A little more about computer hardware and networking

Computer hardware and networking allows individuals and even organizations to share both data and information instantly around the whole world. Networking is used everywhere such as organization, homes, shops, education etc. Networks are built with a mix of computer hardware and computer software. Establishing a computer network allows one computer to communicate with another one.  Computer networks may be classified according to the wide variety of characteristics such as the medium used for mode of transport of data, communications protocol and so on.

Computer hardware such as networking cables, hubs, routers, network cards are used to make a computer ready for the networking use. In every computer there is Ethernet which works as a data link layer and works as a base of computer network. Network accessories may include printers, Internet service providers and firewalls which work as a security measure.

Computer networking is sometimes considered a sub-discipline of information technology, computer science and other such steams, since it relies upon the theoretical and practical application of these many disciplines. Computer networks on other hand helps facilitate communications, helps in sharing of information, share networked resources and so on. Computer networking has two types of designs which are called peer-to-peer and client-server. On peer-to-peer network, all computers have same functionality, and are most commonly found at home or small places. In this type of networking, each computer holds its files and resources and other computers can access these resources but a computer that has a particular resource must be turned on for other computer to access the resource it has. For example, if a printer is connected to computer A and computer B wants to print to that printer, computer A must be turned on. Whereas client-server networks have centralized server computer that stores information such as email, web pages, files or applications and are much common in business and also in peer-to-peer networks. Big advantage of such networks is that security is created, managed and can highly be enforced. To access the network, a person called a user must provide some login credentials (username and password). If the credentials are not valid, the user can be prevented from accessing the computer network and thereby the resources.

The devices that make up a computer network can be separated by a few meters via Bluetooth or unlimited distance via internet.  However wireless networking has emerged as the premier technology for building new level of computer networks. Computer networking represents its layout from the point of data flow. For instance, in bus network all the computers share and communicate across one common conduit, whereas in a star network, all data flows through one centralized device. Common type of computer networking includes bus, star, ring and mesh. In networking, the communication language used by computer devices is called protocol, which works as a way to classify computer networks. Popular protocols include TCP/IP which is found most common on the internet and home network. This protocol works on both wired and wireless networks.