Tech Topic

    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.