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Do you find it hard to understand computer related
articles when reading a book or magazine because of the
termonology? Most computer related articles are written
with the assumption that you have a working knowlege of
those computer geek terms. With that in mind I thought a
few definitions would be of interest this month. I'll start
with some basics.BIT - The smallest programming unit,it takes two bits to make a byte. Programming is 16 bit and is coumted 0-9 then A-F. The A-F represents 11-16, the reason for this is it allows a single letter to replace 2 digits.
BYTE - In programming, the smallest unit that will make a mark on your monitor. Like any letter in the alphabet. For instance the letter j is represented by these two bits 6A.
KILOBYTE - 1,024 bytes.
MEGABYTE - 1,000 kilobytes. Something interesting is some hard drive companies prefer to state that a megabyte equals a 1,000,000 instead of 1,024,000. Falsely implying you are getting more for your money.
IRQ - Interrupt Request Line. A communication pathway between the processor and anything attached to the computer. like a modem or disk drive etc.
DMA - Direct Memory Access. This is the way a device, such as a CDROM, accesses memory without wasting the processor's time. Its general effect is to speed up the device.
EXE - Executible. A program file opposed to a data file. These files will usually run a program like Word Perfect. In this instance the file would be WP.EXE
COM - Command. A program file extension similar to the EXE. The only difference is it is usually smaller in size and more direct.
MMX - Multimedia extensions. Instructions recently added to processors to speed up some video and sound functions. Relieves processor in repetitious instances.
JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group. A standard way photos can be shrunk. The file ending is JPG.
MPEG - Motion Picture Experts Group. Like JPEG but, for motion pictures.
TCP/IP - Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. These are the rules that govern how computers talk to one another on the Internet.
Steve is a car inspector at the Crest Yard in Fort Worth
6-97