Technology Summit

The truth behind the veil
Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Technology – Introduction, About the course, Q & A
History of Computing
Hardware
Operating Systems / Programming Languages
Databases
Networks (includes introduction to Internet)
Internet – What was, What is and What will (covering Wireless

also)
Security
How Technology applies to You and Benefits of using it

Best Friend
Tool
Catalyst
Productivity Enhancer
Shortcut to Goals
Efficiency Improver
Communication Channel and Enhancer
Learning Enabler
Interactive (some)

I feel the need, the need for speed – Raise your adrenalin levels
Your guide to the technology ocean
Learn technology types and uses
When we say technology – mostly in relation to Computing
Although you will see that Computing is a subset of Technology
Learn some terms, some concepts, some applications
How is technology my best friend
Understand technology landscape
How to make use of Technology in my profession

Abacus
Difference Engine / Analytical Engine – Charles Babbage
Lady Ada Lovelace – The first Programmer
Mainframes – IBM
Minicomputers – DEC
Microcomputers
The Hardware is the Computer
The software is the Computer
The network is the Computer

• beads on rods to count and calculate
• still widely used in Asia!

• Difference Engine c.1822
– huge calculator, never
finished
• Analytical Engine 1833
– could store numbers
– calculating “mill” used
punched metal cards for
instructions
– powered by steam!
– accurate to six decimal
places
• born on 10 December
1815.
• named after Byron's half
sister, Augusta, who had
been his mistress.
• After Byron had left for
the Continent with a
parting shot -- 'When
shall we three meet
again?' -- Ada was
University
brought up by
her
Courtesy : Tim Bergin. Computing History Museum, American
Mainframes

University Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon
Minicomputers – PDP 11 - 1970

Microcomputer - Altair 8800 Computer

First Microprocessor – 1971
• The 4004 had 2,250 transistors

• four-bit chunks (four 1’s or 0’s)
• 108Khz
• Called “Microchip”

Taken from Mugil Technologies Website
Taken from Click.in

Questions & Answers

Vaccum Tubes
Transistors
Integrated Circuits
Very Large Integrated Circuits (Chips)
Microprocessors
Support Chips
Motherboard
ChipSet
Specialized Microprocessors (Graphics and Sound)
Input Output Devices
Input (Keyboard / Mouse and others)
Output (Display, Printer and others)
Wireless Devices
Network Devices (Switches / Hubs / Bridges / Gateways)
Thought Readers , Robots, Prosthetic Devices
Microcode

Vacuum Tubes - 1941 - 1956
• First Generation
Electronic Computers
used Vacuum Tubes
• Vacuum tubes are glass
tubes with circuits inside.
• Vacuum tubes have no air
inside of them, which
protects the circuitry.

First Transistor
• Uses Silicon
• developed in 1948
• won a Nobel prize
• on-off switch
• Second Generation
Computers used
Transistors, starting
in 1956

Integrated Circuits
• Third Generation Computers used Integrated

Circuits (chips).
• Integrated Circuits are transistors, resistors, and
capacitors integrated together into a single “chip”
Very Large Integrated Circuits - CHIPS
Taken from Wikipedia

Taken from ComputerMusuem.li

http://www.build-your-own-computer.net/motherboard-
diagram.html
Taken from : Laptopshop.co.uk

http://blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc.com/dvdconverter/?
page=1
http://www.misco.ie/productinformation/~88214~/Belkin%20Mini%20Op
http://visual.merriam-webster.com/communications/office-automation/in

http://pusine.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/input-and-output-devices/
http://www.samsung.com/pl/products/monitor/tft/images/940fn_l1a.jpg

Taken from : static.howstuffworks.com
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Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon _sc
klaxxx.com
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/199905/99-046/index.html
medgadget.com
Taken from Mugil Technologies Website
Questions & Answers

What is Operating System (OS) ?
Why an OS ?
Popular Operating Systems in the Market
Strengths and Weakness
Complimentary Programs
New Trends – Network OS , Virtualization
The future of OS
What is a Programming Languages (PL)
What does it do ?
Generations of PL’s
What PL’s are in vogue today ?
The next generation PL
Abstractions and Annihilation of PL’s

An OS is a software program which has the following features
It talks to hardware
It manages the CPU
It manages the Memory
It manages all I/O
It also talks to different Software Subsystems
OS works in the background
OS for different hardware is different
It talks to other devices using internal knowledge or programs called
device drivers

We cannot understand binary language very well
We cannot remember details of all devices
We cannot manage memory efficiently
We need a human understanding interface to machines
We need somebody to co-ordinate all activities that take place
inside the machine

PC - OS
Windows
Linux
MacOS
Mobile OS
Symbian
PalmOS
Windows CE
Network OS
Chrome OS

Strengths Weakness
Simplicity Is getting bulkier

day by day
Abstraction Too many choices
User Friendly Vulnerable to threats
Non intimidating If buggy, can
erode some value
Eye for detail Sometimes not
trustworthy
Device agnostic Too many API’s
Communicator
Collaborator
Scheduler
Multitasking and MultiProgramming
Interrupt Handler

Programming Languages
Databases
Utilities
Extenders like Device Drivers
Network

Network OS
A lightweight OS which acts as a interface to the internet

E.g: Chrome OS
Vitualization
Software Program which makes use of the CPU efficiently.

Complements the OS.
E.g: VMWare

Plug and play OS
Configurable
Lots of value adding components talking to multiple OS’s
Universal hooks
Faster and Intelligent

A way for us to communicate with computers
A Program is a set of instructions
Programming is the art and science of writing good programs
Language is like a protocol that is used to communicate with the

machine
Hence PL is nothing but the art and science of writing programs that
adhere to a protocol

A programming language (PL) is like any other language like say
English
It helps us to explain to the computer the problem that we are

trying to solve
It helps us achieve goals
It makes us happy, when we see the goal achieved.
It may contain bugs which have to be debugged in order to achieve

the goal
Hence debugging is a intrinsic part of writing a PL
Creation, Preservation and Annihilation of a PL is similar to Life

First Generation Machine Language
Second Generation Assembly Language
Third Generation Procedural Language
Fourth Generation Non-Procedural Language
Fifth Generation Object Oriented Language
Sixth Generation AI languages
Seventh Generation ????

C , C++ , C#, Java
PHP, Python
Lisp, Ruby on Rails

Simple to use
Intelligent Constructs
Auto Correcting
Self Modifying
User FX
Platform Agnostic
Secure Constructs

Abstraction
Hiding details and exposing a very friendly interface to the user

Human Like
Predictive
Analytical
Qualitative, at times
Annihilation
Future is for non programming products

Auto program writing programs
Easy pick and choose interface
End of Programming as we know it
Ease of Programming – actually the term is value adding

Questions & Answers

What is a database
Why a database is required
Types of Databases
Databases in the current Market
What is an index
OLTP, DSS, RealTime databases
What is SQL
What are different SQL Statements
Standards
Rollback Transactions (Undo)
Locking
Object Relational Databases
DataTypes
Relation between a database and a network
The future of database

A database is a repository of data
Like the Ocean has water, the database has data
Data means the smallest unit of information
Base means foundation
Thus database means a foundation made of data
Databases can be classified functionally or in other ways for eg:
locationwise
Databases can also be compared to DNA

Where else can you keep your data
Without data there is nothing in this world
Data needs to be stored somewhere
Data needs to be classified in order to organize it better
Sometimes data about data is also required (Description or Metadata)
Data also needs to be retrieved in order to achieve some goal

Hierarchical database
Network database
Relational Database
Object Relational Database
Pure Object Database
Information Database (Abstraction 1)
Knowledge Database (Abstraction 2)

ORACLE, SQL Server, DB2
MySQL, PostGreSQL (Open Source)

An index is a signpost
To say it in a better way, it is a pointer
Still better, it’s an efficient way of organizing data
Indexes help to retrieve the required data in a flash (As compared to
sequential access)
There are different kinds of indexes like Binary Tree index, Hashes
etc
The downside of index is that it takes up some space in the database
for its own existence

OLTP – Online Transaction Processing
Indicates a kind of a database on which Add/Modify/Delete operations

are being performed
DSS – Decision Support System
Indicates a kind of a database on which a Query is being performed
RealTime
A database where the time difference between stimulus and response

is very low. In short, a fast database.

SQL stands for Structured Query Language
It is based on relational theory in mathematics
Actually it is not just a Query language, but offers other features also.
SQL is a non procedural language
Every statement itself is complete in itself
There are languages like PL/SQL which extend the functionality of

basic SQL
In short, it adds a programming layer

DDL : Data Definition Language. Eg: CREATE, DROP
DML : Data Manipulation Language. Eg: INSERT,DELETE,UPDATE
DCL : Data Control Language. Eg: GRANT, REVOKE
DQL : Data Query Language. Eg: SELECT
Transaction Processing Statements: Eg: ROLLBACK, COMMIT

ISO/ANSI
SQL-92

Are used to undo the earlier action(s)
One way this is achieved using what are called Redo Log Files
There are rollback segments internal to the database
Rollback can be till a particular time or a particular point in code
Rollback points can be specified

Locking is used to give controlled access to data
There are many kinds of locks
Exclusive Locks
Read Only Locks
Part read only and Part Exclusive locks
These locks can be at different levels
Some locks are on entire database, some on Files, some on a set of

data
A deadlock or a deadly embrace is when 2 users have locked out

each other
Modern databases automatically resolve such situations

A relational database that incorporates object oriented paradigm
Certain statements within SQL now are having object level meanings
Objects support concepts such as Abstraction, Inheritance,

Polymorphism

Are fundamental units which depict what the type of data is
Some of the datatypes are
NUMBER, STRING, XML etc.
Data within a database is stored in columns of a specific datatype, as

given above

Database is nature
And
Network is nurture
We are all born with a database and realize the network around us.
As time passes by …

Databases will become more complex in terms of type of content
Songs, Videos etc will be embedded within a database – I mean new

data types
There will be programs which help disparate databases to talk to

each other
Information and Knowledge would be stored within a database
Meta data will become very important
Databases will grow in size
Redundancy would be taken care by some programs, although the

trend is to increase
Code will also be interspersed with data in a database

Questions & Answers

What is a network
Why a network is required
OSI Network Layer
Network Topologies
Bridges, Hubs, Routers, Switches, Gateways
LAN, WAN, MAN
Networking Protocols
Connecting Devices in a Network
Intelligence in a Network
The internet – The mother of all networks
Why the internet
ARPANET, MILNET, Internet
Bulletin Boards, Archie , Veronica
World Wide Web

Two or more devices and/or people connected to each other
forms a network
Nature itself is synonymous to network
We are connected to each other through a bond that is not
visible
In a peoples network, we just have six degrees of separation
from one another
There are networking sites on the internet
Business Networks like LinkedIn
Social Networks like Facebook
Communities
Forums

Imagine how life would be without a network, all by yourself
There will be nothing to share or show off
There will be a feeling of loneliness
We see ourselves through the senses of other people, when

conscious
Ditto with Computers
The more devices connected the more is the value of the network

Taken From:
http://www.webstepbook.com/supplements/slides/images/osi_model.pn
Bridge : Connects two networks
Hub : Central Point for connecting all computers
Router: An intelligent Switch
Switch : Used to connect 2 or more networks
Gateway: A Switch for dissimilar networks

LAN : Local Area Network
WAN : Wide Area Network
MAN : Metropolitan Area Network

TCP / IP Transmission Comtrol
Protocol/Internet Protocol
UDP User Datagram Protocol
FTP File Transfer Protocol
SMTP / POP3 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol / Post

Office Protocol
HTTP Hype Text Transfer Protocol
NetBEIU
NetBios

The value of a network grows exponentially as more members are
added to a network
This is called MetCalfe’s Law
The more devices you connect to each other, the more the value
goes up
Devices may require to be installed or may be plug and play
The latter seems to be the trend for the future

Intelligence resides in the devices on the network
Not in the wire that transmits data
Or the ether through which wireless signals flow
Intelligence will move to the periphery and middle wherever

there are devices
Two or more devices may also have a collective intelligence
Intelligence modules will be available as plug and play in the

future

Taken from: Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon
Like Sunlight is impartial, Knowledge should also be impartial
The internet is the first attempt towards this noble goal
The internet is evolving, it’s the mother of all networks on this blue
planet
It’s Ubiquitous, Net Neutral and Powerful
Without internet, we would not be able to share so well
Information will reach people late
Some people may even not get the benefit of it
We are all 1 big humanity connected thru networks like the

Internet
It accelerates change and provides

Copyright, us tools
2010 - Rajesh Menon/ info to be more
ARPANET : Is the predecessor of the internet
MILNET: The military network on the internet
Internet: Grew from the two above and now

embraces most of the networks

Earlier Websites were called Bulletin Boards
Except that they were exclusive (not talking to other

websites)
Eg: Compuserve, AOL etc
Archie and Veronica were tools to access the internet earlier

before 1993
There were many other tools also
Till the time, the World Wide Web was not invented

The internet as most of us know today is called World Wide Web
A term coined and invented by Tim Berners Lee
Web Browsers were made available and they could access the Web
The underlying language of the Web was HTML
The father of the Internet is Vint Cerf.
Thanks to efforts of all these people, that we get to access the

internet

Questions & Answers

Building a Website
Choosing your Service Provider
Choosing the Platform (Microsoft or LAMP)
Choosing the right plan
Payment details
Hosting your Blog
Blogger or WordPress
Paid Blogs
Permalinks / Comments / Share
Fun with Wikis
Wikipedia – Jimmy Wales
Adding / Modifying Wiki Pages
Social Networking
Facebook & LinkedIn
Getting Paid thru AdSense and AdWords
Consulting Sites (GLG / Nitron)
Freelancing with eLance and Guru
Buildin
g
a
Websit
e

Your Service Provider is your middleman to the internet
Learn more about the type of service provided by them
Go to their website
Read about them on blogs, forums, discussions etc.
Check if there are Service Level Agreements (SLA’s)
Narrate your expectations to the Service Provider Contact
See if they can fulfill it
Preferably in writing

Select a platform that is suitable for your website
For e.g: If your website has been developed on Microsoft

Technologies, choose it
Else if say PHP, Python or other Linux Open Source is used,

Choose that
If you have a plain brochureware, choose any one of the

platforms
By this we mean a set of HTML pages
Once you select a platform, most of the service providers will not
allow you to switch
Mostly, the decision for you is a technical one

The plan typically has the following parameters
What do you plan to do with an internet connection
Size your requirement
Look for a corresponding plan with the service provider
Sizing involves bandwidth, which is the quantum of data flowing up

and down through your computer
You can switch plans, as and when your requirement changes
Please check with Service Provider for this

Normally you have to pay before you use a service
For a new connection, there is going to be an additional charge (for

modems, cables etc)
Unless some scheme which waives off all charges is being offered
Mostly people choose to pay monthly
You can make payment by cheque / creditcard / Net Banking

(depends on Service Provider)
The less risky is cheque, but it involves a clearing process
Choose the payment plan most suitable to you

Hosting your Blog

Both Bloggger and Wordpress are Blogging Sites
Blogger is Google owned
WordPress is independent
To start blogging, Blogger is good
WordPress gives more control over the blog and is slightly more
complex
You can Blog from wherever there is a blog button to your blog site

Some sites pay you for blogging
Typically they need you to
Blog on a subject that you like
Or
Blog on a subject that they want
It can be a product review or a topic
You can also activate AdSense on your Blog (More about this later)
The more the traffic the more popular your Blog and the more they
pay you
That roughly is the equation

Permalinks : Permanent Link to your Blog Address
Comments: Feedback from people who have read your blog
Share: You can share the blog with others on your network
Besides the above you will be able to mark them or click a ‘I like it’
icon
Depends on the blog
Remember to submit your blog to blog search engines to get a higher

ranking
The more the traffic the better
Use a third party tool like Google Analytics to understand and predict
traffic to your blog
WikiPedia is a collabortaive knowledge guide
Founded by Jimmy Wales
It is a reference guide
It has a map counterpart called WikiMapia
Similar to Google Earth
Anyone can edit Wikipedia articles

Wikipedia is available in many languages
Choose your language and article
You can Edit any page.
Moderation is carried out and the page you edited or added

becomes part of the Wikipedia knowledge base

Social Networks are built with one aim : Share
Content can be anything – pictures, text, videos
The idea is to form a network of friends and share useful things

with them
Facebook : Is the most popular Social Networking Sites
Others like Facebook : MySpace, Orkut
LinkedIn: Is a Social Networking Site for Business People
Others like LinkedIn: Ryze

Adsense : is an advertising program for end users
AdWords: is an advertising program for advertisers
AdSense helps you to make money by providing Google’s taregted

Ads on your site or blog
AdWords helps you to own certain keywords which will activiate

your Ad on Adsense Pages
With Adsense you make money whenever somebody clicks on the

targetted Ads
With Adwords, your Ad comes up first in the Advertisements on a

Adsense Network. You have to Pay Google for this service.
Advantage: Traffic

You can also make money by offering your services on a time basis
GLG and Nitron are websites which list services to be fulfilled
And if you can take up a consulting assignment you get paid
Payment depends on your relation with them and experience
You can enlist in these sites and provide consulting assognments

eLance and Guru are websites which advertise jobs
These need to be done and payment received thereof
There are many freelancing opportunities available.
You have to bid for them and once awarded, do the work and get
paid.
Normally the projects are short and of value less than 5000 USD
Good Luck !

Questions & Answers

The race between the good and the bad
Privacy
Encryption – Private and Public Key
What happens when you boot up ?
Malware – Adware, Spyware and Viruses (Trojans, Worms)
Antivirus – what they can and what they cannot do
Zero day exploits
Phishing
Firewalls, IDS
Digital Signatures
Hacking
What next ?

Since ages the cops have been chasing the criminals
As light is to darkness, so is cops to criminals
There are rules to follow – which is called dharma
When people do not follow the dharma, they fall into disgrace
The farther away from way of the dharma, the more they seem to
have err-ed
People do wrong actions because of ignorance
The cops are our line of defence against the looming threat

We treasure our privacy. There are some parts of our life,, which
cannot be exposed as doing so will cause discomfort to ourselves
What to hide and what to expose varies from individual to individual
Privacy is a key attribute of modern computing systems
One way to have privacy is to authenticate the set of data that we

need to make private
Authorization further restricts the access to required data
Privacy can be compromised by not just computers, but also people

who are unaware

Encryption is a way of changing data into an unreadable format
It works on the basis of keys that are the gatekeepers to data
Private encryption is typically a dataset and 1 key to decode the

same
Public Key Encryption uses 2 keys (RSA)
Encryption is also referred to as Secured mode
For eg: https
The key strength may be 40 bit, 128 bit etc. The bigger the key the
more difficult it is to break the code.

Here’’s a typical PC boot up sequence
Start POST
Load Boot Record
Load Kernel of OS
Load Shell of OS
Load Applications on Startup
Give control to application

Adware is a program which typically shows ads on your system,
without your permission
Spyware is more advanced. It can log in your keys , act as a part of

a botnet
Viruses are nasty little programs that cause a lot of nuisance.
Trojans are a type of virus. E.g: E-mail attachments
Worms are runaway virus programs which multiply very fast
There are many other types of viruses like boot sector / file viruses

Antivirus detects viruses and eradicates them
They work typically on virus signatures
Some work on heuristics
Most of the anti viruses are pretty good, but virus writers are one
step ahead.
Eg: McAfee, Norton, AVG etc.

Are the exploits written with 24 hours of launch of a product
Antivirus people are always on the lookout for these viruses
The exploit can be a weakness in a operating system, a patch or

something else

Gathering info thru social engineering is called Phishing
The data typically is used to do something harmful to the person

who revealed this data
It can also be an organization or group instead of a person
The problem is human beings who are gullible to such attacks
The only solution is to be alert

A firewall is a block between the outside network and your
computer
IDS or intrusion detection system, detects suspicious activities
A firewall can restrict access to your computer by closing some

ports or restricting certain protocols

Are electronic equivalent of paper signatures
They are recognized to be legally binding in some countries
Typically organizations like Verisign issue the same
MS Word also has a provision for the same

Hacking is the art of understanding a system in depth
When the knowledge that is gathered is used for bad purpose it is

called black hat hacking
When the knowledge that is gathered is used for good purpose it is

called white hat hacking (ethical hackers)
Those in between are called grey hat hackers

To block a black hat hacker, you have to think like them
Prevention is better than cure
Being proactive matters
Take backup regularly
Viruses have started proliferating thru all channels like device

drivers
As gadgets become more intelligent the chances of a virus

infecting them is more
Social Engineering is something that needs to be tackled with

more awareness

Questions & Answers

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The truth behind the veil

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Operating Systems / Programming Languages

Networks (includes introduction to Internet)

Internet – What was, What is and What will (covering Wireless

How Technology applies to You and Benefits of using it

Communication Channel and Enhancer

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Your guide to the technology ocean

Learn technology types and uses

When we say technology – mostly in relation to Computing

Although you will see that Computing is a subset of Technology

Learn some terms, some concepts, some applications

How is technology my best friend

Understand technology landscape

How to make use of Technology in my profession

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Difference Engine / Analytical Engine – Charles Babbage

Lady Ada Lovelace – The first Programmer

The Hardware is the Computer

The software is the Computer

The network is the Computer

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Courtesy : Tim Bergin. Computing History Museum, American

Courtesy : Tim Bergin. Computing History Museum, American

Courtesy : Tim Bergin. Computing History Museum, American

• The 4004 had 2,250 transistors

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

• Third Generation Computers used Integrated

Taken from Wikipedia

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Simplicity Is getting bulkier

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Extenders like Device Drivers

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

A lightweight OS which acts as a interface to the internet

Software Program which makes use of the CPU efficiently.

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

Lots of value adding components talking to multiple OS’s

Faster and Intelligent

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

A Program is a set of instructions

Programming is the art and science of writing good programs

Language is like a protocol that is used to communicate with the

Copyright, 2010 - Rajesh Menon

It helps us to explain to the computer the problem that we are

It helps us achieve goals

It makes us happy, when we see the goal achieved.

It may contain bugs which have to be debugged in order to achieve

Hence debugging is a intrinsic part of writing a PL