Computer Definitions

computer a programmable electronic device used for the processing of information

information words, pictures, sounds and symbols that have meaning to us
programmable capable of performing varied and different tasks, limited only by the
sophistication of the programs provided
program a set of instructions which tell the computer what to do and when to do it. The
instructions must be written in a language (protocol) that the computer can understand
file a logical collection of information stored under a single name
directory a logical collection of files stored under a single name
root short for root directory, the main directory, in a hierarchical directory structure which
(logically) contains all other directories
In Windows and DOS based systems, the root directory is represented by a backward slash (\). In
Mac OS, Linux and Unix based systems, the root directory is represented by a forward slash (/).
operating system a set of programs which tells the computer how to perform its most basic
tasks, such as reading information from input devices, writing information to output devices,
launching application software, and executing the instructions of the launched software.
Examples of operating systems include Mac OS, Windows, DOS, Linux and Unix.
ASCII stands for American Standard Code of Information Interchange; a standard for
encoding characters into 7-bit codes. The ASCII code is the more modern Unicode standard.
Booting the process by which a computer loads its operating system from secondary storage
into primary storage, using the instructions found in ROM
ROM stands for Read-Only Memory; a miniaturized electronic component which provides
permanent storage of information. In most cases, ROM is only written once: at the factory.
Thereafter, ROM can only be used to read from, and not to write to.
Primary storage a miniaturized electronic component which provides temporary storage of
information. Primary storage is volatile and relatively expensive, but it is used because it is fast
and the only the storage which can be directly accessed by the CPU. The single example of
primary storage is RAM.
RAM stands for Random Access Memory. See primary storage for definition.
Character a single letter or digit, or a special character like a blank space, a dollar sign or
quotation marks.
String a collection of like units, treated as a whole. For example, a string of characters, a
string of bits.
Binary code a scheme for encoding data which uses only the digits 0 and 1. Binary code can
be used to encode text, images, sounds and programs amongst other data
Byte contraction for the term binary term; the smallest unit of information which can be
directly accessed by the computer. Most microcomputers use 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit bytes.
Kilobyte 2^10 bytes (= 1024 bytes), or approximately 1000 bytes.
Megabyte 2^20 bytes, or approximately 1 million bytes.
Gigabyte 2^30 bytes, or approximately 1 billion bytes
algorithm a step by step procedure for solving a problem. For example, the algorithm for
operating a video is a video operating system.
Software a neologism derived from hardware; a synonym of program.
Application software a program which allows us to apply ourselves to a particular task such
as accessing Internet resources, editing an image or playing a game

hardware the physical parts and components of the computer; parts of a computer which can
be seen and touched
CPU stands for Central Processing Unit; a miniaturized electronic component which controls
the execution of the computer and performs basic arithmetic and logical operators, colloquially
called the computer's brain
monitor a device on which the computer displays information about its internal state,
allowing people to monitor the activities of the computer
Output devices devices used by a computer to put out information. Common output devices
include printers, speakers, monitors, disk drives and modems
Input devices devices used by the computer to put in information. Common examples of
these include disk drives, modems, mouses and keyboards
sentinel value a watched-for value whose appearance indicates that a special event has
occurred; sentinel values are often used to indicate that the end of a set of regular values have
been reached.
System unit a plastic or metal box containing all the hardware components of the computer,
including the RAM, ROM, CPU, various connecting cables and an AC/DC convertor. In
modern microcomputers, it's common to find peripheral devices installed inside the system unit;
examples include disk drives and modems.
peripherals any hardware element that is peripheral to a computer's system unit. Common
examples include input and output devices. Even output devices which are often found within
the system unit, like disk drives and modems, are considered peripherals because they are
peripheral to a computer's principal parts: the RAM, ROM and CPU.
secondary storage a miniaturized electronic component which provides (relatively)
permanent storage of information. Secondary storage is non-volatile and relatively inexpensive,
but it is slow, and cannot be directly accessed by the CPU. The most common examples of
secondary storage are magnetic and optical disks and magnetic tape.
USB stands for Universal Serial Bus; a standard for connecting peripherals to a computer over
inexpensive cables
firewire Apple's name = IEEE 1394 High Speed Serial Bus; also called i.Link by Sony and
Lynx by Texas Instruments
telecommunications communication over a distance by cable, telegraph, telephone or
broadcasting
cable a rope made of wires sheathed in insulating rubber or plastic, used for transmitting data
between a computer and its peripherals, or between nodes on a network.
Client a computer program which requests data using a specific data protocol from the server;
the client and the server may be on the same computers or on different computers over a
network.
Client-server paradigm a way of thinking about the relationship between the network nodes
which request and provide services
client-server protocols (examples)
e-mail transmission: SMTP (Simple Mail Transmission Protocol)
e-mail retrieval: POP (Post-Office Protocol)
file transmission: FTP (File Transmission Protocol)
gopher
hypertext: HTTP (Hyper Text Transmission Protocol)
newsgroup: NNTP (Network News Transmission Protocol)

modem a modulator-demodulator which allows data communication between digital and

analogue devices; outgoing digits signals from a computer are modulated and incoming
analogue signals (from a telephone line, for example) are demodulated
GUI stands for Graphical User Interface; a GUI program is user-driven as opposed to
computer or program driven. It waits for the user to click, enter text, etc., and then a procedure
is called to handle that event.
Widget an element of a GUI; examples: menus, buttons, textfields, labels, etc.
Interface point at which two systems interact.
Human-computer interface commonly called interface or user-interface
command-line interface an interface which requires the user to type precise commands in
order to command the computer; examples: DOS, Unix, Linux
E-mail electronic mail; messages distributed electronically to and from recipients on a
computer network. See POP, SMTP.
Instant messaging a type of network communication which allows a person at one computer
to see in real-time (usually within milliseconds) the text being written by another user at another
computer, and vice versa
hypertext plain text documents which have embedded links to resources within and without
the document; these resources themselves may be plain-text, sounds, images, data, programs or
yet other types of resources
streaming media audio or video which is compressed and then transmitted over the Internet
using a protocol which allows the receiving client to begin playing before the entire
transmission has been received; many media organizations such as CBC radio, and Television
and TVO, and general entertainment sites such as YouTube, live-stream audio and video
content
comments code written for the benefit of the programmer and is never seen by end users; a
line of code which starts off with a percent sign (%), and is ignored by the computer. Comments
appear in green.
Paradox of booting refers to the start-up of a computer. Booting is the process by which a
computer loads its operating system from secondary storage into primary storage, using the
instructions found in ROM. The paradox part is that the CPU can only directly access the
RAM, and the directions are not in there. The instructions read the hard drive, once in the hard
drive. To solve this, there is a small set of directions in the ROM enough for the CPU to start
reading OS.
Concatenation the joining in sequence of two or more character strings
end-user a person who uses a program to accomplish a task like writing a document, editing
an image, playing a game or communicating over a network
executable the binary code version of a program which can be executed directly by a
computer without translation; Windows executable files have the extension .exe; OS X
executable files have the extension .app
identifier a name created by the programmer to identify a constant, procedure, variable or
function.
Keyword a built-in part of the Turing language which identifies a constant, procedure or
function
operand the object of an operation
operator a symbol or keyword which represents an operation to be performed on one or more
operands; unary operators operate on a single operand whereas binary operators operate on two

operands.
Programmer a person who designs the algorithms, writes and tests source code and
executable
source code a text listing of commands to be compiled or assembled into an executable
computer program.
statements programs are composed of statements; virtually every Turing statement begins
with a verb and is followed by 0 or more objects; objects are separated by commas
motherboard a printed circuit board containing the principal parts of a computer or other
devices, with connectors into which other circuit boards can be slotted.
Compilation the process of taking a computer program and turning it into a machine code or
lower-level form in which the program can be executed
execution the process by which a computer or virtual machine performs the instructions of a
computer program.