Computing Environments
Definition:
Computing environment is a collection of computers/machines, software and networks that support the processing and exchange of electronic information.
Different types of computing environments
There are four types of computing environments. They are:
- Personal computing environment
- Time-Sharing environment
- Client -Server environment
- Distributed environment
Personal Computing Environment:
- A personal computer(PC) is a general purpose computer. The size and capabilities of a personal computer makes it useful for end-users.
- In a personal computer, all the hardware components are tied together, so that it can be used as per our need.
Time Sharing Environment
- Employees in large companies often work in a time sharing environment. In this environment, many users are connected to one or more computers.
- These are minicomputers or central mainframes.
- The terminals used are not programmable, but now we see more microcomputers that are used to simulate the environments terminals.
- In the time sharing environment, the output devices and auxiliary storage are shared by all the users.
- In time sharing environment, each computer must be operated by the central computer.
- In this type of environment, computing is operated by central computer. This central computer has many duties which keeps the computer busy.
Client Server Environment
- Client/Server is a distribute computing model, in which the client requests services from the server.
- Client/Server usually run on separate computers connected by a network.
- A client is a process or an application that sends messages to a server through the network.
- These messages ask the server to perform a specific task, like finding a customer record in a database.
- Severs usually run on powerful computers, workstations or mainframes
- The administration of the installed equipment is more expensive than maintaining a centralized system
Distributed Computing Environment
- A distributed computing environment allows smooth integration of computing functions between different internet server's clients and provides the connection to different servers around the world.
- Distributed Computing is used by distributed systems to solve computational problems
- In Distributed Computing, each problem is divided into several tasks, which are solved by one or more computers.
