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Glossary of Computer Terms

Allocation Unit

- The smallest space that DOS can access on a Disk. The size of these is dependent on the size of disk and the type of FAT used. see also Partition

APPEND

- Allows programs to open data files in specified directories as if they were in the current directory

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Exchange

ASSIGN

- Redirects requests for disk operations on one drive to a different drive

ATTRIB

- Displays or changes file attributes.

ATTRIBUTES

- Relating to whether a file is Read Only, Hidden or a System file

AUTOEXEC.BAT

- A text file used by the system at startup. See also CONFIG.SYS

BACKUP

- Backs up one or more files from one disk to another. See also RESTORE

BASIC

- Beginers All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. A programming language

BINARY

- The numbering system used by ALL computers can be either 0 or 1 (base 2). See also DENARY & HEXADECIMAL

BREAK

Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking.

 

BIOS

Basic Input/Output Sytem Built into computer ROM

Bit

Binary Digit - can be either 0 or 1

Boot

Bootstrap, Loading the Operating System at start up

Bug

- Software (program) problem

Bus

- The Data Highway in the computer - see ISA/VESA/PCI

Byte

- 8 binary Bits

C / C++

- Hardware independent Computer Language

Cache

- Small amount of very fast memory

CALL

- Calls one batch program from another.

CD

- Displays the name of or changes the current directory.

CD ROM -

 A CD disc with computer data on it, like an audio CD

CHCP

- Displays or sets the active code page number.

CHDIR

- Displays the name of or changes the current directory.

CHKDSK

- Checks a disk and displays a status report. See also SCANDISK

CLS

- Clears the screen.

CMOS

- A part of the 'Firmware' that stores the particulars of the system, i.e. the Hard Drive parameters, the Memory size, etc.

COBOL

- COmputer Buisiness Orientated Language. A programming language

COM

- A serial I/O port. Can be used for a Modem, Mouse etc.  e.g. COM1  COM2 etc.



-The command interrupter, which reads commands typed at the keyboard and attempts to obey them. has some simple commands built in - these are known as internal commands.

COMP

- Compares the contents of two files or sets of files.

CONFIG.SYS

- A text file used by the system at startup. See also AUTOEXEC.BAT

Conventional Memory

- The FIRST 640 Kbytes of memory, also known as Low Memory. The amount available can be vital to some older programs, usually Games.

COPY

- Copies one or more files to another location. Can also be used to write to a device. e.g. CON

CPU

- Central Processing Unit - the Intel 486/Pentium or AMD/Cyrix  Proccesor in the computer

CTTY

- Changes the terminal device used to control your system.

Crash

- Common term for when the computer freezes

DATE

- Displays or sets the date.

DEBUG

- Runs Debug, a program testing and editing tool.

DEL

- Deletes one or more files. See also ERASE

DELTREE

- Deletes a Directory AND ALL SubDirectories and ALL files

DEFRAGMENT

- Re-arrange the files on the hard drive so that the occupy consecutive allocation units

DENARY

- The numbering system used by humans, numbers 0 to 9 (base 10). See also BINARY & HEXADECIMAL

DEVICE

- A command used in Config.sys to load a device driver. See also DEVICEHIGH & LOADHIGH

DEVICEHIGH

- A Command used in Config.sys to load a device driver into the Upper Memory Area. See also DEVICE & LOADHIGH

Device Driver

- Software that drives a perhipheral or device

DIMM

- Dual Inline Memeory Module. See also RAM & SIMM

DIR

- Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.

Directory

- A container of files on the disk. See also FOLDER

DISKCOMP

- Compares the contents of two floppy disks.

DISKCOPY

- Copies the contents of one floppy disk to another.

DLL

- Dynamic Link Libary

DMA

- Direct Memory Access. A system that allows a device to access the Main Memory without going through the CPU

DOS

- Disk Operating System - usually by Microsoft

DOSKEY

- Edits command lines, recalls MS-DOS commands, and creates macros.

DOSSHELL

- Starts MS-DOS Shell.

DRAM

- See RAM & VRAM

ECHO

- Displays messages, or turns command echoing on or off.

EDIT

- Starts MS-DOS Editor, which creates and changes ASCII files.

EDLIN

- Starts Edlin, a line-oriented text editor.

 

E-Mail

- Electronic Mail used on the Internet. See also POP3

EIDE

- Expanded IDE - see IDE

EMS

- Expanded Memory System. See also EMM386

EMM386

- Turns on or off EMM386 expanded memory support. See also EMS

Envioromental Variable

- Variables used by the system. Can include COMSPEC, PATH, PROMPT, TEMP, DIRCMD, CONFIG, WINPMT . . .

ERASE

- Deletes one or more files. See also DEL

ERRORLEVEL

- A DOS enviromental variable, that returns a number on an error

EXE2BIN

- Converts .EXE (executable) files to binary format.

EXIT

- Quits the program (command interpreter). Also shuts down a DOS Window.

EXPAND

- Expands one or more compressed files.

Expanded Memory

- Memory paged into Upper Memory from Extended Memory. See also EMS & EMM386

Expansion Card

- Circuit Board that fits inside a PC eg Internal Modem

Extended Memory

- Memory above 1Mbyte. aka XMS

FASTOPEN

- Decreases the amount of time needed to open frequently used files and directories.

FAT

- File Allocation Table. DOS uses FAT 12 ( 0Mb - 15Mb) or FAT 16 ( 16Mb - 2048Mb), later versions of Windows 9x use FAT 32 ( 512Mb upwards). The number indicates the 'bits' used in the  address table to locate parts of the Hard Disk  See also Allocation Units

FC

- Compares two files or sets of files, and displays the differences between them.

FDISK

- Configures a hard disk for use with MS-DOS.

FIND

- Searches for a text string in a file or files.

Floppy Disk

- A removable diskette for storing small amounts of Data, the standard is now 3 1/2" 1.44Mb capacity

FOLDER

- See Directory

FOR

- Runs a specified command for each file in a set of files.

FORMAT

- Formats a disk for use with MS-DOS. See also UNFORMAT

Font

- Style of characters displayed on screen

FTP

- File Transfer Protocol - transmission of files over phone

Gbyte

- 1024 Mbyte

GOTO

- Directs MS-DOS to a labelled line in a batch program.

GPF

- General Protection Fault - When things go really wrong in Windows

GRAFTABL

- Enables MS-DOS to display an extended character set in graphics mode.

GRAPHICS

- Loads a program that can print graphics.

Graphics Card

- Expansion Card that drives the Monitor

GUI

- Graphical User Interface - See Windows

Hard Disc

- Fast storage device where programs are stored. See also IDE, EIDE & SCSI

Hardware

- The physical parts of a computer that you can touch

HELP

- Provides Help information for MS-DOS commands.

HEXADECIMAL

- A numbering system that uses the numbers 0 to 9 and the letters A to F. See also BINARY & DENARY

HIMEM.SYS

- A program run from Config.sys to allow access to the High Memory area just above the first Mbyte  See High Memory Area

High Memory Area

- The area just above 1Mb, (address 1024Kb - 1088Kb)

HTML

- HyperText Markup Language - used on the Internet. See also Hypertext

Hypertext

- A way of allowing user to jump between places in document, See also HTML

IF

- Performs conditional processing in batch programs.

I/O Port

A cable connector to a computer. See USB, Serial Ports & Parallel Ports

IBM (Compatible)

- International Buisiness Machines, the company who first 'developed' the 'Personal Computer' as we know it. (A PC capable of running the  MS DOS   operating system, and/or Windows)

IDE

 - Intergrated Drive Electronics - refers to Hard Discs

Internet

- Millions of interconnected computers in a global network. See also WEB, WWW

IP

- Internet Protocol - used with TCP

IRC

- Internet Relay Chat - real time 'talk' on the Internet

IRQ

- Interupt Request - Hardware calls to the CPU

ISA

- Industry Standard Architecture - The original bus. See also VESA & PCI

ISDN

- Intergrated Services Digital Network - Expensive!!!

ISP

- Internet Service Provider - your link to the Internet

Java

- Hardware Independent Computer Language

JOIN

- Joins a disk drive to a directory on another drive.

JPEG

- Graphics compression type

Jumpers

 - Device to alter settings on an expansion card/Motherboard

Kbit

- 2 to the power 10 bits = 1024 bits

Kbyte

- 2 to the power 10 bytes(8 bits) = 1024 bytes

KEYBxx

- Configures a keyboard for a specific language.

Kernal

- Lowest level of an Operating System

LABEL

- Creates, changes, or deletes the volume label of a disk.

LAN

 - Local Area Network

LH

- Loads a program, from the Autoexec.bat  into the upper memory area. See also LOADHIGH

LINUX

- A different Disc Operating System, distributed freely under a Public Licence. Used to run Networks.  See also UNIX

LOADFIX

- Loads a program above the first 64K of memory, and runs the program.

LOADHIGH

- Loads a program, from the Autoexec.bat into the upper memory area. See also LH,  DEVICE & DEVICEHIGH

Local Bus

- See VESA / PCI - newer and faster than than ISA

LPT:

- Line PrinTer. The I/O  parrallel port that is used to send information to the printer ( and sometimes other parrallel port devices)  e.g. LPT:1  LPT:2 etc.

Machine Code

- The BINARY code that the CPU works with

Macintosh

- Non-IBM compatable type Personal Computer

Maths Co-processor

- Used for Floating Point calculations - usually built into CPU

Mbit

- 2 to the power 20 = 1048576 bits

Mbyte

- 1024 Kbytes

MD

- Creates a directory. See also MKDIR

MEM

- Displays the amount of used and free memory in your system.

Memory

- Normally refers to RAM - See RAM

MICROSOFT

- The company that supplied the first DOS to IBM ( NOTE supplied NOT wrote !). Headed by Bill Gates

MIME

- Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions - E-mail format

MIRROR

- Records information about one or more disks.

MKDIR

- Creates a directory. See also MD

MODE

- Configures a system device.

Modem

- Modulator Demodulator - allows computer to talk on phone

Monitor

- The computer screen

MORE

- Displays output one screen at a time. Superceeded in most cases by the switch /P

Motherboard

- Main PCB in a computer, holds other components

Mouse

- Hand operated Pointing device. See also TRACK BALL

MOVE

- The external DOS V6 command that MOVE's a file from its start location, to its new location. Prior to this you had to COPY and then DELETE the origional file

MPEG

- Moving Picture Expert Group - compression standard

MSCDEX

- A program required by DOS to enable it to access CD drives

Multimedia

- Sound, Video, Animation on computers

Multithreading

- Running several computer tasks at the same time.

Network

- A number of computers connected together - see LAN and INTERNET

NLSFUNC

- Loads country-specific information.

OLE

- Object Linking and Embedding

Operating System

- Provides services to the system. These services consist mainly of access to the hardware resources such as the disk drives, keyboard, etc.

OS/2

- Another Disc Operating System, developed initially by IBM and Microsoft ( who dropped out and 'developed' Windows). Still in use mainly be enthusiasts ( and Bill Gates haters!!!!)

Parallel Port

- The connection to the Printer. See also LPT

Partition

- A system used to reduce the size of a large physical Hard drive into 'Logical' drives. This can reduce the size of the Allocation Units addressable by the FAT   e.g. 1Mb - 127Mb = 2Kb Allocation units, 512Mb - 1Gb (FAT 16) = 16Kb Units and  FAT 32 = 4Kb (upto 8.4Gb)

PATH

- Displays or sets a search path for executable files. It is also used as a System Variable

PAUSE

- Suspends processing of a batch file and displays a message.

PCI

- The latest type of Local Bus. Superceeds VESA. See also ISA

Pixel

- Picture Element - smallest dot on the monitor display

Plug and Play

- The ability of the operating system (Windows 95 and above) to configure new hardware with little or no user intervention.

PoP

- Point of Presence - ISP node

POP3

- An Internet  e-mail protocol

Port

- Expansion plug at rear of Computer

POST

- Power On Self Test. The proceedure that your computer goes through each time it starts (Powers On)

PPP

- Point to Point Protocol - Internet standard

PRINT

- Prints a text file while you are using other MS-DOS commands. May not be available in later versions (Win9x) of DOS

PROMPT

- Changes the MS-DOS command prompt.

Processor

- The chip that does most of the work - see CPU

Programs

- Computer software e.g. Word Processor

QBASIC

- Starts the MS-DOS QBasic programming environment.

RAM

- Random Access Memory - Main computer memory. See also SIMM & DIMM & DRAM & VRAM  & SDRAM

RD

- Removes a directory. See also RMDIR

RECOVER

- Recovers readable information from a bad or defective disk.

REM

- Records comments (remarks) in batch files or CONFIG.SYS.

REN

- Renames a file or files. See also RENAME

RENAME

- Renames a file or files. See also REN

REPLACE

- Replaces files.

RESTORE

Restores files that were backed up by using the BACKUP  command.

RMDIR

- Removes a directory. See also RD

ROM

- Read Only Memory

SCANDISK

- Checks a disk ( including a Surface Scan) and displays a status report, more powerful than CHKDSK.

SCSI

- Small Computer System Interface

SDRAM

- A faster form of RAM     See also DRAM & VRAM

Serial Port -

 The connection to a Mouse / Modem / Printer. See also COM

SET

- Displays, sets, or removes MS-DOS environment variables.

SETVER

- Sets the version number that MS-DOS reports to a program.

SHARE

- Installs file-sharing and locking capabilities on your hard disk.

SHIFT

- Shifts the position of replaceable parameters in batch files

SIMM

- Single Inline Memory Module - RAM Memory. See also DIMM

SLIPP

- Serial Line Interface Protocol - Internet standard

SORT

- Sorts input.

SUBST

- Associates a path with a drive letter.

Swap File

- Portion of Hard Disc used by operating system. See also VIRTUAL MEMORY

SYS

- Copies MS-DOS system files and command interpreter to a disk you  specify.

Tape

- A device for Backing Up files, uses cassettes similar (but NOT the same as) Audio tapes

TCP

- Transmission Control Protocol - used with IP

TIME

- Displays or sets the system time.

Telnet

- Telephone Network

TREE

- Graphically displays the directory structure of a drive or path. See also DELTREE

TYPE

- Displays the contents of a text file.

Track Ball

- Hand operated Pointing device. See also MOUSE

TSR

- Terminate and Stay Resident, a term used for programs that run and then stay in memory for instant use later, a Mouse driver or a Network driver are examples

UMB

- Upper Memory Blocks, areas of the Upper Memory, used to 'page' chunks of Extended (XMS) by DOS so that it can be recognised and used.

UNDELETE

- Recovers files which have been deleted.

UNFORMAT

- Restores a disk erased by the FORMAT command or restructured by the RECOVER command.

UNIX

- A powerfull Operating system used on large systems, ideal for Networks. See also LINUX

Upper Memory Area

- RAM between 640Kb and 1024Kb

USB

- Universal Serial Bus, a I/O port developed for Windows 95/98, it gives 'Plug & Play' and 'Hot Swap' capabilites.

VER

- Displays the MS-DOS version.

VERIFY

- Tells MS-DOS whether to verify that your files are written correctly to a disk.

VESA

- A Local Bus, superceded by PCI. See also ISA

Virtual Memory

- Portion of Hard Disc used by operating system. See also SWAP FILE

Virus

- Rogue computer program - usually damaging

VOL

- Displays a disk volume label and serial number.

VRAM

- Video Random Access Memory - special type of DRAM

WEB

- Part of the Internet, also known as World Wide Web (WWW)

WINDOWS

- The Microsoft GUI. It is the pictorial interpretation of the Computer functions

Winsock

- Windows Sockets - used for Internet access

WWW

- World Wide Web, part of the Internet. see also WEB

XCOPY

- Copies files (except hidden and system files) and directory trees.

XMS

- Memory above 1 Mbyte. aka Extended Memory

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