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Information technology : an introduction for today’s digital world
Fox R., Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL, 2013. 564 pp. Type: Book (978-1-466568-28-0)
Date Reviewed: Aug 30 2013

As someone who obtained a computer science degree more than 20 years ago, I find it amazing to see how the field has changed and yet how things have remained the same. This book, which is appropriate for introductory courses on computers and/or information technology (IT), deals with the requisite issues in hardware and software, but also highlights the broader range of today’s computer users.

The book should benefit those interested in computer programming, management information systems, or engineering technology. The content incorporates the foundations of knowledge about computer systems, just like most textbooks. The author starts with learning objectives and provides further reading, review terms, and review and discussion questions for each of the chapters, as well as sample problems for some of them. There are also step-by-step explanations for many topics, such as the operations of central processing units (CPUs) and number system conversions. The author of course intends the content to be complete and up to date, but the reader should understand that concepts in such a field quickly become obsolete. Thus, it is quite obvious to any reader who has stayed current with developments that this book only briefly mentions some recent trends, such as cloud computing, and completely overlooks others, such as the use of apps in mobile devices.

This text helped me in several ways. It reviewed many concepts that I had learned in the past, such as the difference between ASCII and EBCDIC. It helped me realize that I have moved from being a programmer--I programmed in BASIC, Cobol, Fortran, and Pascal--to being a user. Finally, I now more fully appreciate the graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that eliminate the tedious command-line prompts required with previous generations of computers.

The book has also helped me know my computer better. In this age, when it’s no longer necessary to know what is under the hood of a car to drive it, so it is with the computer. You do not have to know anything about its operation to be able to use it. With five billion people estimated to have access to the Internet, it is obvious that computing has become ubiquitous in our daily lives.

There are several aspects of this text that make it very relevant. The author asserts that it contains enough information that it could span at least two semesters, which makes it challenging to decide which chapters go well together. Fortunately, the author suggests the best sequence of chapters to follow.

I appreciate the discussion of issues such as copyright versus copyleft. The author admits to focusing on US law, but even this coverage does not incorporate the current debates on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).

Those who want to land jobs in the field will appreciate the chapter on careers. Ethics and social issues are taken into consideration in discussions ranging from the digital divide, health problems, and privacy issues, to Internet addiction, to obscenity and censorship issues. The book also acknowledges the importance of continuing education in a fast-changing field, highlighting the need for recertification and the use of journals to remain informed about developments.

This review would be incomplete if I didn’t mention the book’s many typographical errors; good editing would have caught these. Still, I recommend it as a good read, a good resource, and a good introductory text to the IT field.

Reviewer:  Cecilia G. Manrique Review #: CR141508 (1311-0946)
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