Chapter 2 Vocab

Machine language

A binary-based language for representing computer programs that the computer can execute directly

Expansion bus

A bus on the motherboard used to connect peripheral devices

Microprocessor

A central processing unit (CPU) for a personal computer

Volatile

A characteristic of memory or storage in which data is not retained when the power to the computer is turned off

Nonvolatile

A characteristic of memory or storage in which data is retained even when the power to the computer is turned off

Processor

A chip (such as the CPU or GPU) that performs processing functions

Expansion card

A circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot location on a computer's motherboard to add additional functionally or to connect a peripheral device to that computer

Optical computer

A computer that uses light, such as from laser beams or infrared beams, to perform digital computations

Bus

An electronic path on the motherboard or within th CPU or other computer component along which data is transferred

ROM (read-only material)

Nonvolatile chips located on the motherboard into which data or programs have been permanently stored

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)

Tiny, hollow tubes made of carbon atoms

Quad-core CPU

A CPU that contains four separate processing cores

Multi-core CPU

A CPU that contains the processing components or core of more than one processor in a single CPU

Dual-core CPU

A CPU that contains two separate processing cores

Port

A connector on the exterior of a computer to which a device may be attached

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

A fixed-length, binary coding system used to represent text-based data for computer processing on many types of computers

Byte

A group of 8 bits

Cache memory

A group of fast memory circuitry located on or near the CPU to help speed up processing

FireWire

A high-speed bus standard sometimes used to connect digital video cameras and other multimedia hardware to a computer

Expansion slot

A location on the motherboard into which expansion cards are inserted

Parallel processing

A processing technique that uses multiple processors or multiple processing cores simultaneously, usually to process a single job as fast as possible

Quantum computing

A technology that applies the principles of quantum physics and quantum mechanics to computers to direct atoms or nuclei to work together as quantum bits (qubits), which function simultaneously as the computers processor and memory

Universal Serial Bus (USB)

A universal bus used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices to a computer without requiring the use of additional expansion cards

Unicode

An international coding system that can be used to represent text-based data in any written language

Gigabyte (GB)

Approximately 1 billion bytes

Megabyte (MB)

Approximately 1 million bytes

Kilobyte (KB)

Approximately 1 thousand bytes (1,024 bytes to be exact)

Terabyte (TB)

Approximately 1 trillion bytes

Zettabyte (ZB)

Approximately 1,000 exabytes

Exabyte (EB)

Approximately 1,000 petabytes

Petabyte (PB)

Approximately 1,000 terabytes

Yottabyte (YB)

Approximately 1,000 zettabytes

Memory

Chip-based storage

RAM (random access memory)

Chips connected to the motherboard that provide a temporary location for the computer to hold data and program instructions while they are needed

Register

High-speed memory built into the CPU that temporarily stores data during processing

Flash memory

Nonvolatile memory chips that can be used for storage by the computer or user; can be built into a computer or a storage medium

PCI Express (PCIe) bus

One of the buses most commonly used to connect peripheral devices

Tera-scale computing

The ability of a computer to process data at teraflop speeds

Bandwidth

The amount of data that can theoretically be transferred through a communications medium in a given period of time

Throughput

The amount of data that is actually transferred through a communications medium under real-life conditions

Frontside bus (FSB)

The bus that connects the CPU to the chipset that connects to the rest of the bus architecture

Pipelining

The capability of a CPU or CPU core to begin processing a new instruction as soon as the previous instruction completes the first stage of the machine cycle

Multiprocessing

The capability to use multiple processors or multiple processing core in single computer, usually to process multiple jobs at one time faster than could be performed with a single processor

Central processing unit (CPU)

The chip located on the motherboard of a computer that performs most of the processing for a computer

Graphics processing unit (GPU)

The chip that does the processing needed to display images on the screen, can be located on the motherboard, inside the CPU, or on a video graphics board

Memory bus

The connection between the CPU and the RAM

System unit

The main box of a computer that houses the CPU, motherboard, memory, and other devices

Motherboard

The main circuit board of a computer, located inside the system unit, to which all computer system components connect

Decimal numbering system

The numbering system that represents all numbers using 10 symbols (0-9)

Binary numbering system

The numbering system that represents all numbers using just two symbols (0-1)

Bus interface unit

The part of a CPU core that allows it to communicate with other CPU components

Prefetch unit

The part of a CPU core that attempts to retrieve data and instructions before they are needed for processing in order to avoid delays

Control unit

The part of a CPU core that coordinates its operations

Floating point unit (FPU)

The part of a CPU core that performs decimal arithmetic

Arithmetic/logic unit (ALU)

The part of a CPU core that performs logical operations and integer arithmetic

Decode unit

The part of a CPU core that translates instructions into a form that can be processed by the ALU and FPU

Nanotechnology

The science of creating tiny computers and components by working at the individual atomic and molecular levels

Machine cycle

The series of operations involved in the execution of a single machine-level instruction

Bit

The smallest unit of data a digital computer can recognize; represented by a 0 or a 1

System clock

The timing mechanism within the computer system that synchronizes the computer's operations