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ComputerGlossary
COMPUTERGLOSSARY
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Applet
AsmallJavaapplicationthatisdownloadedbyanActiveXorJavaenabledwebbrowser.Onceithasbeen
downloaded,theappletwillrunontheuser'scomputer.Commonappletsincludefinancialcalculatorsand
webdrawingprograms.
Application
Computersoftwarethatperformsataskorsetoftasks,suchaswordprocessingordrawing.Applications
arealsoreferredtoasprograms.
ASCII
AmericanStandardCodeforInformationInterchange,anencodingsystemforconvertingkeyboard
charactersandinstructionsintothebinarynumbercodethatthecomputerunderstands.
Bandwidth
Thecapacityofanetworkedconnection.Bandwidthdetermineshowmuchdatacanbesentalongthe
networkedwires.BandwidthisparticularlyimportantforInternetconnections,sincegreaterbandwidth
alsomeansfasterdownloads.
Binarycode
Themostbasiclanguageacomputerunderstands,itiscomposedofaseriesof0sand1s.Thecomputer
interpretsthecodetoformnumbers,letters,punctuationmarks,andsymbols.
Bit
Thesmallestpieceofcomputerinformation,eitherthenumber0or1.Inshorttheyarecalledbinarydigits.
Boot
Tostartupacomputer.Coldbootmeansrestartingcomputerafterthepoweristurnedoff.Warmboot
meansrestartingcomputerwithoutturningoffthepower.
Browser
SoftwareusedtonavigatetheInternet.GoogleChrome,Firefox,NetscapeNavigatorandMicrosoft
InternetExploreraretoday'smostpopularbrowsersforaccessingtheWorldWideWeb.
Bug
Amalfunctionduetoanerrorintheprogramoradefectintheequipment.
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ComputerGlossary
Byte
Mostcomputersusecombinationsofeightbits,calledbytes,torepresentonecharacterofdataor
instructions.Forexample,thewordcathasthreecharacters,anditwouldberepresentedbythreebytes.
Cache
Asmalldatamemorystorageareathatacomputercanusetoinstantlyreaccessdatainsteadofrereading
thedatafromtheoriginalsource,suchasaharddrive.Browsersuseacachetostorewebpagessothatthe
usermayviewthemagainwithoutreconnectingtotheWeb.
CADCAM
ComputerAidedDrawingComputerAidedManufacturing.Theinstructionsstoredina
computerthatwillbetranslatedtoverypreciseoperatinginstructionstoarobot,suchasforassembling
carsorlasercuttingsignage.
CDROM
CompactDiscReadOnlyMemory,anopticallyreaddiscdesignedtoholdinformationsuchasmusic,
referencematerials,orcomputersoftware.AsingleCDROMcanholdaround640megabytesofdata,
enoughforseveralencyclopaedias.MostsoftwareprogramsarenowdeliveredonCDROMs.
CGI
CommonGatewayInterface,aprogrammingstandardthatallowsvisitorstofilloutformfieldsona
Webpageandhavethatinformationinteractwithadatabase,possiblycomingbacktotheuserasanother
Webpage.CGImayalsorefertoComputerGeneratedImaging,theprocessinwhichsophisticated
computerprogramscreatestillandanimatedgraphics,suchasspecialeffectsformovies.
Chat
TypingtextintoamessageboxonascreentoengageindialoguewithoneormorepeopleviatheInternet
orothernetwork.
Chip
Atinywaferofsiliconcontainingminiatureelectriccircuitsthatcanstoremillionsofbitsofinformation.
Client
Asingleuserofanetworkapplicationthatisoperatedfromaserver.Aclient/serverarchitectureallows
manypeopletousethesamedatasimultaneously.Theprogram'smaincomponentthedataresidesona
centralizedserver,withsmallercomponentsuserinterfaceoneachclient.
Cookie
AtextfilesentbyaWebserverthatisstoredontheharddriveofacomputerandrelaysbacktotheWeb
serverthingsabouttheuser,hisorhercomputer,and/orhisorhercomputeractivities.
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ComputerGlossary
CPU
CentralProcessingUnit.Thebrainofthecomputer.
Cracker
Apersonwhobreaksintoacomputerthroughanetwork,withoutauthorizationandwithmischievousor
destructiveintent.
Crash
Ahardwareorsoftwareproblemthatcausesinformationtobelostorthecomputertomalfunction.
Sometimesacrashcancausepermanentdamagetoacomputer.
Cursor
Amovingpositionindicatordisplayedonacomputermonitorthatshowsacomputeroperatorwherethe
nextactionoroperationwilltakeplace.
Cyberspace
Slangforinternetie.Aninternationalconglomerationofinterconnectedcomputernetworks.Beguninthe
late1960s,itwasdevelopedinthe1970stoallowgovernmentanduniversityresearcherstoshare
information.TheInternetisnotcontrolledbyanysinglegroupororganization.Itsoriginalfocuswas
researchandcommunications,butitcontinuestoexpand,offeringawidearrayofresourcesforbusiness
andhomeusers.
Database
Acollectionofsimilarinformationstoredinafile,suchasadatabaseofaddresses.Thisinformationmay
becreatedandstoredinadatabasemanagementsystemDBMS.
Debug
Slang.Tofindandcorrectequipmentdefectsorprogrammalfunctions.
Default
Thepredefinedconfigurationofasystemoranapplication.Inmostprograms,thedefaultscanbechanged
toreflectpersonalpreferences.
Desktop
Themaindirectoryoftheuserinterface.Desktopsusuallycontainiconsthatrepresentlinkstothehard
drive,anetworkifthereisone,andatrashorrecyclingcanforfilestobedeleted.Itcanalsodisplayiconsof
frequentlyusedapplications,asrequestedbytheuser.
Desktoppublishing
Theproductionofpublicationqualitydocumentsusingapersonalcomputerincombinationwithtext,
graphics,andpagelayoutprograms.
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ComputerGlossary
Directory
Arepositorywhereallfilesarekeptoncomputer.
Disk
Twodistincttypes.Thenamesrefertothemediainsidethecontainer:
Aharddiscstoresvastamountsofdata.Itisusuallyinsidethecomputerbutcanbeaseparateperipheral
ontheoutside.Harddiscsaremadeupofseveralrigidcoatedmetaldiscs.Currently,harddiscscanstore
15to30Gbgigabytes.
Afloppydisc,3.5"square,usuallyinsertedintothecomputerandcanstoreabout1.4megabytesofdata.
The3.5"squarefloppieshaveaverythin,flexiblediscinside.Thereisalsoanintermediatesizedfloppy
disc,trademarkedZipdiscs,whichcanstore250megabytesofdata.
Diskdrive
Theequipmentthatoperatesahardorfloppydisc.
Domain
RepresentsanIPInternetProtocoladdressorsetofIPaddressesthatcompriseadomain.Thedomainname
appearsinURLstoidentifywebpagesorinemailaddresses.Forexample,theemailaddressfortheFirst
[email protected],whitehouse.gov,beingthedomainname.Eachdomainnameendswith
asuffixthatindicateswhattopleveldomainitbelongsto.Theseare:.comforcommercial,.govfor
government,.orgfororganization,.eduforeducationalinstitution,.bizforbusiness,.infoforinformation,
.tvfortelevision,.wsforwebsite.Domainsuffixesmayalsoindicatethecountryinwhichthedomainis
registered.Notwopartiescaneverholdthesamedomainname.
Domainname
ThenameofanetworkorcomputerlinkedtotheInternet.DomainsaredefinedbyacommonIPaddress
orsetofsimilarIPInternetProtocoladdresses.
Download
Theprocessoftransferringinformationfromawebsiteorotherremotelocationonanetworktothecomputer.It
ispossibletodownloadafilewhichincludetext,image,audio,videoandmanyothers.
DOS
DiskOperatingSystem.AnoperatingsystemdesignedforearlyIBMcompatiblePCs.
Dropdownmenu
Amenuwindowthatopensverticallyonscreentodisplaycontextrelatedoptions.Alsocalledpopup
menuorpulldownmenu.
DSL
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ComputerGlossary
DigitalSubscriberLine,amethodofconnectingtotheInternetviaaphoneline.ADSLconnectionuses
coppertelephonelinesbutisabletorelaydataatmuchhigherspeedsthanmodemsanddoesnotinterfere
withtelephoneuse.
DVD
DigitalVideoDisc.SimilartoaCDROM,itstoresandplaysbothaudioandvideo.
Ebook
Anelectronicusuallyhand heldreadingdevicethatallowsapersontoviewdigitallystoredreading
materials.
Email
Electronicmailmessages,includingmemosorletters,sentelectronicallybetweennetworkedcomputers
thatmaybeacrosstheofficeoraroundtheworld.
Emoticon
AtextbasedexpressionofemotioncreatedfromASCIIcharactersthatmimicsafacialexpressionwhen
viewedwithyourheadtiltedtotheleft.Herearesomeexamples:
Smiling
Frowning
Winking
Crying
Encryption
Theprocessoftransmittingscrambleddatasothatonlyauthorizedrecipientscanunscrambleit.For
instance,encryptionisusedtoscramblecreditcardinformationwhenpurchasesaremadeoverthe
Internet.
Ethernet
Atypeofnetwork.
Ethernetcard
Aboardinsideacomputertowhichanetworkcablecanbeattached.
File
Asetofdatathatisstoredinthecomputer.
Firewall
AsetofsecurityprogramsthatprotectacomputerfromoutsideinterferenceoraccessviatheInternet.
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ComputerGlossary
Folder
Astructureforcontainingelectronicfiles.Insomeoperatingsystems,itiscalledadirectory.
Fonts
Setsoftypefacesorcharactersthatcomeindifferentstylesandsizes.
Freeware
Softwarecreatedbypeoplewhoarewillingtogiveitawayforthesatisfactionofsharingorknowingthey
helpedtosimplifyotherpeople'slives.Itmaybefreestandingsoftware,oritmayaddfunctionalityto
existingsoftware.
FTP
FileTransferProtocol,aformatandsetofrulesfortransferringfilesfromahosttoaremote
computer.
GigabyteGB
1024megabytes.Alsocalledgig.
Glitch
Thecauseofanunexpectedmalfunction.
Gopher
AnInternetsearchtoolthatallowsuserstoaccesstextualinformationthroughaseriesofmenus,orif
usingFTP,throughdownloads.
GUI
GraphicalUserInterface,asystemthatsimplifiesselectingcomputercommandsbyenablingtheuser
topointtosymbolsorillustrationscallediconsonthecomputerscreenwithamouse.
Groupware
Softwarethatallowsnetworkedindividualstoformgroupsandcollaborateondocuments,programs,or
databases.
Hacker
Apersonwithtechnicalexpertisewhoexperimentswithcomputersystemstodeterminehowtodevelop
additionalfeatures.Hackersareoccasionallyrequestedbysystemadministratorstotryandbreakinto
systemsviaanetworktotestsecurity.Thetermhackerissometimesincorrectlyusedinterchangeablywith
cracker.Ahackeriscalledawhitehatandacrackerablackhat.
Hardcopy
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ComputerGlossary
Apaperprintoutofwhatyouhavepreparedonthecomputer.
Harddrive
Anothernamefortheharddiscthatstoresinformationinacomputer.
Hardware
Thephysicalandmechanicalcomponentsofacomputersystem,suchastheelectroniccircuitry,chips,
monitor,disks,diskdrives,keyboard,modem,andprinter.
Homepage
ThemainpageofaWebsiteusedtogreetvisitors,provideinformationaboutthesite,ortodirectthe
viewertootherpagesonthesite.
HTML
HypertextMarkupLanguage,astandardoftextmarkupconventionsusedfordocumentsonthe
WorldWideWeb.Browsersinterpretthecodestogivethetextstructureandformatting
suchasbold, blue, oritalic.
HTTP
HypertextTransferProtocol,acommonsystemusedtorequestandsendHTMLdocumentsonthe
WorldWideWeb.ItisthefirstportionofallURLaddressesontheWorldWideWeb.
HTTPS
HypertextTransferProtocolSecure,oftenusedinintracompanyinternetsites.Passwordsare
requiredtogainaccess.
Hyperlink
Textoranimagethatisconnectedbyhypertextcodingtoadifferentlocation.Byselectingthetextorimage
withamouse,thecomputerjumpstoordisplaysthelinkedtext.
Hypermedia
Integratesaudio,graphics,and/orvideothroughlinksembeddedinthemainprogram.
Hypertext
Asystemfororganizingtextthroughlinks,asopposedtoamenudrivenhierarchysuchasGopher.Most
Webpagesincludehypertextlinkstootherpagesatthatsite,ortoothersitesontheWorldWideWeb.
Icons
Symbolsorillustrationsappearingonthecomputerscreenthatindicateprogramfilesorothercomputer
functions.
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ComputerGlossary
Input
Datathatgoesintoacomputerdevice.
Inputdevice
Adevice,suchasakeyboard,stylusandtablet,mouse,puck,ormicrophone,thatallowsinputof
informationletters, numbers, sound, videotoacomputer.
InstantmessagingIM
AchatapplicationthatallowstwoormorepeopletocommunicateovertheInternetviarealtimekeyedin
messages.
Interface
Theinterconnectionsthatallowadevice,aprogram,orapersontointeract.Hardwareinterfacesarethe
cablesthatconnectthedevicetoitspowersourceandtootherdevices.Softwareinterfacesallowthe
programtocommunicatewithotherprogramssuchastheoperatingsystem,anduserinterfacesallowtheuser
tocommunicatewiththeprograme. g. , viamouse, menucommands, icons, voicecommands, etc. .
Internet
Aninternationalconglomerationofinterconnectedcomputernetworks.Beguninthelate1960s,itwas
developedinthe1970stoallowgovernmentanduniversityresearcherstoshareinformation.TheInternet
isnotcontrolledbyanysinglegroupororganization.Itsoriginalfocuswasresearchandcommunications,
butitcontinuestoexpand,offeringawidearrayofresourcesforbusinessandhomeusers.
IPInternetProtocoladdress
AnInternetProtocoladdressisauniquesetofnumbersusedtolocateanothercomputeronanetwork.
TheformatofanIPaddressisa32bitstringoffournumbersseparatedbyperiods.Eachnumbercanbe
from0to255i. e. , 1.154.10.266.WithinaclosednetworkIPaddressesmaybeassignedatrandom,
however,IPaddressesofwebserversmustberegisteredtoavoidduplicates.
Java
Anobjectorientedprogramminglanguagedesignedspecificallyforprogramsparticularlymultimediatobe
usedovertheInternet.Javaallowsprogrammerstocreatesmallprogramsorapplicationsappletsto
enhanceWebsites.
JavaScript/ECMAscript
Aprogramminglanguageusedalmostexclusivelytomanipulatecontentonawebpage.Common
JavaScriptfunctionsincludevalidatingformsonawebpage,creatingdynamicpagenavigationmenus,and
imagerollovers.
KilobyteKorKB
Equalto1,024bytes.
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ComputerGlossary
Linux
AUNIXlike,opensourceoperatingsystemdevelopedprimarilybyLinusTorvalds.Linuxisfreeandruns
onmanyplatforms,includingbothPCsandMacintoshes.Linuxisanopensourceoperatingsystem,
meaningthatthesourcecodeoftheoperatingsystemisfreelyavailabletothepublic.Programmersmay
redistributeandmodifythecode,aslongastheydon'tcollectroyaltiesontheirworkordenyaccesstotheir
code.Sincedevelopmentisnotrestrictedtoasinglecorporationmoreprogrammerscandebugand
improvethesourcecodefaster.
Laptopandnotebook
Small,lightweight,portablebatterypoweredcomputersthatcanfitontoyourlap.Theyeachhaveathin,
flat,liquidcrystaldisplayscreen.
Macro
Ascriptthatoperatesaseriesofcommandstoperformafunction.Itissetuptoautomaterepetitivetasks.
MacOS
Anoperatingsystemwithagraphicaluserinterface,developedbyAppleforMacintoshcomputers.Current
SystemX.1.10combinesthetraditionalMacinterfacewithastrongunderlyingUNIX.Operatingsystemfor
increasedperformanceandstability.
MegabyteMB
Equalto1,048,576bytes,usuallyroundedofftoonemillionbytesalsocalledameg.
Memory
Temporarystorageforinformation,includingapplicationsanddocuments.Theinformationmustbe
storedtoapermanentdevice,suchasaharddiscorCDROMbeforethepoweristurnedoff,orthe
informationwillbelost.Computermemoryismeasuredintermsoftheamountofinformationitcanstore,
commonlyinmegabytesorgigabytes.
Menu
Acontextrelatedlistofoptionsthatuserscanchoosefrom.
Menubar
Thehorizontalstripacrossthetopofanapplication'swindow.Eachwordonthestriphasacontext
sensitivedropdownmenucontainingfeaturesandactionsthatareavailablefortheapplicationinuse.
Merge
Tocombinetwoormorefilesintoasinglefile.
MHz
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ComputerGlossary
AnabbreviationforMegahertz,oronemillionhertz.OneMHzrepresentsonemillionclockcyclesper
secondandisthemeasureofacomputermicroprocessor'sspeed.Forexample,amicroprocessorthatruns
at300MHzexecutes300millioncyclespersecond.Eachinstructionacomputerreceivestakesafixed
numberofclockcyclestocarryout,thereforethemorecyclesacomputercanexecutepersecond,the
fasteritsprogramsrun.Megahertzisalsoaunitofmeasureforbandwidth.
Microprocessor
AcompletecentralprocessingunitCPUcontainedonasinglesiliconchip.
Minimize
AtermusedinaGUIoperatingsystemthatuseswindows.Itreferstoreducingawindowtoanicon,ora
labelatthebottomofthescreen,allowinganotherwindowtobeviewed.
Modem
Adevicethatconnectstwocomputerstogetheroveratelephoneorcablelinebyconvertingthecomputer's
dataintoanaudiosignal.Modemisacontractionfortheprocessitperforms:modulatedemodulate.
Monitor
Avideodisplayterminal.
Mouse
Asmallhandhelddevice,similartoatrackball,usedtocontrolthepositionofthecursoronthevideo
displaymovementsofthemouseonadesktopcorrespondtomovementsofthecursoronthescreen.
MP3
Compactaudioandvideofileformat.Thesmallsizeofthefilesmakesthemeasytodownloadandemail.
Formatusedinportableplaybackdevices.
Multimedia
Softwareprogramsthatcombinetextandgraphicswithsound,video,andanimation.AmultimediaPC
containsthehardwaretosupportthesecapabilities.
MSDOS
AnearlyoperatingsystemdevelopedbyMicrosoftCorporationMicrosoftDiscOperatingSystem.
Network
Asystemofinterconnectedcomputers.
Opensource
Computerprogramswhoseoriginalsourcecodewasrevealedtothegeneralpublicsothatitcouldbe
developedopenly.Softwarelicensedasopensourcecanbefreelychangedoradaptedtonewuses,meaning
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ComputerGlossary
thatthesourcecodeoftheoperatingsystemisfreelyavailabletothepublic.Programmersmay
redistributeandmodifythecode,aslongastheydon'tcollectroyaltiesontheirworkordenyaccesstotheir
code.Sincedevelopmentisnotrestrictedtoasinglecorporationmoreprogrammerscandebugand
improvethesourcecodefaster.
Operatingsystem
Asetofinstructionsthattellacomputeronhowtooperatewhenitisturnedon.Itsetsupafilingsystemto
storefilesandtellsthecomputerhowtodisplayinformationonavideodisplay.MostPCoperating
systemsareDOSdiscoperatedsystemsystems,meaningtheinstructionsarestoredonadisc
asopposedtobeingoriginallystoredinthemicroprocessorsofthecomputer.Otherwellknownoperatingsystems
includeUNIX,Linux,Macintosh,andWindows.
Output
Datathatcomeoutofacomputerdevice.Forexample,informationdisplayedonthemonitor,soundfrom
thespeakers,andinformationprintedtopaper.
Palm
Ahandheldcomputer.
PC
Personalcomputer.GenerallyreferstocomputersrunningWindowswithaPentiumprocessor.
PCboard
PrintedCircuitboard,aboardprintedoretchedwithacircuitandprocessors.Powersupplies,
informationstoragedevices,orchangersareattached.
PDA
PersonalDigitalAssistant,ahandheldcomputerthatcanstoredailyappointments,phonenumbers,
addresses,andotherimportantinformation.MostPDAslinktoadesktoporlaptopcomputertodownload
oruploadinformation.
PDF
PortableDocumentFormat,aformatpresentedbyAdobeAcrobatthatallowsdocumentstobeshared
overavarietyofoperatingsystems.Documentscancontainwordsandpicturesandbeformattedtohave
electroniclinkstootherpartsofthedocumentortoplacesontheweb.
Pentiumchip
Intel'sfifthgenerationofsophisticatedhighspeedmicroprocessors.Pentiummeansthefifthelement.
Peripheral
Anyexternaldeviceattachedtoacomputertoenhanceoperation.Examplesincludeexternalharddrive,
scanner,printer,speakers,keyboard,mouse,trackball,stylusandtablet,andjoystick.
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ComputerGlossary
PersonalcomputerPC
AsingleusercomputercontainingacentralprocessingunitCPUandoneormorememorycircuits.
Petabyte
Ameasureofmemoryorstoragecapacityandisapproximatelyathousandterabytes.
Petaflop
Atheoreticalmeasureofacomputer'sspeedandcanbeexpressedasathousandtrillionfloatingpoint
operationspersecond.
Platform
Theoperatingsystem,suchasUNIX,Macintosh,Windows,onwhichacomputerisbased.
Plugandplay
Computerhardwareorperipheralsthatcomesetupwithnecessarysoftwaresothatwhenattachedtoa
computer,theyarerecognizedbythecomputerandarereadytouse.
Popupmenu
Amenuwindowthatopensverticallyorhorizontallyonscreentodisplaycontextrelatedoptions.Also
calleddropdownmenuorpulldownmenu.
PowerPC
AcompetitorofthePentiumchip.Itisanewgenerationofpowerfulsophisticatedmicroprocessors
producedfromanAppleIBMMotorolaalliance.
Printer
Amechanicaldeviceforprintingacomputer'soutputonpaper.Therearethreemajortypesofprinter:
Dotmatrixcreatesindividualletters,madeupofaseriesoftinyinkdots,bypunchingaribbon
withtheendsoftinywires.
Thistypeofprinterismostoftenusedinindustrialsettings, suchasdirectmailforlabelling.
Inkjetspraystinydropletsofinkparticlesontopaper.
Laserusesabeamoflighttoreproducetheimageofeachpageusingamagneticchargethat
attractsdrytonerthatistransferredtopaperandsealedwithheat.
Program
Apreciseseriesofinstructionswritteninacomputerlanguagethattellsthecomputerwhattodoandhow
todoit.Programsarealsocalledsoftwareorapplications.
Programminglanguage
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ComputerGlossary
Aseriesofinstructionswrittenbyaprogrammeraccordingtoagivensetofrulesorconventionssyntax.
Highlevelprogramminglanguagesareindependentofthedeviceonwhichtheapplicationorprogramwill
eventuallyrunlowlevellanguagesarespecifictoeachprogramorplatform.Programminglanguage
instructionsareconvertedintoprogramsinlanguagespecifictoaparticularmachineoroperatingsystem
machinelanguage.Sothatthecomputercaninterpretandcarryouttheinstructions.Somecommon
programminglanguagesareBASIC,C,C++,dBASE,FORTRAN,andPerl.
Puck
Aninputdevice,likeamouse.Ithasamagnifyingglasswithcrosshairsonthefrontofitthatallowsthe
operatortopositionitpreciselywhentracingadrawingforusewithCADCAMsoftware.
Pulldownmenu
Amenuwindowthatopensverticallyonscreentodisplaycontextrelatedoptions.Alsocalleddropdown
menuorpopupmenu.
Pushtechnology
Internettoolthatdeliversspecificinformationdirectlytoauser'sdesktop,eliminatingtheneedtosurffor
it.PointCast,whichdeliversnewsinuserdefinedcategories,isapopularexampleofthistechnology.
QuickTime
AudiovisualsoftwarethatallowsmoviedeliveryviatheInternetandemail.QuickTimeimagesareviewed
onamonitor.
RAID
RedundantArrayofInexpensiveDisks,amethodofspreadinginformationacrossseveraldisksset
uptoactasaunit,usingtwodifferenttechniques:
Diskstripingstoringabitofinformationacrossseveraldiscs
insteadofstoringitallononediscandhopingthatthediscdoesn tcrash.
Diskmirroringsimultaneouslystoringacopyofinformationonanotherdiscsothatthe
informationcanberecoveredifthemaindisccrashes.
RAM
RandomAccessMemory,oneoftwobasictypesofmemory.PortionsofprogramsarestoredinRAM
whentheprogramislaunchedsothattheprogramwillrunfaster.ThoughaPChasafixedamountofRAM,
onlyportionsofitwillbeaccessedbythecomputeratanygiventime.Alsocalledmemory.
Rightclick
Usingtherightmousebuttontoopencontextsensitivedropdownmenus.
ROM
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ComputerGlossary
ReadOnlyMemory,oneoftwobasictypesofmemory.ROMcontainsonlypermanentinformationput
therebythemanufacturer.InformationinROMcannotbealtered,norcanthememorybedynamically
allocatedbythecomputeroritsoperator.
Scanner
Anelectronicdevicethatuseslightsensingequipmenttoscanpaperimagessuchastext,photos,and
illustrationsandtranslatetheimagesintosignalsthatthecomputercanthenstore,modify,ordistribute.
Searchengine
SoftwarethatmakesitpossibletolookforandretrievematerialontheInternet,particularlytheWeb.
SomepopularsearchenginesareAltaVista,Google,HotBot,Yahoo!,WebCrawler,andLycos.
Server
Acomputerthatsharesitsresourcesandinformationwithothercomputers,calledclients,onanetwork.
Shareware
Softwarecreatedbypeoplewhoarewillingtosellitatlowcostornocostforthegratificationofsharing.It
maybefreestandingsoftware,oritmayaddfunctionalitytoexistingsoftware.
Software
Computerprogramsalsocalledapplications.
Spider
Aprocesssearchenginesusetoinvestigatenewpagesonawebsiteandcollecttheinformationthatneeds
tobeputintheirindices.
Spreadsheet
Softwarethatallowsonetocalculatenumbersinaformatthatissimilartopagesinaconventionalledger.
Storage
Devicesusedtostoremassiveamountsofinformationsothatitcanbereadilyretrieved.Devicesinclude
RAIDs,CDROMs,DVDs.
Streaming
TakingpacketsofinformationsoundorvisualfromtheInternetandstoringitintemporaryfilestoallowitto
playincontinuousflow.
Stylusandtablet
Aninputdevicesimilartoamouse.Thestylusispenshaped.Itisusedtodrawonatablet
likedrawingonpaperandthetablettransferstheinformationtothecomputer.Thetabletrespondsto
pressure.Thefirmerthepressureusedtodraw,thethickerthelineappears.
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ComputerGlossary
Surfing
ExploringtheInternet.
Surgeprotector
Acontrollertoprotectthecomputerandmakeupforvariancesinvoltage.
Telnet
Awaytocommunicatewitharemotecomputeroveranetwork.
Trackball
Inputdevicethatcontrolsthepositionofthecursoronthescreentheunitismountednearthekeyboard,
andmovementiscontrolledbymovingaball.
TerabytesTB
Athousandgigabytes.
Teraflop
Ameasureofacomputer'sspeed.Itcanbeexpressedasatrillionfloatingpointoperationspersecond.
TrojanHorse
Seevirus.
UNIX
Averypowerfuloperatingsystemusedasthebasisofmanyhighendcomputerapplications.
Upload
Theprocessoftransferringinformationfromacomputertoawebsiteorotherremotelocationonanetwork.To
transferinformationfromacomputertoawebsiteorotherremotelocationonanetwork.
URL
UniformResourceLocator.
TheprotocolforidentifyingadocumentontheWeb.
AWebaddresse. g. , www. tutorialspoint. com.AURLisuniquetoeachuser.Seealsodomain.
UPS
UniversalPowerSupplyorUninterruptiblePowerSupply.Anelectricalpowersupplythatincludesa
batterytoprovideenoughpowertoacomputerduringanoutagetobackupdataandproperlyshutdown.
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ComputerGlossary
USB
AmultiplesocketUSBconnectorthatallowsseveralUSBcompatibledevicestobeconnectedtoa
computer.
USENET
AlargeunmoderatedanduneditedbulletinboardontheInternetthatoffersthousandsofforums,called
newsgroups.Theserangefromnewsgroupsexchanginginformationonscientificadvancestocelebrityfan
clubs.
Userfriendly
Aprogramordevicewhoseuseisintuitivetopeoplewithanontechnicalbackground.
Videoteleconferencing
Aremote"facetofacechat,"whentwoormorepeopleusingawebcamandanInternettelephone
connectionchatonline.Thewebcamenablesbothlivevoiceandvideo.
VirtualrealityVR
Atechnologythatallowsonetoexperienceandinteractwithimagesinasimulatedthreedimensional
environment.Forexample,youcoulddesignaroominahouseonyourcomputerandactuallyfeelthatyou
arewalkingaroundiniteventhoughitwasneverbuilt.
TheHolodeckinthescience fictionTVseriesStarTrek: Voyagerwouldbetheultimatevirtualreality. Currenttechnology
requirestheusertowearaspecialhelmet,viewinggoggles,gloves,andotherequipmentthattransmitsand
receivesinformationfromthecomputer.
Virus
Anunauthorizedpieceofcomputercodeattachedtoacomputerprogramorportionsofacomputersystem
thatsecretlycopiesitselffromonecomputertoanotherbyshareddiscsandovertelephoneandcablelines.
Itcandestroyinformationstoredonthecomputer,andinextremecases,candestroyoperability.
Computerscanbeprotectedfromvirusesiftheoperatorutilizesgoodviruspreventionsoftwareandkeeps
thevirusdefinitionsuptodate.Mostvirusesarenotprogrammedtospreadthemselves.Theyhavetobe
senttoanothercomputerbyemail,sharing,orapplications.Thewormisanexception,becauseitis
programmedtoreplicateitselfbysendingcopiestoothercomputerslistedintheemailaddressbookin
thecomputer.Therearemanykindsofviruses,forexample:
Bootvirusesplacesomeoftheircodeinthestartupdisksectortoautomaticallyexecutewhen
booting.Therefore,whenaninfectedmachineboots,thevirusloadsandruns.
Filevirusesattachedtoprogramfilesfileswiththeextension. exe.Whenyouruntheinfectedprogram,
theviruscodeexecutes.
Macrovirusescopytheirmacrostotemplatesand/orotherapplicationdocumentfiles.
TrojanHorseisamalicious,securitybreakingprogramthatisdisguisedassomethingbeingsuchas
ascreensaverorgame.
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ComputerGlossary
Wormlaunchesanapplicationthatdestroysinformationonyourharddrive.Italsosendsacopyof
thevirustoeveryoneinthecomputer'semailaddressbook.
WAV
Asoundformatpronouncedwaveusedtoreproducesoundsonacomputer.
Webcam
Avideocamera/computersetupthattakesliveimagesandsendsthemtoaWebbrowser.
Window
Aportionofacomputerdisplayusedinagraphicalinterfacethatenablesuserstoselectcommandsby
pointingtoillustrationsorsymbolswithamouse."Windows"isalsothenameMicrosoftadoptedforits
popularoperatingsystem.
WorldWideWeb " WWW " or " theWeb "
AnetworkofserversontheInternetthatusehypertextlinkeddatabasesandfiles.Itwasdevelopedin1989
byTimBernersLee,aBritishcomputerscientist,andisnowtheprimaryplatformoftheInternet.The
featurethatdistinguishestheWebfromotherInternetapplicationsisitsabilitytodisplaygraphicsin
additiontotext.
Wordprocessor
Acomputersystemorprogramforsetting,editing,revising,correcting,storing,andprintingtext.
Worm
Seevirus.
WYSIWYG
WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet.Whenusingmostwordprocessors,pagelayoutprograms
Seedesktoppublishing,andwebpagedesignprograms,wordsandimageswillbedisplayedonthemonitoras
theywilllookontheprintedpageorwebpage.
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