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Toshiba Satellite U200 User Manual

Page 217

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User’s Manual

Glossary-3

Glossary

analog signal: A signal whose characteristics such as amplitude and

frequency vary in proportion to (are an analog of) the value to be

transmitted. Voice communications are analog signals.

ANSI: American National Standards Institute. An organization established

to adopt and define standards for a variety of technical disciplines.

For example, ANSI defined the ASCII standard and other

information processing requirements.

antistatic: A material used to prevent the buildup of static electricity.
application: A group of programs that together are used for a specific task

such as accounting, financial planning, spreadsheets, word

processing and games.

ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII code is

a set of 256 binary codes that represent the most commonly used

letters, numbers, and symbols.

async: Short for asynchronous.
asynchronous: Lacking regular time relationship. As applied to computer

communications, asynchronous refers to the method of transmitting

data that does not require a steady stream of bits to be transmitted

at regular time intervals.

B

backup: A duplicate copy of files kept as a spare in case the original is

destroyed.

batch file: A file that can be executed from the system prompt containing a

sequence of operating system commands or executable files.

binary: The base two number system composed of zeros and ones (off or

on), used by most digital computers. The right-most digit of a binary

number has a value of 1, the next a value of 2, then 4, 8, 16, and so

on. For example, the binary number 101 has a value of 5. See also

ASCII.

BIOS: Basic Input Output System. The firmware that controls data flow

within the computer. See also firmware.

bit: Derived from “binary digit,” the basic unit of information used by the

computer. It is either zero or one. Eight bits is one byte. See also

byte.

board: A circuit board. An internal card containing electronic components,

called chips, which perform a specific function or increase the

capabilities of the system.

boot: Short for bootstrap. A program that starts or restarts the computer.

The program reads instructions from a storage device into the

computer’s memory.

bps: Bits per second. Typically used to describe the data transmission

speed of a modem.

buffer: The portion of the computer’s memory where data is temporarily

stored. Buffers often compensate for differences in the rate of flow

from one device to another.