Cape Mac - For Everything Mac

Computer Terms

A \| B \| C \| D \| E \| F \| G \| H \| I \| J \| K \| L \| M N \| O \| P \| Q \| R \| S \| T \| U \| V \| W \| X \| Y \| Z 802.11 A set of Standards for short-range radio frequency wireless networks - has A, B, G and N flavors A Airport Apple's name for it's 802.11 compliant wireless hardware and software alias a small file which points to another file - user action on an alias affects the file pointed to analog using information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity such as spatial position or voltage application a complex program, generally with a polished GUI and large range of user controlled capabilities ASCII (pronounced "ask' ee") American Standard Code for Information Interchange - a character encoding based on the English alphabet (128 characters/95 Printable) ASP Active Server Pages - a Microsoft method for imbedding code on a web page B bandwidth the range of frequencies which a device can handle, Commonly used to refer to a network's carrying capacity binary using base two numbers bit one binary digit - "1" or "0" black box a component of a system that has known inputs and outputs but of which the internal workings are unknown boot from "bootstrap" - computer startup involving the loading of instructions on how to load further instructions (i.e the OS ) broadband a high bandwidth internet connection (what is considered "high" tends to increase over time) byte eight bits C Classic 1) original Macintosh operating system (versions 1 - 9) 2) the interface for running OS 9 from within some versions of OS X click to press and release a pointing device button client the data requester in a client -server relationship client-server a software model for the movement of data on a network in which one computer acts as a file ?server', granting or refusing requests for data from other computers acting as "clients" clipboard logical area which holds information cut or copied command key key on either side of the space-bar ? represented by "?" AKA "the Apple key" command line text based interface computer data processing machine contextual menu context-sensitive menu revealed by right(or control)-clicking control key third key to left of the space-bar ? represented by "^" CPU central processing unit ?refers to the processor or the case which contains it CSS Cascading Style Sheets - a way of separating formating information from content in web pages cursor element on the screen which responds to pointing device input D data information default preset value or behavior desktop computer screen background device an electronic and/or electro-mechanical peripheral connected to a computer digital using information represented by discrete values (digits) directory 1) a file containing location information for the set of files on a volume or within a folder 2) alt. name for a folder DNS Domain Name Server - index on a network which cross-references domain names (i.e. apple.com) with IP addresses Dock graphical bar containing icons of application s and/or document s allowing for quick access document a file created within an application by a user double-click two rapid clicks of primary or left mouse button drag a pointing device action involving: 1) moving the cursor over an onscreen object 2) pressing and holding the primary mouse button down while... 3) moving the cursor with the selected object to the desired location 4) releasing the button drag and drop dragging to move (or copy with option key) a selected item E eject un-mount a volume and/or physically remove disk from computer F file a logical unit of information storage Finder The application on the Mac OS which allows the user to view, move, copy and otherwise manipulate the files on any volume mounted on that system. The Finder, which always runs on a booted Mac system, is more or less analogous to the Windows Explorer on the Windows OS. filename extension three or more letters following a dot (.) at the end of a file name identifying the file's type Flash a program developed by Macromedia (and now owned by Adobe) for delivering vector based graphics and animation over the web. folder a logical arrangement of files often appearing as a file folder icon in a GUI - AKA directory FTP File Transfer protocol - a client -server protocol for exchanging files over a network G GUI graphical user interface ? sometimes pronounced "gooey" - generally involves a pointing device, drop down menus, icons H hard drive a device which stores data magnetically on a spinning metal disk Home folder place where all of a user's files are stored (OS X path: Macintosh HD:Users:yourusername) HTML Hypertext Markup Language - a standard for the creation of hypertext document s HTTP Hypertext Transport protocol - client server protocol designed for the delivery of hypertext document s hypertext document containing automated cross-references to other document s called hyperlinks. Selecting a hyperlink causes the computer to load and display the linked document. I icon a small onscreen graphic representing something - usually a volume , directory, file or application IMAP Internet Message Access protocol - common e-mail protocol allowing a client to receive incoming mail from the server. It allows users to access new messages instantly insertion point blinking vertical bar indicating where typed text input will appear ? sometimes also called the caret install to place a program's files onto the hard drive of a computer in a way which allows the program to be accessed and run installer a program which installs another program internet internetwork - a network of networks. "The Internet" is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet protocol (IP). IP Internet protocol - a method used for communicating data across a packet-switched internet work. IP address a computer address - a unique address used by some electronic devices to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network by means of IP ISP Internet Service Provider - company providing computer internet connection J Java an object oriented programing language well suited for use on the internet Java Applet a client side method for creating rich web content using Java - a small Java application which runs through a web browser Javascript a scripting language for adding interactivity to web pages, it appears similar to Java, but is not related JSP Java Sever Pages - a method of imbedding Java instructions on the web page K kernel the core of a Unix OS ? the open source OS X kernel is called "Darwin" L launch to activate an application library file or folder containing information used by the OS or an application generally not directly accessed by user Local Area network (LAN) a network, generally ethernet or wireless, shared by a physically local set of devices. log in opening and activating a user account on a computer, network, or website - generally requires entering a user name and password M memory data storage area menu a list of commands - generally refers to a "drop-down" menu revealed by clicking in an appropriate place menu bar graphical bar at top of screen with words or icons which can be clicked to reveal drop-down menus modifier keys keys pressed while clicking which modify the effect of the click mount cause the OS to recognize a volume - generally includes displaying it within the interface mouse common pointing device N network a group of computers and/or peripherals connected together to allow file sharing and shared access to resources like internet and peripherals O open source software for which the editable source code is freely available operating system (OS) software which handles basic computer operations such as communications among the CPU , memory and devices, maintaining the user interface, and handling user input option key key between control and command - represented by "?" OS X (pronounced "oh ess ten") the current Macintosh OS built on Unix P P2P Peer-to-Peer - as opposed to client -server, a connection between equal peer nodes that simultaneously function as both "clients" and "servers" to the other nodes on the network packet formatted block of information carried by a computer network path a method of describing the location of a file or directory - for example, the location of the Safari web browser on Mac OS X is represented as /Applications/Safari (UNIX style) or Macintosh HD:Applications:Safari (Macintosh style) PDF Portable document Format - A format for "cross-platform" document s - a standard way of share document s by e-mail and web permissions information attached to a file or folder controlling who has access - can include read, write and/or execute pointing device a device by which the cursor can be moved POP Post Office protocol - common e-mail protocol allowing a client to receive incoming mail from the server Postscript a page description language used by many printers - the basis for the PDF format preferences user alterable behaviors processor the integrated circuit chip which performs data processing program n. computer code which performs a task - v. to create such code protocol the special set of rules that end points in a network connection use when they communicate Q R RAM random access memory - integrated circuit chips which hold data temporarily for quick CPU access restart (or reboot) to shutdown a running system and then boot it again right-click click the right-hand mouse button (Control-click produces same result on Mac OS X) router networking device that forwards data packets across an internet toward their destinations - for example, Apple's Airport Express or Extreme base stations RTF Rich Text Format - a common file format for text document s which allows for styled text (i.e. - mixed fonts, bold, italic, centered, justified, etc.) S scroll move window contents around in the window by using scrollbar, mouse scroll wheel, or trackpad scrollbar graphical bar at right or bottom of a window which can be manipulated to reveal window contents hidden due to window size select highlight an onscreen object - i.e. by clicking on it or dragging over it server the data source in a client -server relationship Servlets a server side method for creating rich web content using Java Shockwave the name given to the technology of Flash and to the plug-in client needed to view Flash content SMTP Simple Mail Transfer protocol - a basic client -server protocol for the sending of e-mail. software data containing instructions which the CPU can execute startup ? same as boot above switch device which connects various devices on a LAN. Unlike routers, switches do not assign IP addresses, or forward packets to addresses. T U Unicode an industry standard character encoding designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers UNIX a robust, multi-user OS which underlies the Mac OS X GUI user account a user's access to the OS including a login and password, preferences, and file storage user interface (UI) the human/computer communications channel V volume a logical portion of a hard drive or other storage device comprised of a directory and its contents W Web short for "World Wide Web" wi-fi local area wireless networking - see 802.11 Wide Area network (WAN) a network which connects devices which may be spread over a large physical area, i.e. - the internet window a rectangular pane containing a view of the file system, or a document wireless without wires, commonly refers to radio frequency 802.11 networks, though now used to refer to internet access through mobile phone technology and short range connectivity via Bluetooth X Y Z

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