The Internet
This suite of communication protocols governs how data is transmitted across the Internet.
What is TCP/IP? (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
A network that has this can keep functioning even when some of its nodes or connections fail.
What is parallel computing?
The physical components of a computer (CPU, RAM, hard drive, etc.) are called this.
What is hardware?
This system translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses.
What is Domain Name System (DNS)?
Having multiple paths between nodes in a network is an example of this principle that improves reliability.
What is redundancy?
This type of computing uses multiple computers connected over a network to work on a shared task/goal.
What is distributed computed?
This part of the computer processes instructions and performs calculations.
What is the CPU?
Data sent over the Internet is broken into these smaller units, each with metadata containing routing information.
What are packets?
A network diagram shows nodes A, B, C, and D where A connects to B and C, and B and C both connect to D. How many connections must fail to cut off communication between A and D?
Two, both the A-B-D path and the A-C-D path must be broken.
A weather model is run on many connected computers. Explain why distributed computing is useful for this kind of problem.
Weather models involve very large calculations that can be divided among many machines to finish quicker.
Explain the difference between hardware and software.
Hardware is physical components of a computer, while software is programs,instructions, and data that tell the hardware what to do.
Bob logs onto his school portal over the library's public WiFi using HTTP. Someone on the same network finds his password. This protocol would have protected him.
What is HTTPS?
An engineer is told to improve fault tolerance without adding any new nodes. What is the one type of change they can make, and why does it help?
They can add more connections between existing nodes which creates redundant paths so the network can reroute data if any connection fails.
Explain the difference between parallel and distributed computing.
Parallel computing usually means multiple processors working at the same time, often within one system. Distributed computing uses multiple computers connected over a network to work on a shared problem.
A phone slows down when too many apps are open. Explain how limited computing resources can affect performance.
Too many apps open can use up CPU power, memory, and/or battery, causing slower performance.
A video call becomes laggy even though the user is connected to the Internet. Explain how bandwidth or latency could cause this problem.
Low bandwidth can limit how much data is sent at once, while high latency can delay communication.
A network has 3 different routes, but all three routes depend on the same ISP. Explain why this design is not very fault tolerant.
This ISP is a single point of failure. So, even though there are 3 routes, they all rely on the same provider, so if the ISP fails, all 3 routes could stop working.
A task is split among 20 processors, but the speed only improves by 6 times. Explain why parallel computing has limits.
Some steps cannot be done at the same time and must happen sequentially, so those steps take time no matter how many processors are added.
A computer has a fast processor but little memory. Explain why it still might struggle to run several programs at once.
Low memory limits how much data and how many programs can be handled at the same time because the computer has limited workspace for active programs, even with a fast CPU.