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Foreword Dr. Agha K. Ghahari Director Computer Institute |
It’s
hard to imagine a world without computers. A world where payrolls have to be
done manually, no access to Internet, no emails, no automated banking systems,
no record keeping systems and no Graphic User Interfaces.
When I step back to 1975, at the time that I was a Master student in
Computer Science at G.W.U., many of the systems that we take for granted did not
exist. I remember coming to the computer center after 11:00 PM to debug and run
my programs. The less busy time at the computer center, still I had to wait in
the line, with punch cards in my hands for 1 to 2 hours until the operator
accept the job. We rarely had a chance to even see the actual computer. The
operator would run the punched cards thru a card reader that was connected to
the main-frame (computer). After waiting for an additional hour then the
operator will be back with several continuous pages of debugging and error
report. After a careful examination of the error report, often you find a
missing comma in a statement. A missing comma could generate several pages of
errors. You correct the error and replace the punched card with a new correct
one and return the entire set of the punched cards back to the operator for a
new run. You spend countless hours in this endless loop to debug and run a
program. It took close to 100 lines of COBOL statements to generate a simple
report.
We have come a long way since 1975. Today, programmers are physically in
another country, connected thru the Internet to a computer in another country,
coding, debugging testing and running their programs in real time. Powerful and
sophisticated systems with easy to use Graphic User Interfaces have been
designed to perform very complex operations.
Behind these easy to use and user-friendly today’s systems, are many
talented individuals who are expert in their fields. Computer Technicians,
Network Engineers, Webmasters, Database Developers and Administrators spend
countless hours to configure, install and maintain these systems. These
expertise are highly in demand, the more sophisticated that these systems become
the more expertise that is needed to maintain them.
To become a computer support professional, one needs to learn about the
hardware components and the operating software systems of the
computer system. Computing Technology Industry Associations (CompTIA),
provides standards and certifications for computer professionals. CompTIA has
established two standard exams for professional who seek to validate their
knowledge about computer hardware components and operating systems. The
certification is known as A+ certification.
The books that are in the market for A+ Certification, often have been
written by computer professionals with none or very little teaching and
classroom experience. These books, although cover many areas, often fail to
teach the students in step by step comprehensive manor. Mr. Hassan Mesbahi not
only has the practical working knowledge of the computer systems as a Network
Engineer, he also has been teaching
many computer courses in the last five years. He has earned a Bachelors and
Masters degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Medical Physics from
universities in Dr. Agha K. Ghahari Director Computer Institute |
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