by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
Processor decides the speed of the computer that it will execute the instruction fast or it will process slow. When a user thinks about to purchase a system the first question is in mind is processor. The first commercial microprocessor was the Intel 4004 launched in 1971, which was designed to be used in a Japanese desk calculator.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
A scanner is a device that takes a picture of an image that exists outside the computer, such as a photograph or a drawing on paper. As the scanner takes the picture, it digitizes the image (breaks it up into dots that can be recreated on the computer screen with electronic signals), and send this digital information to the computer as a file. Then you can take this file of the scanned image and use it in your work.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
Bootstrap: To start a computer
by loading its OPERATING SYSTEM from disk storage into memory. The name
alludes to the seeming absurdity of trying to lift oneself off the
floor by pulling on one's own bootstraps - since it is the operating system
that enables a computer to read disks, then loading itself from disk
would seem to be a similar impossibility. This paradox is resolved by
the presence of a small program called the BOOTSTRAP LOADER, which
resides permanently in the computer (stored in a ROM chip) and contains
just sufficient code to read the rest of the operating system from disk.
This process is informally called 'booting' or 'booting up' the
computer.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
Seek Time refers to how long it takes the read/ write head on a hard disk to move from one track to another. Technically, seek time is only one factor affecting "average" access time, and
is not the same as access time. Because it sounds faster, certain disk
vendors may try to woo you by quoting seek time specifications for their
disks, but you should really base your comparisons on average access
time.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
Device independent components work right no matter what model of device you use them with. For example, if the graphic file format in
your publication is device independent, the results you see on paper
will look about the same whether you print to an HP DeskJet, an Apple
LaserWriter, or a high-resolution Linotronic image setter (the graphic
will be printed at whatever resolution the printer uses).
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
An EGA is a video adapter for IBM-type personal computers. This means it has the electronic circuits your computer
needs to display images on the screen. EGA stands for enhanced graphics
adapter, but don't be fooled by the name: EGAS came out in about 1985,
and what was "enhanced" then (compared to a CGA) is obsolete now. Yes, they still work, and if you get a computer that has one, don't throw the EGA board away.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
A plotter is a graphics printer that literally uses ink pens to draw the images. The pens move around on the surface of the paper like something out of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Plotters
can only draw data in vector graphics format, graphics that are made of
straight lines (the curved forms are actually drawn with many tiny
straight lines). There are flatbed plotters where the pen moves across
the page in the x and y axes.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
Artificial intelligence (AI) A branch of computer
science that was pursued with great optimism in the 1960s and 70S, in
an attempt to make computers think more like human beings. It analyzes
data and draw conclusions in a way that makes them appear to be
"intelligent." Now of course, computers can't think or do anything
without being told what to do. So AI programs use complex formulas which
attempt to arrive at an answer in a method similar to how a human might
do it.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
Machine language is generally referred to as first-generation language, assembly language is known as second-generation language, and high-level languages such as C, C++, Java, etc., are called third-generation languages.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
SCSI (pronounced "scuzzy," not "sexy") stands for small computer systems interface. SCSI is a standard for interfacing, or connecting, personal computers to peripheral devices (like scanners, hard disks, or CD-ROM players) and having them send information to each other.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
ANSI is
the acronym for the American National Standards Institute. This
institute creates standards for a wide variety of industries, including computer
programming languages. ANSI standards currently exist for vast numbers
of such seemingly unrelated items as refrigerators, industrial carpet,
mayonnaise, and computer parts, among others.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
COMMAND.COM is the program that serves as the DOS command processor, or the DOS shell if you prefer. Like any operating system, DOS itself is simply software, albeit software that has a very special role in running your computer. Dos consists of a conglomeration of programs, utilities, and device drivers, but
at its core are three key pieces of software. They must be present on
the disk you use to start your computer, or the computer won't work. Of
these three pieces of software, the only one you're likely to run across
is COMMAND.COM-you'll see it in the list of files on your screen when
you display the directory of that start-up disk, by typing DIR and pressing Enter. (The other two essential DOS files are hidden files, so you won't see them in the directory list.)
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
Application Program: Applications programs are programs written to solve specific problems, to produce specific reports, or to update specific files. A computer
program that performs useful work on behalf of the user of the computer
(for example a word processing or accounting program) as opposed to the
SYSTEM SOFTWARE which manages the running of the computer itself, or to
the DEVELOPMEN software which is used by programmers to create other
programs.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
These spoonfuls of alphabet-number soup designate different standards for connecting serial devices (like modems, mice, and printers) to the computer by plugging their cables into serial ports. Through a serial port, the computer exchanges information with the device back and forth "serially," or one bit at a time.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
(Multiple-instruction multiple-data) A generic description that can be applied to any MULTIPROCESSOR computer
architecture in which each processor is able to execute a different
program, as distinct from a SIMD architecture in which each processor
executes the same program on a different data item. With MIMD
architecture, the deployment of the program code onto the different
processors and the interconnection TOPOLOGY of the processors become
visible to the programmer, and complicate the writing of programs.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
A trackball is
an alternative to a mouse or a stylus. It looks kind of like a mouse
upside-down, and you use it by rolling the ball around with your
fingers. It has one or more buttons to click, just like a mouse.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
Clock speed refers to how fast the system clock drives the computer's CPU (central processing unit, the chip that runs the computer) which determines how fast the system as a whole can process information internally. Clock speed is measured in megahertz; a
speed of one megahertz (l MHZ) means the system clock is sending out
its electric current one million times per second. The higher the clock
speed of a computer, the faster the computer can operate, assuming all
other factors are equal. However, clock speed isn't the only factor that
determines your computer's overall performance, or even how fast the microprocessor (another
term for the cpu) gets things done. Two different microprocessors may
run at the same clock speed, and still take different amounts of time to
finish a given job.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
Dos use the acronym LPT to refer to its three printer ports: LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3. The acronym is a contraction of line printer.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
SIMM stands for single inline memory module. Before you try to understand what a SIMM is, you should read and understand RAM and memory.
by Dinesh Thakur
Category: Computer Terms
File Allocation Table (FAT). A data structure employed in the FILESYSTEMS of Microsoft's MS-DOS and Windows operating systems
to locate individual files stored on hard and floppy disks. When a disk
is FORMATTED it is divided up into many physical SECTORS of equal size
grouped together into CLUSTERS. Whenever a new file is created, the file
system allocates a number of these clusters to hold that file's data -
the FAT is a table that contains the name of each file and the addresses
of the clusters that it occupies. When a file is deleted, only its FAT
entry, rather than the data itself, is erased, which is why UNDELETE
utilities can usually recover the file.
No comments:
Post a Comment