COMPUTING

Stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange

A character set is a set of binary codes which help represent characters on a keyboard.
At first , there were only 7 bits . (128 symbols)
Then 8 bits(256 symbols)
Then there was Extended ASCII(UNICODE):
Which could hold 65536 symbols
Number of colors = 2n where n is the color depth
DPI- dots per inch – the number of pixels per inch . The more the dpi , the better the quality ,
the higher the file size.
Resolution = width x height
Ex:
The resolution = 200 x 200 = 40,000 pixels
Color depth = 3 bits
File size = 40000 x 3 = 120,000

Image 1:
The resolution = 400 pixels
Color depth = 3 bits
File size in bits = 1200 bits
File size in bytes = 150 bytes

Image 2 :
The resolution = 100 pixels
Color depth = 3 bits
File size in bits = 300 bits
File size in bytes = 37.5 bytes

Image 3 :
The resolution = 400 pixels
Color depth = 2 bits
File size in bits = 800 bits
File size in bytes = 100 bytes

Image size :
Resolution doesn’t increase the file size / actual physical size
Increasing the size / resolution of the picture will spread the pixels apart and hence the quality
will deteriorate .
To ensure the quality of the image , the dpi must increase while you increase the resolution.
The number of possible color representations by 1 pixel = 2number of bits A higher bit depth gives a
greater range of color and a better quality of the image.
RGB : The color spectrum is represented in denary RGB values and in hexadecimal .This is done
because hexadecimal is to the base 16 and not 2 unlike binary.
The color representation is based on the amount of light that can be seen by the user .The
amount of light in the room is luminosity.
Hex to denary :

1)Multiplication method :
Multiply the individual value of each character in the hexadecimal
number * the position of 16’s power
Ex – FB=15*161
 COMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET

Difference between WWW and internet :

The internet is the physical infrastructure which connects nodes,servers and computers across
the world.
The world wide web is a gateway to access the internet.

The www’s purpose is to standardize the webpages.

Things needed for internet:
-NIC-Network Interface card
-ISP
-Switch-To extend the number of devices that can be connected to the router (wired)
-A computer / mobile
-A modem-Converts analog signals from the ISP to Internet signals for the router to relay
-A router-Distributes the internet , provides 2 IPs - one public(the ISP) and one private
-Cables (ethernet)
Main methods of data transmission :
1.Wired (more secure line)
2.Wireless(unsecure? Line)

WIRELESS:
Ethernet cable – Longer the length , longer the time taken and interference
FIBRE OPTIC uses glass and light
Ethernet uses copper wires and electricity.(They are twisted )
Synchronous Data Transmission:
All data transfers are timed to coincide with an internal clock pulse.
There are no gaps in the transmission of the data which is in blocks or one long stream of data.

Asynchronous Data Transmission:

Each byte is sent separately the moment its available instead of waiting for a clock signal
Each byte is preceded by a start bit and ends with a stop bit or a stop period – a short gap
between each set of bits.
This is important to avoid data collision in case some bits take longer to reach.
DISADVANTAGES OF ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION:
-Asynchronous transmission is relatively slow owing to the increased number of bits being sent.
-Its cheap and affective and well suited to low speed connections like a keyboard and mouse.

Latency:
Latency is the time delay between the moment the first byte or packet of a communication
starts and when it is received at its destination.

Protocol:
Certain set of rules relating to communication between devices is called a protocol.
Protocol gateway – a device that converts protocol
Protocol needs to define :
-Standards for physical connections and cabling
-The rate of transmission (bit rate or baud rate)
-Data format
-Whether transmission is synchronous or asynchronous
-Error checking procedures, e.g. odd or even parity
Bit rate and Baud rate :
Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted per second and Baud rate Is the number of times a
signal changes its state.
The baud rate CANNOT be greater than the bit rate .
The bit rate can be greater than the baud rate when the number of times a signal changes in a
second is lesser than the number of bits sent per second.
Bit rate = baud rate x number of bits per signal

BROADBAND:
Bits are sent as variations on the wave
Broadband carries multiple signals on a fixed carrier
wave.

Parts of a packet:

Trailer: Body: Header:

errors : Payload
Error checking
Checking Destination IP , source IP , Protocol , Packet
number

1.Parity Bits
You wont be given the parity bit so you will have to write it.
For 11011000 , the parity bit will be 0 because there are an even number of ones.
 TOPOLOGIES

Physical Network:
Physical network is the physical connection of devices to the router.

Logical Network:
Logical network is the path of data transmission in a Network.

Large Area Network & Wide Area Network & Metropolitan Area Network:
A LAN is a collection of nodes , servers or computers connected together over a small
geographic area.
A WAN is a collection of LANs in a larger area.
A MAN or Metropolitan area Network covers a larger area than that of a LAN and smaller area
as compared to WAN.
A PAN is a personal area network.

Network Topologies

Bus Topologies:
Works in a single cable – an arrangement where nodes are connected with a single cable.
-All nodes are connected to a single backbone cable
-Each end of the backbone is connected to either a terminator or a computer which stops
signals from ‘bouncing back’
-Each node is passive
-Data is sent in one direction at a time only
-Only one computer can transmit successfully at any one time
Advantages:
- Inexpensive to set up

-Main cable is a point of failure

-Devices can easily be added

Disadvantages
-Limited cable length
-Good for small networks
-Performance degrades with heavy use, owing to data “collisions”
-Poor security

MAC - Media Access Control:

MAC addresses are in the Hexadecimal system and Half are unique to the manufacturer and the
other half is unique to the device. These are physically engraved onto the device.

Advantages:
- Easy to isolate problems

- Good performance
- More secure if a switch is used as data is sent only to the recipient

Disadvantages
- Can be expensive to set up because of the length of cable required
- Central device is point of failure

The physical topology of a network defines how the devices are physically connected.
The logical topology defines how the devices communicate across the physical topologies.
 CLIENT SERVER MODELS AND PEER-TO-PEER

Peer-to-peer networking

A peer-to-peer network has no central server

Features of a peer-to-peer network include:
Suitable for a small companies with fewer computers
No central server controls files or security
All computers can easily see files on all other computers
All computers can communicate with each other without going
through a server
If a computer is switched off, data cannot be retrieved

Client-server architecture

Terminals are known ‘clients’ of the central server

Server
Role of the client
-The client sends requests to the server
-Waits for a reply
-Receives the reply

Role of the server

-The server waits for requests from the clients
-It may need to pass the request (e.g. for a web page) to another server in
which case, it becomes the “client”

Features of a client-server network include:

A central server is used to manage security
Some files are held on the central server
Some processing tasks are performed by the server
Clients issue requests to the server for services such as email, file storage,
backup and printing
Suitable for many different types of organisation, small and large
Can require specialist IT staff to administer the network

Client-server architecture:
Multiple servers :

There can often be many specialized servers, especially in a large client-

server network.
Each one will be dedicated to a certain task:
-Web server
-Print server
-Mail server
-File server
-Database server

IP ADDRESSES :
Every device has to use the same protocols to share data.
TCP/IP – Transmission control protocol/internet protocol is used for inter-working in a network.

IP address classes :
CLASS A:1 -127
CLASS B:128 - 191
CLASS C:192 – 223
CLASS D:224 – 239(Multi cast)
CLASS E:240 – 255(Experimental/research use)

EXAMPLE – 127.104.11.98 WILL BE CLASS A (FIRST NUMBER DETERMINES THE CLASS)

Most common ones wil be class C or class B

Difference between network and host ID:

The IP address is broken down differently in each class.
The network ID represents the network segment(the class)
The host ID identifies the individual hosts on the specific segment.
SUBNETTING IS THE TECHNIQUE FOR LOGICALLY PARTITIONING A SINGLE , PHYSICAL NETWORK
INTO MULTIPLE SMALLER SUBNETWORKS OR SUBNETS
BENEFITS OF SUBNETTING :
-REDUCE BROADCAST VOLUME , WHICH REDUCES NETWORK TRAFFIC
-ENABLING REMOTE ACCESS FROM HOME
-ALLOW ORGANIZATIONS TO SURPASS LAN CONSTRAINTS SUCH AS MAX NUMBER OF HOSTS
IPv4 is the older out of IPv6
IPv4 uses 32 bits for IP addresses
IPv6 utilises 128bits for IP addresses(1028 times greater)

A static IP address can assign a machine an IP address that cannot change.

A LAN’S parts :
A modem – connects to the router and ISP
A router – distributes the internet signals
A switch – is a device that allows more devices to connect to the internet (router)
A hub is an older switch , it distributes data to all devices connected , a switch sends the packets
to a particular
NIC – A network interface card which is used to connect to

PSTN :
A telephone network utilized to make 2 way voice communications.

Still used today , a duplex data transmission (you don’t have to wait for the other guy to stop
talking)