Information

Technology
An Introduction for Today's Digital World

Richard Fox

»C)J CRC Press

Taylor & Francis Croup
Boca Raton London New York

CRC Press is an imprint of the

Taylor & Francis Croup, an informa business

A CHAPMAN & HALL BOOK

Contents

Preface, xv

How to Use This Textbook, xvii

Acknowledgments and Contributions, xix

Author, xxi

Chapter 1 Introduction to Information Technology 1

WHAT IS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY? 1

WHO STUDIES IT? 5

IT INFRASTRUCTURE 9

Computers 9

Software 14

Users 15

Our View Today 16

FURTHER READING 17

REVIEW TERMS 18

Chapter 2 Computer Organization and Hardware 21

STRUCTURE OF A COMPUTER 22

A PROGRAM 25

EXECUTING THE PROGRAM 27

ROLE OF CPU 31

ROLE OF MEMORY 34

ROLE OF INPUT AND OUTPUT 37

COMPUTER HARDWARE AND COMPUTER ASSEMBLY (INSTALLATION) 41

CPU 41

Memory 42

System Unit 42

vii
viii Contents

Motherboard 43

Hard Disk Drive 45

FURTHER READING 51

REVIEW TERMS 53

Chapter 3 Binary Numbering System 57

NUMBERING SYSTEMS 58

BINARY NUMBERING SYSTEM 59

NEGATIVE NUMBERS AND FRACTIONS 67

CHARACTER REPRESENTATIONS 71

BINARY OPERATIONS 74

EXAMPLES OF USING BINARY NUMBERS 80

Network Addresses and Netmasks 80

Image Files 82

Error Detection and Correction 84

FURTHER READING 87

REVIEW TERMS 88

Chapter 4 Introduction to Operating System Concepts 93

WHAT IS AN OPERATING SYSTEM? 94

SOME USEFUL TERMS 94

Hardware 94

Software 94

Computer System 95

Kernel 95

Device Drivers 95

Shell 96

Utility Programs 96

OS TASKS 96

User Interface 97

Process Management 98

Scheduling 99

Memory Management 100

Resource Management 102

File System Management 104

Protection and Security 104

 Contents ix

FORMS OF PROCESS MANAGEMENT 105

BOOTING AND SYSTEM INITIALIZATION 113

ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT 114

INSTALLING AN OS 115

Installing Windows 116

Installing Linux 117

FURTHER READING 118

REVIEW TERMS 120

Chapter 5 - Files, Directories, and the File System 125

FILES AND DIRECTORIES 125

FILE SYSTEMS AND DISKS 131

LINUX FILE SYSTEM 136

Linux File Space 136

Linux Partitions 141

Linux Inodes 142

WINDOWS FILE SYSTEM 145

MOVING AROUND THE FILE SYSTEM 146

Linux 146

DOS 149

FILE SYSTEM AND SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION TASKS 151

FURTHER READING 151

REVIEW TERMS 152

Chapter 6 Users, Groups, and Permissions 157

USERS 157

SETTING UP USER ACCOUNTS 159

Linux 159

Windows 166

ROLE OF A GROUP 168

PERMISSIONS 170

Linux 171

Windows 174

MISCELLANEOUS USER ACCOUNT TOPICS 176

FURTHER READING 178

REVIEW TERMS 178

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Chapter 7 History of Computers 183

EVOLUTION OF COMPUTER HARDWARE 184

Before the Generations 185

First Generation 190

Second and Third Generations 193

Fourth Generation 196

EVOLUTION OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE 200

EVOLUTION OF THE COMPUTER USER 207

IMPACT ON SOCIETY 209

FURTHER READING 210

REVIEW TERMS 211

Chapter 8 Operating Systems History 215

BEFORE LINUX AND WINDOWS 216

A HISTORY OF UNIX 218

A HISTORY OF LINUX 220

DIFFERENCES AND DISTRIBUTIONS 222

OPEN SOURCE MOVEMENT 225

A HISTORY OF WINDOWS 226

FURTHER READING 229

REVIEW TERMS 230

Chapter 9 Bash Shell and Editing 233

SHELLS 234

BASH SHELL EDITING FEATURES 235

EXPLORING THE BASH INTERPRETER 241

PERSONALIZING YOUR BASH SHELL 251

TEXT EDITORS 253

The vi Editor 253

The Emacs Editor 256

FURTHER READING 263

REVIEW TERMS 264

Chapter 10 Regular Expressions 269

METACHARACTERS 270

BASH AND WILDCARDS 283

 Contents xi

THE GREP PROGRAM 284

OTHER USES OF REGULAR EXPRESSIONS 290

FURTHER READING 292

REVIEW TERMS 293

Chapter 11 Processes and Services 297

STARTING A PROCESS 297

PROCESS EXECUTION 300

PROCESS STATUS 303

SCHEDULING PROCESSES 310

TERMINATING PROCESSES 314

SERVICES 316

CONFIGURING SERVICES 324

ESTABLISHING SERVICES AT BOOT TIME 329

FURTHER READING 330

REVIEW TERMS 331

Chapter 12 Networks, Network Software, and the Internet 335

NETWORKS AT A HARDWARE LEVEL 336

NETWORKS AT A LOGICAL LEVEL 341

NETWORK PROTOCOLS 349

NETWORK SOFTWARE 357

THE INTERNET 361

How the Internet Works 364

Brief History of the Internet 365

Future of the Internet 367

FURTHER READING 370

REVIEW TERMS 372

Chapter 13 Software 377

TYPES OF SOFTWARE 377

SOFTWARE-RELATED TERMINOLOGY 381

SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT 384

SERVICES AND SERVERS 389

Web Server 389

Proxy Server 390

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Database Server 390

FTP Server 390

File Server 391

E-mail Server 391

Domain Name Server 391

FURTHER READING 397

REVIEW TERMS 398

Chapter 14 Programming 401

TYPES OF LANGUAGES 401

A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF HIGH LEVEL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES 404

TYPES OF INSTRUCTIONS 409

Input and Output Instructions 409

Assignment Statements 411

Selection Statements 412

Iteration Statements 416

Subroutines and Subroutine Calls 419

Special Purpose Instructions 420

SCRIPTING LANGUAGES 422

Types of Instructions 422

Bash Shell Language 422

MS-DOS 431

FURTHER READING 434

REVIEW TERMS 435

Chapter 15 Information 439

WHAT IS INFORMATION? 440

DATA AND DATABASES 441

INFORMATION ASSURANCE AND SECURITY 452

THREATS AND SOLUTIONS 456

CRYPTOGRAPHY 464

LAWS 469

FURTHER READING 471

REVIEW TERMS 474

 Contents xiii

Chapter 16 Careers in Information Technology 479

IT CAREERS 479

Network Administration 481

Systems Administration 482

Web Administration 483

Database Administration 484

Computer Support Specialist 485

IT Management 486

RELATED CAREERS 487

Computer Forensics 487

Web Development 488

Programming/Software Engineer 489

Information Systems 489

Computer Technician 490

IT ETHICS 491

OTHER SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 495

CONTINUING EDUCATION 498

FURTHER READING 500

REVIEW TERMS 500

APPENDIX A: GLOSSARY OF TERMS, 505

APPENDIX B: LINUX AND DOS INFORMATION, 527

INDEX, 533