Software Flashcards
Software
Described as the programs and instruction sets used by a computer. Includes operating systems, programs, video games, word processors.
Operating System
The base system which provides services for other computer programs. It is the foundation which all other programs run, and is therefore nearly always the first piece of software installed on the computer.
DOS
Short for ‘Disk Operating System, which is a command-line operating system released in 1981.
UNIX
An operating system developed by Bell Labs in 1969 and was designed to be an OS capable of handling mulitple users and tasks.
Windows
Developed by Microsoft, and the irst edition was released in 1985. It is the most popular OS today with over 85% of the market share.
GUI
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Microsoft brought the GUI to mainstream computing with Windows, so people were able to ee graphical reprsentation of things in an easy understandable manner.
Command Line Syntax
Rule for the commands in a command-line (No GUI) operating system. It is the rules that define how you need to string commands together.
cd
Stands for “Change Directory” this will change the directory from your current directory to the target.
Syntax is: cd/targetdirectory
dir
“Directory”
It will list all of the files in the current directory.
copy
This will copy a file.
Syntax: copy “filename”
del
“Delete” Will delete a ile or files
Syntax is: “filename”
Microsoft Windows
The most opoular OS for PC’s, and has many revisions and editions
Desktop
The Desktop of Windows is what a user sees upon logging on. It features ea Start Menu and a screen onto which icons can be placed, reresenting programs and documents.
Start Button
Bring up a menu which has the submenus for programs, documents, and the control panel.
Menu
Each menu usually has a menu at the top left. These can hold things like File, Edit, or View which in turn leads to options like “Save”, “Open”, or “Exit”.
Shortcuts
Graphical representation of something that is located elsewhere on the computer. Instead pf searching for the program in the list of programs, you simply click on the “shortcut” and the program lauches immediately.
Close/Minimize
The close button is found in the upper right corner of an open program or document window in the Windows operating system, along with two other buttons.
Utility Software
Included in the Operating System, and are designed to improve computer function or repair the operating system.
Disk Defragmenter
Used to defragment program files.
Fragmentation
Fragmentation occurs on a hard drive as the hard drive space is filled. It happens de to files being split onto different sectors of the hard drive due to limited space in the first sector that the file written to.
Disk Cleanup
Used to remove temporary or cache files that are no longer needed on the hard drive.
Disk Scanner
Shows the disk usuage of various programs on the hard drive. Used to analyze number of files in a directory and how much overall disk space is used.
System Restore
Can be used to recover from a virus or computer error. System Restore ues a ‘Save point’ and reverts the computer program and operating system files to an eailer point, which can remove malicious sotware.
MemCheck
A memory debugging program used to check memory access, allocation, and deallocation of memory (RAM) on a computer.
Windows File Name Convention
File names can be created using the alphanumeric characters. The only characters that cannot be used are:
\ / ? : * “ >
General Purpose Software
Refers to software that is typically presenet on a cmputer and is used by people for business or personal use.
Word Processor
Program for producing text files.
NotePad, Textpad, and Microsoft Word
Presentation Software
Used to create Presentations. The most popular of these is Microsoft Powerpoint
Computer Aided Drafting (CAD)
A program used for 3-dimsensional modeling and drawing. This software is used by engineers and architects looking to provide blueprints or drawing for structures.
Browser
A browser or Internet broswer, is a program for connecting to and interpreting data obtained from the internet..
Includes: Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome and Firefox
Desktop Publishing
Used for producing graphical layouts intended for documents such as brochures and pamphelets.
Device driver
A program that is used to operate hardware that is attached to a acomputer.
For example, device drivers are needed for printers, monitors, mice, video cards, etc
Spreadsheets
Are tabular form programs that are used to input and organize data. The data is organized in arrays which are groups of rows and columns.
Row
A row of data is the horizontal table cells, from left to right, carrying data in a spreadhseet.
Column
A cloumn of data is vertical table cells, from top to bottom, carrying data in a spread sheet.
Cell
A cell is a single unit found within a spreadsheet table which can store a single data value.
Formula
A mathimatical operation, such as addition, or average, that can be performed upon cells in a spreadsheet.
Relational Database
An organized collection of data. How that data is organized greatly affects the speed in which it can be accessed.
Index
Used to quickly access data in a relational database table.
Primary key
Used to identify a specific tuple (row) within the data table.
File compression
File, or data compression, is the use of encoding to reduce the storage space of a file.
Example:
RAR and ZIP
What are the two type of file compression?
Lossless and Lossy
Lossless
Lossless compression generates a model for a given file, and uses it to remove redundant data bits, which are then re-generated upon decompression or “unzipped.”
Lossy
A compression method that eliminates data through generating an approximation of the file data. Decompression of lossy compressed data will not be able to generate all of of the original data.
Structured Files
Structured Files, of ile formts, are a standardized method for encoding and storing files on a computer.
What are the two basic forms of file formats?
Chuck and directory
File Extensions
A file expension is a three or four code that comes after a file name.
For example, “file.doc” or “run.exe”.
DOC
.doc is and enriched text file, short for document, Document files are created using Microsoft word, a word processsing program.
XLS
.xls is a spreadshet file which can hold data in worksheets, charts, and macros. It is created by the spreadsheet program Microsfot Excel.
ZIP
.zip is a ‘zipped file’, or compressed file format. ZIP files are used to stroe large amounts of data in a smaller, compressed file format.
JPEG
.jpeg or. jpg is an image file, sort for joint photographic experts group. It is a compressed file format.
GIF
.gif is an image file, short for graphics interchange format. This file format supports animations.
PNG
.png is an image file, short for portable network graphic, which supports lossless data compression
(.png will look better than .jpeg for the most part)
MPEG
.mpeg is a video file, short for moving picture experts group
MP3
.mp3 is a music or audio file
EXE
.exe is an executable file. Executable files start programs or command in operating systems.
DLL
.dll is a system file, short for dynamic link library, and are intergral for operation of programs within the Microsoft Windows Architecture.
Artifical Intelligence
An effort by scientists and engineers to make software that is able to replicate the processes of the human mind.
Expert Systems
A computer program that is built with the oal of having it make decisions like a human. It’s made up of two primary parts, a “Knowledgeablebase”, and an “inference engiine”.
Neural Network
Is a model of biological neurons (brain cells) that in the modren dat refers to artifical neural networks used for examining artifical intelligence.
Fuzzy Logic
A form of approximate reasoning. This is mainly used for artificial intelligence purpoe, as generalization is an important step to thinking like a human.
