Hardware and Software

This essay will explain about 4 basic structures of computers systems: hardware, software, network and people. This model of understanding computer system is just one way of many other ways.

The first layer is hardware. There are 6 components of a computer that runs it. The first component is the case. The case protects the internal parts from water, rust, physical damage, etc... Usually the case is made out of hardened plastic or aluminum. On the case there are buttons like the on/off button, plugs for USB cables and speakers. The second one is the Hard Drive. The Hard Drive is the main memory storage for a computer. It stores the OS (Operating System), Application data and other data. The HDD is a slow but a cheap way to store data. The other way to store memory is to use a SSD (Solid State Drive). The SSD is an expensive but has fast Read/Write speed compared to the HDD. The HDD is weak against sudden movement, shock, something that damages the disk. The third part is the power supply. The power supply supplies the circuit with the correct amount of electricity to avoid damage to the chips and wires. The forth part is the RAM (Random Access Memory). The RAM is like a work space. The bigger the RAM, the smoother the process is done. When a process is done, it is sent to the workspace(RAM) and exchanged with a unprocessed request. This is called swapping.
The HDD is the slow but giant memory and the RAM is the fast but small temporary memory.
The fifth is the motherboard. The motherboard has all the chips, fans, wires and the others all together. The motherboard is exposed so getting a case will protect it from physical damage and contamination. The last part is the CPU (Central Processing Unit). It gives orders and does all the calculation.
The calculations sent from the RAM is calculated and sent back to the RAM. This is called swapping.

The second layer is the software
There are 2 types of soft-wares
- System Software such as the OS (Operation System E.g. Windows XP, Mac OSX, Linux or Ubuntu), BIOS and the firmware
- Application Software such as Browsers, Media Players, etc...

When you boot up a laptop what happens is that the BIOS reads the hardware, looking for an available Operating System.
The firmware is named “firm” because it is never changed. It is programmed in memory that is only can read. Firmwares are used in many kind of machines using computers such as calculators, remote controllers, key boards, etc...

Internet is useful because it holds a very wide range of information but because of that, the Internet is also dangerous because many people can also edit the information.



 This is a easy diagram that shows the way soft ware works:


The third is the Network. There are 3 basic structures and 2 kinds of network: TCP/IP, Packet Switching and Networks of Networks and Open Networks and Private Networks.
IP, short for Internet Protocol is equivalent to an mailing address because packets are sent to the specific IP and there cannot be an identical IP address on the same LAN.
Packet switching is a structure of a network for moving files over the Internet or by local network. The easiest way to exchange packets is to use ping. This technology is called “ping” because the US navy used sonar to search for enemy submarines and battleships; and the when the sonar was used it makes a “ping” sound. The Ping is a similar structure to the sonar system. What the Ping does is send a packets to a certain IP address and waits for the other computer to do the same.
Packet Switching is happens when one route for delivering a packet which has the data is trafficked or inaccessible, it switches to a route closer to the other computer.  
Networks of Networks, the name explains it all. This structure is important because when a packet switches and there are no network to switch to, your packet switching will be delayed and the page loading or downloading speed, etc... will be slower.

The first kind of network is a open network. An open network is a network that is accessible remotely. A private network is a network that is accessible only from a local network. In a open network you can access a web page through a domain server but in a private server, you have to manually connect to the private server to share files with them. Some games use private networks to relieve the problem of slow network speed and game delay, also called as lag.

And the last layer is about people. People are the ones who program and make the computers compute. People make more computers cheaper every year and each year the age group of computer holders goes down, meaning more people can visit or view what you say or write. This can be a problem because those who misuse their computers can cause cyber bullying, fraud, discrimination, etc… People can steal information and use it as their own; this is called pirating or in some cases plagiarizing. People can also steal passwords through phishing and fraud. Phishing is stealing someones passwords or valuable information by tricking people as someone else or some website. This can be also called Social Engineering. Fraud is also tricking people.