threat to the information system might lead to data or information loss of the system. These
threats can occur intentionally, accidentally or by any other means. There are different types
of threats such as –

• Security threat – Data stealing, exploitation of data, virus attack etc.

• Physical threat – Loss or physical damage to the system
• Internal – power supply, hardware fault etc.
• External – lighting, natural disaster such as flood, earthquake
• Human – theft, vandalism etc.
• Non-physical threat – Loss of information, data corruption, cyber security breaches
etc.

What is IT Infrastructure?
Information technology infrastructure is defined broadly as a set of information technology
(IT) components that are the foundation of an IT service; typically physical components
(computer and networking hardware and facilities), but also various software and network
components.IT Infrastructure can also be termed as all of the hardware, software, networks,
facilities, etc., that are required to develop, test, deliver, monitor, control or support IT
services. The term IT infrastructure includes all the Information Technology but not the
associated People, Processes, and documentation.

Current Trends in IT hardware and software

Trends during the end of the 20th century and beginning of 21st century were increasing
miniaturization and archival ability, increasing software costs, increasing software
independence, user empowerment through new software technologies, shorter computer-
system life cycles, and more rapid development and support of pharmaceutical services. Most
of these trends continue today. Current trends in hardware and software include the
increasing use of reduced instruction-set computing, migration to the UNIX operating
system, the development of large software libraries, microprocessor-based smart terminals
that allow remote validation of data, speech synthesis and recognition, application generators,
fourth-generation languages, computer-aided software engineering, object-oriented
technologies, and artificial intelligence. Current trends specific to pharmacy and hospitals are
the withdrawal of vendors of hospital information systems from the pharmacy market,
improved linkage of information systems within hospitals, and increased regulation by
government. The computer industry and its products continue to undergo dynamic change.
Software development continues to lag hardware, and its high cost is offsetting the savings
provided by hardware.

The current trends in computer hardware platforms is -

1) Mobile digital platforms

2) Bring your own devices
3) Quantum Computing
4) Virtualization
5) Cloud computing
6) Green computing
The current trends in computer software platforms is -
1)Blockchain
2)VR and AR
3)PaaS
4)Internet of Things
5)Big data
6)Artificial Intelligence
7)Cyber Security