Packet Switching

Packet switching is the process of breaking data down into packets, sending them across the Internet to another computer, and then re-assembling the data.

Sender's local area network

The sender will generate data in an application on their computer.
- This happens at the application layer.
The data is split into packets of data.
- This happens at the transport layer.
Internet Protocol adds IP addresses to each packet.
- This happens at the Internet layer.
Packets are grouped into frames and sent to the router on the LAN.
- This happens at the Network layer.

Over the Internet

The sender's router inspects the packet to determine if the destination IP is on the current LAN.
- If it is not then it will send the packet onto the Internet (or other wide area network).
- This happens at the Internet layer.
Each packet is sent from the sender's router to the destination router via connected routers.
- The path of each packet can be different, which maximises efficient use of the network by avoiding bottlenecks.

Recipient's local area network

Because they have taken different paths, the packets at the destination will be in the wrong order.
- These packets are unpackaged and reassembled into the correct order using the sequence number of each packet.

1Computer Systems

1.1Data Representation

1.1.1Binary Numbers

1.1.2Negative Binary Numbers

1.1.3Hexadecimal

1.1.4Using Hexadecimal

1.1.5Converting Binary & Hexadecimal

1.1.6Converting Denary & Hexadecimal

1.1.7Capacity

1.1.8Calculating Capacity Requirements

1.1.9Binary in Computer Systems

1.1.10Data Compression

1.1.11Run Length Encoding

1.1.12File Formats

1.2Data Transmission

1.2.1Packet Switching

1.2.2Data Transmission

1.2.3Universal Serial Bus (USB)

1.2.4Parity Check

1.2.5Checksum & Echo Checks

1.2.6Encryption

1.3Hardware

1.4Software

1.4.1Operating Systems

1.4.2Interrupts

1.4.3High-Level Languages

1.4.4Low-Level Languages

1.5The Internet & its Uses

1.5.1The Internet

1.5.2Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)

1.5.3DNS

1.5.4HTML

1.5.5Cookies

1.5.6Web Hosting

1.5.7Digital Currency

1.6Cyber Security

1.6.1Forms of Attack

1.6.2Penetration Testing

1.6.3Types of Malware

1.6.4How Malware Spreads

1.6.5Protecting Against Malware

1.6.6Information Security

1.6.7Structured Query Language (SQL) Injection

1.6.8Firewalls

1.6.9Authentication: User Access Levels

1.6.10Authentication: Passwords

1.6.11Social Engineering

1.6.12Phishing

1.6.13Denial of Service Attacks

1.7Automated & Emerging Technologies

1.7.1Automated Systems

1.7.2Robotics

1.7.3Artificial Intelligence

2Algorithms, Programming & Logic

2.1Algorithm Design & Problem Solving

2.1.1Computational Thinking - Abstraction

2.1.2Computational Thinking - Decomposition

2.1.3Computational Thinking - Algorithmic Thinking

2.1.4Pseudocode

2.1.5Flow Diagrams

2.1.6Interpreting, Correcting & Completing Algorithm

2.1.7Correcting Algorithms

2.1.8Completing Algorithms

2.1.9Testing

2.1.10Types of Testing

2.1.11Test Plans

2.1.12Validation & Sanitation

2.1.13Authentication & Contingencies

2.2Programming

2.2.1Programming Fundamentals - Variables & Constants

2.2.2Programming Fundamentals - Comments

2.2.3Programming Fundamentals - Input & Output

2.2.4Data Types

2.2.5Casting

2.2.6Controlling Program Flow - Sequence

2.2.7Controlling Program Flow - Selection

2.2.8Controlling Program Flow - Iteration

2.2.9Modularity - Subroutines

2.2.10Modularity - Scope

2.2.11Arrays

2.3Databases

2.3.1Structuring Data - Records

2.3.2Structuring Data - Databases

2.3.3SQL

2.4Boolean Logic

2.4.1Binary Systems

2.4.2Logic Circuits

2.4.3Truth Tables

2.4.4Evaluating Expressions

2.4.5Boolean Operators

2.4.6End of Topic Test - Logic

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