FREE online courses on Information Technology - Chapter 8 NETWORK &
COMMUNICATIONS IN I T
Networking
In the early 1960s the first on-line systems were developed.
These computers, used for airline reservations, served many terminals connected through various
types of communications lines. (A few years earlier, the first such on-line
systems were developed for defense applications.) At about the same time,
terminals were attached to computers used for time sharing. The major difference
between on-line and time-sharing systems is that the former are dedicated to a
single application. For example, an airline reservation agent can only make a
reservation or inquire about the status of various flights. The agent cannot
write a program from the terminal. With time-sharing, the user of the terminal
usually does have the ability to write programs.
The use of on-line systems has expanded rapidly. Today large proportions of new
systems have some portion that is on-line, such as data entry, update, and/or
inquiry. At the same time, there has been an expansion in the number of
alternatives available for establishing communications among computer devices.
One has a choice from dial-up phone service to private network using satellites for transmission.
