Review for Test 4
Chapters 12 and 13 – Information System and Application Development
Information systems consist of hardware, software, data, people, and procedures
MS .NET Framework and Sun/Oracle Java both provide virtual machines and thus are portable
Java applets run inside webpages and often provide animation on these web pages
Object-oriented development  encapsulates both state (data or attributes) and behavior (methods or
functions or processes) which manipulates the state
Expert Systems are one aspect of AI and consist of 3 major components: knowledge base (rules and
data), inference engine, and a user interface (to ensure knowledge transfer)
AI uses neural networks as a mechanism similar to the human brain
System Types –
 Office –
o Document Management System
o Content Management System
o Communication System
 Transaction Processing System
o Non-management users typically
o Deals with action right now
o Provided biggest bang for the development buck
o Payroll, inventory control examples
 Management Information Systems
o Short range – hour, day, week, month
o Intended for low to middle management for controlling purposes
o Often uses planned reports, queries, forms
 Decision Support Systems
o Intended for middle to upper level management
o Planning purposes
o Uses statistical packages
o Often done on data warehouse corporate data rather than transaction processing
systems
 Executive Information Systems
o Adds external data sources to DSS above
System Development Life Cycle – provides checkpoints for the current phase and documentation for the
next phase
 Preliminary investigation – feasibility
 System Analysis – determining the what
 System Design – determining the how
 System Acquisition – make or buy
 Implementation – deliver installation package, conversion, documentation
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Maintenance – fix broken items and gather information for next release
Conversions are done
 Direct
 Parallel
 Phased
 Pilot
Programs written in specialized languages – programming languages
Statements must follow rules that constitute valid statements – the syntax of a programming language
invalidly constructed program statements are considered syntax errors and logic errors occur when
what was expected did not occur
Programs have three types of control structures
 Sequential flow statements
 Selection or decision statements – if and select case
 Repetition or looping statements – while, for
Program development uses an integrated development environment that provides for
 Editor to record program instructions
 Compiler to convert a specific programming language into machine code or intermediate
language (.NET and Java for their virtual machines)
 Linker to combine programmer’s code with code from libraries or assemblies
 Loader to load program for testing
 Test generators to develop and run tests
 Debuggers to help isolate programming logic errors
Interpreters convert one line of code at a time to executable machine code while a compiler converts
the whole program into object code that will be executed as machine code when the program is run
 Interpreters good for debugging code
 Compilers can optimize code
Language generations
1. Machine code
2. Assembly languages – intro to mnemonics for instruction codes and variable names for memory
addresses
Note: Machine code and assembly languages are referred to as low-level languages
3. Third generation languages – process oriented or functional decomposition
Cobol, Fortran, PL/1, Pascal, Basic, C
Object-oriented languages mistakenly included in this generation – Smalltalk, C++, Java, C#,
Objective-C, Python
4. Fourth generation languages – generative languages
especially DBMS software such as forms, queries, and reports to access databases
Web based programs developed with Dreamweaver or MS Expression Web
Specialized 4th generation languages – Progress, Focus
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5. Fifth generation languages – logic based
Prolog, LISP, Scheme, Expert Systems, Automated Reasoning
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) deals with an application from creation to shelving
Patches are sent out to fix bugs, security leaks, or misinterpreted procedures
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Chapter 14 – Databases
Databases built to provide sharing of data
Evolution of structured databases – hierarchical, network, relational, object-oriented, multi-dimensional
The Web has made unstructured data more common today, primarily through its search engines
Database consists of fields collected into a record, records collected into a table, tables collected into a
database
Fields in structured databases require both a field name and a data type
Database data types include text, memo, number, autonumber or autoincrement, boolean or yes/no,
date/time, objects, hyperlinks, attachments, and lookup
Numbers include both integer – byte, integer, long
decimal – single, double, decimal
currency
Tables are almost always given a primary key – a field or collection of fields that can uniquely define a
record
Secondary keys are used to speed up searches and sorting of data
Database designers use normalization to remove redundancy from the data tables
Desktop to small workgroup databases include the dominant MS Access, Corel Paradox, and Lotus
Approach, and Open Office Base
Enterprise databases include dominant Oracle, IBM’s DB2 and Informix, MS SQL Server, Sybase, CA’s
Ingres, open source MySQL and Postgres
Queries are questions posed to the database looking for specific data that meet certain criteria
People involved in databases include
 Data architects
 Data analysts
 Database administrators
 Application Programmers
 Users
 DP Director
Database types
 Single user
 Client – server
 Multi-tiered
 Distributed – needs replication of shared data
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Moving from one version to another or changing database management software forces use to migrate
the data from the old to the new database.
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Chapter 15 – Protection and Privacy
Brownouts and blackouts
Surge protectors, uninterruptable power supplies (UPS), and generators
Dropping, spilling liquids, dust, static electricity
Protecting the physical computers for individuals as well as data centers
Ruggedized PCs – OLPC’s XO computer for kids in developing countries
Green computing and the energy star rating scheme
Specialized software for recovery of lost or stolen PCs
Clearing a browser’s cache when working on a public computer
Taking care of spam and spyware – Internet security packages, email filters
Vaporware – software that never made it off the drawing boards
Encryption software for files, logical disks, whole disks
Wiping data off a disk drive removes any trace of it
Information privacy – the rights of individuals or companies to control how information about them is
collected and used.
Electronic profiling of a person – marketing
Identity theft
Presence technology
Digital surveillance
Employee monitoring –employers tracking employee activity on the job
Proximity cards – uses smart cards or RFID enabled cards to track location as well as video
surveillance
Throw-away email address for junk mail
Besides backup/recovery procedures, companies need disaster recovery planning
Off-site storage of critical data
Recovery facilities – within organization or specialized companies
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Chapter 16 – Intellectual Property
Copyrights – good for 70 years after person’s death
Google books
Project Gutenburg
Digital watermarks
Anticounterfeiting systems
Holograms
Traceless – system using invisible chemical markers that
DRM software
Trademarks: Registered, trademark, servicemark – good for 10 years but can be renewed
Patents – most are good for 20 years
can be read by special device
Domain name squabbles can use WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) to resolve
Plagiarism
Fair use of copyrighted material – commentaries, news reporting, research, education
Ethics vs law
Code of conduct – written rules on what can and cannot be done
Code of ethics – usually industry or organization based rules – Engineers, lawyers, doctors
Whistle blowers
Cheating and falsifying information
Cheating is rampant; MBAs lead the way
Resume padding vs Job requirements padding
Computer hoaxes
Digital manipulation
Doctored photos
US Gov releases new cash bills every 7 to 10 years to prevent counterfeiting
Ethical Business practices
Fraudulent reporting
Pulling up sales
Ethically questionable products
Age verification
Vaporware
Workplace monitoring
Cultural considerations
Digital divide occurs in both developed and developing countries
OLPC is attempting to address the digital divide through its XO computer for children;
Intel is providing the Classmate computer as an alternative to the XO
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Ergonomics
Repetitive Stress Syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome
Stress, burnout, addiction are emotional concerns with computer usage
Green computing
Energy Star rating
More energy efficient processors, monitors
Alternative energy – solar energy, fuel cells
Getting rid of computer hardware and software
Increased paper use
e-trash - Toxic material needs to be recovered
Assistive technologies provide accessibility to computers for users with disabilities
Being driven by the Americans with Disabilities Act
Legislation
US Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act
Digital Millennium Copyright Act – illegal to bypass DRM protection
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Access



DB vs DBMS
Structure – field, record, table, database
Critical Objects
o Table
 Fields and data types
 Text vs memo
 Number – byte, integer, long integer, single, double, currency
 Boolean (yes/no)
 OLE objects
 Attachments, hyperlinks
 Indexes
 Primary key – key symbol
o Composite or concatenated
 Secondary keys
 Foreign keys
 Properties
 Validation rules and messages
 Default values
 Required fields
 Format / masks
o Relationships 1-1, 1-M, M-M
 Intersection table
 Referential integrity
 Cascade update/delete
o Forms – one record at a time
 Single record at a time
 Master / Child forms
 Hybrid forms
o Queries – answering a question about the data
 Joins
 Aggregate (Totals)
 Wildcards - * and ?
 Criteria
 Parameterized queries
o Reports
 Formalized tables and queries
 Detail / Summary
 Calculated fields
 Group breaks
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