Quiz no. 7

1.Discuss the components required for successful commmunications.


      Computer communications describes a process in which two or more computers or devices transfer data, instructions, and information. Successful communications requires a sending device that initiates a transmission instruction, a communications device that connects the sending device to a communications channel, acommunications channel on which the data travels, a communications device that connects the communications channel to a receiving device, and a receiving device that accepts the transmission of data, instructions, or information.

2.Identify various sending and receiving devices.

     A sending device initiates the transmission of data, instructions, and information while a receiving device accepts the items transmitted.
 
       All types of computers and mobile devices serve as sending and receiving devices in a communications system. This includes mainframe computers, servers, desktop computers, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, smart phones, portable media players, and GPS receivers.

3.Describe uses of computer communication

Communications technologies include the Internet, Web, e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, newsgroups, blogs, wikis, RSS, VoIP, FTP, Web folders, video conferencing, and fax machine or computer fax/modem. Users can send and receive wireless messages to and from smart phones, cell phones, handheld game consoles, and other personal mobile devices using text messaging, wireless instant messaging, picture messaging and video messaging. A wireless Internet access point lets people connect wirelessly to the Internet through a wireless Internet access point. A hot spot is a wireless network that provides Internet connections to mobile computers and devices. A cybercafé is a coffeehouse, restaurant, or other location that provides computers with Internet access. A global positioning system (GPS) analyzes signals sent by satellites to determine an earth-based receiver’s geographic location. Many software products provide a means to collaborate, or work online with other users connected to a server. A document management system provides for storage and management of a company’s documents, such as word processing documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Groupware is software that helps people work on projects or share information over a network. Voice mail allows someone to leave a voice message for one or more people. Web services describe standardized software that enables programmers to create applications that communicate with other remote computers.

4.List of advantages of using a network.

A user can logon to a computer anywhere on the network and access their work files from the file server.

Computers can be managed centrally - with the same software installed on each one.

Time - it is much faster to install an application once on a network - and copy it across the network to every workstation.

Sharing printers, plotters, modems etc saves money and time.

Security - the Network Manager can allocate usernames and passwords to all users to try to prevent unauthorised access.

It is easy and convenient to monitor users - for example websites visited or documents printed - this can be done using software running on the server.

5. Differentiate among client/server,peer to peer, and P2P networks.

Client/server-describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the client, makes a service request from another program, the server, which fulfills the request.

Peer-to-peer (P2P)-computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application. They are said to form a peer-to-peer network of nodes.

 

6.Describe the various network communications standards.

 

7.Explain the purpose of communications software.

 

Communication software is used to provide remote access to systems and is also used to exchange messages in text, audio and video format for the purpose of communication. This software sends and receives data over telephone lines through modems. The communication software allows computers in different geographical regions to communicate with each other through terminal emulators, file transfer programs, chat and instant messaging programs.

 

8.Describe various types of lines for communications over the telephone network.

 

9.Describe commonly used communications devices.

 

Radios are communication systems that send and/or receive electromagnetic waves and consist of a transmitter, receiver, and antenna. Pagers are electronic communications devices that are used to notify or alert a user. Communication received by pagers may be numeric or alphanumeric, depending on the model and complexity of the device.

Other types of communication devices include navigation systems, such as global positioning systems (GPS) instruments and radar systems. GPS communication devices receive satellite communications and use it to provide position information. Radar communication devices use synchronized transmitters and receivers to send radio waves and detect their reflections from objects, surfaces and sub-surface structures.

 

 

 

Quiz 6


1.Define system software and identify the two types of system software.   
 
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. In other words, software is a conceptual entity which is a set of computer programs, procedures, and associated documentation concerned with the operation of a data processing system. We can also say software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some purposes. In other words software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation. Program software performs the function of the program it implements, either by directly providing instructions to the computer hardware or by serving as input to another piece of software. The term was coined to contrast to the old term hardware (meaning physical devices). In contrast to hardware, software is intangible, meaning it "cannot be touched".Software is also sometimes used in a more narrow sense, meaning application software only. Sometimes the term includes data that has not traditionally been associated with computers, such as film, tapes, and records.Examples of computer software include:

• Application software includes end-user applications of computers such as word processors or video games, and ERP software for groups of users.
• Middleware controls and co-ordinates distributed systems.
• Programming languages define the syntax and semantics of computer programs. For example, many mature banking applications were written in the COBOL language, originally invented in 1959. Newer applications are often written in more modern programming languages.
• System software includes operating systems, which govern computing resources. Todaylargeapplications running on remote machines such as Websites are considered to be system software, because the end-user interface is generally through a graphical user interface, such as a web browser.
• Testware is software for testing hardware or a software package.
• Firmware is low-level software often stored on electrically programmable memory devices. Firmware is given its name because it is treated like hardware and run ("executed") by other software programs.
• Shrinkware is the older name given to consumer-purchased software, because it was often sold in retail stores in a shrink-wrapped box.
• Device drivers control parts of computers such as disk drives, printers, CD drives, or computer monitors.
• Programming tools help conduct computing tasks in any category listed above. For programmers, these could be tools for debugging or reverse engineering older legacy systems in order to check source code compatibility.

2.Briefly describe various server operating systems: Windows Server, UNIX,Linux, Solaris, and NetWare. 

 Windows server-is a brand name for a group of server operating systems released by Microsoft Corporation. All are part of Microsoft Servers. This brand includes the following software:
   .UNIX-(officially trademarked as UNIX, sometimes also written as Unix) is a multitasking, multi-use computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna. The Unix operating system was first developed in assembly language, but by 1973 had been almost entirely recoded in C, greatly facilitating its further development and porting to other hardware. Today's Unix systems are split into various branches, developed over time by AT&T as well as various commercial vendors and non-profit organizations.
   .Linux-refers to the family of Unix-like computer operating systems using the Linux kernel. Linux can be installed on a wide variety of computer hardware, ranging from mobile phones, tablet computers, routers and video game consoles, to desktop computers, mainframes and supercomputers. Linux is a leading server operating system, and runs the 10 fastest supercomputers in the world.
   .Solaris-is a Uni operating system originally developed by Sun Microsystems. It superseded their earlier SunOS in 1993. Oracle Solaris, as it is now known, has been owned by Oracle Corporation since Oracle's acquisition of Sun in January 2010 Solaris is known for its scalability, especially on SPARC systems, and for originating many innovative features such as DTrace, ZFS and Time Slider. Solaris supports SPARC-based and x86-based workstations and servers from Sun and other vendors, with efforts underway to port to additional platforms. Solaris is registered as compliant with the Single Unix Specification.
    .NetWare-is a network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, with network protocols based on the archetypal Xerox Network Systems stack.

3.Summarize the features of several embedded operating systems: Windows Embedded CE, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, iPhone OS, BlackBerry, Google Android, Embedded Linux, and Symbian OS.    .Windows Embedded CE-is a real-time operating system for a wide range of small-footprint consumer and enterprise devices. Development tools like Platform Builder, a Visual Studio 2005 plug in, provide an integrated development environment (IDE) that enables you to build applications and Windows Embedded CE operating system software in a familiar environment.
    .Windows Mobile- is a mobile operating system developed by Microsof that was used in smartphones and mobile devices,but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone 7, which does not run Windows Mobile software. Unlike operating systems for desktop computers, it is usually not possible to upgrade the operating system on a Microsoft based mobile phone via official and legeal means, even by a later release of the same basic operating system let alone a different one; hardware replacement is the only way for less popular and older devices.
     .Palm OS-(also known as Garnet OS) is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management. Later versions of the OS have been extended to support smartphones. Several other licensees have manufactured devices powered by Palm OS.
     .iPhone OS-is Apple's mobile operating system. Originally developed for the iPhone, it has since been extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV. Apple doesn't license iOS for installation on third-party hardware. As of May 31, 2011 (2011 -05-31), Apple's App Store contains more than 500,000 iOS applications,which have collectively been downloaded more than 15 billion times. In the last quarter of 2010, it had a 26% share of the smartphone operating system market in terms of units sold, behind Google's Android and Nokia's Symbian. As of May 2010, it accounted for 59% of mobile web consumption—not including the iPad—in North America.
     .BlackBerry- a line of mobile e-mail and smartphone devices developed and designed by Research In Motion (RIM) since 1999.BlackBerry phones function as a personal digital assistant and portable media player. They are primarily known for their ability to send and receive (push) Internet e-mail wherever mobile network service coverage is present, or through Wi-Fi connectivity. They support a large array of instant messaging features, including BlackBerry Messenger.
     .Google Android-is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. Google Inc.purchased the initial developer of the software, Android Inc., in 2005.Android's mobile operating system is based on the Linux kernel. Google and other members of the Open Handset Alliance collaborated on Android's development and release.. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android. Android was listed as the best-selling Smartphone platform world-wide in Q4 2010 by Canalys.
     . Embedded Linux-is the use of Linux in embedded computer systems such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, media players, set-top boxes, and other consumer electronicsdevices, networking equipment, machine control, industrial automation, navigation equipment and medical instruments. According to survey conducted by Venture Development Corporation, Linux was used by 18% of embedded engineers.
     .Symbian OS-is a mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Nokia. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user interface component based on S60 5th Edition. The latest version, Symbian^3, was officially released in Q4 2010, first used in the Nokia N8.
4.Explain the purpose of several utility programs:     
File manager- is a computer program that provides a user interface to work with file systems. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files are: create, open, edit, view, print, play, rename, move, copy, delete, search/find, and modify attributes, properties and permissions. Files are typically displayed in a hierarchy. Some file managers contain features inspired by web browsers, including forward and back navigational buttons.
     .search utility-is a free search utility that will locate a file or folder by name located on any of your hard drives in less than a second. 
    .image viewer- is a computer program that can display stored graphical image; it can often handle various graphics file formats. Such software usually renders the image according to properties of the display such as color depth, display resolution, and color profile.
     .uninstaller-also called a deinstaller, is a utility software designed to remove other software or parts of it from a computer. It is the opposite of an installer.
     .disk cleanup-s a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows designed to free up disk space on a computer's hard drive. The utility first searches and analyzes the hard drive for files that are no longer of any use, and then removes the unnecessary files. There are a number of different file categories that Disk Cleanup targets when performing the initial disk analysis:
     .disk defragmenter-is a utility in Microsoft Windows designed to increase access speed by rearranging files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations, a technique called defragmentation. Defragmenting a disk minimizes head travel, which reduces the time it takes to read files from and write files to the disk. Beginning with Windows XP, Disk Defragmenter also reduces system startup times.     .backup and restore utilities-refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form is back up in two words, whereas the noun is backup (often used like an adjective in compound nouns).
     .screen saver-s a type of computer program initially designed to prevent phosphor burn-in on CRT and plasma computer monitors by blanking the screen or filling it with moving images or patterns when the computer is not in use. Contemporary screensavers are used primarily for entertainment or security.
     .personal firewall-is an application which controls network traffic to and from a computer, permitting or denying communications based on a security policy.

Quiz 2

1.Describe various types of pen input,and identify other types of input for smart phones.

Light Pen – Light pen іѕ actually one more pointing input gadget. Thіѕ wіll pick up οn existence οf light. It’s a hand held pen fashioned gadget having a photocell installed іn іt’s front-еnd. Once thе front-еnd οn thе pen іѕ actually touched οn thе Dіѕрlау screen, thе actual photocell registers a position associated wіth Dіѕрlау. Thіѕ kind οf instrument аlѕο offers a button. An individual points tο thе actual object thаt wіll еnd up being chosen οn thе dіѕрlау screen using thе light pen аftеr whісh clicks thе button іn thе pen. Light pen gadgets аrе utilized bу technical engineers, visual creative designers аnd ѕο οn. Thеѕе types οf gadgets call fοr unique displays. Light pen саn bе used οn PDA’s аnd аlѕο οthеr kinds οf portable computers.
Thе electrical light pen input instrument іѕ usually combined wіth сrеаtіng computer software. Designed screen data files аrе usually joined using a light pen simply bу directing іt tο dіѕрlау positions. A nеw рlасе shows up οn thе screen іn thе area exactly whеrе pen іѕ placed whісh іѕ sensed through thе photocell. Thе pc software operated thе feedback transmission οf thе instrument.
Digitizer – A Digitizer іѕ аlѕο called a graphic tablet аnd uses a pen input device. It’s a flat, rectangle-shaped digital plastic material pad. Eνеrу position tο thе digitizer points tο matching video dіѕрlау. It’s primarily useful fοr producing roadmaps аnd аlѕο engineering blueprints. Thе actual input gadgets stylus pen аnd аlѕο cursor саn bе used tο trace sketches аnd аlѕο drawings tο thе digitizer.
Stylus аnd Cursor – Stylus pen іѕ actually lіkе a ballpoint pen. It’s utilized tο compose textual content οr mаkе lines (οr generate drawings аnd аlѕο pictures) οn thе exclusively developed graphics dіѕрlау οr digitizer. Pen input devices found іn several sophisticated graphic devices іѕ called Digital Pen. Generally electronic digital pen supplies much more performance compared tο stylus pen.

Types of input of smartphone.

Location of the Mirror Server
    In the proposed architecture, the mirror server monitors all network traffic of smartphones.
Mirror Design
    Compared with using PCs, creating mirrors for smartphones has many advantages. First, same model smartphones have the same hardware specifications, default factory settings, OS, and many software applications.
Synchronization Mechanisms
    To keep a smartphone and its mirror synchronized through the telecom network, the mirror needs to be updated when the state of the smartphone changes. In this paper, one option is presented for loose synchronization, which requires identical hardware specification, storage (e.g. SD card), OS, and installed application software.
Network Design    The mirror server resides in a 3G network as an application server and supports services such as security, storage, and computation delegation. It is easy to configure the nodes of a 3G network to route all incoming/outgoing smartphone messages (such as session control messages, data packets, and other 3G signaling protocols) to traverse the mirror server without any interaction with the smartphone.
2. A GAMEPAD also known as a joypad, is the most common kind of game controller. They are held in both hands with thumbs and fingers used to provide input. Gamepads can have a number of action buttons combined with one or more omnidirectional control sticks or buttons.

This joystick is a peripheral that consists of a handheld stick that can be tilted around either of two axes and twisted around a third. The joystick is often used for flight stimulator.

A light gun is a peripheral used to "shoot" targets on a screen. They usually roughly resemble firearms or ray guns. Their use is normally limited to rail shooters, or shooting gallery games like those that came with the Shooting Gallery light gun.

A dance pad, also known as a dance mat, dance platform, or jitter deck is a flat electronic game controller used for input in dance games. Most dance pads are divided into a 3×3 matrix of square panels for the player to stand on, with some or all of the panels corresponding to directions or actions within the game.

 

3.Sharpness and clarity of image. The higher the resolution, the better the image quality, but the more expensive the camera.

 

4.A webcam is a video camera which feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet or Wi-Fi.

A videoconference or video conference (also known as a videoteleconference) is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. It has also been called 'visual collaboration' and is a type of groupware.

QUIZ 3.


1.Describe the four categories of output
Output is data that has been processed into a useful form called information. Four types of output are text, graphics, audio, and video. Text consists of characters (letters, numbers, punctuation marks, or any other symbol requiring one byte of computer storage space) that are used to create words, sentences, and paragraphs. Graphics are digital representations of nontext information such as drawings, charts, photographs, and animation (a series of still images in rapid sequence that gives the illusion of motion). Audio is music, speech, or any other sound. Video consists of images played back at speeds to provide the appearance of full motion. An output device is any computer component capable of conveying information to a user.


2.The Characteristics of LCD monitors, LCD screens, plasma monitors, and HDTVs.
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is a thin, flat electronic visual display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals (LCs). LCs do not emit light directly.
They are used in a wide range of applications, including computer monitors, television, instrument panels, aircraft cockpit displays, signage, etc. They are common in consumer devices such as video players, gaming devices, clocks, watches, calculators, and telephones. LCDs have displaced cathode ray tube (CRT) displays in most applications. They are usually more compact, lightweight, portable, less expensive, more reliable, and easier on the eyes. They are available in a wider range of screen sizes than CRT and plasma displays, and since they do not use phosphors, they cannot suffer image burn-in.Plasma displays are bright (1,000 lux or higher for the module), have a wide color gamut, and can be produced in fairly large sizes—up to 150 inches (3.8 m) diagonally. They have a very low-luminance "dark-room" black level compared to the lighter grey of the unilluminated parts of an LCD screen (i.e. the blacks are blacker on plasmas and greyer on LCDs).LED-backlit LCD televisions have been developed to reduce this distinction. The display panel itself is about 6 cm (2.5 inches) thick, generally allowing the device's total thickness (including electronics) to be less than 10 cm (4 inches). Plasma displays use as much power per square meter as a CRT or an AMLCD television.Power consumption varies greatly with picture content, with bright scenes drawing significantly more power than darker ones – this is also true of CRTs. Typical power consumption is 400 watts for a 50-inch (127 cm) screen. 200 to 310 watts for a 50-inch (127 cm) display when set to cinema mode. Most screens are set to 'shop' mode by default, which draws at least twice the power (around 500–700 watts) of a 'home' setting of less extreme brightness.Panasonic has greatly reduced power consumption ("1/3 of 2007 models"). Panasonic states that PDPs will consume only half the power of their previous series of plasma sets to achieve the same overall brightness for a given display size. The lifetime of the latest generation of plasma displays is estimated at 100,000 hours of actual display time, or 27 years at 10 hours per day. This is the estimated time over which maximum picture brightness degrades to half the original value.High-definition television (or HDTV) is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems (standard-definition TV, or SDTV, or SD). HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD. Early HDTV broadcasting used analog techniques, but today HDTV is digitally broadcast using video compression.


3.What are the components inside the system units?

The system unit is the core of a computer system. Usually it's a rectangular box placed on or underneath your desk. Inside this box are many electronic components that process information. The most important of these components is the central processing unit (CPU), or microprocessor, which acts as the "brain" of your computer. Another component is random access memory (RAM), which temporarily stores information that the CPU uses while the computer is on. The information stored in RAM is erased when the computer is turned off.

4.The components of a processor and how they complete a machine cycle.
"Components of a processor"
1.Control unit - responsible for supervising the operation of the entire computer system.
2.Arithmetic/logical unit - provides the computer with logical and computational capabilities.
3.Register - a storage location inside the processor.
                                       "Machine Cycle"
The program is represented by a series of numbers that are kept in some kind of computer memory. There are four steps that nearly all CPUs use in their operation: fetch, decode, execute, and writeback.
The first step, fetch, involves retrieving an instruction (which is represented by a number or sequence of numbers) from program memory. The location in program memory is determined by a program counter (PC), which stores a number that identifies the current position in the program. After an instruction is fetched, the PC is incremented by the length of the instruction word in terms of memory units.^[5] Often, the instruction to be fetched must be retrieved from relatively slow memory, causing the CPU to stall while waiting for the instruction to be returned. This issue is largely addressed in modern processors by caches and pipeline architectures.
After the fetch and decode steps, the execute step is performed. During this step, various portions of the CPU are connected so they can perform the desired operation. If, for instance, an addition operation was requested, the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) will be connected to a set of inputs and a set of outputs. The inputs provide the numbers to be added, and the outputs will contain the final sum. The ALU contains the circuitry to perform simple arithmetic and logical operations on the inputs (like addition and bitwise operations). If the addition operation produces a result too large for the CPU to handle, an arithmetic overflow flag in a flags register may also be set.The final step, writeback, simply "writes back" the results of the execute step to some form of memory. Very often the results are written to some internal CPU register for quick access by subsequent instructions. In other cases results may be written to slower, but cheaper and larger, main memory.


5.Define a bit and describe how a serires of bits represents data.
A bit (a contraction of binary digit) is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states. These may be the two stable states of a flip-flop, two positions of an electrical switch, two distinct voltage or current levels allowed by a circuit, two distinct levels of light intensity, two directions of magnetization or polarization, etc.
Bits can be implemented in many forms. In most modern computing devices, a bit is usually represented by an electrical voltage or current pulse, or by the electrical state of a flip-flop circuit. For devices using positive logic, a digit value of 1 (true value or high) is represented by a positive voltage relative to the electrical ground voltage (up to 5 volts in the case of TTL designs), while a digit value of 0 (false value or low) is represented by 0 volts.


6. Identify the categories of application software.

Types of Application Software

Word Processing Software: Allows users to create, edit a document. Example: MS Word, Word Pad etc.

Spreadsheet Software: Allows users to create document and perform calculation. Example: Excel, Lotus1-2-3 etc.

Database Software: Allows users to store and retrieve vast amount of data. Example: MS Access, MySQL, Oracle etc.

Presentation Graphic Software: Allows users to create visual presentation. Example: MS Power Point

Multimedia Software: Allows users to create image, audio, video etc. Example: Real Player, Media Player etc.

7.Identify the key features of widely used business programs.

Jaspersoft:The most widely used open source business intelligence software.

 JasperReports is part of the JasperSoft open source business intelligence suite.
 JasperReports offers a range of reporting and charting features.


Features:

• Adhoc Reporting – With JasperReports you can generate ad hoc reports and queries.
• Drag and Drop – Reports can be put together quickly using drag and drop features, with no need for programming knowledge.
• Data sources – Data can be imported from most file formats, including Excel, XML, relational, Hibernate and EJB
• Automatic Reporting – JasperReports can be programmed to generate and distribute reports at given intervals.
• Dashboard Designer – JasperReports comes with a dashboard designer, which also uses drag and drop features.

8.What are the advantage of using application software on the web.
    
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform singular or multiple related specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with documents. Apps may be bundled with the computer and its system software, or may be published separately. Some users are satisfied with the bundled apps and need never install one.
Application software is contrasted with system software and middlewar, which manage and integrate a computer's capabilities, but typically do not directly apply them in the performance of tasks that benefit the user. The system software serves the application, which in turn serves the user.
Similar relationships apply in other fields. For example, a shopping mall does not provide the merchandise a shopper is seeking, but provides space and services for retailers that serve the shopper. Rail track similarly support trains, allowing the trains to transport passengers.


9.History of the internet.

The history of the Internet starts in the 1950s and 1960s with the development of computers. This began with point-to-point communication between mainframe computers and terminals, expanded to point-to-point connections between computers and then early research into packet switching. Packet switched networks such as ARPANET, Mark I at NPL in the UK, CYCLADES, Merit Network, Tymnet, and Telenet, were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s using a variety of protocols. The ARPANET in particular led to the development of protocols for internetworking, where multiple separate networks could be joined together into a network of networks.
In 1982 the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) was standardized and the concept of a world-wide network of fully interconnected TCP/IP networks called the Internet was introduced. Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation (NSF) developed the Computer Science Network (CSNET) and again in 1986 when NSFNET provided access to supercomputer sites in the United States from research and education organizations. The ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990. Commercial internet service providers (ISPs) began to emerge in the late 1980s and 1990s and the Internet was commercialized in 1995 when NSFNET was decommissioned, removing the last restrictions on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic.
Since the mid-1990s the Internet has had a drastic impact on culture and commerce, including the rise of near instant communication by electronic mail, instant messaging, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) "phone calls", two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites. The research and education community continues to use advanced networks such as NSF's very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS) and Internet2. Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds over fiber optic networks operating at 1-Gbit/s, 10-Gbit/s, or more. The Internet continues to grow, driven by ever greater amounts of online information and knowledge, commerce, entertainment and social networking.


10.What are different storage devices?
    
A storage device may hold information, process information, or both. A device that only holds information is a recording medium. Devices that process information (data storage equipment) may either access a separate portable (removable) recording medium or a permanent component to store and retrieve information. The two primary storage technologies are magnetic and optical.


The primary types of magnetic storage are:


1.Disketes
2.Hard disk
3.High-capacity floppy disks
4.Disks cartridges
5.Magnetic tape


The primary types of optical storage are:
1.Compact Disks
2.Digital versatile/video disk
3.High definition DVD
4.Blu ray
5.Legacy Optical devices

 You ask:  what is the meaning or purpose of life?  I can only answer with another question:  do you think we are wise enough to read God's mind?