The first commercially viable computers emerged during the late 1950s and were relatively simple devices. However, the data handling capacity of computers was soon realised and in the early 1960s, an airline reservation system was introduced which required access to a central computer mainframe. Thus data transmission and computer communications were born.
The area of computer communications now encompasses a wide range of topics, from telecom technologies such as ISDN and protocols to computer network layouts encompassing: LANs, MANs and WANs, as well as computer technologies like client-server computing, communications software, collaborative computing and network operating systems.
Global networking is a communications technology which is expanding rapidly and at the forefront is the Internet. Although known as a "superhighway", the Internet is actually a network of networks. This forms an information infrastructure based on optical fibre, cable, satellite and wireless. The importance of the Internet lies in the possibilities offered by this infrastructure. All our present communication media have the potential to be made available, inexpensively, on a global basis. In the information world, the Internet has had enormous effects with information becoming readily available to end users directly.
All aspects of the theory and applications of computer communications are covered extensively by the Inspec Database.
Searching for computer communications on Inspec
Abstracts of articles in this area can be found under sections B, C and D of the Classification Scheme with the following codes:
Section B
B6150M: Protocols
B6210G: Electronic mail
B6210L: Computer communications (includes telecommunication aspects of all the various types of computer networks, e.g. LANs, MANs, WANs)
B6210M ISDN: (Integrated Services Digital Network)
B6210P: Teleconferencing
B6210Q: Intelligent networks
B6210R: Multimedia communications
B6250: Radio links and equipment
B6260F: Optical fibre networks (includes optical fibre LAN)
Section C
Hardware aspects
C5610: Computer interfaces (used for buses in general)
C5610F: Instrumentation buses
C5610N: Network interfaces
C5610P: Peripheral interfaces
C5610S: System interfaces
C5620: Computer networks and techniques (including open systems and internetworking)
C5620L: Local area networks (LANs)
C5620M: Metropolitan area networks (MANs)
C5620W: Other networks including wide area networks (WANs) and global networks such as the Internet
C5630: Networking equipment (Data communication equipment is covered, including modems, multiplexing equipment, and file and network servers)
c5630M: Multimedia servers
C5640: Protocols
C5670: Network performance
C5690: Other data communication equipment and techniques
Software/Applications
C6130E: Data interchange (EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) standard for data conversion classified here)
C6130G: Groupware (including CSCW, computer supported collaborative work)
C6130M: Multimedia (including hypermedia)
C6150N: Distributed systems (including multiprocessing software, network operating systems, remote procedure calls (RPC), middleware and message passing)
C6155: Computer communications software (terminal emulation and file transfer software classified here, as well as inter-computer links)
C6160B: Distributed database management systems
C7210: Information services and centres (online databases and services are found under this code)
C7210N: Information networks (includes the Internet, semantic Web and Web sites)
C7410F: Communications computing
Section D
D2080: Information services and database systems
D4020: Electronic mail
D4045: Mobile communications
D4060: Teleconferencing
D5020: Computer networks and intercomputer communications
There are a number of controlled headings (thesaurus terms) which may be useful when searching in this area, including:
- B-ISDN
- Broadband networks
- Carrier sense multiple access
- Client-server systems
- Code division multiple access
- Computer communications software
- Computer-mediated communication
- Computer interfaces
- Computer networks
- Concurrency control
- Data communication
- DiffServ networks
- Distributed databases
- Distributed object management
- Distributed processing
- Distributed programming
- Electronic data interchange
- Extranets
- Frequency division multiple access
- Groupware
- Information networks
- Inter-computer links
- Internet
- Internetworking
- Intranets
- IntServ networks
- IP networks
- ISDN
- Local area networks
- Message passing
- Metacomputing
- Metropolitan area networks
- Mobile computing
- Multiprocessing programs
- Network interfaces
- Network operating systems
- Optical fibre LAN
- Peer-to-peer computing
- Personal area networks
- Processor scheduling
- Open systems
- Peripheral interfaces
- Protocols
- System buses
- Telecommunication computing
- Teleconferencing
- Time division multiple access
- Token networks
- Virtual private networks
- Wide area networks
- Wireless LAN
- WiMax
New thesaurus terms and classification codes are in the process of development. These changes will ensure that indexing of computer communications articles by encompasses all the latest developments in this rapidly expanding domain.
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