Use of Punched Cards by Hollerith

A step in the direction of automated computing was the development of punched cards, which were first successfully used with computers in year 1890 by Herman Hollerith (left) and James Powers, who worked for  US. Census Bureau. They have developed devices that could read the information that had been drilled in the cards automatically, without the human help. Because of this, reading errors were reduced significantly, work flow increased and most importantly stacks of punched cards could be used as easily/with no trouble accessible memory of almost unlimited size. Moreover, different problems could be stored on different stacks of the cards and accessed when needed.

These great advantages were seen by the commercial companies and soon led to the development of improved punch-card using computers developed by International Business Machines (IBM), Remington (the same people that make shavers), Burroughs, and other the corporations. These computers used electro-mechanical devices in which electrical power offered mechanical motion like turning the wheels of an adding machine. Such systems included characteristics to:

•   feed in a specific number of cards automatically
•  add, multiply, and kind
•  feed out cards with punched results

As to compared to today’s machines, these computers were slow, usually processing 50-220 cards per minute, each card holding about 80 decimal characters (numbers). At the time, however, punched cards were a massive step forward. They offered a means of I/O, and memory storage on a vast scale.

For more than 50 years after their first make use of, punched card machines did most of the world’s first business computing, and considerable amount of the computing work in science.

PROPERTIES OF THE PROPOSED FUTURE INTERNET

In today's Internet architecture, the Internet Protocol (IP), Internet addresses, and the Domain Name Service (DNS) implement core Architectural principles that restrict the Internet’s ability to adapt to improved performance and reliability requirements. In the future Internet, the current edge of the network (e.g. user computers and mobile devices) will often be just one hop to the Internet. That is, devices will be able to connect directly into the Internet, eliminating barriers such as local networks, local network routers, and domain name servers. The trend to connect more devices will also accelerate, facilitated by the increasing installation of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). In the future, the Internet will connect vast numbers of tiny devices integrated into cell phones and other mobile devices. These devices may challenge the traditional understanding of network topology as a collection of networks and, instead, view the future Internet as a single unified network.

According to Gokhale et al, in a process-based Web server architecture, the server consists of multiple single-threaded processes, each of which handles one request at a time. In a thread-based architecture, the Web server consists of a single multithreaded process; each thread handles one request at a time. However, there is another Web server model-the one I use. This model uses multiple executing servers, each processing user requests concurrently.

The proposed future Internet is comprised of the following capabilities:

·       Rather than using local networks, such as Ethernet. Communication between user computers and Web servers and between mobile devices and Web servers would be direct via Internet routers.

·       Devices would be assigned permanent IP addresses, issued by the Internet authority, thus eliminating the need for name-to-IP address translation, Thereby eliminating the need for Domain Name Systems. User computers and Mobile devices would access a Web server by providing a Universal Resource Locator (URL) (Web site address) to the Internet service provider (ISP). The ISP, In turn, would look up the Web server IP address in its directory and append it to the IP packet. In case the IP address has not been recorded in the ISP directory, the ISP would broadcast a request to obtain the IP address.

·        In order to provide increased security of data, every user computer and mobile device would have its own [P address, requiring the replacement of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) with IPv6, in order to provide for a large address space. IPv6 does not provide any better (or worse) support for quality of service than IPv4, but it does have several important features that would enhance the performance and security of the future Internet, including larger address space, integrated security capabilities, easier configuration, and a simplified packet header format.

·        Reliability would be increased because there would be fewer components that could fail and fewer single points of failure (e.g., elimination of local networks and Domain Name Systems). This is important because the Domain Name System is reputedly one of the main causes of failure in the Internet.

·       Cyber security would be increased because there would be fewer components that could be attacked and if attacks do occur, resolution would be simplified by pinpointing the location of an attack by virtue of using a much simpler Internet configuration than is presently the case.

Firewall

A firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware & software, or a combination of both. Firewalls are frequently 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.

Hardware and Software Firewalls

Firewalls can be either hardware or software but the ideal firewall configuration will consist of both. In addition to limiting access to your computer and network, a firewall is also useful for allowing remote access to a private network through secure authentication certificates and logins.

Hardware firewalls can be purchased as a stand-alone product but are also typically found in broadband routers, and should be considered an important part of your system & network set-up. Most hardware firewalls will have a minimum of 4 network ports to connect other computers, but for larger networks, business networking firewall solutions are available.

Software firewalls are installed on your computer (like any software) and you can customize it; allowing you some control over its function and protection features. A software firewall will protect your computer from outside attempts to control or gain access your computer.

The Importance Of Computers In Our Daily Lives

In the current world, it’s almost impossible to imagine that someone can live  without computers. Computers have become an electronic device of almost every day use for individuals of every era. They are essential in almost all the business dealings that are made nowadays. The most that any industry has gained from the discovery of the computers is the business industry because of its nature. Computers have gained significance as they have improved the efficiency and productivity of work done. Large amounts of information in industrial & business sectors as well as in the personal lives are stored on computers.

Computers can help out businesses by making their staff efficient and productive & also save their valuable time in any business or office. Computers in schools will help out the learners to comprehend the basic concepts better with the help of video or audio examples. Computers in higher learning institutions will help the professors and researchers to do their work very quick & in an efficient and better way and also help them to share the same knowledge with their other members of staff. Computers become a vital gadget in several sectors; railways, banking, electricity, telephone departments, shopping carts etc are just but a a small number of of them. Computers are also used in the medical industry to help doctors in diagnosing the diseases quickly and efficiently. All the administrative systems, whether private or public are now using computers and this practice can be evident in every part of the world.

Computers have also helped the media and the entertainment industries. Be it a multi-million dollars movie or a 2 minutes commercial, computers have changed the usual concept of providing entertainment to the public. With the computer business growing so speedy, the computer industry has also brought about an invention. Tablets, palmtops, and laptops have replaced the desktops. With the decrease in size, it has become very easy to carry the computer and use them anywhere you are to the fullest.

The importance of computers in our daily lives can be judged by the number of people using them each single day. Computer is not only used by professionals, but also by the little children and grownups at our homes.

Today, everything related to your everyday life can be done using computers. You can order your breakfast online using your computer, you can read newspaper online, you can work from the comfort of your home with the help of your computer, you can watch movies and videos through your computer, you can listen to music through your computer, you can read novels & books through e-books, you can play games, you can also contact people and talk to them through your computer etc. These are just but a few things that can be done with the help of your computer.