470 likes | 964 Views
CIS 105 Survey of Computer Information Systems. Essential Concepts and Terminology Study Unit Two. Bit. The smallest unit of information handled by a computer. A bit can hold one of two values, either a 0 or a 1. . CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2. Byte. .
E N D
CIS 105Survey of Computer Information Systems Essential Concepts and Terminology Study Unit Two
Bit. • The smallest unit of information handled by a computer. A bit can hold one of two values, either a 0 or a 1. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Byte. • An eight-bit unit of information, often representing a single character. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Data Transfer Rate. • The speed (measured in kilobits per second, Kbps) at which data is transmitted between your computer and another device. Often used to specify the speed of data transfer over the Internet. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Drive mapping. • Assigning a drive letter to a computer drives and network drives. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Drive Bays. • Variably sized bays to accommodate disk drives, including hard drives, floppy disk drives and CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Transistor. • An electronic switch. Also termed a gate. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
System Clock. • An electronic circuit in the computer that emits pulses at a rapid rate to establish the timing for all system operations. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Clock Speed. • A given processor clock rate measured in millions of cycles per second (megahertz, MHz). CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Instruction. • Each single operation that a computer is capable of performing, associated with a unique number. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Instruction Set. • The collection of instructions that a CPU is designed to process. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Control Unit. • The subcomponent of the CPU that directs and coordinates all other parts of the computer system. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Machine Cycle. • The four-step processing cycle consisting of the instruction cycle (fetch and decode) and the execution cycle (execute and write-back). CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit). • The part of the CPU that performs arithmetic and logical operations on the numbers stored in its registers. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Register. • A temporary storage area in the CPU where data or instructions are moved so that they can be processed. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Compatible Platforms. • Computer brands or models that operate in essentially the same way, use the same software, and accept the same peripheral devices. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Downwardly Compatible. • The ability of an operating system or chip to run application software designed for earlier versions. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Data Bus. • The electronic circuitry (data lines) that connects the electronic components (mainly the processor and RAM) of a microprocesssor. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Word Size. • The number of bits the CPU can manipulate at one time, dependent on the size of the registers in the CPU and on the number of data lines in the data bus. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Pipelining. • A technology that allows a processor to begin executing an instruction before completing the previous instruction, so instructions are worked on simultaneously. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Parallel Processing. • A technique by which two or more processors in a computer perform processing tasks simultaneously. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer). • A general-purpose microprocessor chip designed to handle a wider array of instructions than a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) chip. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
FPU (Floating Point Unit). • A math coprocessor that enables a computer to do math (floating point) operations faster. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Multitasking. • Running two or more programs at the same time. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Benchmark Test. • A set of tests used to measure computer hardware or software performance. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
ROM. • Read-only memory, e.g. the integrated circuits that contain permanent instructions that the computer uses during the boot process. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Volatile Memory. • Memory contents that are erased when a computer is shut off. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Boot Process. • The sequence of events that occurs within a computer system between the time the user starts the computer and the time it is ready to process commands. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Setup Program. • A program that enables PC users to configure system settings. Also. a program module supplied with a software package for the purpose of installing the software on a PC. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
CMOS Memory. • A type of battery-powered integrated circuit that holds semi-permanent configuration data (acronym for complementary metal oxide semiconductor). Called parameter RAM on Macintosh. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
DIMM (Dual In-line Memory Module). • A small circuit board that holds RAM chips. A DIMM has a 64-bit path to the memory chips. DIMMs are newer and have larger memory capacity than do SIMMs. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Virtual Memory. • A computer's use of hard disk storage to simulate RAM. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Cache Memory. • Special high-speed memory that gives the CPU more rapid access to data (also called RAM cache). CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Input/Output. • The circuitry that allows a computer to collect data (input) and the transportation of the results to display, print, or storage devices (output). CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Parallel Transmission. • A method of communicating digital data in which more than one bit of data is sent at the same time. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Serial Transmission. • A method of communicating digital data in which each bit of data is sent one after the other. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface). • An interface standard used for attaching peripheral devices, such as disk drives, printers, etc., in a chain series. Pronounced "scuzzy." CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
USB (Universal Serial Bus). • A port that can connect numerous devices at once, and allows connecting and disconnecting without shutting down (hot swapping). CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
FireWire Port. • A high-speed connection for multiple peripheral devices, enabling hot swapping and Plug and Play. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Analog Device. • A device that operates on continuously varying data, such as a dimmer switch or a watch with a sweep second hand. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Digital Device. • A device that works with discrete (distinct or separate) numbers or digits. Electronic digits can be represented only as either high-powered or low-powered (+ or -) circuits. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Binary Number System. • A method for representing numbers using only two digits, 0 and 1. The decimal system uses ten digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, and 9) and the hexadecimal system uses 16 (0 to 15). CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Character Representation Code. • A series of bits that represents a letter, symbol, or numeral (also called simply "code"). These codes include ASCII, EBCDIC, ANSI, and Unicode. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). • A code that represents characters as a series of 1’s and O’s. Most computers use ASCII code to represent text, making it possible to transfer data between computers. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
Parity Bit. • An bit added to the end of a data block to allow for error checking during data transmission. CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 2
End of Study Unit 2. Return to first slide Move to Study Unit 3 CIS 105 Home Page Created by James Q. Jacobs