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Source program. See Source code.

Special-purpose computer. A computer that is dedicated to a single purpose.

Special-purpose program. Programs that are dedicated to performing single-use tasks. for example, medical billing, patient tracking, or contract writing. Also called special-purpose application software.

Speech coding. A technique for voice output from a computer that uses prerecorded human speech as the source of the output.

Speech recognizer. A device for voice input that is capable of recognizing an individual person's voice.

Speech synthesis. A technique for voice output that uses phonemes or basic speech sounds to imitate the human voice.

Spelling checker. A program that checks documents for spelling errors. Also called a spelling corrector.

Spool. An acronym for Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-Line. A program that allows printing to occur simultaneously with other computer operations.

Spreadsheet program. A program that models the way in which financial people solve problems, such as budgeting and estimating.

SQL. See Structured query language.

Standard cell. A technique for designing integrated circuits by which predefined functions, such as processing elements and memories, are obtained from libraries and used in the design process.

Star network. A central controller with a separate communication channel attached to each device connected to it.

Statistical multiplexing. A technique for allocating a communication channel among several users on the basis of idle time on the channel. A statistical multiplexer fills the idle time gaps between transmissions with parts of other transmissions.

Stereoscopic display. A device that is used to create the illusion of depth on the flat surface of a display screen. In addition, the user must wear polarized glasses to see the stereoscopic effect.

Stored-program concept. The storage of data and instructions using the same memory so that the computer can become a general-purpose system. It is used in lieu of hand wiring the computer each time a specific task is to be per-formed.

Strategy. A plan of action designed to cope with change, competition, and uncertainty.

Streaming tape. A form of magnetic tape that is specifically designed to store backup copies of disk files. Also called cartridge tape.

Structure. In database programs, the manner in which the fields of a record are organized or interrelated. It is also called record structure.

Structure chart. A diagram that serves as a model for modularizing a structured program. (See also Hierarchy chart).

Structured analysis. The examination of a complex problem by dividing it into simple functions.

Structured design. The process of designing the components of a computer program and their interrelationships in the best possible way.

Structured programming. The application of top-down design methods to programming.

Structured programming language. A programming language that facilitates the idea of breaking the program into smaller units or modules to allow clearer expressions of the problem and simpler organization.



Structured query language. A query language which manipulates data in a relational database. (See also Query language).

Structured walk-through. A peer review designed to evaluate and challenge specifications. The proposed specifications are presented to other analysts, programmers, or system developers for feedback, comments, and criticism.

Subroutine. A part of a program that can be executed repeatedly by a single statement.

Supercomputers. The fastest computers made.

Supervisor. The operating-system control program responsible for deciding which application program will have use of the CPU.

Switch. A device capable of making or breaking one or more connections in a circuit. Also called agate.

Synchronous transmission. Data communications in which a synchronizing clock signal is used to transmit large blocks of data between sending and receiving devices.

Synthesizer. A device that electronically generates sound instead of picking it up with a microphone.

System. (I) In general systems theory, a set or arrangement of parts acting together to perform a function. (2) In systems analysis, a network of interrelated procedures performed by people with the aid of tools or machines.

System flowchart. A graphic representation of the components, flow, and relationships among elements of a system.

System software. Programs or commands used to control the operation of the computer system.

Systems analysis. The process of understanding a user's needs and, from those needs, deriving the functional requirements of a system

Systems analyst. A person in an organization who performs the interfacing between users and programmers.

Systems life-cycle. An approach used in system design and software development that proceeds from definition to design and development to implementation.

 

T

 

Table.In relational database terminology, a table consists of rows and columns. Each row identifies a record and each column corresponds to a field. Also called a relation.

Tape drive.A device that stores data recorded on magnetic-tape. A form of mass storage.

Technology.(1) The practical application of knowledge. (2) Activities that are directed toward the satisfaction of human needs that produce alterations in the material world.

Telecommunications.Communications over a long distance.

Telecommuting.The electronic transportation of information instead of the physical transportation of people.

Template.A master document from which other documents can he created. Templates can be found in word processing, spreadsheet, and database programs.

Terabyte.A unit of measure equivalent to 240, or 1.099,511,627,776 bytes. Used to measure capacities of large-scale mass-storage devices.

Teraflop.A unit of measure equivalent to one-trillion floating-point operations per second. A combination of the Greek teras, which means one trillion, and flop, short for floating-point operations per second.

Terminal.A device that is used in communication systems to enter or receive data.

Terminal emulation.Personal computer software that emulates a remote terminal. One example is the IBM 3270 Terminal Emulation program.

Text database.A collection of words such as articles in the Wall Street Journal or a series of legal abstracts. Text databases are stored either on-line or on CD ROM optical disks and include the means to search through massive amounts of data to answer specific questions.

Thermal printer.A printer that uses a selected pattern of clots to form images that are transferred by heat onto specially coated paper.

Thermal-transfer printer.A printer that uses heat' to melt wax particles that contain ink, which are then transferred to paper.

Thin-film disk.A disk that contains a metallic layer as opposed to a magnetic-oxide layer on its surface. This permits higher recording density because the read/write head can travel closer to the disk's surface owing to more precise tolerances.

Thin-film, head.A disk read' write head made from the same photolithographic process as integrated circuits. It permits individual data bits to be stored closer to each other on the surface of the disk.

Third generation.Referring to computers in the time period 1964-1977, which used integrated circuits to replace transistors.

Throughput.The total volume of work performed by a system in a given period of time.

Time-division multiplexing. Dividing a communication channel on the basis of fixed time intervals. Many digital channels, for example, are divided into 24 time slots less than a millionth of a second long, which repeat in cycles of 24. Thus, each user's data are separated in time from all other users' data.

Time-sharing.A method that allows multiple users of a computer system to share the computer, giving the illusion of having simultaneous access.

Token.In local-area networks, the electronic equivalent of an envelope. A token contains a fixed amount of information and a destination address.

Token-ring network.A type of local-area network in which a single token passes from computer to computer and carries messages around the network.

Top-down approach.A technique used by systems analysts and software developers that refers to starting with the whole problem and developing more and more detail as the solution develops.

Top-down structured design.An approach for program design that involves proceeding from general terms to finer and finer details until no more detail is necessary.

Topology.In a computer network, the interconnection of devices and communication channels into a network configuration.

Total systems concept.An MIS cotveept popular in the late 1960s in which a single centralized repository of information would represent all the organization's activities.

Touch screen.A plastic membrane or set of infrared sensors placed over a display screen to enable the user to select actions or commands by touching the screen.

Touch technology.A technology that senses the location of your finger as it nears or touches a screen or touch-sensitive pad.

Track. Refers to concentric circles where data are stored on a disk.

Track density.The number of tracks per inch on a disk.

Transaction.An event about which data are recorded and processed, for example, a request for a seat on an airline flight.

Transaction file.A type of file in which records created during the input process are stored until needed for further processing.

Transaction-oriented processing.A type of processing in which transactions activate processing, such as an air-line reservation system.

Transcribed input.Data that are captured by transcribing them from source documents onto another medium that is capable of being input to a computer system. (See also Direct source input; Source document).

Transistor.A combination of the words transfer and resistor. A device that regulates the flow of electric current through a combination of conductivity and resistance. A transistor is most often used to switch electricity on and off.

Transparent.A term used by computer designers to indicate a function that the user is not directly aware of. In effect, the user "sees right through it" and does not notice that it is around.

Trojan horse.An unauthorized program hidden inside or attached to a legitimate program. (See also Virus program; Worm).

Tuple.A row in a two-dimensional database, (Sec also Attribute; Relation).

Turnkey.A computer system that includes all the necessary hardware and software that is built, tested, and installed by the vendor.

Tutorial. A set of instructions designed for self-taught learning about computers.

 

U

 

UART. An acronym for universal asynchronous receiver transmitter. An integrated circuit that performs the function of translating parallel data into serial data, and vice versa.

ULSI. An acronym for ultra-large-scale integration.

Ultra-large-scale integration (ULSI). A technique that etches 100 million to 1 billion transistors and other circuit elements on a single chip.

Unicode standard. A 16-bit code that specifies a unique set of binary digits that represents characters from the world's scripts and provides a consistent international character standard. The code can support up to 65.536 (21fa) characters. (See also ASCII; EBCDIC).

UNIX. A trademark of Bell Laboratories. An operating system designed for minicomputers and microcomputers.

UPC. An acronym for Universal Product Code, a bar code consisting of thick and thin stripes that can be read by an optical reader. Used primarily to identify supermarket items.

Update. A term for the modification of records in a master file by replacing older information with more current information.

Upward compatible. A term used when a new piece of equipment or computer system can produce identical results as the equipment or system it replaces.

User analyst. A systems analyst who is in an organizational department other than the data-processing department.

User diagnostics. A series of test programs designed to determine where problems might exist in hardware. For example, a test program can discover if memory is not functioning, and point out the location of the nonfunctioning memory.

User friendly. A term describing how easy a system or program is to learn and use and how gently it tolerates errors or mistakes on the part of the user.

User group. An informal organization of people who use the same type of computers or software and have regular meetings to swap information and programs.

User interface. That portion of a program that handles the human interaction with the program.

Utilities. (1) In system programming, programs that perform functions that are required by many of the programs using the system. (2) In database systems, programs that allow a user to maintain a database.

 

V

 

Variable-length operations. The type of operations performed by character (byte) addressable computers. Vertical recording. A recording technique that stands the magnetic particles on the surface of a disk on end so that the north-south poles point up and down or vertically toward the surface of the disk. This effectively increases the density of the disks because more magnetic fields can be packed into a given area on the disk.

Very-large-scale integration (VLSI). A technique that etches 100,000 to 100 million transistors and other circuit elements on a single chip.

VGA. Short for video graphics array, an IBM video chip on the PS/2 system board that provides 640- by 480-pixel resolution and a 256-color palette on the display screen. (Seea\soCGA)/iGA,XGA).

Video capture board. A board that plugs into an expansion slot and turns full-motion video signals into digitized files.

Video conference. Aconference held by means of one- or two-way interactive television.

Videotex. A form of electronic publishing.

View. In a database, a group of data associated with a specific user.

Virtual circuit. A logical connection between nodes in a communication network that can be accomplished with many different physical circuits during the trans-mission of messages.

Virtual memory. A technique for storing programs or data on mass-storage devices and creating the illusion that data are in memory by swapping pages or segments in and out of memory when needed.

Virtual-memory operating system. A type of operating sys-rem that automatically manages program overlays, bringing them in and out of memory as needed.

Virtual reality. An information environment generated by computer technology (hat combines visual, auditory, and tactile interaction to create the illusion of realistic objects and sensory experiences. Also called a virtual environment.

Virus program. A program developed specifically to interfere with a computer's normal operation. It is called a virus because, like its biological counterpart, it can clone copies of itself and then infect other programs with those copies.

Vision system. A robotic system that uses a television camera coupled with image-processing software to allow a robot to see.

Visualization. A term that applies to representing complex mathematical phenomena or simulations with images. The more visual the representation of data, the easier it is to completely and more accurately understand the data. (See also Scientific visualization).

VLSI. An acronym for very-large-scale integrated circuit. VLSI etches 100,000 to 100 million transistors and other circuit elements on a single chip.

Voice mail. A technology in which spoken messages are digitized, stored in computers, and later retrieved by the recipient.

Voice recognizer. See Speech recognizer.

Voice training. I he process of recording an individual's voice patterns when speaking specific commands. The voice

patterns are stored for future matching when the device is actually in use.

Volatile file. A file in which a high percentage of records accessed are changed or records are added or deleted.

Volatile storage. Memory devices, such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), that lose all data when electric power is cut off.

Von Neumann computer. The traditional form of computer architecture, named after John von Neumann (1903-1957), in which the computer has one central processor and one memory connected via a single channel. Also used to indicate a computer in which programs and data share the same memory.

 

W

 

Wait state. The time during which the system bus is idle. Wait states occur when memory is busy responding to a request from the processor. A zero wait state means that the memory is fast enough not to make the processor wait while memory reads or writes data.

Wafer. A thin disk of pure silicon on which multiple copies of integrated circuits are fabricated.

What-if analysis. Use of a spreadsheet to compare alternatives. Wide-area network (WAN). A geographically dispersed communication network linking computers for the purpose of communicating with one another. An example is a nationwide network of airline reservation terminals.

Winchester disk. A high-speed, medium- to large-capacity, sealed magnetic-storage medium for computer systems.

Window. A variable-sized rectangular area on a display screen.

Word processing. An application program designed to compose, revise, print, and file written documents.

Word recognizer. A device for voice input that is capable of responding to individually spoken words or commands.

Word size, The term used to describe the size of operand registers and buses in computer systems. Also called word length.

Word wrap. A feature of many computer programs that allows you to continue typing beyond the end of a line without having to press the return key.

Workgroup computing. Computer and communication technology that facilitates the process of people working together in groups that are electronically connected.

Workstation. A type of small computer targeted to the needs of high-performance specialized applications, such as computer-aided design and publishing, modeling, and visualization.

Worm. A program that reproduces itself by creating copies of itself. (See also Virus program).

Write. A programming statement that causes a permanent copy of a block of data to be recorded on a storage medium, such as a disk or tape.

Write-once optical disks. Blank disks that are recorded on by the user. To write data, a powerful beam of laser light burns tiny spots or pits into the coating that covers the surface of these disks. Once burned in, the spots are not erasable. Also called write-once, read-mostly, or WORM.

Write-protect ring. A plastic ring that prevents writing on the tape when removed from the back of a tape reel.

WYSIWYG. An acronym for what-you-see-is-what-you-get. The display of in-formation in a form that very closely resembles what will eventually be printed. The term is often used in word processing, desktop publishing, and typesetting.

 

X

 

XGA. Short for extended graphics adapter, an IBM display standard that provides 1024- by 768-pixel resolution and a 256-color palette on the display screen. (See also CGA; EGA; VGA).

 


Date: 2016-01-03; view: 541


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