How Computers Work

How computers Work.

    Every day, we all wake up and check our messages or social media on our phones, perhaps watch the weather in the morning on the television and go to work and use computers in some form or another but take for granted what is actually happening inside these machines that gives us access to all these games, and information and how it gets to us at a machine level.

     Beyond plugging the machine in, a computer first has to boot which takes a set of memory and runs a set of commands to do self-tests and startup the necessary programs and files that need to run in order to allow your operating system to function.  After the computer boots up and you want to access applications, you will of course select the application or file you wish to open which then runs a series of commands, some of which are moved to the type of memory known as random access memory or RAM which is a chip or set of chips installed in your machine that takes some information that the computer needs to run a command and temporarily stores it for access when needed to allow the computer to run more complex operations and access the RAM information when needed, a lot like a carpenter who does all of the building but has an assistant who cuts his boards and hands them to him when needed to speed up the completion of the work, this function is constantly happening the entire time you are working on your device.

     Often confused with memory, is storage, storage is where all of your applications, files, documents, pictures and videos are stored.  Unlike RAM, which is considered volatile memory, which means information is not stored when the power is turned off, storage is non-volatile memory which means the information is (semi) permanently written to a hard drive and will be stored even after the power is shut off.  There are two types of hard drive, first is a hard disk drive, which consist of a disk that spins at a high rate of speed and has information written to it magnetically, and the second is called a solid-state drive which writes the information into storage using microchips which allow for faster access, with fewer moving parts, lowering the risk of failure. (Frank Vahid, 2019)

     Another important piece of hardware that is used to process information is called well... the processor.  The processor is a device with microchips that process information for the computer, it takes all of the program language, converts it into executable actions and executes the action.  The speed at which a processor runs is called a clock, which is the rate at which it processes information based on pulses much like the ticks of the seconds on a clock, the faster the clock, the faster the processor processes information.  Since, we are often running multiple programs these days simultaneously and do so much multitasking, we ask a lot of our processors, and being a single unit, a processor can only handle so much information at once forcing it to slow down if we run it to its capacity forcing our machine to slow down or even freeze.  The solution for this issue, comes in the form of multicore processors which is an assembly of two (dual core) or more processors such as four (quadcore) which evenly distributes the labor into each processor without maxing out one allowing us to multitask and have many applications and web pages running at once. (Frank Vahid, 2019)

     If you're not a computer industry professional, this may not be information you need to know for your job or even leisure time, but knowing how certain hardware and their processes work might help in influencing your decision on your next computer of phone purchase, giving you the knowledge you need to understand what that jumble of seemingly random information means on a computers spec page and hopefully making you very happy with your investment..

 

References

Frank Vahid, S. L. (2019). Computing Technology for All. zyBooks.

Programming Language

 Programming Language

    

    As we know, computers can do almost limitless tasks, and at the beginning of it all is programming to which there are several different languages that computers use to accomplish these tasks.  A computer, as a machine does not understand human language, however it does understand what is known as machine language.  Machine language is what you would call binary which is a series of ones and zeroes that a computer decodes and organizes into tangible content, these ones and zeroes can be thought of as on and off to you and me, one being on and zero off, we use on and off because the machine language is transmitted as electrical waves and transmitted in pulses that the computer may sense and begin to read. (Frank Vahid, 2019)

     While machine language may be fine for computers to understand, it's all Greek to us. The human brain does not function in a way that can translate these digits quickly or efficiently and would take hours to input even the most basic of commands, which is why computer designers came up with a language known as assembly language.  Assembly language is a textual human-understandable representation of a machine language (Frank Vahid, 2019), which takes command inputs such as input, output, stop, and add, then is put into a program called an assembler which takes the commands and executes it as written by the programmer.  This language allowed computer programmers to write programs with greater ease and speed as it was a more tangible model for the human brain to comprehend. (Frank Vahid, 2019)

     Finally, we come to high level language, which is the type of programming language most used today.  High level language includes C++, Javascript, and Python, which can take more complex commands and execute greater commands than an assembler, while giving the programmer more access with superior efficiency and speed. High level language, like the assembler program is run through a program called a compiler which automatically translates the high-level commands into assembly language so that the machine may understand what the programmer is asking of it. (Frank Vahid, 2019) This high-level language has swiftly moved the world of computer programming forward and allowed us the ability to enhance our ability at a rate we couldn't fathom even 30 years ago, and we don't see signs of it slowing down any time soon.

References

Frank Vahid, S. L. (2019). Computing Technology for All. zyBooks.

 

Computers in the Workplace

     If you read the about page on this blog, you'll know that my career path to information technology started in the low voltage voice/data cabling, and network infrastructure hardware installation highly based in construction.  Being one who dealt with telephony and internet circuits, and switch/router configuration, I did more computing than most in the trades where computers are not widely used in the trade field by anyone lower than any trades foreman.  Although, many of the trade "grunts" are not using laptops in the field, they are incorporating smartphones more especially the cameras where they will take pictures of a blueprint allowing them to refer to their phone for locations and measurements of builds rather than taking constant trips back to the blueprint to refresh themselves or see the next task saving time, and potentially money on a job that may have been bid as a flat rate.

    The first person in a trade project that may be using a computer is of course, the architect who will need a high-powered computer and high bandwidth inter/intranet to design, create and share the building designs that they create.  After the architect, the main place where a computer will be used is in the process of creating and submitting bids by the contractors competing for the job where they will use word processing and spreadsheet skills to create financial documents such as bids, receipts, and invoices to send to the customer to compete for and document the agreements of the job.  Once the job is in production, you will often find the general contractor with a computer to document the jobs progress and communicate with the customer, trade companies and the organize the logistics of a job, otherwise you may only sometimes see a handful of trade foremen on a laptop while the "grunts" under them will only be using a smartphone as I mentioned before. 

There are other areas where tradesmen will use computers, mostly in form of smartphones where the tradesman will often log into web portals to check into a job site to document time and materials, and to take pictures and fill out work orders as deliverables for a job that they do which is common practice, especially for repair calls.  

    In future, I believe computers will be more widely used in the trades but not increasing much in the sub-foreman position.  While blueprint mapping technology may improve and be more widely used, the use by those doing the physical labor will still only be using a smartphone or tablet while those above and them will stay about the same because the steps in the process of bidding, documenting, invoicing, and communication will not change a whole lot, and the manual labor will always remain that, reading the map and building the structure where the map says. 

Traveling Through a Network

 

Traveling Through a Network

    Information is created by you, the "computor", but what happens to that information when you send it to someone, or when you interact with a website or application?  Well, it's simple, or is it?  Once you hit send, information is condensed into smaller bits of information called packets, which are then sent in pieces as electrical pulses over your ethernet cable or radio waves via wi-fi, where it is sent through your network equipment such as switches, firewalls, and finally a router or modem.  From your router, the packets are sent to the address of the receiver's server or router where they decide whether the information is properly formatted to understand, while other equipment such as firewalls may first analyze the packets to determine if the files are safe and turn them away if it thinks there is something malicious embedded before allowing the packets to be sent through.  Once the router determines that it accepts the files being sent, it will shake hands with the sender's network and send a response back to the sender telling it that it's okay to send the data thus completing the file transfer.

    There are times when your data may not be sending, or network equipment may be down or flapping.  Two wonderful, easy to use tools for troubleshooting these issues are pings and traceroutes:

Pings

    A ping is an easy way to send packets to a device or website which will be returned by showing the success or failure of the completion of the ping and the speed or latency in which the device responds in milliseconds.  The ping command is very simple, simply hold windows button and press "R", then type cmd and hit enter, which will open a command window, type ping (space) then your ip address or DNS name associated with it.  In the example below we pinged 8.8.8.8 which is the address for Google and is a popular ping to troubleshoot internet connectivity on a computer.

    If a ping comes back successful, then your connection to the internet or device is likely to

be successful, if it comes back with request timed out or destination host unreachable, then 

there is some troubleshooting left to do.  Also, when troubleshooting a network device such 

as a wireless access point, you may choose to do a constant ping by adding a space after the 

ip or DNS and type -t, which will keep the ping going indefinitely until you type control 

"C" to end it.

 Traceroute (tracert)

     A traceroute is similar to a ping but is more in depth, while a ping sends and receives packets to incite a response from its destination, a traceroute measures where the packets are being sent, including switches, firewalls, routers, and servers on both ends to map where the packets are going through their destination.  Traceroute is a helpful tool if you are troubleshooting failure to a specific website or within your own network to find where the packets are being lost on their path, which will often lead you to which device is not sending the information through giving you a place to start your troubleshooting.  I recently used this method to find out why my Verizon cellular extenders were not connecting to our network.

    To run a traceroute you will simply follow the same path to your command window then instead of typing ping you will type tracert followed by a space and your desired ip address or DNS, you will then see all of the stops your packets make on their journey.  Don't let the request timeouts discourage you though as they are common in a tracert and can often be explained by your internet service provider dropping packets, or your packets being blocked in one place then redirected to another for a successful route.

 

Network Security

 Network Security

    In the world of exponentially growing dependance on technology, the need for internet security is crucial, not only keeping up with hackers, and other digital criminals, but also educating the common computer user to recognize marketing and phishing scams which many fall victim to every day.

    Of course, hacking, and digital espionage is a major concern in today's corporate and political environment, but one of the greatest threats to us is general education to us (the public).  There countless phishing scams out there that cost a scammer virtually nothing to perform to steal thousands of dollars from one in 100,000 people it's worth it (Frank Vahid, 2019), and the bad news is they're not going away.  There are many types of scams but two what you may want to keep an eye out for which are phishing for anyone using a computer or phone, and social engineering for those especially in the work environment.

Phishing

    Phishing is a tactic that even when being done legally by a company to promote their business is seen by many to be unethical, but as we all know, it is often used in a criminal way by sending emails to entice an user to click a link which will trick the user into giving up personal information or to install malicious malware to steal passwords, credit card and bank information, and even your identity.  As we all know the old addage, "if it's too good to be true, it probably is," if we think of it in this way phishing is easy to spot right?  However, phishing is often very clever, because scammers can get a hold of information of people or businesses you know and send emails with seemingly familiar information with only slight variances that would lead you to trust what is attached to the message encouraging you to open it.  

Here are some key things to look out for to protect yourself from phishing scams:

-           You may recognize the sender, but the tone of speech is not quite right.

o   Facebook recently with posts that read “look who died” with a link attached.

-            If you weren’t expecting a document or attachment from someone, even a colleague, be sure to verify that they sent it and do not open anything until you have.

-           You may see slight variances in the email address or web link.

o    Instead of JCPenney.com you may only have one n JCPeney, or the end of your standard company email ends with JCPenney.com it may be from someone@JCP.com.

o   Misspellings or poor language can be a common clue in recognizing phishing attempts.

§  Look for mistakes in spelling and grammar as many cyber criminals may be from a different country where English is likely not their first language.

§  A professional company would generally not send a professional email with poor grammar, especially a large corporation would have a very buttoned up and professional message.

Social Engineering

    Social engineering is another form of security threat that is often difficult to detect, whereas this sort of threat is executed in person or over the phone by those who are well practiced in the art and very personable people and may be very good actors who prey on those who may be very gullible to charm or afraid to lose their jobs and will react negatively to name drops and other threats of going above their heads to get what they want.  To a social engineer any information will do as they are often looking for small pieces to a puzzle that they can put together or even just sell small bits of information to those with bad intentions.  Social engineers may also be looking for small bits of company information as a consumer to put themselves at an advantage as a customer to try and stick it to the company for their own personal gain or discount, we see this quite often with car dealers in the automotive industry, where anything they can stick to the seller they will, and sleep like a baby at night.                                                                             

 Here are some tips to handle social engineering in a professional environment:

-           An employee should always use discretion when they are deciding what information they are divulging 

-            Immediately and calmly approach a superior to handle the situation better to protect themselves and their jobs.

-           Contact security (if it is an available option) to decrease the chances of confrontation being held without escalation.

-           Notify a superior if they suspect that information may have unintentionally been divulged to the offender. 

A Day in the Life (Aaron's Friday)

 Documenting a Day

 

            Friday is a day that I would like to think is the most exciting day of the week for me.  I’m not as young as I once was and have children to take care of, but at my age it’s the little things that I find matter more, where hanging out on the couch is a bit more enjoyable than going out to a rager with my buddies or spending all my money at the bar waiting to hopefully meet women to fall in love with.

            The hardest part of the day begins first thing in the morning which is of course waking up and getting out of bed (Yuck!).  After snoozing my alarm for a good hour, I finally muster up the courage to roll up onto my feet, get my teeth brushed so my breath doesn’t smell, and put my contacts in so I can see, followed by a quick shower to wake up and make sure the rest of my body doesn’t smell as well. 

            After getting ready, it’s time to get the kids ready for school by making them an egg or cereal, then arguing with one about eating.  Secondly, we will send them up to brush their teeth and put some clothes on, then argue about why they must brush their teeth.  Thirdly, time to put shoes on, (argue about why they have to wear shoes).  Then finally it’s time to go to school, as we say with a kiss “love you, have fun at school… LEARN STUFF”!!!

Now that the kids are at school it’s time to head to work (ugh...traffic), but as I mentioned before, Friday is the most exciting day in large part because I worked so much early in the week that I only have to work half of the day!  Since most of the work has been done, and most of the employees who use technology leave by noon, there is not a whole lot to do so I have time to catch up on schoolwork or talk with my colleagues about their weekend plans or about the upcoming football season.  As soon as 1 o’clock rolls around, the laptop shuts and I’m out the door, and of course, inevitably one of the few people still working has an issue with their computer as I’m driving home, so I drive home, get my laptop out, fix their problem, close the ticket and bam, I’m off work again!

After a few minutes of winding down, my wife and I will go for a quick bite, often nachos from Qdoba to hold us over until dinner before we pick the kids up from school.  Once the kids are out and we get home we spend an hour or two quietly staring at our phones or perhaps doing homework before the weekend, then we head out to Buffalo Wild Wings, our traditional Friday night hangout spot, for chicken and beer.  While we’re at the restaurant, we like playing a few rounds of Uno, but since we never finish the last game before the food is served the first to proclaim “I win” is the winner of the final bout. 

Once we are home and stuffed full of beer and chicken, we let the kids watch a television show or play on their phones until bedtime, then we send them up to brush their teeth and put on their pajamas’ before reading them a bedtime story (there’s usually less arguing at this point).  After reading the books we will put the kids to bed, and head downstairs to watch a show and have a nightcap cocktail before hitting the rack ourselves, head up to bed, turn on the tv, hit the pillow, then the next thing you know… it’s Saturday morning.

Mobile App Critique (The Score)

 The Score

    This week we critiqued a mobile sports score, and betting application called The Score.  The score is a really nice, intuitive app with a pleasing black background with blue and yellow highlights, that allows you to check the news and scores of any sports (and I do mean any sports) you are following including the ability to highlight your favorite teams to avoid sorting through page after page to find the one game you want.  The Score has traditionally posted betting lines for each game but has now teamed up with an online betting platform called Barstool Sports where you can link your "The Score" account with Barstool Sports and bet right through The Score app without toggling between two different apps, while being able to keep an eye on the betting lines, stat lines, and scores without having to open a second app or webpage.

    There is a chat feature within each games page, allowing fans and bettors to talk about the game, talk about the betting lines, or just plain talk smack.  However, the chat feature I found to be the greatest downside to this wonderful app because while there were some having meaningful discourse on the games or betting, there were a greater number of trolls in the chat threads, often-times spamming the same rude statement over and over to make the chat unreadable, to those who would shout constant racial slurs just to get a reaction or disrupt the conversation.  A couple other issues with the app are the widget which can sometimes make other applications act up on your phone, and the calendar feature which synchs a chosen teams schedule with Google calendar but does not recognize that the app is already sending push notifications about the games and news and will send a duplicate notification forcing the user to dismiss two notifications instead of the one, not the end of the world but it is a bit obnoxious.

    All in all, The Score is a very well made and intuitive app that has to the minute updates on all thing's sports, including news, scores and betting information, as well as being a one stop shop for stat watching and sports betting.  The Score appears to make its revenue on unintrusive ad placements as well as a partnership with online betting platform Barstool Sports, which is good for them to make some money while keeping the user coming back by not bombarding you with constant 5-30 second ads that we can't wait for the magical "X" to appear.