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Technology and Knowledge

• Why is technological knowledge important?• Jobs, finance, personal, family, movies, car,

education (other than computer science), sharing, business, trips, hotels, pets, learning, security, communications, phones, PDAs, cameras, medical, …it’s fun, exciting, changes quickly, and dangerous!

• The age of Computing is like the being around when they invented the wheel….

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Technology and Knowledge

• Technical knowledge of computers– Required to develop information systems

– Required to manage an organization’s information systems and infrastructure (compatibility, future trends)

– Must be constantly updated• Self-study and training

• Information available on Web

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Technology and Knowledge

• How to survive:1. Formal Education

2. Certifications

3. Experience

4. Continuous Education• Ex: CISSP requires

120 Continuous Professional Education Credits/3-years

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Roles and Job Titles

• Classification of computer professionals– Application developers

– Systems programmers

– Hardware personnel

– Systems managers

• Computer hardware and software knowledge requirements of each group

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Application Developers

• Contribute to different part of SDLC– Systems analyst (business modeling and

requirements)

– Systems designer (design discipline, sometimes deployment)

– Application programmer (builds and tests software)

• Need in-depth hardware and system software knowledge

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Types of Applications

Type Role Education needed

Information processing

Process business transactions or provide information to managers

College or technical degree in management or business with specialization in information processing

Scientific Meet data processing and numerical modeling needs

Degree in computer science or a branch of engineering

Technical Control or directly interact with hardware devices

Degree in computer science or a branch of engineering

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Systems Programmers

• Develop system software (operating systems, compilers, database management systems, network security monitors)

• Perform hardware troubleshooting and software installation and configuration

• Have degrees in computer science or computer engineering

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Systems Programmers (continued)

• Need in-depth knowledge of system software, computer hardware, and networks– System software often directly controls

computer hardware or interacts with networks

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Hardware Personnel

• Design, install, and maintain hardware• Education

– Technical degree and/or vendor-specific training (lower level)

– Degree in computer science or computer engineering (higher level)

• Require extensive knowledge of computer hardware (processing, data storage, input/output, and networking devices)

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Systems Managers

• Common job titles– Computer operations manager

– Network administrator

– Database administrator

– Chief information officer

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Computer Operations Manager

• Oversees operation of a large information–processing facility (scheduling, staffing, security, system backups, maintenance, upgrades)

• Knowledge requirements– Broad base of technical knowledge to understand

organization’s information systems and infrastructure

– Capability of understanding advice of technical staff

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Network Administrator Roles

• Responsible for network infrastructure– Requires technical expertise in computer hardware,

telecommunications, and system software

– Emphasis on network and data communication technology

• Responsible for local area network– One of the most demanding positions

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Network Administrator Responsible for LAN

• Operates and maintains network• Installs and maintains end-user software• Installs and configures hardware• Trains users• Assists management in selecting and acquiring

software and hardware

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Database Administrator

• Responsible for management of large collections of data

• Requires technical expertise and ability to help the organization exploit its data resources

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Responsibilities of a Chief Information Officer

• Organization’s computers, networks, software, and data

• Strategic planning• Effective use of information and computing

technology

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Requirements of a Chief Information Officer

• Broad base of technical knowledge to interact effectively with all technical specialists

• Vision of how technology is changing and how best to respond to changes to support organizational objectives

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Computer Technology Information Sources

• Periodical literature (most important)• Web sites• Training courses offered by hardware and

software vendors

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Periodical Literature

• Examples of available literature– ACM Computing Surveys

– Computerworld

– Communications of the ACM

– Computer

• Web-based periodicals– Provide content from back issues, additional

content, a search engine, other links

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Technology-Oriented Web Sites

• Provide a common interface to publication families

• Enable publisher to provide additional content and services

• Can generate revenue in several ways• May have biased content (expect to pay for

completely unbiased information)

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Vendor and ManufacturerWeb Sites

• Primarily marketing and customer support tools• Provide current detailed technical product

information• Often biased in favor of vendor’s products

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Professional Societies

• AITP (Association for Information Technology Professionals)

• ACM (Association for Computing Machinery)• IEEE Computer Society (Institute for Electrical

and Electronics Engineers Computer Society)

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What is Systems Architecture?

• Describes structure, interaction, and technology of computer system components

• Capabilities of a computer– Accept numeric inputs

– Perform computational functions

– Communicate results

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What do we study?

• Computer capabilities, functions, & architecture• Processors -- Central Processing Unit (+ related components)• Storage Types (RAM, HDD, SAN, CD-ROM..) • Input/Output capability and devices• System Bus, Motherboard, PCI, AGP, SLOTS, BANKS, IO Ports• Multicomputer Configurations Cluster/Blade/Grid• Data Communication and Networking – Devices, OSI, Protocols, etc• Operating Systems – RISC, CISC, MIPS, • SW Application Development; OOP, BAT Files, Assembly, languages• File and storage management; file structure, RAID, backup techniques• System Configuration and management; Security, logs, events,

monitoring

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Summary

• Top four factors the give the best opportunity for success: 1) Formal Education, 2) Certifications 3) Experience, & 4) Continuous Education

• Basic elements of computer system architecture– Hardware, Software, & Networks

• Basic roles of computer professionals are: – Application developers– Systems programmers – Hardware personnel– Systems managers

• Systems Architecture is the study of the design principals and functionality of a computer system together with interrelationship to system components.

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