TOPIC 5: NETWORK APPLICATIONS

By the end of this topic students must be able to:

1 define a website, search engine, web browser
2 use search engines
3 use e-mail
4 use web browsers
5 discuss the advantages of social networks
6 discuss the disadvantages of social networks
7 List examples of distributed applications

WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW)

 It is a computer based network of information resources (websites) that combines text, images, audio and
video products.
 Information on the World Wide Web can be accessed through Internet.
 Information on World Wide Web is stored on web servers.
 The World Wide Web is simply known as the Web.
 Information on the world wide web is made available on:
i. A website
ii. web portals – Web portals provide specialized services such as searching, e-mail, sports updates,
financial news and links to selected websites
iii. Blog – Blogs are used for business, advocacy and campaign.
iv. Multimedia – Multimedia sites contain photos, movies, music, web TV and internet radio. They
are meant for entertainment.

NETWORK APPLICATIONS
 A network application is any program that lets more than one user open the same data file at the same
time.
 This program usually runs on the host computer (server).
 The application may use application layer protocols such as HTTP (browser and web server), SMTP (e-
mail client)

TYPES OF NETWORK APPLICATIONS

1. Pure network applications
 These are those that are created to be used in networks.
2. Standalone network applications
 These are those that can run on standalone computers only.
EXAMPLES OF NETWORK APPLICATIONS
a. Website
b. Web browser
c. Search engine
d. Webmail or email
a) Website
 It is a set of interconnected webpages located on the same server and usually connected to the
World Wide Web.
  A web page is a single page of website that stores information such as text, image, video etc.
 Webpages are hosted in a computer called webserver
 Webserver therefore is a computer on the internet or intranet that delivers web pages and other
files in response to browser request.
 The first page of the website is called home page.
 The website is simply referred to as a Site.
 In order to view web pages on the web, your computer must have a special software known as
web browser installed in it.

BROWSING THE WEB

 It is to explore or navigate from one website to another.
 Browsing is also referred to as surfing.

FORMAT OF THE WEB ADDRESS

 Also referred to as the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), its general format is: protocol: //domain-
name.topleveldomain.
 For example if you want to visit the Malawi Government website, type http://www.malawi.gov.mw
in the URL box.
PARTS OF A URL
 It consists of three parts that contain the following information:
a. How to get to the information (which protocol to use e.g. HTTP).
b. The internet hostname of the computer where the content is stored such as google.com, apple.com etc.
c. The directory or other location on that site where the content is located that follows the forward slash.

PROTOCOL
 It is the rule that defines how to access the content used to connect to the site or resource.
COMMON EXAMPLES OF PROTOCOL
a. Hypertext transfer protocol (http://)
b. File transfer protocol (ftp://)
 The http protocol defines a standard for accessing a website whereas the ftp is used purposely for
uploading content to the web server.

DOMAIN NAME
 It is the name of the server where the website or resource is located.
 Example of a domain name is www.malawi

TOP LEVEL DOMAIN

 This represents the type of service offered by the organisation.
 Example: gov.mw this means a government located in Malawi.

COMMONLY USED TOP LEVEL DOMAINS

Top level Type
domain
.edu Educational institution.

.org Non-profit making organisation.

 .mil Military organisation.

.com Commercial institution.

.net An institution or organisation providing network services.

An academic institution
.ac

 The top level domain may have two more letter extension added after the business domain part to
indicate the country in which the business or site is located. e.g. in loiuneli@gmail.co.mw.
 The last part, mw stands for Malawi.

OTHER DOMAIN NAMES

sa (South Africa), ke (Kenya), uk (United Kingdom), us (United States), ug (Uganda), tz (Tanzania),
jp (Japan), au (Australia) etc.

HYPERLINK
 These are used to navigate from one page to another.
 To navigate from one page to another:
1. Move the mouse pointer to a hyper link until it turns to a pointing finger.
2. Click the hyperlink once. If no problem with the connection, the browser takes you to the
page or section specified by the link.

NAVIGATION TOOLBAR
This consists of buttons you can easily use to navigate the web in Mozilla Fierfox.
NAVIGATION BUTTONS ON MOZILLA FIREFOX
a. Back d. Home
b. Forward e. Search
c. Refresh f. Stop

FUNCTIONS OF EACH NAVIGATION BUTTON

1. Back button: Is mostly the first one on the navigation bar located on the left. It takes the user back to
the previously visited web page.
2. Forward button: In some browsers, the forward arrow takes the user to visited pages after the current
in case the user clicked the back button.
3. Stop button: Is used to stop loading the current web page.
4. Refresh button: It reloads or refreshes a web page.
5. Search box: Is a short cut to searching for information using google search engine.
6. Bookmarks: Are used to bookmark a web page to be revisited later.
7. History: Displays the list of recently visited web pages.
8. Download: Is used to download the current web page.
9. Home icon: The icon takes the user to the home page of the website
10. Menu icon: Clicking on this displays the main menu.
BOOKMARK
It is a link to a website address saved in a browser to facilitate quick access later.
BOOKMARKING A PAGE
You can bookmark the pages that you are likely to revisit by adding them to the bookmark list.
To bookmark a site in Mozilla:
 1. Identify or load the web page you would like to visit
2. On the navigation toolbar, click the bookmark icon that resembles a star. The page is instantly
bookmarked using the default web page name. to rename the bookmark, click the bookmark icon
again to display the pop-up box
3. Use the suggested name or type new a name in the name box and then click done.

To view a list of bookmarks:

1. On navigation toolbar, click the icon that resembles a clipboard. Alternatively press
Ctrl+Shift+B
2. On the pop-up list displayed, select the bookmark you wish to revisit.

PRINTING A WEB PAGE

To print a web page:
1. On the file menu click print’ alternatively click Ctrl + P keys.
2. On the print dialog box displayed, set desired print properties.
3. Click ok to visit the web page.

b) Web browser
 A web browser or simply a browser, is a computer program for displaying and viewing webpages.
 It is also used to search information on the World Wide Web.
 A browser locates documents on remote webservers.
Common examples of web browsers include:
 Windows Internet Explorer
 Mozilla Firefox
 Google chrome
 Opera Mini
 Netscape
 Mosaic
c) Search engine
 This is a computer program/website that searches documents on the World Wide Web for a specified
word or words and provides list of documents in which they are found.
 The word that is typed in order to be searched is known as search term.
Popular examples of search engines are:
 Google search
 Microsoft Network (MSN) search
 Bing
 Yahoo search
 Ask.com
 Live search
 Wikia search
 Search Me
COMPONENTS OF A SEARCH ENGINE

It consists of three components:

a. The spider (web robot crawler)
b. Indexing database (engine)
c. Query engine

HOW A SEARCH ENGINE WORKS

1. Before the user invokes the search engine, a program called spider searches for new
items on the web to add to the search engine index database. This gathering before user’s
request makes search faster. As a result search results are displayed instantly.

HOW A SEARCH ENGINE WORKS

2. The search engine indexing database receives everything the spider brings to it. It scans
the documents for keywords and generate the indexes and then stores them in an index
database.
3. Once the user submits the search string (a word phrase), the query engine receives the
indexing database and processes the request as follows:
a. Looks for the key words specified in the user queries from the index databases.
b. Receives associated documents and rank them according to some preference or
criteria such as the most visited pages.
4. The results and time taken for the request are displayed on the browser. If the results did
not match required information the user the user can refine the search words.

Using search engines

 In most cases search engines are integrated with web browsers. To use a search engine:
1. Launch Internet Explorer or any browser on your computer.
2. Type www. Google.com on the Address Bar and then press enter on the keyboard. This opens the
Google website
3. Type any search term for example “Malawi” in the search textbox.
4. Click Google Search or press Enter on the keyboard. A list of websites, computer files or documents
will appear as hypertexts.
5. Click any hypertext or website to open the webpages where they are found. Try to use other search
engines and see what happens.

HYPERTEXT DOCUMENTS
  It is a link to the same page or other pages on the web.
 Clicking a link in a hypertext document, a user is taken by the browser from the current
page or section to another.
 They are structured such that, instead of reading a document in linear way like in a book,
you can easily navigate from one page to another.
d) e- mail client
 It is software that is designed for creating, sending, receiving and organizing electronic mail (e-mail).
 Electronic mail commonly known as e-mail, is the message transmitted electronically over the Internet.
 It can contain text, graphics, image, videos and sound.
 Modern email operates across the internet or other computer networks.
 Modern desktop e-mail clients are to manage e-mails because they have the following features:
 Editors for composing e-mail massages
 Anti-spam tools
 Ant-phishing security protection
 Advanced search capabilities
 Filters for more efficiently handling and organizing massage and email folders

Common examples of e-mail clients include:

 Microsoft Outlook
 Windows Live Mail (formerly known as outlook Express)
 Mozilla Thunderbird
 Opera Mail
 Eureka Email
 Netscape Messenger
 Pegasus Mail
 IncrediMail
 Mulberry
 Foxmail
 DreamMail
 Some e-mail clients are in-built to the web such that they are always accessed online.
 Such online e-mail services are called webmail.
 The features and functionality of webmail (for managing e-mail) are similar to their desktop email
software counterparts.
 Some of the more popular online email software are Outlook Web Access (OWA), Yahoo Mail, Gmail,
Hotmail (Windows Live Mail) and AOL Mail.
E-MAIL ADDRESS FORMAT
A typical e-mail address would look like this: gremkatsala@gmail.com
1. gremkatsala is the name of the e-mail account usually defined by the user when registering
for an e-mail account.
2. The @ symbol is for separating the account name from the domain of the e-mail service
provider
3. gmail.com is the server in which the email account is hosted. The server on which the e-
mail account is located.
4. The period “.” is read as dot and is used to separate different parts of the e-mail address.
5. com identifies the type of nature of business of the e-mail service provider. In this case
gmail is a commercial organisation.
BASIC PARTS OF A STANDARD FORMAT OF AN E-MAIL MESSAGE
It comprises of three basic parts:
a. Header information
b. Message body
c. Signature

a. Header information
The e-mail header is made up of the following sections:
• Address: provides a text box to enter the e-mail address of one or more recipients.
• Subject: this specifies the content of the message in the message boy.
• Attachment: is used to add files such as documents, photo and video to send via e-mail.
b. Message body
It is where you type the message you want to send. It is mostly text but some e-mail programs support
multimedia content.
c. Signature
It provides additional information about the sender such as full name, address and telephone number.

USING E-MAIL
 In order to use e-mail, you need to have an e-mail account by registering (creating account) with the e-
mail service providers such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft (Hotmail) and many more.
 To do this, you need to visit their website and fill in a form regarding your personal information.
a) Creating an e-mail Account
You should,
1. Launch a browser such as Internet Explorer on your computer.
2. Type “www.gmail.com” on the Address bar and then, press Enter on your keyboard. A Gmail
webpage will be displayed.
3. Click Create an account and this hyperlink will take you to blank web form
4. Fill in the form and follow the successive instructions until you receive confirmation that your
account has been created successfully.
b) Configuring an E-mail Client
You should,
1. Launch Microsoft Outlook on your computer. If Microsoft Outlook is not yet configured on your
personal computer, its startup dialog box will appear.
2. Click Next and an account configuration dialog box will appear asking you if you would like to
configure your e-mail account
3. Select Yes and then, click Next
4. Type your full name, e-mail address and password after which you click Next.
5. Wait a few minutes when Microsoft Outlook has logged on the e-mail server (of your service
provider), you will receive a massage that your e-mail account is successfully configured.
6. Click Finish and a Microsoft Outlook will open sending you test massage to your e-mail which
you will find in your Inbox
c) Checking for mails in gmail
To open email in Gmail
1. Load the e-mail home page by typing www.gmail.com
2. In the log in page, enter password.
3. The e-mail window is loaded in which you can view it by clicking at it in your Inbox.
d) Creating a new e-mail
To compose an e-mail:
 1. Click New/compose e-mail button.
2. Type the recipient address or get it from the address book.
3. Type in the subject of the message.
4. Type the message in the message box.
5. Click the send button.
e) Inserting file attachments
1. Click the Attach File at the bottom that resembles a paper clip
2. In open files dialog box that appears, select a file(s) by pressing the ctrl key as you click on
a file.
3. Click open button to attach selected file(s). the attached file(s) appear at the bottom of
compose window.
f) Managing contacts
To add a contact in Gmail:
1. Switch to inbox and point to e-mail address you would like to add the contacts. A pop-up
appears.
2. Click add to contacts link on the left. The contact is automatically added into the address
book.
3. To change the contact, click the link immediately displayed to view contact details.

SOCIAL NETWORKING
 It is the creation of social relationships to interact with other people on social networks by up
loading media content.
TERMS USED IN SOCIAL NETWORKING
 There are two terms used in reference to social networking:
a. Social media
b. Social networks.
a. Social media
It is the content that you upload onto the social network sites.
Forms of social media
 Text
 Videos
 Photos
 Slideshows etc.
b. Social network
It is a web-based site that allow individuals to create a public profile to share information with people
they share interests, activities, backgrounds or real life connections.
EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL NETWORKS
a. Facebook
b. Twitter
c. LinkedIn
d. WhatsApp
e. Flickr
f. Google+
g. Myspace
h. Mxit

ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL NETWORKING

 1. Global connection: It helps people make new friends and stay in touch globally with people you
might not have met using other means.
2. Marketing: it helps advertise goods and services.
3. Technology use: it uses accessible technologies such as mobile phones that make it possible to
motivate people towards using ICT devices as computers and services such as internet.
4. Social cohesion: it can be used to keep in touch with family members in a fractured society where
physical meeting may not be possible due to risks or limited infrastructure.
5. Career opportunities and employment: It can be a powerful engine for job searches.
6. Political power: It can leverage political power for groups that might not otherwise have access.
7. Security: It can be used to counteract terrorism and organised crime.
8. Health and wellbeing: It can be used to get help on difficult personal illnesses by tabling it into a
public wall to solicit for support from friends.

Disadvantages of social networking

1. Threat to productivity: It can be a big waste of time that has caused even job losses due to
low productivity in a work place.
2. Face-to-face connections endangered: It has potentially reduced need for physical social
interaction by creating virtual societies that isolate people from their physical context.
3. Cyberbullying and crimes against children: It exposes individuals to particularly children
to harassment or inappropriate contact from others.

4. Digital divide: It magnifies the gap between people who have access to computer technology
and those that don’t exacerbating other social inequities.
5. Security and privacy: It can compromise privacy in a big way.
6. Social networking can be used to destabilise governments and to advance terrorism:
7. Corrupted language: It is the source of non-standard language that has become the common
grammar in our day-to-day talk thereby limiting standard language concept development and
expression.

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS USED IN DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING

 There are three fundamental concepts that are used:
a. Distributed systems
b. Distributed operating systems
c. Distributed applications
A. DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS
 Refers to networks of heterogeneous computers, applications using shared resources
geographically dispersed across networks.
Two examples of distributed systems:
 Internet
 Intranet e.g. Bank intranet. (It provides real-time access to banking services anywhere
and anytime using computers and mobile devices).

B. DISTRIBUTED OPERATING SYSTEM

 It is a special type of operating system that controls, integrates and homogenizes use of
heterogeneous hardware and software resources in a distributed system.
Examples of distributed operating system
 Amoeba
 Mach
 Chorus
 UNIX
  Some server versions of Microsoft Windows.
C. DISTRIBUTED APPLICATION
 This is a computer program that is run or executed on multiple computers within a network.
 These applications interact in order to achieve a common goal or task.
 Traditional applications relied on a single system to run them.
 Even in the client server model, the application software had to run on either the client or the server
that the client was accessing.
 However, distributed applications run on both simultaneously.
 With distributed applications, if a node that is running a particular application goes down, another
node can resume the task.
 In client server model, distributed applications have two parts:
(i) Front end: that runs on the client computer and requires minimal processing power.
(ii) Back end: that runs on a suitably equipped server computer and requires large amounts of
data processing power as well as specialised hardware.

There are several examples of distributed applications most of which are database management systems
(DBMSs).
Some of them include:
 Banking system such as Temenos T24, Oracle Flexicube, Bank Master, Branch Power,
Silverlake Integrated Islamic Banking System (SIIBS), Oracle Banking platform and Fiancle.
 Accounting software such as Sage 50, sage 100 ERP and Pastel accounting.
 Human resource Management (HRM) software like Employee Self-Server (ESS).
 Insurance Software such as IsuranceFaces, Mutual expert, AgencyOffice, Authorty Suite,
Athena System, Advanced insurance System, policyBox and etc
 Healthcare management System such as SoftClinic, i-Care, Pharma Suite, Hospital
Information Management System (HIMS), Insta HMS and etc
 School Management Software such as MySchool, ProClass, EduWave, MMS Students
Information Platform, School Information Management Software (SIMS) and etc
 Online flight-reservations. For real time booking and payment of flight.
 Distributed cash dispensing machines. To enhance access to withdrawal and deposit
transactions.
 Video conferencing applications. To provide quality of service in sound and video
transmissions even across continents.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITY OF DISTRIBUTED SERVERS RUNNING ON DISTRIBUTED

OPERATING SYSTEM
To coordinate and provide efficient access to information and services.
NOTE: It is the responsibility of the distributed system to manage these applications in order to ensure
reliability of services and information even in case of partial system breakdown.

MECHANISMS FOR ACHIEVING RELIABILITY OF SERVICES AND INFORMATION INCASE

OF PARTIAL SYTEM BREAKDOWN
 Hardware management and control
 Load balancing
 Data access
  Security and reliability

 HARDWARE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL

 The distributed system manages and coordinates allocation of hardware resources such as
processors, memory and storage depending on the location of the user.
 LOAD BALANCING
 It is when a distributed system may divide a processing task to available processors to optimize
processing speed.
 DATA ACCESS
 As opposed to centralised system where data access may delay due number of users and
network limitations, distributed systems and applications provide convenient and efficient
access because a copy of data is accessed from the nearest servers.
 This results to instant display of results after sending a search request to Google. These are
searched from a nearby mirror server either in Malawi or South Africa.
 SECURITY AND RELIABILITY
 The distributed system and application is responsible for enforcing security in data transmission
and reliability against error in input or hardware failure.

BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF DISTRIBUTED APPLICATIONS

Benefits of distributed applications

These are
1. Scalable- thereby making the system expandable to meet future needs since you are able to add more
resources to increase performance or availability.
2. Reliable - because when one client computer crashed, the system as a whole can still survive since
data and its backup are preserved at different locations.
3. Relatively fast as compared to centralised systems.
4. Cheap because of the sharing of resources by many entities which help to reduce the cost of
ownership.
5. Ready to communicate with other system because they are open systems.

Disadvantages of distributed applications

These applications,
1. Are prone to external threats as hackers and viruses because of their openness.
2. Have problems with transmission if the network gets saturated.
3. Have little software support for distributed systems from the software developer.
4. Are difficult in trouble shooting and diagnosing problems in a distributed system because the analysis
may require connecting to remote nodes or inspecting connection between nodes.

END OF MSCE COMPUTER STUDIES WORK

I WISH YOU SUCCESS
(G KATSALA- COMPILER)