Go to Introduction Go to Quick Looks Go to Conversations Go to Cases Go to Resources




Go to resource overview
Go to assessment tools for technology
Go to helpful people near home
Go to quicklinks
Go to glossary of computer terms
Go to articles and funding sources

Resources - Glossary (G, H, I, J, and K)

A B C || D E F || G H I J K || L M || N O P || Q R S || T U V W X Y Z
Show entire glossary || Download glossary


G

GB - gigabyte
Approximately 1,000,000,000
bytes (1 billion bytes), 1,000,000 kilobytes, or 1,000 megabytes. Exactly 1,073,741,824 bytes, 1,048,576 kilobytes, or 1,024 megabytes calculated from 2 to the 30th power.

GIF - Graphic Interchange Format
A popular graphical format developed by CompuServe commonly used on the
world wide web. Gif files are 8-bit graphic files that can possess 256 different colors and are compressed without loss of information. GIFs can be also animated.

gigabyte - GB
Approximately 1,000,000,000
bytes (1 billion bytes), 1,000,000 kilobytes, or 1,000 megabytes. Exactly 1,073,741,824 bytes, 1,048,576 kilobytes, or 1,024 megabytes calculated from 2 to the 30th power.

gopher
A method of distributing information by computers that has waned in popularity to
ftp. Most gopher files contain only text information with few images, audio, or video components. Files can be downloaded with a similar protocol like ftp.

graphical user interface - GUI
A graphical interface where the user uses a
mouse, keyboard, icons, and menus to send commands to the CPU. Non-GUI systems would include MS-DOS which required typed commands such as ">format a:" to format a disk.

Graphic Interchange Format - GIF
Graphic Interchange Format. A popular graphical format developed by CompuServe commonly used on the
world wide web. Gif files are 8-bit graphic files that can possess 256 different colors and are compressed without loss of information. GIFs can be also animated.

graphics accelerator
An expansion card used to do calculate
pixel values separately from the computer's CPU.

GUI - graphical user interface
A graphical interface where the user uses a
mouse, keyboard, icons, and menus to send commands to the CPU. Non-GUI systems would include MS-DOS which required typed commands such as ">format a:" to format a disk.


H

hard disk/hard drive/hard disk drive
These words are often used interchangeably. The mechanism contains a disk that data is stored on. There is also a mechanism used to read and write data to the disk, and there is a housing unit that holds the mechanism together.

hardware
Often referring to the mechanical and electrical parts that make up a computer system. These devices would include the
mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer, scanner, motherboard, RAM, etc.

hexadecimal
A base-16 numbering system based rather than the commonly used based 10. Numbering in base 16 has 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, G (these numbers and letters correspond to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16). The place holders in base-10 are 1's, 10's, 100's, 1000's; in base-16 numbering systems the place holders are 1's, 16's, 256's, 4,096's, etc. So 5CA means 5 256's, 12 16's, and 10 one's for a total of 1482.

high resolution
An adjective that describes a higher number of dots per inch (
DPI) relative to some other resolution. Currently, laser printers and scanners have 1200 DPI while monitors often have 1600 x 1200 DPI.

HLS - hue, luminance, and saturation.
A color model system used to define colors on monitors and televisions. Other color models include
CMYK and RGB. HLS is also sometimes abbreviated HSI or HSV for hue, saturation, and intensity, or hue, saturation, and value, respectively.

host
A computer that provides services to another computer; for example, storing downloadable files.

HTML - hypertext markup language
A file format and programming code commonly used with pages located on the
world wide web. It is read by web browsers and can be used to embedded graphics, audio, video, and applets. It links to other HTML pages using uniform resource locators (URLs).

http - hypertext transfer protocol
The protocol used on the
Internet to transfer hypertext media based on the TCP/IP protocol.

https - hypertext transfer protocol secure
The protocol used on the
Internet to transfer secure hypertext media based on the TCP/IP protocol and the SSL security protocol.

hub
A location on the
Internet that acts as a junction for many nodes.

hue
A color in the spectrum which can be represented by a word (e.g., red), by a
hexadecimal value (e.g., #000000, white), and by other coding schemes. Hue along with luminance and saturation are used in the HLS color model.

hue, luminance, and saturation - HLS.
A color model system used to define colors on monitors and televisions. Other color models include
CMYK and RGB. HLS is also sometimes abbreviated HSI or HSV for hue, saturation, and intensity, or hue, saturation, and value, respectively.

hyperlink
A link within a hypertext document created with
HTML.

hypertext
A document created using
HTML.

hypertext markup language - HTML
A file format and programming code commonly used with pages located on the
world wide web. It is read by web browsers and can be used to embedded graphics, audio, video, and applets. It links to other hypertext markup language pages using uniform resource locators (URLs).

hypertext transfer protocol - http
The protocol used on the
Internet to transfer hypertext media based on the TCP/IP protocol.

hypertext transfer protocol secure - https
The
protocol used on the Internet to transfer secure hypertext media based on the TCP/IP protocol and the SSL security protocol.


I

icon
A graphic used to link to an
application, document, etc. Used extensively in GUI systems.

IDE - integrated device electronics
A disk format used by most common
platforms, in which the controller electronics reside within the drive housing removing the need for a separate adapter. Other formats include SCSI, UltraSCSI, and EIDE.

IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
A professional organization of engineers, students, and other related professions established in 1963. Among other things, it establishes standards for the computer and electronics industry.

image
A computer graphic.

image resolution
A representation of the quality of the image usually measured in dots per inch (
DPI). Typical DPI for world wide web graphics is 72 though higher resolutions of 600 DPI are not uncommon.

import
Commonly used to refer to documents or images created by one
application in one platform that are opened by another application or in a different platform. For example, opening a MSWord document using WordPerfect, a PC MSWord document on a Macintosh®, or a Photoshop image with Fireworks.

incremental dump
Backing up a computer's files that have changed since the last backup. (See also
full dump.)

infrared communication
A means of communicating using an infrared signal. For example, remote controllers for televisions work by sending an infrared signal to an infrared receiver on the television. Similarly,
laptop computers can send documents to printers using an infrared port.

Infrared Data Association - IrDA
A voluntary group of manufacturers who have a common communications system to allow all IrDA compliant devices to communicate with one another.

INI file - initialization file
A file commonly used in earlier Microsoft®
Windows® systems (i.e., Windows® 3.1) that contains simple initialization information for the drivers, system, and other basic computer applications.

initialization file - INI file
A file commonly used in earlier Microsoft®
Windows® systems (i.e., Windows® 3.1) that contains simple initialization information for the drivers, system, and other basic computer applications.

input device
Any device that can provide information to a computer including a keyboard,
mouse, joystick, audio recognition device, track ball, light pen, etc.

input/output - I/O
The process of providing data for a computer that can then process or store that data for later retrieval and output to a user.

insertion point
Typically a location in a text document shown as a blinking vertical bar where additional text or other data objects will be added.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IEEE
A professional organization of engineers, students, and other related professions established in 1963. Among other things, it establishes standards for the computer and electronics industry.

integrated device electronics - IDE
A disk format used by most common
platforms, in which the controller electronics reside within the drive housing removing the need for a separate adapter. Other formats include SCSI, UltraSCSI, and EIDE.

integrated service digital network - ISDN
A set of standards used for the communication of voice, data, video, and audio signals over a single communication line. Typically, ISDN lines are much faster than traditional telephone/
modem lines and transfer data via a digital signal.

interface
The junction between two items. These items can be two
hardware items (a printer and a computer), two applications, the user and the computer (e.g., GUI), the user and an application, etc. The interface define the functions and protocols between the two items.

International Organization for Standardization - ISO
An international organization that reviews devices and establishes standards in communications. (Often incorrectly called the International Standards Organization.)

Internet
A worldwide connection of smaller
networks hooked together into a massive network contains millions of hosts and nodes.

Internet Explorer®
The Microsoft® world wide
web browsers that is available for a variety of platforms including Microsoft® Windows® and Macintosh®.

Internet Protocol - IP
The basic protocol of the
Internet. It provides the protocols so two computers will be able to find one another but does not provide any protocols to assure that the data sent will actually arrive, will not arrive in duplicate form, nor will arrive in a non-corrupted state. Other protocols are established to monitor data integrity.

Internet relay chat - IRC
A method of voice communication between two individuals using the
Internet in real-time.

Internet service provider - ISP
An organization (typically a company) that provides
Internet access to individuals, companies, and organizations.

interpreter
A program that reads
source code and interprets it line by line. It does not create an executable file.

I/O - input/output
The process of providing data for a computer that can then process or store that data for later retrieval and output to a user.

IP - Internet Protocol
The basic protocol of the
Internet. It provides the protocols so two computers will be able to find one another but does not provide any protocols to assure that the data sent will actually arrive, will not arrive in duplicate form, nor will arrive in a non-corrupted state. Other protocols are established to monitor data integrity.

IP address
In
TCP/IP, a 32-bit number that identifies each host on a network.

IRC - Internet relay chat
A method of voice communication between two individuals using the
Internet in real-time.

IrDA - Infrared Data Association
A voluntary group of manufacturers who have a common communications system to allow all IrDA compliant devices to communicate with one another.

ISDN - integrated service digital network.
A set of standards used for the communication of voice, data, video, and audio signals over a single communication line. Typically, ISDN lines are much faster than traditional telephone/
modem lines and transfer data via a digital signal.

ISO - International Organization for Standardization
An international organization that reviews devices and establishes standards in communications. (Often incorrectly called the International Standards Organization.)

ISP - Internet service provider
An organization (typically a company) that provides
Internet access to individuals, companies, and organizations.


J

Java®
A platform-independent
object-oriented programming language designed for the web and developed by Sun Microsystems. A Java® application on the web, an applet, is downloaded by a client and then runs on the client's computer. Since it is platform-independent, a separate Macintosh®, Microsoft® Windows®, etc. version is not needed.

JavaScript®
A programming language that is interpreted by both majors
web browsers (though not necessarily in identical ways) and is used to enhance a web page, for instance, by accepting user input. JavaScript® is not related to Java®.

Joint Photographic Experts Group - JPEG
A graphics file format developed by the
ISO. JPEG files are more useful when the image contains a large color palette while the GIF format is more suited to a smaller number of colors. The compression algorithm for JPEG is a lossy one so image resolution is lost as the file is compressed; greater compression leads to greater loss.

JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group
A graphics file format developed by the
ISO. JPEG files are more useful when the image contains a large color palette while the GIF format is more suited to a smaller number of colors. The compression algorithm for JPEG is a lossy one so image resolution is lost as the file is compressed; greater compression leads to greater loss.


K

KB - kilobyte
Approximately 1,000
bytes. Exactly 1,024 bytes calculated from 2 to the 10th power.

Kermit
A file transfer and terminal emulation protocol not used very often anymore.

keyboard buffer
A temporary memory in the keyboard that stores a number of key strokes. In this way, even if the computer does not initially respond to the key strokes, it will when it's
CPU becomes available with having to re-enter the key strokes.

keyword
A word used for sorting, filtering, and searching. In programming languages, it is a reserved word which can not be used, for example, as a variable name. For instance, a variable typically can not be name "then" because if-then statements have reserved the word "then."

kilobyte - KB
Approximately 1,000
bytes. Exactly 1,024 bytes calculated from 2 to the 10th power.



Show entire glossary || Download glossary
A B C || D E F || G H I J K || L M || N O P || Q R S || T U V W X Y Z


Sources:
"Everything you wanted to know about your Mac," Larry Hanson
Prentice Hall, Indianapolis, IN, 1993
ISBN: 1-56830-058-1

Matisse's Glossary of Internet Terms
Matisse Enzer
Copyright ©1994-2000

Microsoft® Corporation's Glossary and Acronyms
Microsoft® Corporation.
Copyright ©1999 All rights reserved.

The Network Page: Standard Computer-Term Glossary
Constructed as part of a course assignment for third year engineering students: An assessment of computer systems. Constructed at Sunderland University.

PC Cables Direct.Com's Computer Glossary Terms
PC Cables Direct, Inc.
3307 Langdon Road
Angier, N.C. USA 27501
Copyright ©1999

Saugus.net: Glossary of computer terms
Part of the Home Page for city of Saugus, MA
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000 Saugus.net

Sun Global Glossary Collection: Global Glossary
Sun Microsystems Inc.
901 San Antonio Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
USA
Copyright ©1994-2000.

University of Chicago Campus Computer Stores
A Glossary of Computer Related Terms

University of Chicago
Copyright ©1997



Introduction || Quick Looks || Conversations || Case Studies || Resources

Search || Who We Are || Site Map || Meet the CL-1 Team || WebMaster || Copyright || Download
College Level One (CL-1) Home || Collaborative Learning || FLAG || Learning Through Technology || NISE