COMPUTER SCIENCE
CONTENTS 1 LAYING THE GROUNDWORK CHAPTER 1 THE BIG PICTURE 2 THE INFORMATION LAYER CHAPTER 2 BINARY VALUES AND NUMBER SYSTEMS CHAPTER 3 DATA REPRESENTATION 3 THE HARDWARE LAYER CHAPTER 4 GATES AND CIRCUITS CHAPTER 5 COMPUTING COMPONENTS 4 THE PROGRAMMING LAYER CHAPTER 6 LOW-LEVEL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND PSEUDOCODE CHAPTER 7 PROBLEMSOLVING AND ALGORITHMS CHAPTER 8 ABSTRACT DATA TYPES AND SUBPROGRAMS CHAPTER 9 OBJECT-ORIENTED DESIGN AND HIGH-LEVEL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES 5 THE OPERATING SYSTEMS LAYER CHAPTER 10 OPERATING SYSTEMS CHAPTER 11 FILE SYSTEMS AND DIRECTORIES 6 THE APPLICATIONS LAYER CHAPTER 12 INFORMATION SYSTEMS CHAPTER 13 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHAPTER 14 SIMULATION, GRAPHICS, GAMING, AND OTHER APPLICATIONS 7 THE COMMUNICATIONS LAYER CHAPTER 15 NETWORKS CHAPTER 16 THE WORLD WIDE WEB CHAPTER 17 COMPUTER SECURITY 8 IN CONCLUSION CHAPTER 18 LIMITATIONS OF COMPUTING ENDNOTES LAYING THE GROUNDWORK THE BIG PICTURE THIS BOOK IS A TOUR THROUGH THE WORLD OF COMPUTING WE EXPLORE HOW COMPUTERS WORK—WHAT THEY DO AND HOW THEY DO IT, FROM BOTTOM TO TOP, INSIDE AND OUT LIKE AN ORCHESTRA, A COMPUTER SYSTEM IS A COLLECTION OF MANY DIFFERENT ELEMENTS, WHICH COMBINE TO FORM A WHOLE THAT IS FAR MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS THIS CHAPTER PROVIDES THE BIG PICTURE, GIVING AN OVERVIEW OF THE PIECES THAT WE SLOWLY DISSECT THROUGHOUT THE BOOK AND PUTTING THOSE PIECES INTO HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, PROGRAMMING, WEB SURFING, AND EMAIL ARE PROBABLY FAMILIAR TERMS TO YOU SOME OF YOU CAN DEFINE THESE AND MANY MORE COMPUTER- RELATED TERMS EXPLICITLY, WHEREAS OTHERS MAY HAVE ONLY A VAGUE, INTUITIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THEM THIS CHAPTER GETS EVERYONE ON RELATIVELY EQUAL FOOTING BY ESTABLISHING COMMON TERMINOLOGY AND CREATING THE PLATFORM FROM WHICH WE WILL DIVE INTO OUR EXPLORATION OF COMPUTING GOALS AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO: ?DESCRIBE THE LAYERS OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM ?DESCRIBE THE CONCEPT OF ABSTRACTION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO COMPUTING ?DESCRIBE THE HISTORY OF COMPUTER HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ?DESCRIBE THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE COMPUTER USER ?DISTINGUISH BETWEEN SYSTEMS PROGRAMMERS AND APPLICATIONS PROGRAMMERS ?DISTINGUISH BETWEEN COMPUTING AS A TOOL AND COMPUTING AS A DISCIPLINE 1 1 COMPUTING SYSTEMS