It is beyond trite to say that technology is prevalent in our daily lives. However, many of us remain clueless as to how much of it works. Unfortunately, even for the curious among us, the Web is not always the best vehicle to acquire such knowledge: Information appears in fragments, some of it is incorrect or dated, and much of it serves as jargon-laden discussions intended for professionals.
How Things Work: The Technology Edition will serve as a compendium of tutorials. Each section will focus on one technology or concept and provide the reader with a thorough understanding of the subject matter. After finishing the book, readers will understand the inner workings of the technologies they use every day and, more importantly, they will learn how they can make these tools work for them. In addition, the book will also inform readers about the darker side of modern technology: Security and privacy concerns, malware, and threats from the dark web.
Author(s): Charles F. Bowman
Series: How Things Work Series
Publisher: CRC Press/Chapman & Hall
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 283
City: Boca Raton
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
TECHNOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW
Can We Ignore Technology?
How Much Knowledge is Enough?
Which Technologies are Important Study?
So, What are the Objectives of This Book?
ORGANIZATION
FORMATTING CONVENTIONS
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 2: How Do Cell Phones Work?
INTRODUCTION
CELL PHONE DEVELOPMENT
What is a Cell Phone?
What is a Smartphone?
Smartphones and Modern Life
Cell Phone Network Evolution
CELL PHONE TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
What are Radio Waves?
Frequencies and Channels
Communication Systems
WHAT IS A CELL NETWORK?
Real-World Considerations
Network Protocols
ESN and SID Codes
Mobile Identification Numbers
ANATOMY OF A CELL PHONE CALL
Connecting to a Network
Receiving a Call
Maintaining a Call
Roaming
Network Integration
ADVANCED SECTION
Sending Texts and Multimedia Messages
SMS Messages
MMS Messages
Sending Texts via Email
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 3: How Does GPS Work?
INTRODUCTION
HISTORY OF GPS
Military Roots
Civilian Use
Uses of GPS
GPS INFRASTRUCTURE
Satellite Network
Ground Station Radar
GPS Receivers
GPS POSITION CALCULATION
2D Trilateration
3D Trilateration
Global Positioning
Assisted GPS
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS
GIS Data
GIS Data Representation
Digital Maps
ADVANCED SECTION
Route Navigation
Data Structures
Game Trees
Graphs
Backtracking
Route Calculation
Real-World Considerations
Privacy Issues
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 4: How Does Computer Hardware Work?
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS DIGITIZATION?
Keyboard Characters
Digitized Images
Digitized Sound
Other Examples of Digitization
WHAT’S INSIDE A COMPUTER?
Basic Hardware
Overview of Motherboard Components
Central Processing Unit
Memory
The Bus
The CPU
The Control Unit
Registers
The Arithmetic/Logic Unit
Main Memory
The Bus
Internal Bus
External Bus
INSTRUCTION EXECUTION
Instruction Fetch Stage
Instruction Decode Stage
Instruction Execution Stage
Rinse and Repeat
ADVANCED SECTION
What is a “Bit”?
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 5: What Is Software?
INTRODUCTION
What is Software?
Software Layers
Firmware and BIOS
Operating System and Utilities
Application Software
WHAT DOES AN OPERATING SYSTEM DO?
Process Lifecycle Management
Resource and Hardware Management
Operating System Architecture
Application Interface
The Kernel
Device Drivers
Software Resources
Memory Management
File System Management
User Interfaces
System Initialization (Booting)
Security
User Security
Process Security
Data Security
Common Services and Utilities
File Explorers
Disk Administration
Backup and Restore
Clipboard
Network Administration
WHAT IS A COMPUTER APPLICATION?
Where are Applications Used?
Business
Music
Education
Health Care
Military
HOW DO WE BUILD SOFTWARE?
WHAT IS COMPUTER PROGRAMMING?
WHAT IS A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE?
A Brief History of Programming Languages
Classes of Computer Languages
Machine Languages
Assembly Languages
Structured Programming Languages
Object-Oriented Programming Languages
Miscellaneous Language Categories
ADVANCED SECTION
How Do Programs Execute?
Compilation
Interpretation
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 6: How Do Computers Communicate?
INTRODUCTION
NETWORK TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGIES
Physical Transmission Media
CAT 5 Cable
Coaxial Cable
Fiber-Optic Cable
Wireless Transmission Technologies
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
NETWORK COMPONENTS
Interface Controllers
Routers
Hubs
Switches
Bridges
Modems
Firewalls
NETWORK ORGANIZATION
Network Scale
PANs
LANs
CANs
MANs
WANs
Network Topology
Bus Network
Star Network
Client-Server
Internetworking
Intranet
Extranets
The Internet
Darknets
Security
HOW DO NETWORKS WORK?
Ethernet
The TCP/IP Stack
Data Link Layer
The IP Layer
The TCP Layer
Application Layer
Message Transmission Example
ADVANCED SECTION
What is Bluetooth?
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 7: How Does the Internet Work?
INTRODUCTION
HOW DOES INTERNET ADDRESSING WORK?
What’s an IP Address?
What’s DNS?
What is DNS-to-MAC Addressing?
What’s a URL?
HOW DO WEB PAGES WORK?
HOW DOES EMAIL WORK?
WHAT IS CLOUD COMPUTING?
ADVANCED SECTION
Security and Privacy
What Do People Know about You?
Why Should You Care?
General Concerns
Monetization of Data
Data Breaches
Identity Theft
Malware
How Do Organizations Acquire Data?
Free Services
Tracking Your Surfing
Device Fingerprinting
Social Media
How Can You Protect Yourself?
Think before You Share
Protect Passwords
Log Off
Browsers and Search Engines
Wi-Fi Networks
Update Software
Anti-Malware Software
Use a VPN
Verify Invoices and Bills
Clean Up
Remain Wary
The Dark Side
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 8: How Do Cryptocurrencies Work?
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS MONEY?
What is Commodity Money?
What is Commodity-Backed Money?
What is Fiat Money?
How is Money Created?
Why Do Currencies Have Value?
What is a Digital Currency?
WHAT IS CRYPTOCURRENCY?
What are the Attributes of Cryptocurrency?
Why Do Cryptocurrencies Have Value?
How Do You Use Cryptocurrencies?
HOW DO CRYPTOCURRENCIES WORK?
What is a Public Ledger?
What is a Digital Signature?
What is a Digital Wallet?
What is Digital Currency—Redux?
HOW DOES BITCOIN WORK?
What is Bitcoin’s Public Ledger?
What is a Hash Function?
What is a Proof of Work?
What is a Blockchain?
What is the Genesis Block?
How Do Bitcoin Wallets Work?
Types of Bitcoin Wallets
What is Mining?
How is a Bitcoin Transaction Confirmed?
ADVANCED SECTION
What are Other Uses of Blockchain Technology?
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 9: What Is Artificial Intelligence?
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS HUMAN INTELLIGENCE?
How Does the Human Brain Work?
What are the Types of Neurons?
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?
Historical Roots
What is the Definition of AI?
What are AI Levels?
AI Cognitive Skills
Human Intelligence vs. AI
WHAT ARE THE BASIC TYPES OF AI?
What are AI Subclasses?
What are the Types of Learning Algorithms?
Some Thoughts about Machine Learning
USES OF AI
Natural Language Processing
Computer Vision
Putting It All Together
AI: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
HOW DO NEURAL NETWORKS FUNCTION?
How Do Humans Learn?
What is an Abstraction?
How Do We Model Neurons?
How Do We Model Artificial Neural Networks?
How Do ANN Nodes Process Data?
ANN Input Function
ANN Activation Function
How Does an ANN Work?
How Do ANNs Learn?
Other Neural Network Considerations
What are Bias Nodes?
What are Epochs?
What is Learning Rate?
What is Deep Learning?
WHAT ARE OTHER TYPES OF NEURAL NETWORKS?
Single-Layer Feed-Forward Network
Multilayer Feed-Forward Network
Convolutional Neural Networks
Recurrent Neural Networks
ADVANCED SECTION
ANN Programming Example
Program Description
Coding Caveats
Program Listing
Program Description
Program Execution
Program Limitations
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 10: What Is Quantum Computing?
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS QUANTUM MECHANICS?
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES OF QUANTUM MECHANICS?
What is Wave-Particle Duality?
What is the Uncertainty Principle?
What is Superposition?
What is Entanglement?
WHAT IS QUANTUM COMPUTING?
What is a Qubit?
Superposition and Entanglement Redux
How Fragile are Qubits?
How Powerful are Quantum Computers?
Quantum Supremacy
How Accurate are Quantum Computers?
WHAT ARE SOME USES OF QUANTUM COMPUTERS?
Cryptography
Quantum Simulation
Optimization
Machine Learning
Searching Algorithms
ADVANCED SECTION
A Quantum Computing Example
SUMMARY
CHAPTER 11: What’s Next?
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS IoT?
ANYTHING AS A SERVICE
TRANSPORTATION AS A SERVICE
HUMAN AUGMENTATION
METAVERSES AND EXTREME VIRTUALIZATION
ROBOTS AND JOBS
THE END OF PROGRAMMING?
SUMMARY
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
READING LIST
INDEX
