Introduction to Computers Vocab Flashcards
Information Processing Cycle
The four basic operations a computer performs — input, process, output, and storage.
Computer
An electronic device, operating under the control of instructions stored in its own memory, that can accept data (input), process the data according to specified rules (process), produce results (output), and store the results (storage) for future use. Generally, the term is used to describe a collection of electric, electronic, and mechanical components known as hardware.
Data
A collection of unprocessed items, which can include text, numbers, images, audio, and video. Computers manipulate it to create information.
Information
Conveys meaning and is useful to people. It is out into some form, such as a printed report, or it can be stored on the computer for future use.
Computer Users / End Users / Users
People who use e computer directly or use the information it provides.
Green Computing
Involves reducing the electricity consumed and environmental waste generated when using a computer.
Peripheral
A device that connects to the system unit and is controlled by the processor in the computer. They can include input devices and output devices, as well as some storage devices and communications devices.
Personal Computer
A computer that can perform all of its input, processing, output, and storage activities by itself. It contains a processor, memory, and one or more input, output, and storage devices. They also often contain a communications device.
Mobile Computer
A personal computer you can carry from place to place.
Mobile Device
A computing device small enough to hold in your hand.
Desktop Computer
A computer designed in such a way so that the system unit, input devices, output devices, and any other devices fit entirely on or under a desk or table.
Notebook Computer / Laptop Computer
A portable, personal computer often designed to fit on your lap. These computers are thin and lightweight, yet can be as powerful as the average desktop computer.
Netbook
A type of notebook computer that is smaller, lighter, and often not as powerful as a traditional notebook computer.
Tablet PC
A special type of notebook computer resembling a letter-sized slate that allows you to write or draw on the screen using a digital pen.
Smart Phone
A phone that can connect to the Internet and usually also provides personal information management functions such as a calendar, an appointment book, an address book, a calculator, and a notepad.
Portable Media Player
A mobile device on which you can store, organize, and play digital media, such as music, videos, movies, television show, and pictures.
Digital Camera
A device that allows users to take pictures and store the photographed images digitally, instead of on traditional film. They typically allow users to review, and sometimes modify, images while they are in the device.
Input Device
Any hardware component that allows you to enter data and instructions into a computer. Five such components that are widely used include the keyboard, mouse, microphone, scanner, and Web cam. The two primary ones are the keyboard and the mouse.
Keyboard
An input device that contains keys users press to enter data and instructions into the computer. All desktop versions of this device have a typing area that includes the letters of the alphabet, numbers, punctuation marks, and other basic keys. Many desktop versions also have a numerical keypad on the right side.
Stylus
A small metal or plastic device that looks like a tiny ink pen but uses pressure instead of ink.
Mouse
A pointing device that fits comfortably under the palm of your hand. With this device, users control the movement of the pointer. Generally, you use this device to move the pointer on the screen to an object such as a button, a menu, an icon, a link, or text. Then, you press a button on this device to perform a certain action associated with that object. The bottom of this device is flat and contains a mechanism (ball, optical sensor, or laser sensor) that detects movement of the device.
Pointer
A small symbol on the screen whose location and shape change as a user moves a pointing device.
Touchpad
A small, flat, rectangular pointing device near the keyboard hat allows you to move the pointer by sliding a fingertip on the surface of the device.
System Unit
A case that contains electronic components of the computer used to process data. This case is available in a variety of shapes and sizes. The case, also called the chassis, is made of metal or plastic and protects the internal components from damage.
Motherboard
Sometimes called a system board. The main circuit board of the system unit. Many electronic components attach to this circuit board; others are built into it.
Processor / Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Interprets and carries out basic instructions that operate a computer. It contains a control unit and an arithmetic/logic unit.
Control Unit
Directs and coordinates most of the operations in the computer.
Arithmetic/Logic Unit (ALU)
Performs arithmetic, comparison, and other operations.
Memory
Consists of electronic components that store instructions waiting to be executed and data needed by those instructions. Usually keeps data and instructions temporarily, which means its contents are erased when the computer is shut off.
RAM (Random Access Memory)
Also called main memory, it consists of memory chips that can be read from and written to by the processor and other devices. These chips are places on a memory module that fits in a slot on the motherboard in the system unit.
Byte
Usually stores one character, such as the letter A.
Kilobyte (KB or K)
Equals exactly 1,024 bytes of storage.
Megabyte (MB)
Equals approximately one million bytes of storage.
Gigabyte (GB)
Equals approximately one billion bytes of storage.
Terabyte (TB)
Equals approximately one trillion bytes of storage.
Output Devices
Hardware components that convey information to one or more people. Commonly used versions include display devices; printers; speakers, headphones, and earbuds; data projectors; and interactive whiteboards. The two devices widely used are the printer and a display device.
Printer
An output device that produces text and graphics on a physical medium such as paper. Ink-jet and laser versions are often used with personal computers.
Photo Printers
Ink-jet printers that produce photo-lab-quality pictures and are ideal for home or small-business use.
Multifunction Peripheral / All-in-One Device
A single device that looks like a printer or copy machine but provides the functionality of a printer, scanner, copy machine, and perhaps a fax machine. Some use color ink-jet printer technology, while others include a black-and-white or color laser printer.
Display Device
An output device that visually conveys text, graphics, and video information.
Monitor
A display device that is packaged as a separate peripheral.
LCD Monitor
Uses a liquid crystal display to produce images on the screen. The surface of the screen is composed of individual picture elements called pixels.
Pixels
Individual picture elements.
Resolution
The number of horizontal and vertical pixels in a display device.
Storage Device
The computer hardware that records and/or retrieves items to and from storage media.
Storage Medium
The physical material on which a computer keeps data, instructions, and information. Three common types are hard disks, flash memory, and optical discs.
Hard Disk
A storage device that contains one or more inflexible, circular platters that use magnetic particles to store data, instructions, and information. The system unit on most personal computers contains at least one of these. On this users can store documents, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, e-mail messages, Web pages, digital hoots, music, videos, and software.
Track
A narrow recording band that forms a full circle on the surface of the hard disk.
Sectors
Pie-shaped sections which break the tracks into small arcs. On a hard disk, one of these arcs typically stores up to 512 bytes of data.
Head Crash
When a read/write head touches a platter, usually resulting in loss of data or sometimes the entire disk.
Backup
A duplicate of a file, program, or disk placed on a separate storage medium that you can use in case the original is lost, damaged, or destroyed.
External Hard Disk
A separate freestanding hard disk that connects with a cable to a port on the system unit or communicates wirelessly.
Removable Hard Disk
A hard disk that you insert and remove from a drive.
Solid State Media
Consist entirely of electronic components and contain no moving parts.
Solid State Drive (SSD)
A storage device that typically uses flash memory to store data, instructions, and information. They are used in all types of computers, including desktop computers, mobile computers, and mobile devices such as portable media players and digital. Idea cameras.
Memory Card
A removable flash memory device that you insert and remove from a slot in a computer, mobile device, or card reader/writer. This type of storage enables mobile users to easily transport digital photos, music, or files to and from mobile devices and computers or other devices.
USB Flash Drive
Sometimes called a thumb drive, a flash memory storage device that plugs into a USB port in a computer or mobile device.
ExpressCard Module
A removable device that fits in an ExpressCard slot. They can be used to add memory, storage, communications, multimedia, and security capabilities to a computer. Commonly used in notebook computers.
Optical Disc
A flat, round, portable metal disc with a plastic coating. Three types of this include CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray Discs.
CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory)
A type of optical disc that users can read but not write on (record) or erase.
CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable)
A multisession optical disc on which users can write, but not erase, their own items such as text, graphics, and audio. Each part can only be written on one time, and the disc’s contents cannot be erased.
CD-RW (Compact Disc-Rewritable)
An erasable multisession disc you can write on multiple times. Can be erased.
DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disk-Read-Only Memory or Digital Video Disc-Read-Only Memory)
A high-capacity optical disc on which users can read but not write or erase.
Blu-Ray Disc (BD)
A newer, more expensive DVD format that has a higher capacity and better quality than standard DVDs, especially for high-definition audio and video.
Cloud Storage
An Internet service that provides hard disk storage to computer users.
Communications Device
A hardware component that enables a computer to send (transmit) and receive data, instructions, and information to and from one or more computers or mobile devices. One widely used version is a. Ode.
Transmission Media
Media over which communications occur, such as cables, telephone lines, cellular radio networks, and satellites.
Wireless
Transmission media that have no physical lines or wires.
Software / Program
Consists of a series of related instructions, organized for a common purpose, that tells the computer what tasks to perform and how to perform them. Can be divided into two categories: system and application. You interact with this through its user interface, which controls how you enter data and instructions and how information in displayed on the screen.
Graphical Use Interface (GUI)
You interact with the software using text, graphics, and visual images such as icons.
Installing
The process of adding software to a computer.
Uninstalling
The process of removing programs and all associated files from the hard disk.
Web Application
A Web site that allows users to access and interact with software from any computer or device that is connected to the Internet.
System Software
Consists of programs that control the operations of the computer and it’s devices. Two types of this are operating systems and utility programs.
Operating Software
A set of programs that coordinates all the activities among computer hardware devices. It provides a means for users to communicate with the computer and other software.
Utility Program
Allows a user to perform maintenance-type tasks usually related to managing a computer, its devices, or its programs. For example, you can use this type of program to burn digital photos on an optical disc.
Application Software
Consists of programs designed to make users more productive and/or assist them with personal tasks. These include personal information management, note taking, project management, accounting, document management, computer-aided design, desktop publishing, paint/image editing, audio and video editing, multimedia authoring, Web page authoring, personal finance, legal, tax preparation, home design/landscaping, travel and mapping, education, reference, and entertainment (e.g. games or simulations).
Word Processing Software
Used to create, edit, format, and print documents. A key advantage of this type of software is that users can easily make changes in documents, such as correcting spelling; changing margins; and adding, deleting, or relocating words, sentences, or entire paragraphs.
Presentation Software
Application software that allows users to create visual aids for presentations to communicate ideas, messages, and other information to a group. The presentations can be viewed as slides, sometimes called a slide show, that are displayed on a large monitor or in a projection screen.
Spreadsheet Software
Allows users to organize data in rows and columns and perform calculations on the data. Most of this kind of software has basic features to help users create edit, and format worksheets.
Worksheet
Collectively, the rows and columns in a spreadsheet.
Database
A collection of data organized in a manner hat allows access, retrieval, and use of that data.
Database Software
Application software that allows users to crate, access, and manage a database. Using this kind of software, you can add, change, and delete the data in a database; sort and retrieve data from the database; and create forms and reports using the data in the database.
E-mail Program
Software that allows users to create, send, receive, forward, store, print, and delete e-mail messages.
Network
A collection of computers and devices connected together, often wirelessly, via communications devices and transmission media. It allows users to share resources, such as hardware, software, data, and information. This can save both time and money.
Online
The status applied to a computer when it connects to a network.
Local Area Network (LAN)
A network that connects computers and devices in a limited geographical area such as a home, school computers laboratory, office building, or closely positioned group of buildings.
Wireless LAN (WLAN)
A LAN that uses no physical wires. Often, a it communicates with a LAN.
Wide Area Network (WAN)
A network that covers a large geographic area (such as a city country, or the world) using a communications channel that combines many types of media such as telephone lines, cables, and radio waves. The Internet is the world’s largest.
Internet
A worldwide collection of networks that links millions of businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals. With an abundance of resources and data accessible via this WAN, more than one billion people are the world use it for a variety of reasons, including the following:
⚫️ Communicating with and meeting other people
⚪️ Researching and accessing a wealth of information and news
Access Provider
A business that provides individuals and organizations access to the internet free or for a fee. They are categorized as ISPs, online service providers, and wireless Internet service providers.
ISP (Internet Service Provider)
A regional or national access provider. Usually provides Internet access to a specific geographic area.
Online Service Provider (OSP)
In addition to providing Internet access, it also has many members-only features such as instant messaging or their own customized version of a Web browser.
Wireless Internet Service Provider
Sometimes called a wireless data provider, a company that provides wireless Internet access to computers and mobile devices, such as smart phones and portable media players, with built-in wireless capability (such as Wi-Fi) or to computers using wireless modems or wireless access devices. Wireless modems are usually in the form of a USB flash drive or a card that inserts in a slot in a computer or mobile device.
World Wide Web / Web
One of the more popular services on the Internet, contains billions of documents called Web pages.
Web Page
Can contain text, graphics, animation, audio, and video, and has built-in connections, or links, to other documents, graphics, or other Web pages. Web pages are stored on computers throughout the world.
Web Site
A collection of related Web pages. Visitors access and view Web pages using a program called a Web browser.
Web Browser
A program that visitors use to access and view Web pages.
Web Address / URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
Consists of a protocol, a domain name, sometimes the path to a specific Web page or location in a Web page, and the Web page name. Many begin with http://.
Http:// or Hypertext Transfer Protocol
The set of rules that defines now pages transfer on the Internet.
Web Server
A computer that delivers requested Web pages to your computer.
Web 2.0
Refers to Web sites that provide a means for users to share personal information (such as social networking Web sites), allow users to modify the Web site contents (such as some blogs), and/or have software built into the site for users to access (such as Web applications).
Social Networking Web Site / Online Social Network
An online community that encourages members to share their interests, ideas, stories, photos, music, and videos with other registered users.
Blog
An informal Web site consisting of time-stamped articles in a diary or journal format.
E-Commerce
Short for electronic commerce, a business transaction that occurs over an electronic network such as the Internet. Anyone with access to a computer or mobile device, an Internet connection, and a means to pay for purchased goods or services can participate in this.
Search Engine
A program that finds Web sites, Web pages, images, videos, news, maps, and other information related to a specific topic. It is helpful in locating information for which you do not known an exact Web address or are not seeking a particular Web site. It requires that you enter search text.
Search Text
A word or phrase that describes the item you want to find using a search engine.
Subject Directory
Classifies Web pages in an organized set of categories or groups, such as sports or shopping, and related subcategories. It provides categorized lists of links arranged by subject. Using this search tool, you locate a particular topic by clicking links through different levels, moving from the general to the specific.
Virus
A potentially damaging computer program that affects, or infects, a computer negatively by altering the way the computer works without the user’s knowledge or permission. Once it infects a computer, it can spread throughout and may damage files and system software, including the operating system.
Worm
A program that copies itself repeatedly, for example in memory or on a network, using up resources and possibly shutting down the computer or network.
Trojan Horse
(Named after the Greek myth) A program that hides within or looks like a legitimate program. A certain condition or actions usually triggers it. Unlike a virus or a worm, this kind of malware does not replicate itself to other computers.
Rootkit
A program that hides in a computer and allows someone from a remote location to take full control of the computer. Once it is installed, the author can execute programs, change settings, monitor activity, and access files on the remote computer.
Malware
Short for malicious software, programs that act without a user’s knowledge and deliberately alter the computer’s operations. Includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and rootkits.
Antivirus Program
Protects a computer against viruses by identifying and removing any computer viruses found in memory, on storage media, or on incoming files. Most of these programs also protect against other malware.
