Ch 1

Front 1

agricultural age

Back 1

era covering most of the last 10,000 years, humanity lived mostly by domesticating animals & growing food using plows & other agricultural tools

Front 2

apps

Back 2

abbreviation for application, often referring to small software applications that run on smart phones

Front 3

application program (application)

Back 3

software tool that allows a computer to be used for specific purposes

Front 4

browsers

Back 4

a program (such as internet explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari) that provides navigable windows into the web

Front 5

desktop computer

Back 5

a personal computer designed to be set up on or under a desk or table & used in that place for an extended period of time

Front 6

digital divide

Back 6

a term that describes the divide between the people who do & do not have access to the Internet

Front 7

electronic mail (email)

Back 7

a type of communication by which Internet users send mail messages, data files, & software programs to other Internet users

Front 8

embedded system

Back 8

a computer that is embedded into a consumer product, such as a wristwatch or game machine, to enhance those products.
Also used to control hardware devices

Front 9

firmware

Back 9

a program, usually for special purpose computers, stored on a ROM chip so it cannot be altered

Front 10

hypertext link

Back 10

a connection from a word or phrase to another document or site, like the many that loosely tie together millions of Web pages

Front 11

industrial age

Back 11

the recent modern era, characterized by the shift from farm to factories

Front 12

Industrial Revolution

Back 12

the era of rapid advances in machine technology that began at the end of the 18th century & ushered in the industrial age

Front 13

information age

Back 13

the current era, characterized by the shift from an industrial economy to an information economy & the convergence of computer & communication technology

Front 14

integrated circuit

Back 14

a chip containing hundreds, thousands, or even millions of transistors

Front 15

Internet

Back 15

a global interconnected network of thousands of networks linking academic, research, government, & commercial institutions, & other organizations & individuals.
Aka the Net

Front 16

laptop computer

Back 16

a flatscreen, battery powered portable computer that you can rest on your lap

Front 17

mainframe computer

Back 17

expensive, room-sized computer, used mostly for large computing jobs

Front 18

microprocessor

Back 18

now known as a personal computer

Front 19

Moore's law

Back 19

the prediction made in 1965 by Gordon Moore that the power of a silicon chip of the same price would double about every 18 months for at least two decades

Front 20

netbook

Back 20

an extra-small, extra-light, no-frills notebook computer designed mainly as a portable Internet connection device

Front 21

network

Back 21

a computer system that links two or more computers

Front 22

notebook computer

Back 22

another term for laptop computer

Front 23

paradigm shift

Back 23

a change in thinking that results in a new way of seeing the world

Front 24

peripherals

Back 24

an external device, such as a keyboard or monitor, connected via cables to the system central processing unit

Front 25

personal computer (PC)

Back 25

a small, powerful, relatively low-cost microprocessor

Front 26

server

Back 26

a computer especially designed to provide software & other resources to other computers over a network

Front 27

silicon chip

Back 27

hundreds of transistors packed into an integrated circuit on a piece of silicon

Front 28

Silicon Valley

Back 28

the area around San Jose, CA, that became a hotbed of the computer industry in the 1970's, when dozens of microprocessor manufacturing companies sprouted & grew there

Front 29

smart phones

Back 29

a hendheld device that combines the functions of a phone, a camera, a PDA, a game machine, & a music/video player with Internet connectivity & ability to run apps

Front 30

supercomputer

Back 30

a superfast, superpowerful, & superexpensive computer used for applications that demand maximum power

Front 31

tablet computer

Back 31

a handheld device, such as an iPad, that bridges the shrinking gap between the smart phone & the notebook/netbook PC

Front 32

terminal

Back 32

combination keyboard & screen that transfers information to & from a mainframe computer

Front 33

thin client

Back 33

a network computer designed to connect to the Internet but not perform all the other tasks performed by a PC

Front 34

timesharing

Back 34

technique by which mainframe computers communicate with several users simultaneously

Front 35

transistor

Back 35

an electronic device that performs the same function as the vacuum tube by transferring electricity across a tiny resistor

Front 36

workstation

Back 36

a high-end desktop computer

Front 37

World Wide Web (Web)

Back 37

Part of the Internet, a collection of multimedia documents created by organizations and users worldwide. Documents are linked in a hypertext Web that allows users to explore them with simple mouse clicks

Front 38

application program (applicaton)

Back 38

software tool that allows a computer to be used for specific purposes

Front 39

backup copy

Back 39

a copy of a file created as insurance against the loss of the original

Front 40

backup media

Back 40

discs, CD-R's, and other technologies to hold backup files & to save computer storage space

Front 41

button

Back 41

a hot spot on a screen that responds to mouse clicks.
A button can be programmed to perform one of many tasks, such as opening a dialog box or launching an application

Front 42

CPU

Back 42

Central Processing Unit
Part of the computer that processes information, performs arithmetic calculations, & makes basic decisions based on information values

Front 43

click

Back 43

the action of pressing a button on a mouse

Front 44

Clipboard

Back 44

a word processing program text-editing tool for temporarily storing chunks of text & other data

Front 45

copy

Back 45

a word processing program text-editing tool that allows you to make a copy of a set of words or data & place th ecopy elsewhere in the same or a different document

Front 46

cut

Back 46

a word processing program text-editing tool that allows you to delete a set of words or data; often used with the copy function to move text around

Front 47

display

Back 47

see monitor
monitor: an output device that displays text & graphics onscreen

Front 48

document

Back 48

a file,such as a term paper or chart, created with an application

Front 49

drag

Back 49

to move the mouse while holding the mouse button down.
Used for moving objects, selecting text, drawing & other tasks

Front 50

drag-and-drop

Back 50

a word processing program text-editing tool that allows you to move a selected block of text from one location to another

Front 51

DVD/CD-RW drive

Back 51

a disk drive that combines the capabilities of a DVD-ROM drive & a CD-RW drive in a single unit

Front 52

file

Back 52

an organized collection of related information stored in computer-readable form

Front 53

file compression

Back 53

the process of reducing the

Front 54

file decompression

Back 54

the process of restoring a compressed file back to its original state

Front 55

find-and-replace (search and replace)

Back 55

a word processing program text-editing tool that allows you to make repetitive changes through-out a document

Front 56

folder

Back 56

a container for files & other folders.
Also called a directory

Front 57

font

Back 57

a size & style of typeface

Front 58

formatting

Back 58

the function of software, such as word processing software, that enables users to change the appearance of a document by specifying the font, point size, & style of any character in the document, as well as the overall layout of text and graphical elements in the document

Front 59

hard disk

Back 59

a rigid, magnetically sensitive disk that spins rapidly & continuously inside the computer chassis or in a separate box attached to the computer housing
Used as a storage device

Front 60

hardware

Back 60

physical parts of the computer system

Front 61

hyperlink

Back 61

a word, phrase, or picture that acts as a button, enabling the user to explore the Web or a multimedia document with mouse clicks

Front 62

keyboard

Back 62

input device, for entering data & commands into the computer

Front 63

memory

Back 63

stores programs and the data they need to be instantly accessible to the CPU

Front 64

monospaced font

Back 64

a font such as those in the courier family that mimic typewriters; characters, no matter how skinny or fat, always take up the same amount of space horizontally

Front 65

mouse

Back 65

a handheld input device that, when moved around on a desktop or table, moves a pointer around the computer screen

Front 66

operating system (OS)

Back 66

a system of programs that performs a variety of technical operations, providing an additional layer of insulation between the user and the bits-and-bytes world of computer hardware

Front 67

optical drive

Back 67

a disk drive that uses laser beams to read & write bits of information on the surface on an optical disc

Front 68

peripheral

Back 68

an external device, such as a keyboard or monitor, connected via cables to the system central processing unit

Front 69

point size

Back 69

a measure of character size, with one equal to 1/72 inch

Front 70

proportionally spaced font

Back 70

a font that allows more horizontal space for wide characters than for narrow characters

Front 71

sans-sarif font

Back 71

a font in which the characters have plain & clean lines rather than embellishments at the ends of the main strokes

Front 72

serif font

Back 72

a typeface font in which the characters are embellished with fine lines (serifs) at the ends of the main strokes

Front 73

search

Back 73

to look for a specific record in a database, or to look for something on the Web

Front 74

search engine

Back 74

a program for locating information on the Web

Front 75

software

Back 75

instructions that tell the hardware what to do to transform input into output

Front 76

spam

Back 76

internet junk mail

Front 77

URL

Back 77

uniform resource locator
The address of a Web site

Front 78

user name

Back 78

a name - typically a single word or string of characters - that you type to identify yourself when connecting (logging in) to a secure computer system, network, or email account.
Sometmes called a login name or alias

Front 79

virus

Back 79

software that spreads from program to program, or from disk to disk, & uses eachinfected program or disk to make copies of itself.
A form of software sabotage

Front 80

Web brouser

Back 80

an application program that enables a user to explore the Web

Front 81

Web page

Back 81

a single document on the World Wide Web (WWW), made of text & images & interlinked with other documents

Front 82

Web site

Back 82

a collection of related web pages stored on the same server

Front 83

word wrap

Back 83

a word processing program text-editing feature that automatically moves any words that won't fit on the curent line to the next line, along with the cursor

Front 84

WYSIWYG

Back 84

'what you see is what you get,' pronounced 'wizzy-wig'
With a word processor, the arrangement of the words on the screen represents a close approximation to the arrangement of words on the printed page