Computers and Networking

Abstract

Some IIPs came to this career with a strong IT background, and likely already have a solid understanding of the inner workings of computers and networks. This chapter is for everyone else. The intention is give a broad overview of the differences between software and hardware, discuss the various essential pieces of hardware that support the movement of data through standard computer architectures. We will introduce the concept of virtual machines as well as program containers and explain the the relationship between the operating system software and application system software. An introduction to low versus high programming languages is provided. An introduction to the communications protocols and devices that support computer networking are discussed as well as the underpinnings of cloud computing, Web servicers and client-server architectures. Finally, there is a brief discussion of database applications.