This essay is going to be about the computer system, mainly on the four layer model: hardware, software, network and people.
Hardware:
The hardware is the physical part of the computer like the case and the hard drive. The computer can work without some of the hardware such as the case but will not be as effective because if you turn on the computer, without the fan it could overheat. It is the same with the hard drive, if you don't have one then the computer won't function at all. The main hardware in the computer are the motherboard, the CPU, the RAM, the hard drive, the optical disc drive, the power supply and the case.
The motherboard is where all the wires from all the components are connected. It looks very complicated with all the small dots and lines as shown on the bottom. The motherboard can't actually tell what it wants all the hardware to do so it would need some other component to tell everything else what to do. That component is the CPU
The CPU is a small computer chip that is put into the motherboard. The CPU is basically like the “brain” of all the hardware inside the case, without the CPU the the computer won’t function at all because there would be nothing to tell everything what to do. Even though the CPU is the brain of it all, it can't store any memory. Where does all this memory go? It goes to the RAM and the hard drive.
The RAM is very good at saving memory on your computer and also allows your computer to work faster. The RAM makes your computer to work faster because each program in the computer requires a specific amount of the RAM for it to work, therefore the more RAM there is, the more smoothly it will run. Even though it is good at saving memory, it is only temporary so if your RAM wasn't able to save it yet and your computer turns off then none of the memory would save. Now the question is: How does your computer store memory for a longer period of time? The answer is the hard drive.
The hard drive has a lot more memory than the RAM but it is a lot slower. When turning off the computer, the RAM would be in the process of transferring its data into the hard drive. Without the RAM then the computer would be slow but without the hard drive the computer can't save things permanently. There are also portable hard drives where you connect them with a USB cable (it basically acts like a thumb drive but can store up a lot more memory). There are also discs to store memory in but the disc would have to go somewhere. That somewhere is the optical disc drive (ODD).
Normal Hard Drive
Portable Hard Drive
The Optical Disc Drive is where you put the CD’s, DVD’s and other disks in. The information from the disk is transferred into the computer. All of the hardware would need a power source for it all to function, the hardware gets all its power from the power supply.
The Power supply is to make sure the computer has power to operate. It has a wire that you need to attach to the power supply and a socket. With laptops, there is a charger to recharge the battery of the laptop.
That just leaves us with one final question, where does all these components go? The answer is the case.
The case is just simply the part that covers all the electrical parts inside, the case includes the fan. The fan is used to make sure the computer on the inside does not overheat.
Software:
The software is the part of the computer in the operating system (OS) such as Windows, Mac and Linux.
Applications on the computer like games and Microsoft word are included with the operating system. Without the software's then you wouldn’t be able to do anything with the computer. Some examples of software are Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, etc…), games and Internet browsers (Firefox, Rockmelt, etc…).
Network:
The network is a connection between different computers. The Internet is described as “a networks of networks” because it is a network filled with many other networks. When someone sends files through the Internet, it is sent in these things called “packets”. For example, if you send a picture then the picture will be split up into different packets and each packet will go different ways, the packets will go the fastest way and if there is some sort of obstruction then the packets will find a different route. It will then go to the person who wants to look at the picture.
When we go onto different websites, we use domain names to go to that website (e.g. Google.com). But computers don't recognize websites by its domain name, it recognize websites by IP addresses
(e.g.
The terminal is a application where you can type in codes and others to make it do certain actions such as looking for the IP address of a website/your computer and allowing you to change a few bits and pieces on your computer. To look for the IP address of google as an example, just type:
ping google.com
After you done that, this IP address should show up:
64 bytes from 74.125.71.99: icmp_seq=0 ttl=55 time=17.036 ms
The computer will go to the website and "ask" for the IP address and google would respond and upload the IP address to the computer. You can see a picture below as an example.
People
People that use technology use it in a good and bad way. Some people just use computers to play games, do work and talk to people over the Internet. However, there are people you use it in a bad way like hacking into other peoples computers, taking their information and using that information in a bad way like pretending to be another person. Using computers in a bad way doesn't only mean things like hacking and stealing information though, it is sometimes about pollution. People make a lot of waste when using ICT like this. When they are done using ICT, they simply throw it out and the battery in Ipods and laptops are toxic. Fortunately there are companies such as Apple that have recycling programs for the computers and other technologies where they use the old computers and other technology as spare parts.
There are cases where you would be using it in a bad way and a good way simultaneously. One of them is if you use the computer to do work such as teaching or business, you would still be destroying the environment because it drains electricity.
Online communities on the Internet affect people in various ways. Some people develop addictions to the computer and starts using it a lot, taking away their social skills. Those people with addictions won’t be able to live through life because they don’t have the social skills to talk with the people properly. For example, the Youtube videos “Greatest Freakout ever” is based off the cameraman’s brother who is addicted to videogames was enraged when his mom stopped his World of Warcraft account and because of this he has problems when he goes outside because people would make fun of him.
