Glossary—Computing Terms

This is a quick overview of common computing terms that you might come across while using Evolution.

Add-on

A software extension that adds extra features to a program. It may extend certain functions within the program, add new items to the program’s interface, or give the program additional capabilities. The term is most frequently used with regard to web browsers.

Antivirus

Software designed to detect and remove viruses, examples are Norton, AVG.

API

Stands for “Application Program Interface,” or “Application Programming Interface.” An API is a set of commands, functions, and protocols which programmers can use when building software for a specific operating system.
The API allows programmers to use predefined functions to interact with the operating system, instead of writing them from scratch.

Application

An application, or application program, is a software program that runs on your computer. Web browsers, e-mail programs, word processors, games and utilities are all applications.

Bandwidth

Refers to the volume of data you can send through a network connection. The smallest amount of information transferred is a ‘bit’. In order of magnitude, these are measured in bits, bytes, kilobits (Kb), kilobytes (KB), megabits (Mb), megabytes (MB). The throughput rate is measured in seconds, so a slow modem based internet connection would have a 56kb rate, but modern broadband is regularly measured in Megabits per second. A 20Mb connection is equivalent to about 2.4MB.

Browser or Web browser

The program people use to access the internet. Examples are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

Bug

An error in a software program which may cause it to crash or behave in an unintended manner.

Control Panel &emdsh; Evolution

The Evolution Control Panel, acessable via the Evo homepage, is where you can alter certain Evolution settings. For more info, see Anatomy > Control Panel.

Control Panel — Windows

The Control Panel is a feature of the Windows operating system that allows the user to modify system settings and controls.
It can be used to view and change hardware or software settings. Find it by clicking on settings in the Start menu.

Cookie

Data sent to your computer by a Web server that records your actions on a certain Web site. When you visit the site after being sent the cookie, the site will load certain pages according to the information stored in the cookie. When used for good purposes, this makes a better web browsing experience (e.g. the site remembers what you’ve done previously and doesn’t keep showing you a particular notice). When used for Evil (Facebook, Microsoft), the cookies track lots of information about you and send that information to a server which then targets advertisements at you.

Crash

When a computer or program completely stops working.

File Extension

The suffix after the “.” at the end of a filename indicating what type of file it is. eg “.txt” indicates the file is a text document.

Firewall

A computer firewall is a hardware or software based machine that filters all the information that passes between the user’s computer or network and the internet. It protects a networked server or client machine from unauthorized access from outside and prevents applications within the network from sending certain data out to the internet.

Hardware

The physical parts of a computer and related devices. Internal hardware devices include motherboards, hard drives, and RAM. External hardware devices include monitors, keyboards, mice, printers, and scanners.

Hardware Interface

Used to connect two or more electronic devices together. The interface is the socket or port on the device. (see below for User Interface).

HTML

Hyper-Text Markup Language. The language that Web pages are written in.

Icon

A visual representation of something on a computer. For example, a blue “e” on your desktop represents the Internet Explorer program.

Interface

The point of contact between a user and a program or between two pieces of hardware, through which instructions are given.

ISP

Internet Service Provider. The company who provides your internet, for example, BT, Tiscali.

JavaScript

A client-side (i.e. on your machine) scripting language that web pages can include that will enable the web page to react to your input (for example when you get a pop-up telling you that you must fill in the phone number in a form).

Link or hyperlink

By clicking on a link, you can “jump” to a new Web page or Web site. Text links are typically blue and underlined, but can be any colour and don’t have to be underlined.
Images can also serve as links to other Web pages. When you move the cursor over a link the arrow will turn into a little hand, letting you know that it is a link.

Mac

Short for Macintosh computer, made by Apple and with a completely different operating system (Mac OS X) to Windows based PCs.

Operating System

The software that communicates with computer hardware on the most basic level. Without an operating system, no software programs can run. Examples are Windows Vista, Linux.

Patch

Just like a patch on your jeans, a program patch is a short piece of program or code that can be sent out to fix a bug.

Ping

A test to see if a system on the Internet is working. “Pinging” a server tests and records the response time of the server.

Pop-up menu

A menu that appears on the screen when the user right-clicks a certain object or area. The Evo Tray has a pop-up menu.

Process

A program that is running on a computer. This can be anything from a small background task, such as a spell-checker to a full-blown application like Microsoft Word.

Protocol

When computers communicate with each other, there needs to be a common set of rules and instructions that each computer follows. A specific set of communication rules is called a protocol.

Reboot/Restart

Shutting down your computer and immediately starting it up again. If something is not working properly rebooting is a good place to start.

Server

When users connect to a server, they can access programs, files, and other information from the server. Common servers are Web servers, mail servers, and LAN servers.
A single computer can have several different server programs running on it.

Software

A general term that describes computer programs. Related terms such as software programs, applications, scripts, and instruction sets all fall into the category of computer software.

Taskbar

The bar at the bottom of the screen, containing the Start button, shortcuts to programs and open windows, the system tray and the time.

Task Manager

A program from which you can view and shut down other programs running on the computer. Open task manager from control panel or by right clicking on the task bar.

Unicode

A computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world’s writing systems. Languages such as arabic have standard Unicode characters.

User Interface or UI

The means in which a person interacts with a device. In the computing world the UI is almost always a metaphor for the real world, hence your computer’s Desktop, or Documents folder.
Nearly all software programs today have a graphical user interface, or GUI, which is based on the drag and drop, click and double-click system. Traditional computing devices have the keyboard/mouse interface, while recent computing devices use the touch-screen/voice control interface.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. A URL is the address of a specific Web site or file on the Internet.

Virus

A small, maliciously programmed executable file that can create other files, move files, erase files or consume your computer’s memory, so that it does not function correctly.

Zipped file

A file which has been compressed to take up less disk space and less time to transfer to another computer. Many downloadable files are zipped, and these have the extension .zip.

Computing Dictionary:

There is a useful dictionary of computing and technical terms here: http://www.techterms.com/.