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C |
| There are 50 entries in the glossary. |
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| C was created in the 1970s and is a high-level language for programming. It was initially used for UNIX programs however it is now used for most kinds of application writing. It is easy to use and read and is very memory efficient. C++ or C plus plus as it is pronounced is very similar to C but it contains features that are object-oriented and this means the programmer can also create objects in the coding. As a result C++ makes programming easier and many would say more pleasurable. |
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| Cable Modems are used to connect computers to the Internet and are over 500 times as fast as dial up modems. ISPs however limit their users transfer rates to maintain bandwidth. |
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| A Cache is used to store recent information in order for it to be re-accessed very quickly. Internet Explorer for instance will cache information from recently viewed Web pages and sites without the need to download the information again. This speeds up browsing as you are accessing the computer's hard disk and not the Internet. |
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| CAD or Computer Aided Design is software that is used for almost all 3D designing and engineers and architects swear by it as it can rotate, resize and move images quickly and has taken over from pencil and paper as the best designing tool. |
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| Professional photographers like to photo graph in camera RAW as it does not automatically correct and compress files as most digital cameras do. It allows them to make their own corrections as they are unprocessed. |
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| CD is the term used for the circular disk that was created in the 1980s. CDs can hold 700MB of data and this data (stored in the form of notches) is read by a laser in a CD player's optical drive. |
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| CD-R (Compact Disk Recordable) is a CD which is able to have data written to it. A CD burner must be used for this. Although they can hold audio data they can also be used to store other data such as Power Point presentations and Word documents. |
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| CD-ROM or Compact Disk Read-Only Memory are CDs that are able to be read by a computer as long as it has an optical drive. CD-ROMs cannot be changed or wiped and contain a large amounts of different data as they are not formatted the same way as CDs. They are usually retail software. |
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| A CD-RW (Compact Disk Re-Writable) is a Rewritable CD that can have data burned onto it. The difference between a CD-R and a CD-RW is that a CD-RW can be written on countless times, it cannot however be overwritten and needs to be erased first. Due to their nature CD-RW are not the best way of backing up data so it would be better to use a CD-R. |
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| CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access was developed in WW2 as a form of wireless transmission. It was later patented by Qualcomm and is used by many mobile phone companies. |
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| Certificate or SSL or secure certificate is an installed file on a Web server and is there to prove the identity of the site and ensure it is secure. This gives consumers added security when shopping online and they are verified by Thawte or other third party companies. |
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| CGI or Common Gateway Interface is a way of passing requested information from a program that has been executed on a Web server to a client. |
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| A Character is anything that can be created from a computer keyboard. This means all letters, symbols, numbers, punctuation etc. Characters are always one byte long. |
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| Chipset is the term used to describe the construction of integrated circuits. Chipsets in devices are all different, even different Pentium 2 and 3 Processors have different Chipsets. |
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| CISC or Complex Instruction Set Computing is a microprocessor that contains a huge number of computer instructions which start off as extremely simple and go up to highly complex and specific. The idea behind the design was originally to process complex orders and instructions in the best way, however trial and error proved that by using small and short instructions this process would happen much faster. As a result the RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing was developed and now PowerPCs are entirely RISC - based. Pentium processors on the other hand are CISC -based with some RISC features. |
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| A Clean Room is a room where highly sensitive equipment is produced in order for it to stay free from contamination. Microprocessors are made in clean rooms and the air in them is constantly filtered. |
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| Client is the term used to describe a system that can access a service, which is usually remote on another computer via a network. |
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| Clip Art is a collection of different images and pictures that can be imported onto documents. They are usually arranged into files that show the type of images within them for example - animals, flowers, boats etc. |
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| A Clipboard is part of your computer's RAM that stores images or sections of text to be placed elsewhere. When you use the copy or cut command the item you have selected will be put on the clipboard until you click paste and place it where you want it. You can also copy and paste web addresses. |
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| Clock Speed is the term used to measure the rate that a processor can complete it's processing cycles. They are normally measured in Megahertz (1,000,000 cycles per second) and Gigahertz (1,000,000,000 cycles per second). |
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| The term Clone was first coined in the 1980s when rival computer companies began to produce Windows - based computers. These ran exactly the same as IBM computers and used much of the same hardware and software. There are now many companies who make Windows-based personal computers, or PCs as they are now known. |
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| A Cluster can mean two different things. The first meaning refers to sectors on a disk, the smallest sectors can be identified and accessed on a hard dick but a cluster is a group of these that identifies a file and typically a file will be made up of several clusters. The second meaning refers to groups of computers that are connected, usually by Ethernet and they are often used for processing data (normally scientific). As all the computers are performing the same function (complex scientific calculations or decryption) they are known to be engaging in parallel computing. |
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| CMOS (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) is a term used to describe the means of creating transistors. The word complimentary relates to how they will produce a positive or negative charge. Transistors that are CMOS-based only use one charge per time so they are very efficient and are only in use when a charge goes through them. Processors that have these CMOS -based transistors can run incredibly fast without overheating and the CMOS memory in a computer (the part of the memory that remembers the date and time) runs on a such low power that a Lithium battery can sustain it for years. |
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| CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow Black) these colours are the four main colours used for printing documents. Computers screens use Red, Blue and Green, CMYK colours can be blended to make various colours and shades and are known as subtractive. |
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| Codec or Coder Decoder is the term used to describe the method in which audio and video files are compressed to save space and then decompressed in order to be played. MPEG and AVI are two of the most popular forms of video files with WAV and AIFF being the most popular for audio files. |
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| ColdFusion is a middleware programming language that is tag-based and mainly used in the writing of Web -based applications. |
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| Compact Flash (CF) is a form of memory that tends to be used in digital cameras. |
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| A Computer in the strictest sense is a programmable machine that will act under instruction. Nowadays a computer is thought of as a PC, laptop or Mac, but in truth the monitor, mouse and keyboard are not part of this. |
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| Computer Ethics are an unwritten set of rules and morals that surround the use of computers. Popular topics of computer ethics are privacy and the concerns that arise from it and other things such as how computers fit into society. |
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| Configuration is the term used to describe the more technical aspects of a computer, the RAM, processor, hard drive and other such parts. |
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| A Controller Card is the interface between a computers motherboard and the other parts of the computer. All devices attached to a computer such as a mouse or printer need a controller to work. If you are looking to add a SCSI drive to your computer you will need to use a controller card (these normally fit into a PCI slot). |
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| Cookies are data that is sent to your computer when you have visited a Website. If you revisit the site the cookie will load particular pages depending on what information is contained in it. |
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| Copy is the term used when a document or image is copied and placed on the computers clipboard ready to be pasted elsewhere. |
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| A Counter is usually placed on a Website to record the number of visitors to the site. |
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| CPA or Cost Per Action is the term used to describe the fee that is charged each time a desired action is completed by a user, this can take the form of reading a number of pages or downloading particular software. |
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| CPC or Cost Per Click is the term used to describe the fee that is charged each time a banner ad or HTML link is clicked by a user. |
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| CPL or Cost Per Lead is a lead that needs to be fulfilled in order to get a credit, this can be a valid email address or a survey fully filled out. |
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| CPM or Cost Per 1000 Impressions is the term used to describe the buying of advertising space in a particular media. |
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| CPS or Cost Per Sale is the term used when a fee is charged for every purchase a user makes. |
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| CPU or Central Processing Unit is sometimes thought of as a computers brain. And like a brain it controls everything that the computer does from the most complex task to the most basic function. |
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| A Crawler or Web spider is a type of bot that searches the Internet in a specific, automated way and they are often used by search engines to refine searches. |
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| CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is the method used to try to create a personable feeling between an Internet company and it's customers. And many online companies are now buying into the idea that they need a strategy to help them to create a more friendly, customer orientated online experience |
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| A Cron is a Unix system task that is periodically run. These can take the form of an email sent out once a week or a directory being backed up every two weeks. |
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| Crossplatform is any software application that can be successfully run on any computer. Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop are two examples of this. |
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| CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) is a method of firing electrons from a tube onto phosphors on the front of a TV or monitors display. When the phosphors are hit they light up and the result is then projected onto the screen in a mixture of blue, green and red. As the electrons are magnetically guided you can get interference on the screen if there are any magnetic devices nearby. LCD displays are now replacing CRT as they don't have the problem with magnetic interference and they are thinner. |
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| CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a term of computer language that describes any structured document and it's presentation in HTML, XML or XHTML. This blueprint is upheld by the World Wide Web Consortium. |
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| CTP (Composite Theoretic Performance) is a way of measuring a computer processors performance. The resulting calculations are used to benchmark performance and computer companies use them to measure the number of theoretical operations can be performed by their computers in one second. |
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| CTR (Click Through Ratio) means the number of times (ratio) that a person has clicked through a banner ad during the time it has been live. |
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| A Cursor has two meanings. The first is the pointer of your mouse that is shown on the computer screen, and it can be used to open documents or go into programs by double clicking the mouse. The second is the flashing line which will show you where you have typed to in a body of text. This line can be moved around and repositioned in order to highlight sections of text and cut and paste them elsewhere. |
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| Cyberspace does not really have an exclusive definition, instead it refers to the virtual world that computers inhabit. It now also encompasses the Internet and people refer to an email being sent through cyberspace when it is sent. |
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