ITD102: Introduction to Computer Systems

Workbook 2: High Level Technologies (23C2)

This document contains the further investigation questions relevant to the first part of this unit. You must undertake the questions individually.

DUE DATE: Further investigation should be done individually.  The due date for the Further Investigation Workbook 2 is Friday @11:59 PM of Week 10 (complete electronic copy only via Canvas). The late submission period is valid for this assessment (further investigation questions only). Late submissions after this, without an official extension, cannot be marked. The submission link will open early and allow multiple attempts. Only the last valid submission will be assessed.

Your answers to these questions must be your own and new original material. Expand the boxes. The goal is to produce a well thought out, insightful and original answers.

In General, try to write one page per question. Expand the boxes. You can slightly go over if required. We are after complete answer. The project report must be formatted as follows:

• 11 point font

• Single line spacing

• Use APA referencing style. Write your answers and proofread your responses careful, making sure you correctly reference any ideas that are not your own.

It is important that all ideas, information and work taken from others is correctly quoted, cited and referenced; you must follow QUT guidelines for this: http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/. You may use Harvard or APA referencing styles. You may not reuse other assignments or work of your own (self-plagiarism) or other people to answer these questions.

You will be penalised for any work which is not correctly cited and referenced. Gross incorrect referencing or citing will result in a zero mark for the whole assignment, and potential reporting to QUT.

Make sure to submit it correctly, always double check your submission & don’t leave it till the last minute. Think of possible things that go wrong!

Plagiarism checking: Please note once your work is submitted, it will be checked against an extensive database of student submissions (including past semesters/college submissions), publications and Internet content. Copied sections and AI generated content are not eligible to receive a grade.

Further investigation questions

Class 5: Languages and Libraries

This weeks’ content describes the two key methods by which we manage complexity in computer systems: high level programming languages and software libraries. These techniques are used extensively at all levels of a computer system from low level hardware and software to business processes and workflows. These questions explore programming languages, and software libraries and their APIs.

Please provide written answers to two of the following questions. Write a maximum of one page per question, you can list references on a second page. If you write more than a page per question any excess material will be disregarded. Please provide well thought answers; use critical thinking and try to be insightful: do not just repeat the marketing hype from companies. The goal is to produce a well thought out, insightful answer in just one page. Please link your answer to what we have been studying in the lectures and readings. Remember to correctly cite and reference all material you use (http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/). Each answer should have a list of references and in text citations.

1. Version Control

Use a text prediction AI (for example, ChatGPT) to generate an answer to the following question then identify and analyse the claims it makes. Whether or not the AI is correct about each claim you must provide references to support your assessment of its claims. Provide an overall assessment of the solution and whether or not it is correct and complete. Be sure to clearly show what content has been generated and what is your response.

“Explain how version control is used to manage complexity in large projects. Choose two implementations of version control software and compare their features and benefits.”

2. Programming Languages

Investigate a new programming language such as Julia, Rust, Swift, Dart, Elm, Go or Elixir. Explain their design and implementation and how they relate to their intended use and benefits over more traditional languages.

3. Rosetta 2

Explain how Apple’s Rosetta 2 enables new Apple Mac’s with M1 processors to run Intel code. Carefully explain the problem, why it arose and how Rosetta 2 solves the problem.

Class 6: The Web

This weeks’ content concerns the world wide web: what it is, how it evolved and how it works. The web is ubiquitous and has become the fabric which connects almost everyone for business, education, healthcare, government, and leisure. Thus, it is important for everyone to understand the basics of how it works and how it is evolving. These questions concern current and new web technologies.

Please provide written answers to two of the following questions. Write a maximum of one page per question, you can list references on a second page. Please provide well thought answers; use critical thinking and try to be insightful: do not just repeat the marketing hype from companies. Please link your answer to what we have been studying in the lectures and readings. Remember to correctly cite and reference all material you use (http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/). Each answer should have a list of references and in text citations.

1. Web site technologies

Pick one of the following technologies and describe how it simplifies modern web site development: Bootstrap, Ember or Django.

2. Web Developments

Use a text prediction AI (for example, ChatGPT) to generate an answer to the following question then identify and analyse the claims it makes. Whether or not the AI is correct about each claim you must provide references to support your assessment of its claims. Provide an overall assessment of the solution and whether or not it is correct and complete. Be sure to clearly show what content has been generated and what is your response.

“Describe an interesting recent development of the web (within the last year or upcoming), please focus on the interesting technical aspects of the development, and how it relates to what we have studied.”

3. Big Web Sites

Explain and illustrate some techniques which are used to make popular web sites scale to work with many users, for example large web sites like eBay, Facebook, Google and Amazon. Explain how the scalability works in terms of key web technologies which we have been studying.

Class 7: Security

This weeks’ content concerns computer security at the operating system, network and hardware level. The more our world becomes connected and automated the more important computer security becomes. Computer security affects all aspects of computer systems. These questions investigate security technologies and how computer security is achieved in different contexts.

Please provide written answers to two of the following questions. Write a maximum of one page per question, you can list references on a second page. Please provide well thought answers; use critical thinking and try to be insightful: do not just repeat the marketing hype from companies. Please link your answer to what we have been studying in the lectures and readings. Remember to correctly cite and reference all material you use (http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/). Each answer should have a list of references and in text citations.

1. Securing Small Business PCs

Describe some of the challenges in securing a set of PCs used for a small business and a networking, software and hardware solution to address these challenges.

2. Enterprise Firewalls

Use a text prediction AI (for example, ChatGPT) to generate an answer to the following question then identify and analyse the claims it makes. Whether or not the AI is correct about each claim you must provide references to support your assessment of its claims. Provide an overall assessment of the solution and whether or not it is correct. Be sure to clearly show what content has been generated and what is your response.

“Provide an overview of the features of firewalls as might be used in a large organisation like QUT. Choose 3-4 features to discuss in detail, explaining the risks they are designed to manage as well as where they operate on the network.”

3. Biometrics

Describe some new developments in security biometrics and the problems they solve.

Class 8: Mobile, Cloud and the Internet of Things

This weeks’ content discussed how Moore’s Law is giving rise to new classes of technology, including the cloud, mobile devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). These questions investigate different technologies associated with these computing systems.

Please provide written answers to one of the following questions. Write a maximum of one page, you can list references on a second page. Please provide well thought answers; use critical thinking and try to be insightful: do not just repeat the marketing hype from companies. Please link your answer to what we have been studying in the lectures and readings. Remember to correctly cite and reference all material you use (http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/cite/). Each answer should have a list of references and in text citations.

1. Hybrid Cloud

Describe hybrid cloud computing, why it might be necessary, the problems which arise and how you might solve them.

2. Internet of Things

Use a text prediction AI (for example, ChatGPT) to generate an answer to the following question then identify and analyse the claims it makes. Whether or not the AI is correct about each claim you must provide references to support your assessment of its claims. Provide an overall assessment of the solution and whether or not it is correct. Be sure to clearly show what content has been generated and what is your response.

“Describe a (recent) real application of the internet of things; please focus your explanation on the novel computer systems which make this work.“