OCR GCSE ComSci glossary of terms Flashcards
Abstraction
The act of filtering out unimportant aspects aspects of a complicated problem and concentrating on only the aspects that are important.
Accumulator (Acc)
a REGISTER in the PROCESSOR that stores data from calculations as they are taking place, before results are sent back to the CACHE or RAM
Adress
The location of a BYTE of MEMORY. Some SECONDARY STORAGE devices can have multiple TERABYTES of memory- each byte will have an address.
Adware
A piece of MALWARE that, once installed on a COMPUTER, will show adverts or other spam to the user.
AI
Artificial Intelligence- the next generation of COMPUTER PROGRAMS that are so advanced they seem to be capable of independent thought and reasoning.
algorithm
A set of step-by-step instructions for solving a problem or completing a task.
Alpha-testing
Early-stage testing of a program by it’s developers to find BUGS and issues that need fixing.
ALU
Arithmetic & Logic unit: the part of the PROCESSOR that performs calculations, comparisons and logic.
Analogue
Representing DATA as a continuous quantity, e.g. recording a sound as a wave on a record or magnetising tape in a cassette.
Analogue-to-digital converter
A device that takes an ANALOGUE signal, e.g. a sound wave, and converts it to a DIGITAL recording.
Anti-malware
A program usually included in an OPERATING SYSTEM’S UTILITY SYSTEM SOFTWARE designed to protect a COMPUTER against MALWARE.
Application Layer
The first layer of the TCP/IP PROTOCOLS. Contains information about the APLICATION the PACKET of data
is for, e.g. email, web browser, file transfer etc.
Application software:
PROGRAMS installed on a COMPUTER such as email programs, web browsers or games. They rely on the OPERATING SYSTEM and SYSTEM MANAGERS for resources to run.
Append
To add data to something, especially LISTS, ARRAYS and TEXT FILES.
Argument
A piece of DATA given to a SUBROUTINE to use in place of a PARAMETER. The subroutine must be CALLED with the
same number of arguments as the number of parameters it is coded with.
Arpanet
The precursor to the INTERNET, built in the 1960’s. It became the internet when it switched over to using the TCP/IP PROTOCOLS in 1983.
Array
A structure that contains many items of data, often of the same type. The data is INDEXED so that a particular item
can be easily found. An alternative to arrays are LISTS, which work in a similar way.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a 7-bit CHARACTER SET used by all devices for representing text in COMPUTERS. See also EXTENDED ASCII & UNICODE
Assembler
A type of TRANSLATED that converts ASSEMBLY into MACHINE CODE. OFTEN A HIGH-LEVEL PROGRAMMING LANGAUGE’S translator will first convert code into assembly, before using an assembler to convert into machine code.
Assembly
A LOW LEVEL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE similar in structure to MACHINE CODE, but which uses MNEMONICS in place of OPCODES. Assembly is converted into machine code by an ASSEMBLER.
Audio file
A FILE that stores sound. The size of the file is calculated by Duration x Sample FREQUENCY x BIT DEPTH x CHANNELS
Authenticate
The logging in to an account with a username and password. Note that this does not confirm someone’s identity- it just means they know the account details.
Back-door access
When MALWARE that has infected a COMPUTER creates a connection for a HACKER to access the COMPUTER’S FILES and sensitive information without authorisation.
Backup
COMPUTER FILES saved elsewhere in the event of a computer failure. Backups can either be full or incremental. Backups often occur in the CLOUD. Backing-up is part of the UTILITY SYSTEMS SOFTWARE.
Bandwidth
A measure of the speed of data transmission across a NETWORK connection. Measured in MegabitsPerSecond (MbPS)
Beta-testing
Testing done by a select group of individuals when the program is almost ready to be published. Done to give feedback to a PROGRAM’S developers about how well it performs.
Binary
A base-2 counting system that uses only two digits
(BITS), 0 and 1.
BINARY SEARCH
An ALGORITHM that searches through a LIST of DATA to find a search criteria. It will only work on a list that has been sorted first, either with the BUBBLE, INSERTION or MERGE sort algorithm. Binary search looks at the middle element of the list, discards the half that does not contain the search criteria and repeats until it has been found.
BIOS
Basic Input/Output System: ROM that is run on COMPUTER start-up. Its main purpose is to load the OPERATING SYSTEM.
Bit (b)
a BINARY digit; 0 or 1.
Bit depth
How many BITS are used to encode a sound wave’s
amplitude. The higher the bit depth, the more accurately a
sample can be represented
