A Brief Note on Computer Networks
Data communication technologies deal with means and methods of data transfer from one location to another. Marriage between computing and data communication technologies is one of the most exciting developments that has revolutionized information age. This development gave birth to computer networks.
A computer network is a network of computers that are geographically distributed, but connected in a manner to enable meaningful transmission and exchange of data among them. Sharing of information, resources (both hardware and software), and processing load is the main objective of a computer network.
The basic learning objects about Data Communication Technologies and Computer Networks are:
- Basic elements of a communication system.
- Techniques, channels, and devices used to transmit data from one location to another.
- Types of computer networks.
- Communication protocols and their use in computer networks.
- Internet working tools and their use in building large computer networks.
- Characteristics and advantages of distributed computing system.
Elements of Communication System:
Communication is a process of transferring a message from one point to another. Three basic elements of any communication system are:
For example, when you speak to friend on telephone, you are the sender, telephone line through which your voice is transmitted is the medium, and your friend is the receiver. This is a simple example of voice communication. Same concept holds good for data communication also. In case of data communication, sender and receiver are normally machines, in particular, computer and associated devices (computers, terminals, peripheral devices like printers, plotters, disks, etc.), and transmission medium may be telephone lines, microwave links, etc. Hence, electronic systems used to transfer data from one point to another are called data communication systems. Unlike computers that process data, data communication systems transmit data from one point to another.
