Thursday, November 20, 2014

Operating Systems

1. An operating system is a type of software. 
True because it is part of the functions that allow the computer to work with the internet. It helps with the computer programming. You have to get it installed and updated. 

2. Operating systems control the loading of software applications onto a computer. 
True because the operating system controls priorities in tasks and can tell the computer to load or not load an application onto the computer. 

3. All operating systems offer user preferences allowing you to customize your computer. 
True because through the operating system you can change your background/screensaver, the size of text and images on your computer, and many other things that allow you to customize your computer.

4. An operating system prioritizes the tasks that a CPU does. 
True because the computer can only complete one task at a time, so the operating system prioritizes the tasks. This way the computer knows which tasks to do first and which tasks to wait on. 

5. The following devices have an operating system: an apple iPod, a Dell laptop, and a Nintendo Wii.
True because each of the following devices each have to do many tasks that would require prioritizing which is done by the operating system. Also they can be customized which is a feature provided by the operating system. They all require a base system which they operate from. 

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Communicating On the Internet

Email Clients and Servers:
Anyone who has ever received an email in their lifetime has used an email client which can be either hardware or software based. The client is what lets you perform tasks like reading and sending email messages or downloading attachments. The email client also communicates with email servers which are responsible for getting the messages in emails to their destinations. Once the client has the information that it needs it can streamline processes.
How Email Is Delivered over the Internet
After hitting send the email client connects to a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server for your email domain. Your email domain is the part of your email address that comes after the @ symbol. the SMTP is a set of rules for handling outgoing email. The email client tells the server who the email is from and who the email needs to go to.Then the SMTP server looks at the domain of the address that the email is being sent to and has the Domain Name System (DNS) ask for the IP address of the domain. Once that information has been maintained the SMTP connects with that domain and passes the message to its SMTP server. The SMTP server then passes the email to the incoming-mail server for delivery. The two types of incoming-mail servers are POP3 and IMAP. When you get an incoming email from a POP3 server, you download it from the server onto the computer you are using, but if you get email from an IMAP server, the email stays on the server utnil you delete it. Some POP3 clients offer a way to leave the mail on the server. If you use a web-based system for email then your email is handled by a web server, because it is online. All emails are sent as text only. The attachments of emails are only converted back from text once they arrive at their destination.
How Instant Messaging Works
Instant Messaging (IM) has been around since about 1990. It was an alternative to chat rooms for those who wanted to talk in real time over the Internet. Today IM software can allow much more than chatting with other Internet users. You can send and receive files, create chat rooms, and send some messages to and from a cell phone. Before using IM a client software for whatever service you want to use must be downloaded. Once it is installed in your computer, you can run the client so it will connect to the server. After connecting to the server you may either log in or create a new account. Once logged in, the client sends the server your IP address, and the server checks your list against the list of users who are online. Then it sends your client the IP address and port information for any contacts of yours who are online. It also sends your information to any users that have you as a contact. The server then stays out of the IM process. The client has all of the information necessary. The next thing the server will do is end your session when you log off, and let others know that you have gone offline. Many types of IM software are free, and many websites have built-in IM applications.

Friday, November 7, 2014

How the Internet Works

1. What is the internet? 
The internet is the world's biggest wide area network (WAN). There are millions of smaller networks that make up the internet. Everything that you can find online comes through the internet. Today there are over 2 billion people who use the internet, and before the 1990's there was a very small amount of people that used the internet. 
2. What is a protocol?
Protocols can control or enable the connection, communication, and data transfer between two computing endpoints. ARPANET was the first network protocol that was established in 1969. 213 computers were connected to the network by 1981. TCP/IP became the new standard that networks used to exchange data in 1983. TCP stands for Transmission Control Protocol and IP stands for Internet Protocol. They both use sets of rules to exchange and recieve messages on the internet. 
3. What is DNS? 
Domain Name Service (DNS) is required to translate domain names. There would be no internet communication without DNS. DNS is the internet version of a phone book. It can look up a host name and return an IP address. Each part of the internet has DNS servers. Applications can send a request known as DNS lookup to the computer's DNS server.