THE KHARAGPUR DIARIES..!! :)

After the tiresome day of attending various lectures and sudden surprise meetings from seniors about various clubs and committees I was literally dragging myself on my cycle. Every muscle in my body was shouting and cursing me -why the hell you got accustomed to an easy life with lots of comfort, enjoyment, an AC and a motorcycle...!! After almost eight years of being in the comfort zone, thanks to the vast expanse of IIT-Kgp campus, I had no choice but to ride a bicycle. All my old buddies whom I told about this mocked me saying : You would wear a suit and ride a cycle..!! chhh chhh..!! POOR YOU..!! But this is how it is here in Kharagpur. I pedaled harder convincing myself that with all the sultry environment, sticky-itchy-humidity and every kind of insect and a hybrid-alienated-specialized horde of mosquitoes, with all its struggles and all the tests of patience, still this is the place which will give thrusts to my wings, which will be the beacon of light on a dark night. After parking my cycle, I ran to the MMM hall mess for the whatever quality food I was about to eat in dinner. As usual, I had to stand in the line for some time to get my plate filled in and then sat down to dine. Even with the whole family of Einstein's cats scurrying here and there, nibbling at the drop overs of our food, students manage to somehow like and adapt to this mess environment soon.
Fininshing my dinner soon, I headed to my room at fourth floor. Again my legs screamed, 'what kind of slavery is this ??', but there was no option to complaint. Though my mom had adviced me to complete my assignments on the day it was allotted, but being a proud 'jugaadu' engineer by heart, I postponed this for tomorrow (and yeah, of course, tomorrow comes when the deadline is very close.).
After the daily shower, I had just a few mails to check and of course the 'daily calls' to make and I dropped dead in my bed being exhasted with the whole day's schedule.

"KNOCK KNOCK"

"KNOCK KNOCK"

"KNOCK KNOCK"

Who is banging the damn door..!!

Let him bang like a mad man, I wont go and answer it.

"KNOCK KNOCK"
"KNOCK KNOCK"

The noise seemed to be like war drums in a battlefield. It reverberated in my head causing me peak of irritation and with cursing the person creating it, I stood up and opened the door.


To my surprise there was an old man in his late 50's, standing there with a pleasant smile below his white moustache and a sparkle in his eyes . Wait a minute; I have seen him somewhere; Who is he ?; He seems familiar; Where have I seen him; Oho..why do I forget people so soon..??

He replied in a composed and a gentle voice "Sorry to disturb you at this time son, but I have something important to tell you. May I come in ? "

"Yes please, never mind. But I am really sorry to say this, I dont recognize you. May I know who you are ??"

"Thank you for letting me in. We met today in the afternoon, in the MIS class or as I say the BIS class and a day before that in the orientation session. I am your professor and the T&P head, Prithwis Mukerjee."

To my surprize, I was dumbstruck for a moment, I really could'nt make any sense of what was happening. I looked for time in my mobile phone and again to my utmost surprise the screen displayed : complete your assignment 1 of Business Information Systems on Systems Architecture. I thought what the hell has happened to me ? Was there something* mixed in today's food or did the water cooler filled my bottle with something* else..!! 

Again with a very pleasant smile, Sir said : "No need to worry, Even I was a student like you in the very same place many years ago. The same thing happened to me when I was a student like you. This is a sign of your mind adapting to the pressure that every student experiences here. I am here just to help you remember what you have already studied today. Everything is stored in your brain cells, we just need to organize them and logically connect them so that you can learn this permanently. "

Then it struck to me, OMG and before I could imagine, Sir transformed into 'Morpheus' from Matrix, 

and held out both of his hands,one containing the BLUE PILL and the other the RED PILL and smiled : "Feeling like Alice..?? Tumbling down the rabbit hole ?? This is your last chance. You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed believing whatever you want. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I ll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. We complete your assignment right here, right now..!!" 

I thought what the heck..!! I ll go for the red pill and get my assignment done without much effort..!! I picked up the pill and swalloed it. The very next moment, I was teleported to the VGSOM main building, room no E 101. I am the only student sitting and Prithwis sir started the slideshow. "I started my career handling data. Basically I am a programmer by heart and as a future manager Hitarth, you need to learn about various methods and systems how data is managed since you are going to deal with a lot of data in future.
The first thing that you should remember is : that data needs to be logically distinct from applications. Data is arranged and stored in a database and it describes what one measures or deals with. Application is a program, which is a method specifying how to use the data.

Now today's class is about integrated systems which are different computing systems and software applications linked together physically or functionally to perform in a coordinated manner.

 

Now the first kind of system is a SINGLE TIER INTEGRATED SYSTEM : in which the data and the application(PL-Presentation logic & BL-Business logic) are on the same physical hardware. For example : laptops, desktops, servers etc."

 

 "As the name is suggesting there must be double tier or triple tier systems sir ...?? "

" Very well thought Hitarth. But I ll correct you here.The second kind is called the TWO TIER CLIENT SERVER ARCHITECTURE : in which data is stored in a different location and the applications to access it in another. They are connected by various LAN cables.Client-server architecture offers both operational and performance advantages. First, it better accommodates the decentralized business environment; business logic resides and executes where it is more appropriate: on the end-users' desktops. Enterprise-wide data is integrated and managed by the server. Second, it offers a cost effective solution that allows for increased performance due to load balancing and better resource utilization on both desktop and server computers, and scalability and growth to more clients and new client application software.But the demerits are its high bandwidth requirements and maintainance/version control of the software. 

The two-tier client-server architecture evolved into the THREE TIER ARCHITECTURE when the need arose to support more complex applications. The three tiers run only the user interface on the end-user computer, an application server that runs the business logic and processes the data is differently located, and it accesses the database server."

"Then there are MULTI TIER ARCHITECTURE : This means splitting a system into more than just a client layer and a database layer. Instead, we have the clients, and they only deal with presenting data to the user and sending changes back to the server. The server then takes care of the business logic, and gets and returns the raw data to one or more database servers. The advantages are better maintainability (business logic can be changed without updating every client machine)."

 "Okay sir, so now all the system architectures have been completed, is there anything else I need to know.??"

"Now we'll talk about RDBMS. RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. RDBMS data is structured in database tables, fields and records. Each RDBMS table consists of database table rows. Each database table row consists of one or more database table fields.

RDBMS store the data into collection of tables, which might be related by common fields (database table columns). RDBMS also provide relational operators to manipulate the data stored into the database tables. Most RDBMS use SQL as database query language.

Another important aspect which is vital in most business systems today is the ERP systems. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application. The purpose of ERP is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholdersERP systems can run on a variety of computer hardware and network configurations, typically employing a database as a repository for information The transformation of ERP into a cloud-based model has been relatively slow, but as cloud computing makes other inroads into the enterprise environment some functionality is being moved to the cloud.

A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a telecommunication network that covers a broad area (i.e., any network that links across metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries). Business and government entities utilize WANs to relay data among employees, clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical locations. In essence this mode of telecommunication allows a business to effectively carry out its daily function regardless of location. "

 "That was a great session sir, I wish these red pills are available in wholesale so that it becomes quiet easy for students to learn and understand topics like these. I would like to ask sir, is there some other coloured pill which can be taken in exam time to perform better ??"

"Ha ha ha, I am sorry Hitarth, I cant tell you that. But since you have been with me throughout the session so patiently, I appreciate this and as a bonus would tell you something that would help you in forthcoming examination."

And just when Sir was about to take off the curtains from the suspense, guess what..?? MY ALARM WENT ON RINGING LIKE ITS ARMAGEDDON..!! Though my body was aching from head to toe, I started my day with a wonderful smile, remembering what kind of strange dream I had last night.

DISCLAIMER : If unknowingly I have hurt someone's feelings, I am truly sorry and assure you that I wrote down this post with due respect to my teacher,my institute and the God Almighty.