Address bus: Connects the CPU to the MCC and sends over the location of the data,

but not the data itself

ATA: The most common interface that hard drives use to connect to our system

ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended): The most common form factor for motherboards

Backward compatible: It means older hardware works with newer hardware

Bios (Basic Input Output Services): The BIOS is software that helps initialize the
hardware in our computer and gets our operating system up and running

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Refers to the practice of allowing people to use
their own personal devices for work

Cache: The assigned stored location for recently or frequently accessed data; on a
mobile app it is where anything that was changed or created with that app is stored

Charge cycle: One full charge and discharge of a battery

Chipset: It decides how components talk to each other on our machine

Clock cycle: When you send a voltage to the clock wire

Clock speed: The maximum number of clock cycles that it can handle in a set in a
certain time period

Clock wire: When you send or receive data, it sends a voltage to that clock wire to
let the CPU know it can start doing calculations

CPU: Central processing unit

CPU sockets: A CPU socket is a series of pins that connect a CPU’s processor to the
PC’s motherboard

Data sizes: Metrics that refer to data sizes including bit, byte, kilobyte,
kibibyte, and megabyte

DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate SDRAM): A type of RAM that is faster, takes up less
power, and has a larger capacity than earlier SDRAM versions

Desktop: The main screen where we can navigate our files, folders, and applications

DIMM: Dual Inline Memory Module

Display port: Port which also outputs audio and video

DRAM: Dynamic Random Access Memory

Drivers: The drivers contain the instructions our CPU needs to understand external
devices like keyboards, webcams, printers

DVI: DVI cables generally just output video

Electrostatic discharge: Electrostatic discharge is a sudden and momentary flow of

electric current between two electrically charged objects caused by contact, an
electrical short or dielectric breakdown

External Data Bus (EDB): It's a row of wires that interconnect the parts of our
computer

Factory reset: Resetting a device to the settings it came with from the factory

Form factor: A mathematical way to compensate for irregularities in the shape of an

object by using a ratio between its volume and height

Hard drive: It is a long term memory component that holds all of our data, which
can include music, pictures, applications

Hardware: External or internal devices and equipment that help you perform major
functions

HDD (Hard disk drive): Hard disk drives, or HDDs, use a spinning platter and a
mechanical arm to read and write information

HDMI: A type of cable that outputs both video and audio

Heatsink: It is used to dissipate heat from our CPU

Instruction set: A list of instructions that our CPU is able to run

ITX (Information Technology eXtended): A form factor for motherboards that is much
smaller than ATX boards

Land Grid Array (LGA): It is a type of CPU socket that stick out of the motherboard

Lightning adaptor: One of the standard power, data and display connector types used
in mobile devices

Mb/s: megabit per second, which is a unit of data transfer rate

Memory controller chip (MCC): A bridge between the CPU and the RAM

Micro display port: One of the standard power, data and display connector types
used in mobile devices

Micro HDMI: One of the standard power, data and display connector types used in
mobile devices

Micro USB: One of the standard power, data and display connector types used in
mobile devices

Mini HDMI: One of the standard power, data and display connector types used in
mobile devices

Mini USB: One of the standard power, data and display connector types used in
mobile devices

Motherboard: The body or circulatory system of the computer that connects all the
pieces together

Northbridge: interconnects stuff like RAM and video cards

NVMe (NVM Express): interface standard which allows greater throughput of data and
increased efficiency

Overclocking: it increases the rate of your CPU clock cycles in order to perform
more tasks
PCI Express: Peripheral Component Interconnect Express

Peripherals: the external devices which we connect to our computer that add
functionality, like: a mouse, a keyboard, and a monitor

Pin Grid Array (PGA): CPU socket where the pins are located on the processor itself

Ports: Connection points that we can connect devices to that extend the
functionality of our computer

POST (Power On Self Test): It figures out what hardware is on the computer

Power supply: Converts electricity from our wall outlet onto a format that our
computer can use

Programs: Basic instructions that tell the computer what to do

RAM: Random Access Memory

Registers: An accessible location for storing the data that our CPU works with

Reimaging: The process of reimaging involves wiping and reinstalling an operating

system using a disk image which is a copy of an operating system

Return merchandise authorization (RMA): The process of receiving returned

merchandise and authorizing a refund

ROM chip (Read Only Memory): A read-only memory chip where the BIOS is stored

RPM: Revolutions per minute

Safe operating temperature: The temperature range in which rechargeable batteries

must be kept in order to avoid demanage

SATA: The most popular serial ATA drive, which uses one cable for data transfers

SDRAM: It stands for Synchronous DRAM, this type of RAM is synchronized to our
systems' clock speed allowing quicker processing of data

SOC (System On a Chip): Packs the CPU, Ram, and sometimes even the storage onto a
single chip

Southbridge: It maintains our IO or input/output controllers, like hard drives and

USB devices that input and output data

SSD: Solid State Drive

Standoffs: Used to raise and attach your motherboard to the case

Thermal paste: A substance used to better connect our CPU and heat sink, so the
heat transfers from to the other better

Type-C connector: A type of USB connector meant to replace many peripheral

connections

UEFI: United Extensible Firmware Interface

USB (Universal Serial Bus): A connection standard for connecting peripherals to

devices such as computers

USB-C adapter: One of the standard power, data and display connector types used in
mobile devices

Terms and their definitions from previous weeks

A

Abstraction: To take a relatively complex system and simplify it for our use

Algorithm: A series of steps that solves specific problems

ASCII: The oldest character encoding standard used is ASCII. It represents the
English alphabet, digits, and punctuation marks

Binary system: The communication that a computer uses is referred to as binary

system, also known as base-2 numeral system

Byte: A group of 8 bits

Character encoding: Is used to assign our binary values to characters so that we as

humans can read them

Computer: A device that stores and processes data by performing calculations

Cryptography: The overarching discipline that covers the practice of coding and
hiding messages from third parties

Decimal form- base 10 system: In the decimal system, there are 10 possible numbers
you can use ranging from zero to nine

Digital divide: The growing skills gap between people with and without digital
literacy skills

Information technology: The use of digital technology, like computers and the
internet, to store and process data into useful information

Linux OS: Linux is one of the largest an open source operating systems used heavily
in business infrastructure and in the consumer space

Logic gates: Allow transistors to do more complex tasks, like deciding where to
send electrical signals depending on logical conditions

Open source: This means the developers will let other developers share, modify, and
distribute their software for free
P

PDA (Personal Digital Assistant): Allows computing to go mobile

Punch cards: A sequence of cards with holes in them to automatically perform

calculations instead of manually entering them by hand

RGB model: RGB or red, green, and blue model is the basic model of representing
colors

UTF-8: The most prevalent encoding standard used today

New terms and their definitions: Course 1 Week 3

Android: A mobile operating system based on Linux

Application: A computer program designed for a specific use

BIOS/UEFI: A low-level software that initializes our computer's hardware to make

sure everything is good to go

Block storage: It improves faster handling of data because the data isn't stored in
one long piece but in blocks, so it can be accessed more quickly

Boot: To start up a computer

Bootloader: A small program that loads the operating system

Chrome OS: A Linux-based operating system designed by Google

Command Line Interface (CLI): A shell that uses text commands to interact with the
operating system

Computer file: Data that we store and a file can be anything, a word document, a
picture, a song, literally anything

Data blocks: Data that can be broken down into many pieces and written to different
parts of the hard disk

Distributions: Some common Linux distributions are Ubuntu, Debian, and Red Hat

Etcher.io: A tool you can use to load an install image onto your USB device and
make it bootable

File extension: The appended part of a filename that tells us what type of file it
is in certain operating systems

File handling: A process of storing data using a program

File system: A system used to manage files

Finder: The file manager for all Macs

Folders/Directories: Used to organize files

Hardware resource deficiency: It refers to the lack of system resources like
memory, hard drive space, et cetera

HFS+/APFS: HFS+ is a journaling system developed by Apple Inc. and APFS is another
but more encrypted Apple journaling system

Hostname: Used to identify the computer when it needs to talk to other computers

Input/Output device: A device that performs input and output, including monitors,
keyboards, mice, hard disk drives, speakers, bluetooth headsets, webcams, and
network adapters

Install image: A downloadable operating system image used to install an operating

system on a device

I/O management: Anything that can give us input or that we can use for output of
data

iOS: A mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc.

Kernel: The main core of an operating system that creates processes, efficiently
schedules them, and manages how processes are terminated

Logs: Files that record system events on our computer

Mac OS: Apple's operating system

Memory management: One of the functions that a kernel performs; it optimizes memory
usage and make sure our applications have enough memory to run

Metadata: Tells us everything we need to know about a file, including who created
it, when it was last modified, who has access to it, and what type of file it is

Microsoft Terminal Services Client: A client program used to create RDP connections
to remote computers

Open SSH: The most popular program to use SSH within Linux

Operating system: The whole package that manages our computers resources and lets
us interact with it

PC: Personal computer, which technically means a computer that one person uses

Plink (PuTTY Link): A tool built into the command line after PuTTY is installed
that is used to make remote SSH connections

Powershell: A shell (program that interprets text commands) for Windows

Power user: Above average computer users

Process management: The capacity to manage the many programs in a system - when to
run them, the order they run in, how many resources they take up, how long they
run, etc.

Qwiklabs: An online platform which provides training in cloud services

Remote connection: The ability to connect an authorized person to a computer or

network remotely; allows us to manage multiple machines from anywhere in the world
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP): A secure network communication protocol developed by
Microsoft that allows a user to connect to another device remotely

Scalability: The measure of a system’s ability to increase or decrease in

performance and cost in response to varying loads in system processing demands

Shell: A program that interprets text commands and sends them to the OS to execute

SSH (Secure shell): A protocol implemented by other programs to securely access one
computer from another.

SSH authentication key: A secure authentication method for accessing a computer

from other device

SSH client: A program you must have installed on your device in order to establish
an SSH connection with another device

SSH server: Software installed on a machine that allows for that device to accept
an SSH connection

Standardization: A systematic way of naming hosts

Swap space: The allocated space where the virtual memory is stored on the hard
drive when the amount of physical memory space is used up or full

System: A group of hardware components and software components that work together
to fun the programs or processes in the computer

System settings: Settings like display resolution, user accounts, network, devices,
etc.

Task bar: It gives us quick options and shows us information like network
connectivity, the date, system notifications, sound etc

Terminal: A text based interface to the computer

Time slice: A very short interval of time that gets allocated to a process for CPU
execution

Ubuntu: The most popular Linux consumer distribution

User name: A unique identifier for a user account

User space: The aspect of an operating system that humans interact with directly
like programs, such as text editors, music players, system settings, user
interfaces, etc.

Virtual Box: An application you can use to install Linux and have it completely
isolated from your machine

Virtual machine (VM): An application that uses physical resources like memory, CPU
and storage, but they offer the added benefit of running multiple operating systems
at once

Virtual memory: A combination of hard drive space and RAM that acts like memory
which our processes can use

VPN (Virtual private network): A secure method of connecting a device to a private

network over the internet
ARPANET: The earliest version of the Internet that we see today, created by the US
government project DARPA in the 1960s

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA): Regulates the information we show
to children under the age of 13

Clients: A device that receives data from a server

DARPA: A US government project in the 1960s that went on to create the earliest
version of the Internet that we see today

Domain name: A website name; the part of the URL following www.

Domain Name System (DNS): A global and highly distributed network service that
resolves strings of letters, such as a website name, into an IP address

Ethernet cable: It lets you physically connect to the network through a cable

Fiber optic cable: Fiber optic cables contain individual optical fibers which are
tiny tubes made of glass about the width of a human hair. Unlike copper, which uses
electrical voltages, fiber cables use pulses of light to represent the ones and
zeros of the underlying data

Globalization: The movement that lets governments, businesses, and organizations

communicate and integrate together on an international scale

Hubs: Devices that serve as a central location through which data travels through

Internet: A worldwide system of interconnected networks

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): Where website names
are registered

Internet of Things (IoT): The concept that more and more devices are connected to
the internet in a smarter fashion such as smart thermostats that turn off the air
conditioner when you leave and turn it on when you come back

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4): An address that consists of 32 bits separated

into four groups

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6): An address that consist of a 128 bits, four
times the amount that IPv4 uses

Internet service provider (ISP): A company that provides a consumer an internet

connection

IP address: The most common protocol used in the network layer, used to helps us
route information

MAC address: A globally unique identifier attached to an individual network

interface. It's a 48-bit number normally represented by six groupings of two
hexadecimal numbers

Network: The interconnection of computers

Network Address Translation (NAT): A mitigation tool that lets organizations use
one public IP address and many private IP addresses within the network
Networking: Managing, building and designing networks

Networking protocols: A set of rules for how we transfer data in a network

Network stack: A set of hardware or software that provides the infrastructure for a
computer

Router: A device that knows how to forward data between independent networks

Server logs: Text files that contains recorded information about activities
performed on a specific web server in a defined period of time

Servers: Devices that provide data to other devices that request that data, also
known as a client

Switches: Devices that help our data travel

Transfer Control Protocol (TCP): A protocol that handles reliable delivery of

information from one network to another

Uniform Resource Locator (URL): A web address similar to a home address

WannaCry Attack: A cyber attack that started in Europe and infected hundreds of
thousands of computers across the world

Wireless networking (Wi-Fi): Networks you connect to through radios and antennas

World Wide Web (WWW): The information system that enables documents and other web
resources to be accessed over the Internet