Digital Mages - Lexicon

Abandonware is computer software (such as an Operating System, word processor, interactive game, or audio file) that is no longer marketed or distributed by the company that created it, but is obtainable from some other source.

Abandonware is often provided as Freeware or as priced Shareware.

Accelerated Graphics Port

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is an interface specification that enables 3-D graphics to display quickly on ordinary personal computers.

Acrobat

Acrobat is a program from Adobe that is ideal for making documents or brochures that were designed for the print medium viewable electronically and capable of being shared with others on the Internet. To view an Acrobat document, which is called a Portable Document Format (PDF) file, you need Acrobat Reader or another PDF reader. Acrobat Reader is free and can be downloaded from Adobe.

ActiveX

ActiveX is a Microsoft technology that allows small programs to run inside your browser.

Address Book

Part of your e-mail software or operating system where you store details of your contacts' e-mail addresses.

ADSL

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) (a.k.a.Broadband) is a technology for transmitting digital information at a high Bandwidth on existing phone lines to homes and businesses.

Adware

Adware is any software application in which advertising banners are displayed while the program is running. The justification for Adware is that it helps recover programming development costs and helps to hold down the cost for the user.

AI

AI (artificial intelligence) is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines. These processes include learning, reasoning, and self-correction.

Alphanumeric

Alphanumeric characters are those comprised by the combined set of the 26 alphabetic characters, A to Z, and the 10 Arabic numerals, 0 to 9. In some usages, the alphanumeric character set may include both upper and lower case letters, punctuation marks, and symbols (such as @, &, and *, for example).

Alt Attribute

The text which appears when you roll the mouse over a picture. This is the Alt Attribute in HTML and is useful for people who view pages in text-only mode, or who are blind or visually impaired.

AMD

Maker of the Athlon microprocessors

Analogue

An analogue signal is one in which has an alternating current frequency. Broadcast and telephone transmission have conventionally used analogue technology.

Anchor

A technical term used for a link in a web page.

Antialiasing

Antialiasing is the smoothing of an image so that there is a more gradual transition between the colour of a line and the background colour.

Antivirus Software

Antivirus Software searches your drives for any known or potential viruses.

Apache

Apache is a freely available web server that is distributed under an "Open Source" license.

Apple Computer

Apple Computer, Inc. is a prominent Hardware and software company best known for its Macintosh series of personal computers (and latterly for the ipod - a personal mp3/aac player).

Applet

An Applet is a little application. On the Web, using Java, the object-oriented programming language, an applet is a small program that can be sent along with a Web page to a user. Java applets can perform interactive animations, immediate calculations, or other simple tasks without having to send a user request back to the Server.

Application

Another word for computer program. For example, Audacity which is used for editing audio files

ASCII

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is the most common format for text files in computers and on the Internet. In an ASCII file, each alphabetic, numeric, or special character is represented with a 7-bit binary number (a string of seven 0s or 1s). 128 possible characters are defined.

Aspect Ratio

The proportional relationship between the width of an image and its height.

Attachment

A file which is 'attached' and sent with an e-mail message. For example, photographs or text documents.

AutoRun

AutoRun causes a certain file to open or a certain program to run automatically as soon as a Compact Disc (CD) is inserted or when the computer starts.
In Macintosh computers, the equivalent of AutoRun is called AutoStart.

Avatar

An avatar is the visual "handle" or display appearance you use to represent yourself online. For example, a picture or cartoon of yourself or a favourite character that you use in games or chat forums on the web.

AVI File

An AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) file (which end with an .avi extension) is a sound and motion picture file

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Back-End

Front-End and Back-End are terms used to characterize program interfaces

A "Front-End" application is one that users interact with directly. A "Back-End" application or program serves indirectly in support of the Front-End services.

Backup

Backup is the activity of copying files or databases so that they will be preserved in case of equipment failure or other catastrophe.

Backward Compatible

Backward Compatible refers to a hardware or software system that can successfully use data from (or work on) earlier versions of a system.

Bandwidth

In computer networks, bandwidth is often used as a synonym for data transfer rate - the amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period usually expressed in bits (of data) per second (bps).

Batch

A batch job is a program that is assigned to the computer to run without further user interaction.

Bcc

The Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) box in your email application allows you to send an e-mail to more than one person whilst hiding their e-mail addresses from other recipients.

Beta Test

In software development, a beta test is the second phase of software testing in which a sampling of the intended audience tries the product out

Binary

Binary describes a numbering scheme in which there are only two possible values for each digit: 0 and 1.

BIOS

BIOS (basic input/output system) is the program a personal computer's microprocessor uses to get the computer system started after you turn it on.

Bit

A bit (short for binary digit) is the smallest unit of data in a computer. A bit has a single binary value, either 0 or 1.

Bit Map

A bit map (often spelled "bitmap") defines a display space and the colour for each pixel or "Bit" in the display space.Images can often be found saved as bitmap files with the extension *.bmp

Blog

On the Internet, a blog (short for weblog) is a personal journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public viewing.

Blue Screen of Death

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is the informal name given by users to the Windows general error. the BSOD is generated by the Operating System when it has suddenly terminated with an error. The system locks up and must be rebooted.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a telecommunications industry specification that describes how mobile phones, computers, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) can be easily interconnected using a short-range wireless connection.

Boolean

In boolean searching, an "AND" operator between two words or other values (for example, "pear AND apple") means one is searching for documents containing both of the words or values, not just one of them. An "OR" operator between two words or other values (for example, "pear OR apple") means one is searching for documents containing either of the words. A "NOT" operator will exclude the specified word following it.

Boot

To boot (as a verb; also "to boot up") a computer is to load an operating system into the computer's main memory

The instruction to "reboot" the operating system means to reload the operating system (the most familiar way to do this on PCs is pressing the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys at the same time).

Bootable Floppy

A bootable floppy is a diskette containing a back-up copy of your hard disk Master Boot Record (MBR). In the event that the master boot record becomes "infected" by a boot virus, having a bootable floppy will allow you to load it back onto your hard disk.

Broadband

Broadband refers to telecommunication in which a wide band of frequencies are available to transmit information. Also see Bandwidth.

Browser

A browser is an application program that provides a way to look at and interact with all the information on the World Wide Web.

Buffer

A Buffer is a data area shared by hardware devices or program processes that operate at different speeds or with different sets of priorities. The buffer allows each device or process to operate without being held up by the other.

Byte

A byte is a unit of data that is eight binary digits long. Computer storage is usually measured in Byte multiples. For example, an 820 MB hard drive holds a nominal 820 million bytes - or megabytes - of data.

Also see megabyte and gigabyte. Other multiples include the terms: kibi, mebi, gibi, tebi, pebi, and probably some more.

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C++

C++ is an object-oriented programming(OOP) language

Cache

A cache is a place to store something temporarily. The files you automatically request by looking at a Web page are stored on your Hard Disk in a cache subdirectory under the directory for your browser (for example, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer). When you return to a page you've recently looked at, the browser can get it from the cache rather than the original server, saving you time and the network the burden of some additional traffic.

CAD

CAD (computer-aided design) software is used by architects, engineers, drafters, artists, and others to create precision drawings or technical illustrations.

Cascading Style Sheet

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a simple mechanism for adding style (e.g. fonts, colors, spacing) to Web documents.

CD Burner

A CD Burner (or CD recorder) is a device that can record data to CD-Recordable (CD-R) and CD-Rewritable (CD-RW)discs.

CD-R

CD-R (Compact Disc, recordable) is a type of write once, read many Compact Disc (CD) format that allows one-time recording on a disc.

CD-ROM

CD-ROM (Compact Disc, read-only-memory) is an adaptation of the CD that is designed to store computer data in the form of text and graphics, as well as hi-fi stereo sound.

CD-RW

CD-RW (for Compact Disc, rewriteable) is a Compact Disc (CD) format that allows repeated recording on a disc.

Celeron

Celeron is the low-end (and lowish cost) member of the family of microprocessors from Intel
Also see Pentium.

Chat Room

A chat room is an online venue for communities of users to communicate in real time.

Cipher

A cipher is any method of encrypting text (concealing its readability and meaning).

Client/Server

Client/Server describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the client, makes a service request from another program, the Server, which fulfills the request.

Clip Art

Clip Art is artwork designed for use in publications or Web pages.

You can purchase Clip Art on specialized subjects from many companies. You can also find much useful Clip Art for free personal use at many Web Sites. For use on a commercial page, make sure you understand any restrictions. Some artwork requires written permission for use or the payment of a fee.

Clock Speed

In a computer, Clock Speed refers to the number of pulses per second generated by an oscillator that sets the tempo for the processor. Clock Speed is usually measured in MHz (Megahertz, or millions of pulses per second) or GHz (gigahertz, or billions of pulses per second). Clock Speed is one measure of computer "power," but it is not always directly proportional to the performance level. If you double the speed of the clock, leaving all other hardware unchanged, you will not necessarily double the processing speed.

Code

In programming, code (noun) is a term used for the statements written in a particular programming language.

Codec

The term codec is an acronym that stands for "compression/ decompression". A codec is an algorithm, or specialized computer program, that reduces the number of bytes consumed by large files and programs.

com

On the Internet, "com" is one of the top-level domain names that can be used when choosing a domain name. It generally describes the entity owning the domain name as a commercial organization.

Display Mode	Resolution (pixels)
VGA	640 x 480
SVGA	800 x 600
XGA	1024 x 768
SXGA	1280 x 1024
UXGA	1600 x 1200

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