ABSTRACT
This chapter examines hardware, software, programming, and language influences on information technology (IT) development. It presents many analogies between an IT system and a transportation system. Many analogies focus on the key hardware device, the computer, and are illustrative rather than a precise description of a one-to-one relationship. A basic IT hardware component is the silicon chip. Silicon chips are designed for specific purposes, such as information storage, input/output operations, and data processing. Data processing is performed by the central processing unit (CPU) using arithmetic/logic, control, and input/output operations. The four arithmetic capabilities of a CPU are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The logic capabilities of a CPU involve both logical expressions and logical relationships. The chapter presents the analogies into the area of software programming and computer languages. IT documentation can be internal to a computer program, printed in computer manuals, or readily available through the interactive help files of a software program.
