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AGP (accelerated graphics port) bus
Bus that transmits data at very high speeds; designed to support video and three-dimensional (3-D) graphics. TERM 2
Arithmetic/logic unit (ALU)
DEFINITION 2 Part of the CPU that performs arithmetic operations and logical operations and controls the speed of those operations. TERM 3
ASCII (American Standard Code for
Information Interchange)
DEFINITION 3 Binary code used with microcomputers. Besides having the more conventional characters, the Extended ASCII version includes such characters as math symbols and Greek letters. TERM 4
Bay
DEFINITION 4 Shelf or opening in the computer case used for the installation of electronic equipment, generally storage devices such as a hard drive or DVD drive. TERM 5
Binary system
DEFINITION 5 A two-state system used for data representation in computers; has only two digits 0 and 1.
Bit
Short for binary digit, which is either a 0 or a 1 in the binary system of data representation in computer systems. TERM 7
Bluetooth
DEFINITION 7 Wireless technology that consists of short-range radio waves that transmit up to 30 feet. TERM 8
Blu-ray
DEFINITION 8 The Blu-ray optical format was developed to enable recording, rewriting, and playback of high-definition video, as well as storing of large amounts of data. TERM 9
Bus
DEFINITION 9 Also called bus line; electrical data roadway through which bits are transmitted within the CPU and between the CPU and other components of the motherboard. TERM 10
Byte
DEFINITION 10 Group of 8 bits.
Chipset
Groups of interconnected chips on the motherboard that control the flow of information between the microprocessor and other system components connected to the motherboard. TERM 17
CMOS (complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor) chips
DEFINITION 17 Battery-powered chips that dont lose their contents when the power is turned off. TERM 18
Control unit
DEFINITION 18 Part of the CPU that deciphers each instruction stored in it and then carries out the instruction. TERM 19
CPU (central processing unit)
DEFINITION 19 The processor; it follows the instructions of the software (program) to manipulate data into information. The CPU consists of two parts 1) the control unit and 2)the arithmetic/logic unit (ALU), both of which contain registers, or high-speed storage areas. All are linked by a kind of electronic roadway called a bus. TERM 20
DVD-R (DVD-recordable) disks
DEFINITION 20 DVD disks that allow one-time recording by the user.
DVD-ROM (digital versatile disk or digital
video disk, with read-only memory)
CD-type disk with extremely high capacity, able to store 4. or more gigabytes TERM 22
EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal
Interchange Code)
DEFINITION 22 binary code used with large computers. TERM 23
Ethernet
DEFINITION 23 Network standard for linking all devices in a local area network. TERM 24
Exabyte (EB)
DEFINITION 24 Approximately 1 quintillion bytes 1billion billion bytes (1, petabytes or 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes). TERM 25
Expansion
DEFINITION 25 Way of increasing a computers capabilities by adding hardware to perform tasks that are beyond the scope of the basic system.
Flash memory
drive
Also called a USB flash drive, keychain drive, or key drive; a finger-size module of flash memory that plugs into the USB ports of nearly any PC or Macintosh. TERM 32
Flash memory stick
DEFINITION 32 Smaller than a stick of chewing gum, a form of flash memory media that plugs into a memory stick port in a digital camera, camcorder, notebook PC, photo printer, and other devices. TERM 33
Flops
DEFINITION 33 Stands for floating-point operations per second. A floating- point operation is a special kind of mathematical calculation. This measure, used mainly with supercomputers, is expressed as megaflops (mflops, or millions of floating-point operations per second), gigaflops (gflops, or billions), and teraflops (tflops, or trillions). TERM 34
Gigabyte (G, GB)
DEFINITION 34 Approximately 1 billion bytes (1,073,741,824 bytes); a measure of storage capacity. TERM 35
Gigahertz (GHz)
DEFINITION 35 Measure of speed used for the latest generation of processors: 1 billion cycles per second.
Graphics processing unit (GPU)
Specialized processor used to manipulate three-dimensional (3-D) computer graphics. TERM 37
Graphics card
DEFINITION 37 Also called a video card or video adapter; expansion card that converts signals from the computer into video signals that can be displayed as images on a monitor. TERM 38
Hard disk
DEFINITION 38 Secondary storage medium; thin but rigid metal, glass, or ceramic platter covered with a substance that allows data to be stored n the form of magnetized spots. Hard disks are tightly sealed within an enclosed hard-disk-drive unit to prevent any foreign matter from getting inside. Data may be recorded on both sides of the disk platters. TERM 39
Integrated
circuit
DEFINITION 39 an entire electronic circuit, including wires, formed on a single chip, or piece, or special material, usually silicon. TERM 40
Intel-type chip
DEFINITION 40 Processor chip originally made for PCs; made principally by Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), but also by Cyrix, DEC, and others.
Megabyte (M, MB)
Approximately 1 million bytes (1,048,576 bytes); measure of storage capacity. TERM 47
Megahertz (MHz)
DEFINITION 47 Measure of microcomputer processing speed, controlled by the system clock; 1 million cycles per second. TERM 48
Microprocessor
DEFINITION 48 Miniaturized circuitry of a computer processor. It stores program instructions that process, or manipulate, data into information. The key parts of the microprocessor are transistors. TERM 49
MIDI port
DEFINITION 49 Pronounced mid-dee, and short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. A specialized port used in creating, recording, editing, and performing music. TERM 50
MIPS
DEFINITION 50 Stands for millions of instructions per second; a measure of processing speed.
Motorola-type chips
Microprocessors made by Motorola for Apple Macintosh computers. TERM 52
Multicore processor
DEFINITION 52 Microcomputer chip such as Intels dual-core and quad-core processors and AMDs Athlon X2 processor, with two or more processor cores on a single piece of silicon. TERM 53
Network interface card (NIC)
DEFINITION 53 Expansion card that allows the transmission of data over a cable network. TERM 54
Optical disk
DEFINITION 54 Removable disk, usually 4.75 inches in diameter and less than one-twentieth of an inch thick, on which data is written and read through the use of laser beams. TERM 55
Optical memory card
DEFINITION 55 Plastic, laser-recordable, wallet-type card used with an optical-card reader.
Port
A connecting socket or jack on the outside of the system unit into which are plugged different kinds of cables. TERM 62
Power supply
DEFINITION 62 Device that converts AC to DC to run the computer. TERM 63
RAM (Random Access Memory) chips
DEFINITION 63 Also called primary storage and main memory; chips that temporarily hold software instructions and data before and after it is processed by the CPU. RAM is a volatile form of storage. TERM 64
Read
DEFINITION 64 To transfer data from an input source into the computers memory or CPU. TERM 65
Read/Write head
DEFINITION 65 Mechanism used to transfer data between the computer and the disk. When the disk spins inside its case, the read/write head moves back and forth over the data access area on the disk.
Registers
High-speed storage areas that temporarily store data during processing. TERM 67
ROM (Read-only memory)
DEFINITION 67 Memory chip that cannot be written on or erased by the computer user without special equipment. TERM 68
SCSI (small computer system interface) port
DEFINITION 68 Pronounced scuzzy, a connector that allows data to be transmitted in a daisy chain to up to seven devices at speeds (32 bits at a time) higher than those possible with serial and parallel ports. The term daisy chain means that several devices are connected in series to each other, so that data for the seventh device, for example, has to go through the other six devices first. TERM 69
Secondary storage hardware
DEFINITION 69 Devices that permanently hold data and information as well as programs. TERM 70
Sectors
DEFINITION 70 The small arcs created in tracks when a disks storage locations are divided into wedge-shaped sections.
Sound card
Expansion card used to convert and transmit digital sounds through analog speakers, microphones, and headsets. TERM 77
System clock
DEFINITION 77 Internal timing device that uses fixed vibrations from a quartz crystal to deliver a steady stream of digital pulses or ticks to the CPU. These ticks are called cycles. TERM 78
Tape cartridge
DEFINITION 78 Module resembling an audiocassette that contains tape in a rectangular plastic housing. The two most common types of tape frives are DAT and Travan TR-3. TERM 79
Terabyte (T, TB)
DEFINITION 79 Approximately 1 trillion bytes (1,009,511,627,776 bytes); measure of storage capacity. TERM 80
Tracks
DEFINITION 80 The rings on a diskette along which data is recorded.
Transistor
Tiny electronic device that acts as an on/off switch, switching between on and off millions of times per second. TERM 82
Unicode
DEFINITION 82 binary coding scheme that uses 2 bytes (16 bits) for each character, rather than 1 byte (8 bits). TERM 83
Upgrading
DEFINITION 83 Changing to newer, usually more powerful or sophisticated versions, such as a more powerful microprocessor or more memory chips. TERM 84
USB (Universal Serial Bus) port
DEFINITION 84 Port that can theoretically connect up to 127 peripheral devices daisy-chained to one general-purpose port. TERM 85
Virtual memory
DEFINITION 85 Type of hard-disk space that mimics primary storage (RAM). When RAM space is limited, virtual memory allows users to run more software at once, provided the computers CPU and operating system are equipped to use it. The system allocates some free disk space as an extension of RAM; that is, the computer swaps parts of the software program between the hard disk and RAM as needed.
