Evolution of computer technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Evolution of computer technology - Essay Example The use of RISC overlaps many concepts in computer technology, with pipelining being one of the main characteristics of RISC (Cocke and Markstein, 2000). Pipelining typically refers to the improvement of the speed of processing instructions in a computer processor. In this concept, multiple instructions overlap in processing so that more instructions are processed. Instead of the computer processing one instruction at a time, many instructions are processed simultaneously. The processing of instructions is done in machine cycles, where one instruction is processed in one stage and moved to the next while another instruction is processed in the first stage. The main stages of pipelining include fetching the instruction, decoding, execution, memory access and write back (Cocke and Markstein, 2000). Similarly, superscalar processing improves the notion of pipelining in RISC. Earliest evolutions of RISC processors aimed to execute at the rate of one instruction per cycle, but with the in troduction of superscalar processors, this has been improved to more than one instruction per cycle. For the effective performance of computer technology, the memory that affects the speed needs to be effectively managed. According to Cocke and Markstein (2000), memory system management refers to the allocation and security of portions of computer memory to different programs. Memory system management helps in multitasking in the computer since it utilizes the concepts of pipelining and superscalar processing to ensure that computer programs are effectively managed. Memory system management is usually covered in four main concepts, with the main one being relocation. Cocke and Markstein (2000) indicate that virtual memory management should account for the storage of different parts of memory in different places, and also provide for the recalling of this memory. When a program is swapped in a pipeline, it is not placed in the original memory, which means that effective memory manage ment should tell where the program is stored for easy recall. The second concept is that of protection, where the different processes should be protected from each others’ references to avoid corruption (Carter, 2001). However, the different processes sometimes need to share memory, so memory system management should also be able to account for the sharing of information. Shared memory therefore forms part of inter-process memory, which effectively increases processing speed. Finally, memory system management should have effective methods of allocation of memory to different processes and programs in the computer. Logical allocations of the different modules in a program ensure that programs that need to share references are allocated effectively and others separated in other parts of memory. An example of effective memory allocation methods in memory system management is segmentation, where the memory is separated according to modules. One other concept that is used to incre ase the efficiency of processors is the use of caching. The use of cache memory is important since it is the bridge between the processor and the memory in a computer, so temporary instructions are usually stored in cache memory (Carter, 2001). Cache memory stores part or all of a program when it is being processed and also stores the data required by the processor for different factions. Some of the strategies used in caching to increase efficiency

Educational use of Information Technologies Essay

Educational use of Information Technologies - Essay Example The advent of computers has brought sweeping changes to the way children nationwide are learning. In classrooms across the country, todays first-graders do their addition problems behind a computer screen and middle-school students conduct research via the Internet, rather than the local libraries. The addition of technology in the classroom exposes children to computers and gives them a basic understanding of their use, but few teachers use technology to its full potential, leaving students and society at a disadvantage. Although technological advances make teaching and learning easier, a greater effort needs to be made to prepare youths for the intellectually-driven jobs of the future. Job availability in the information services sector is expected to grow by 11.6 percent by 2014, creating an estimated 364,000 jobs for those well-trained in the field of technology (U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Outlook, 2003, paragraph 22). As well, the nation is expected to see growth in the "soft skills" job sector, such as customer service positions, which requires a workforce with good math, written communication and problem-solving skills (U.S. Department of Labor 21st Century Workforce Initiative, 2004, paragraph 3). Just as the characteristics of the American classroom have evolved over the past few decades, the American workforce is also seeing a shift from manual, factory jobs to intellectually-driven service jobs. As technology continues to change and improve lives in todays global community, it is crucial that the American educational system keep pace by implementing technological advances in the classroom to improve the academic performance of students and ensu re that our nations youths are prepared when they enter the ever-evolving and expanding U.S. job market. In response to growing concern nationwide about the poor academic performance of the countrys schoolchildren, President George