Computers
USB Flash Drive
A USB flash drive is a flash memory data storage device that is integrated with a Universal Serial Bus. USB flash drives are most often removable and rewritable, and are much smaller than other portable storage devices. They are usually used for simila...
Universal Serial Bus (USB)
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) was designed to establish communication between devices and a host computer and is intended to replace many types of serial and parallel ports. The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a standard for peripheral devices that bega...
Computer Terminal
A computer terminal is an electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into a computer and displaying it. Although the first terminals were cost efficient, they were very slow compared to punched cards for input. As the technology e...
Touchpad
A touchpad is a pointing device that is made of a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a comparative position on screen. They are most commonly found in laptop computers, but are also used as substitutes...
Software
Computer software is the collection of computer programs and related data that give the instructions to a computer. Different from hardware, software is intangible, which means that it cannot be touched. Some examples of computer software include: word...
Server
A server is a program that functions as a socket listener. The term server can also be used to generally describe a host that is positioned to carry out one or more such programs. A server functions as either sole-operating software, or one or series o...
Tape Drive
A tape drive is a storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape. It is mostly used for offline, archival data storage. Tape media is generally cost efficient and has a long archival strength. In contrast to a disk drive which provides...
Read Only Memory
Read only memory, or ROM, is a type of storage media that is used by computers and other electronic devices. The data stored in ROM cannot be modified, therefore it is largely used to distribute firmware. The most straightforward type of ROM is about ...
Random Access Memory
Random access memory (RAM) is a form of computer data storage that takes the form of integrated circuits in order to allow stored data to be accessed in any order. Random refers to the idea that any piece of data can be restored in a constant time, reg...
RAID
RAID is an acronym that stands for "redundant array of independent disks". It is a technology that is geared to provide greater storage reliability by combining numerous low-cost, less-reliable disk drive components into a reasonable unit where all dri...
Peripheral
A peripheral is a piece of equipment that is attached to a host computer without being a part of it and is instead dependent on the host. It broadens the capabilities of the host, but does not form part of the core computer architecture. Common example...
Optical disc drive
An optical disc drive is a disk drive that utilizes electromagnetic waves or a laser light near the light spectrum in order to read and write data to or from optical discs. Some drives can only read from discs; however, most recent drives are generally...
Network
A network is a group of computers and devices that are interconnected by communications channels. These channels facilitate communications among users and allow them to share resources. Many different characteristics can be used to classify a network. ...
Personal Computer
A personal computer, or PC, refers to any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and selling price make it useful for individuals, and is intended to be managed directly by a user with no superseding operator. Examples of personal computers...
Motherboard
A motherboard is the central printed circuit board in most modern computers and holds many of the vital components of the system as well as provides connectors for other peripherals. Before the microprocessor was introduced, computers were usually ma...
Monitor
A monitor (also referred to as a visual display unit) is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor encompasses the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure. The display device in contemporary monitors is usually a thin film transistor ...
Memory
In computing, memory applies to the state information of a computing system because it is kept active in some physical structure. The term "memory" is used for the fast information in physical systems, as a distinction from physical systems which are s...
Mouse
In relation to computing, a mouse is a pointing device that operates by detecting two-dimensional motion that is relative to the surface that supports it. Typically a mouse is an object held under the user's hand. It may have one or more buttons or whe...
Keyboard
A keyboard is an arrangement of buttons or keys that act as mechanical levers or electronic switches to input data into computers. Despite the development of alternative input devices, the keyboard is still the most commonly used and most versatile dev...
Input-Output
Input/output, commonly known as I/O, is the communication that goes on between a information processing system and the outside world, which may be a person or another information processing system. The signals and data received by the system are known ...
Hardware
Computer hardware describes the physical components that make up a personal computer. Operating systems and many software applications can be installed on hardware in order to perform the operator's desired functions. Most personal computers consist of...
Mainframe Computers
Mainframe computers are powerful devices that are mainly used by big companies for critical applications and bulk data processing. The name comes from their substantial size and certain power requirements. It originally referred to the sizeable cabinet...
Cache
A cache is a computer part designed to improve performance by storing data in a way that leaves room for future data to be stored. Such data may include values that were stored elsewhere, making it quicker and easier to find. Without caches, the data m...
Bus
A bus is a subsystem that has the ability to transfer data from different computer components, whether in the same computer or two separate ones. Historically, the first computer buses were quite literally parallel electrical buses that had several con...
Accumulator (computing)
An accumulator is a register in a computer's central processing unit (CPU) that stores mathematical information, such as additions, subtractions, etc. For example, when adding a list of numbers, each number is entered into the accumulator and added tog...
Hard Disk Drive
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile storage device for digital data. It has rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle that is held in a metal case. Read/write heads float on a cushion of air about the platters and encode data magnetically. Hard...
Floppy Disk
A floppy disk is a thin, flexible magnetic storage device that is stored in a square or rectangular plastic cover. They are read and written by a floppy disk drive in the computer. There are five major parts of a floppy disk. The read/write heads are o...
Firmware
Firmware is a term commonly used to represent the small fixed programs and data structures that internally control various electronic devices. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology d...
Expansion Card
An expansion card is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard to enhance the function of a computer system. One edge of the expansion card, called the edge connector, holds the contacts so that they ...
Direct Access Storage Device
A direct access storage device, or DASD, is a secondary storage device in mainframe computers that has low access time for all of its capacity. The term DASD was introduced by IBM to describe disk drives, magnetic drums, and data cells. The direct acce...
DVD
A DVD, also known as Digital Video Disc, is an optical disc used to store media format. It was invented when Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Time Warner came together in 1995. DVDs are the same size as CDs, but are capable of storing almost seven times mor...
Core Memory
One form of random access computer memory is called magnetic core memory. To store information, it uses small magnetic rings that are threaded through the magnetic field. Presently, memory can still be referred to as core memory, even though the majori...
Central Processing Unit
The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the processor component of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a program. It is the primary element carrying out the computer's functions and the unit that reads and executes basic program instruc...
Chip
A chip, also known as an integrated circuit, is a miniaturized electronic circuit consisting mainly of semiconductor devices and passive components, that has been manufactured in the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material. There are many...
CD ROM
A compact disc with read only memory is called a CD-ROM. It is a pre-pressed disc that contains data to be stored on a computer. CD-ROMs may also contain music play lists or other data. While the content on them is accessible, it is not writable by the...
Control store
A control store is the element of a CPUs control unit that stores the CPU's micro program and is usually accessed by a micro sequencer. A control store is usually executed as a diode-selection of read-only memory. This tradition dates back to 1947 when...