Basic Computer Glossary

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Application Software: A program which allows us to apply ourselves to a particular task such as editing an image, accessing the Internet resources or playing games.
ASCII: American-Standard Code for Information Interface. An international standard for encoding characters into 7 bit codes; ASCII is the basic of the more modern Unicode Standard

Binary Code: A scheme for encoding data which uses only 0 and 1. Binary code can be used to encode text, images, sounds and programs amongst other data.
Bit: A contraction of the term "binary digit", hence either 0 or 1.
Bytes: A contraction of the few "binary terms"; the smallest unit of information which can be accessed directly by the CPU. Most medium microcomputers use 8 bit, 16 bit, 32 bit bytes.
Booting: The process by which a computer loads the operating system into the primary storage from secondary storage using the instructions found in ROM.

Character: A single letter, digit or special symbols like punctuation marks (the dollar sign and blank spaces).
Computer: A non-mechanical programmable electronic device for the processing of information.
CPU: Central processing unit. A miniaturized electronic component which controls the execution of a computer and which performs basic arithmetic and logical operations. Colloquially called the computer's brain.

Hardware: The physical parts of the computer; any part of the computer which can be seen and touched.

Information: Words, sound, images (content) that have meaning to us.
Input Device: Devices used to put information into a computer. Common examples of input devices are drives (USB, CD), keyboards, webcams/ cameras, scanners.

Megabyte: 2^20 bytes, approximately 1 million bytes.
Monitor: A visual display device which the computer uses to display information about its internal state, allow people to moniter the activities of the computer. Also known as: screen, display and CRT.

Output Device: Devices used by computers to put out information. Common examples of output devices are monitors, printers, speakers, drives, modems, touch panels.
Operating System: A set of programs which handles the interface to peripheral hardware, schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running.

Peripherals: Any hardware element which is peripheral to the computer's system unit. Commom examples are input devices and output devices. Even output devices which are often found within the disc and modems are considered peripherals because they use peripherals to the core element of the computer: the CPU, RAM, ROM.
Primary Storage: A miniature electronic component which provides temporary storage of information. Primary storage is volatile and relatively expensive. We use it because it's fast, and (with few exceptions) the only storage which the CPU can directly access. The single example of primary storage is RAM.
Program: A set of instructions written in a language the computer can understand which tells the computer what to do and when to do it.
Programmable: Capable of performing varied and different tasks limited only be the sophistication of the programs.

RAM: Random Access memory. See primary storage.
ROM: Read only memory. A miniaturized electronic component which provides permanent storage of information in most discs, the information in ROM is "written" only, at the factory. Thereafter ROM can only be used to "read from" and not to write to.
Root: Short for "root directory". The main directory under a hierarchical director structure, which (logically) contains all other directories. In DOS and Windows based systems the root directory is represented by the backslash (\). In Mac OS, Unix and Linux systems the root directory is represented by the forward slash (/)

Secondary Storage: Any storage system which provides (relatively) permanent storage of information. Secondary is non-volatile and relatively inexpensive, but slow. With few exceptions, , secondary storage cannot be directly accessed by the CPU. The most commons forms of secondary systems are magnetic and optical discs and magnetic tape.
Software: Synonym for program.
System Unit: A plastic on metal box which contains the principal parts of a computer: CPU, RAM, ROM, various connecting cables and an AC/DC converter. In modern microcomputer, it's common to find peripheral devices installed inside the system units; examples include disk drives and modems.
String: A collection of like units treated as a whole; for example: a string of characters, a string of bits.

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Background seen on this section of the website comes from Free Wallpapers. Taken: 2010-10-01