As defined in our course text, “Hardware
is the term for the physical parts of a computer”. As the bare bones of
everything within Information Technology everything in all categories and
facets of IT comes back to these bare bones and the computer hardware that supports
them all.
So
how does this all relate to the concepts of computer science and the history of
computers? All the roots of computer science and of course all major developments
within computing technology directly relates to the hardware and components that
drive them. Without leaps in hardware technology each and every aspect within
IT would be stagnate.
Programming
languages have evolved since the inception of computer hardware and the
hardware can drive the developments within computer programming and software as
more powerful and accessible hardware can open into even more possibilities that
could not have been possible on older less powerful hardware. As well as hardware
being able to be bought by so many different geographical locations and incomes
that were not possible in earlier days of hardware. Today small computers call
Raspberry Pi can be purchased for less than $50 and have capabilities to do
very many different tasks including being able to run a Python development environment.
But
also without efficient programming and understanding of hardware capabilities
the power and capabilities would be lost, meaning that although hardware can
help drive increased development of software the opposite can also be true, for
example according to computerscience.org “Most device drivers are still developed using C Language”, so
being able to program efficiently within certain languages you are also able to
get all the capabilities from the hardware that in turn supports the other programs
being written to use that hardware.
Even
within the Database world hardware plays a huge role as storage capabilities have
evolved over time there are very specialized hardware components that can be
used specifically just for database functions and storage. These can include storage
arrays in the form of SAN, NAS, hybrid arrays and all can have very specific
functions on a network. Some use slower spinning HDD’s and allow for long-term
reliable storage for organizations that might require 7+ years’ worth of
storage but do not need to be accessed very often. Others require large amounts
of storage that need to be accessed every couple of seconds and require a high
level of redundancy so will use very high-speed spinning HDD’s some can run as
fast or faster than 15000 rpm and using RAID arrays allowing multiple drive
failures at a time. I had the great opportunity to be a storage engineer / technician
for a couple of years for Dell, so I was able to see a wide variety of these
installed across many different businesses and government locations during my
time and it is truly fascinating technology and even more so now.
As
with everything else up to this point network architecture, management and security
are no exception and are directly driven by the hardware behind them and again
as hardware evolves so does all networking components and the need for
networking hardware advances is only becoming more needed than ever as all businesses
have either already aligned with IT systems or are doing so now all information
being used for everything is or will be floating in the open air and needs to
be protected. Not only in the public but also at the consumer level. Even more
so now in a time where everything is being developed within virtual ‘cloud’ environments
network security should be at the forefront of it all.
Vahid, F., & Lysecky S.
(2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from
https://learn.zybooks.com/zybook/ASHFORDINT100AcademicYear2018/chapter/2/section/1
Retrieved from https://www.computerscience.org/resources/computer-programming-languages/
Most device
drivers are still developed using C Language.
