Ch. 4 vocab Flashcards
hardware
electronic components and related gagetry that input, process, output and store data according to instructions encoded in computer programs or software
input hardware
devices such as the keyboard, mouse, document scanner, bar-code
central processing unit (CPU)
is like the brain of the computer, cpu have the smarts of the machine, selecting instructions, processes them, performs arithmetic and logical comparisons, and stores results of operations in memory
main memory
RAM-Random Access Memory
Output hardware
video displays, printers, audio speakers, overhead projectors
storage hardwar
saves data and programs. magnetic discs
universal serial bus (USB)
connectors
Binary digits
called bits a switch can be either closed or open
bytes
an 8-bit chunk of memory, one character per byte
kilobyte
1024 bytes
megabyte
1024 kilobytes
gigabyte
1024 megabytes
terabyte
1024 gigabytes
petabytes
1024 terabytes
exabyte
1024 petabytes
operating system
program that controls computers resources
memory swapping
placing just requested program or data into vacated space and directing CPU usage
volatile
contents lost when power is off
magnetic and optical discs
nonvolatile meaning their cocntents survive when power is off
client
computers for word processing, spreadsheets, database access,
Servers
provide some service such as process email
server farm
groups of servers working together to complete processes
horizontal market application
software that provides capabilities common across all organizations and industries
vertical market application
software that serves the needs of a specific industry
thick client application
preinstalled on the client
thin client application
runs with a browser and doesn’t need to be preinstalled
firmware
is computer software that is installed into devices such as printers, print servers and various types of communication devices
closed source
the source code is highl,y protected and only available to trusted employees and carefully vetted contractors
open source
anyone can obtain the cource code from the open source projects website