Introduction to Information Technology

International & Access Foundation Programmes - Computer Science Semester I - Part 2: Introduction to the Internet

• Course instructor: Nevan Bermingham
• Topic: Introduction to the Internet and Computer Science

What is a Computer?

• A computer is a programmable machine designed for sequential and automatic arithmetic/logical operations.
• It is also defined as "equipment that operates automatically to process data". (UK Data Protection Act 1998)

Exercise: Information Technology

• What is Information Technology (IT)?
• What are the main components of IT?

What do we mean by IT?

• IT is a branch of engineering that uses computers and telecommunications to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data.
• The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) defines IT as the study, design, development, application, implementation, support, or management of computer-based information systems.

Computing Evolution

• Key milestones in computer evolution include the Difference Engine (1822, Charles Babbage), the IBM 1401 (1959), IBM 5150 (1981), and HP Compaq tablet PC (2003).
• The evolution of computing also shows progress from analogue, physical to electronic and digital technology. AKAT-1 is highlighted as the worlds first transistor differential analyzer(1959).

Binary

• All electronic computers rely on binary calculations using 0s and 1s to represent data.

Basic Model of a Computer

• A computer has input (keyboard, mouse), processing (processor chip), storage (hard drive, flash memory), and output (monitor, printer) components.

High-Level View of a Computer

• A computer's high-level components include applications, operating system, components (hardware), and internet.

The Internet

• The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks.
• It consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks.
• It includes documents (WWW) and email.

The History of the Internet

• Key milestones in Internet history include ARPANET (1960s), Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) (1980s), CERN's development of HTTP, HTML, and the first web browser (1990s), and Web 2.0 applications like YouTube, online gaming and media services, video conferencing, social media, blogging, online gambling, banking and shopping (2000s).

Group Exercise: The Internet

• Students are asked to describe what the internet means to them focusing on different Internet usage, its impact on work and play, and potential future advancements in IT and Computer Science.

Internet Stats 2018: Overview

• Global internet users (2018): Over 4 billion
• Internet users located in Asia (2018): Around 2 billion
• World population (2018): Approximately 7.6 billion
• Active Internet users in China(2018): 772 million
• Internet users on social media(2018) : Over 3.2 billion

Internet Stats 2018: Internet Users

• Around 40% of the world population has an internet connection as of 2018.
• The number of internet users increased tenfold between 1999 and 2013.
• Key milestones include reaching the first billion internet users in 2005, the second billion in 2010 and the third in 2014.

Internet Stats 2018: Social Media

• Social media users worldwide (2018): Over 3.1 billion
• Increase in social media users in 2018: Around 13% compared to 2017
• Leading social media websites included Facebook (2.2 billion monthly active users), YouTube (over 1.5 billion users), and others.

Internet Stats 2018: eCommerce

• eCommerce market share in the UK (2018): ZenCart has over 17%.
• In the US: Over 133 million users accessing the Amazon app in February 2018.
• eCommerce sales increased by 13% since 2016 in 2018.
• 80% of UK buyers use online commerce research before purchasing any product offline.

15 years of ICT growth

• Mobile cellular telephone and broadband subscriptions and data use grew significantly in the last 15 years.
• Individuals using the Internet increased greatly.

Broadband is Increasingly Mobile

• Mobile broadband usage has significantly grown in the last 5-10 years.

Why do devices matter?

• Global internet device shipments grew significantly from 2000 to 2018.
• Smartphones and tablets saw a rapid increase in usage.

The iPhone "rules" myth?

• Smartphone market share (2009-2018): The chart shows details of smartphone usage from 2009 to 2018, with significant numbers for Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi etc.

Internet Growth

• Internet of Things (IoT) devices are expected to reach over 50 billion by 2020.

Some Other Facts About the Internet

• Modern computers are considerably more powerful and cheaper
• Social networking is the fastest growing part of the Internet.
• By 2020, mobile phones will be the primary way to connect to the internet.
• In 2018, social media was heavily used by businesses, with around 90% participating.

Group Work: Technology Trends

• Students are asked to identify technology and internet trends for the next few years, future "big" trends, possible challenges and rank the trends to their top three.

Gartner Predicts...

• Growing use of visual and voice search, increasing digital commerce.
• Growing legitimisation of cryptocurrencies with use of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies valued at $1B.
• Growth of fake news and counterfeit reality, with Al-creating fake content faster than it can be detected.
• Rise of bots, with enterprise use spending more on bots and chatbots than on mobile app development.
• Growth of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, growth in security vulnerabilities.

How does the web work?

• Domain Name Servers (DNS) translate website names to numerical IP addresses.
• Web pages are sent and received in packets of data over the Internet.
• Web servers hold and send data.

Web Servers

• Web servers (computers) store and distribute websites.

DNS and Domain Name System

• DNS consists of multiple servers
• The system translates domain names to IP addresses

IP Addresses

• IP addresses are unique numerical identifiers for devices on a network.
• They exist in a dotted decimal format (e.g., 10.1.1.1).
• IP addresses have network and Host sections.

Limits of IP v4

• IP v4 has a limit to the number of addresses that can be assigned to devices on the network
• IP v6 is a newer version that greatly increases the number of IP addresses.

How does the Internet Work?

• The Internet uses packets of data to transmit information.
• Data is broken down into smaller "packets" for transmission.
• Packets contain headers with data like destination.
• Packets are re-assembled at the destination.
• Data is routed through routers and network connections following a path (e.g., the path from your computer to a web server).

Traditional Circuit Switching

• Ordinary voice phone service uses traditional circuit-switching where a dedicated connection is reserved for the entire duration of a call.

Packet Switching Circuits

• Data is broken down into packets, each with destination and sender information.
• Packets can travel different paths to the destination. This is how internet connections are more efficient.

Why Use Packet Data?

• Packet data is more efficient because it allows multiple messages to be sent simultaneously by different paths.
• If a single packet is lost, the entire message isn't lost.

To Recap - The Internet...

• The Internet is a global packet-switched network consisting of many interconnected networks.
• The World Wide Web uses Internet protocols to send webpages.

Further Reading & Resources

• Available online resources for further information about IT history and internet technologies.