We had our midterm exam in our class this week, so there is no clear/muddy blog post.
I figured I should put this in so that it doesn't look like I just up and skipped a week for no reason.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Week 7: Muddy
Memory is an extremely important part of any computer system. Using lots of different applications takes up memory and can even use all of the available memory in the computer (either 32 or 64 megabytes of RAM). One way to make it seem like there is more memory when there really isn't is by using virtual memory.
Virtual memory is when the computer looks at areas of the RAM that has not been used for long periods of time and copies that data to the hard drive to free up space on the RAM.
I wasn't sure if there was data that wound up getting deleted or permanently moved to the hard drive, but it turns out that as soon as there is available space on the RAM again, the originally swapped file will go back to where it was on the RAM.
This seems kind of complicated for a computer system to do, and it really is since virtual memory slows down the computer. A simple solution is just to get more memory for your computer and this will make you have to use virtual memory less often (and your computer will run faster too).
Check out the article "How Virtual Memory Works" to read more about this process.
Virtual memory is when the computer looks at areas of the RAM that has not been used for long periods of time and copies that data to the hard drive to free up space on the RAM.
I wasn't sure if there was data that wound up getting deleted or permanently moved to the hard drive, but it turns out that as soon as there is available space on the RAM again, the originally swapped file will go back to where it was on the RAM.
This seems kind of complicated for a computer system to do, and it really is since virtual memory slows down the computer. A simple solution is just to get more memory for your computer and this will make you have to use virtual memory less often (and your computer will run faster too).
Check out the article "How Virtual Memory Works" to read more about this process.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Week 6: Clear
Knowing about storage on your computer is very important because you're going to want to have a place to save all the work you do on your computer. Documents and such that you save on your computer are stored on a hard drive, a device inside the computer that essentially saves all your data and information.
But what if you are running low on storage space, want to be able to take that date with you on the go or want a secondary source of storage as a back-up?
That is where external hard drives come into play.
Whenever I would head home my dad would always back-up all my work on an external hard drive. I just let him do his work and never understood why he would need to do that. I thought of it as a waste of time.
Then one day a piece of hardware inside my laptop stopped working and I had to send it to get fixed. When my laptop was returned to me it turned out that the hard drive had been reformatted, or wiped clean, meaning that all my saved work was gone forever.
Luckily, because my father always backed-up my work on the external hard drive, I just had to plug it in and copy all the documents and files. My laptop was then back to normal.
Now I understand the full complexity about why an external hard drive is necessary if you have a lot of files on your computer. An external hard drive isn't just a device for extra storage, but is also there to back-up files in case information on your computer's hard drive gets erased.
But what if you are running low on storage space, want to be able to take that date with you on the go or want a secondary source of storage as a back-up?
That is where external hard drives come into play.
Whenever I would head home my dad would always back-up all my work on an external hard drive. I just let him do his work and never understood why he would need to do that. I thought of it as a waste of time.
Then one day a piece of hardware inside my laptop stopped working and I had to send it to get fixed. When my laptop was returned to me it turned out that the hard drive had been reformatted, or wiped clean, meaning that all my saved work was gone forever.
Luckily, because my father always backed-up my work on the external hard drive, I just had to plug it in and copy all the documents and files. My laptop was then back to normal.
Now I understand the full complexity about why an external hard drive is necessary if you have a lot of files on your computer. An external hard drive isn't just a device for extra storage, but is also there to back-up files in case information on your computer's hard drive gets erased.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Web 2.0 Tools Project
Can also view my Web 2.0 project here.
Interaction method is to leave a comment below the video.
I have never done something like this before, but I truly enjoyed it. I have made many Power Point presentations and have even made a Web site or two, but this project was something new entirely.
I learned how to tell a story marketed for an online audience with this project. This is different from going out and advertising something on television or in a magazine. This is the Internet and you can do basically anything. If I wish to market something online, I can use images, audio or even video. Heck, I could build a Web site and allow customers to interact with products or services so they could learn more about what I'm selling before they buy (and hopefully that would entice them to buy).
It took a long time to figure out how to use my media form and incorporate everything according to copyright laws (and sadly a lot of things want you to 'upgrade' for more money), but in the end I am satisfied with my project and I hope you do too.
Below the video is a message that says COMMENT. You just click there and can say whatever you want about what you thought on my project.
Thanks for your feedback!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Week 5: Clear
Before this course,and the lecture on the processor, I had only heard of the term before as well as the term processing speed. From this two terms I was able to form the idea that a processing deals with the speed at which a computer...well...process things.
Indeed, this is the case as the processor carries out instructions you relay to the computer and depending on what type of processor you have, those instructions can take a while to take effect or start working immediately.
Processors have evolved a lot over the past few decades with the creation of parallel processing, which is when multiple processors work in one computer. I never knew what the sticker on my laptop that said "Athlon-X2" meant until working through the processing lecture. I now know that my computer runs a dual core processor, meaning two processors are running to speed my computer up.
That sounds pretty good for a college student who takes multiple online and computing classes!
So a major factor when selecting what kind of computer you purchase will be what kind of processor it has as that will determine how fast most of your work will get done. There are other factors that will need to be looked at as well, such as RAM, but that is a topic for a different blog post.
Indeed, this is the case as the processor carries out instructions you relay to the computer and depending on what type of processor you have, those instructions can take a while to take effect or start working immediately.
Processors have evolved a lot over the past few decades with the creation of parallel processing, which is when multiple processors work in one computer. I never knew what the sticker on my laptop that said "Athlon-X2" meant until working through the processing lecture. I now know that my computer runs a dual core processor, meaning two processors are running to speed my computer up.
That sounds pretty good for a college student who takes multiple online and computing classes!
So a major factor when selecting what kind of computer you purchase will be what kind of processor it has as that will determine how fast most of your work will get done. There are other factors that will need to be looked at as well, such as RAM, but that is a topic for a different blog post.
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