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Glossary

  • Page ID
    13522
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    Glossary Entries

    Word(s)

    Definition

    Image Caption Link Source
    Peripheral devices Any auxiliary device such as a computer mouse or keyboard that connects to and works with the computer in some way. Other examples of peripherals are image scanners, tape drives, microphones, loudspeakers, webcams, and digital cameras.        
    Sampling The reduction of a continuous signal to a discrete signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave (a continuous signal) to a sequence of samples (a discrete-time signal).        
    Quantization The process of mapping a large set of input values to a (countable) smaller set.        
    Analog data Data that is represented in a physical way.        
    Digital data Discrete, discontinuous representations of information or works, as contrasted with continuous, or analog signals which behave in a continuous manner, or represent information using a continuous function.        
    Polling refers to actively sampling the status of an external device by a client program as a synchronous activity. Polling is most often used in terms of input/output (I/O), and is also referred to as polled I/O or software-driven I/O.        
    Interrupt A hardware signal that breaks the flow of program execution and transfers control to a predetermined storage location so that another procedure can be followed or a new operation carried out.        
    Direct memory access, DMA A method that allows an input/output (I/O) device to send or receive data directly to or from the main memory, bypassing the CPU to speed up memory operations. The process is managed by a chip known as a DMA controller (DMAC).        
    Input / Output the process of input or output, encompassing the devices, techniques, media, and data used        
    Compiler Computer program (or a set of programs) that transforms source code written in a programming language (the source language) into another computer language (the target language), with the latter often having a binary form known as object code.        
    Machine Language Set of instructions executed directly by a computer’s central processing unit (CPU).        
    Assembly Language Low-level programming language for a computer, or other programmable device, in which there is a very strong (generally one-to-one) correspondence between the language and the architecture’s machine code instructions.        
    Assembler Computer program which translates assembly language to an object file or machine language format.        
    Amdahls law a law or argument used to find the maximum expected improvement to an overall system when only part of the system is improved.        
    Multicore A type of architecture where a single physical processor contains the core logic of two or more processors or packaged into a single integrated circuit        
    Multiprocessor Refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor and/or the ability to allocate tasks between them.        
    Computer performance Characterized by the amount of useful work accomplished by a computer system or computer network compared to the time and resources used.        
    Micro architecture A description of the electrical circuitry of a computer, central processing unit, or digital signal processor that is sufficient for completely describing the operation of the hardware.        
    Cache memory Random access memory (RAM) that a computer microprocessor can access more quickly than it can access regular RAM. This memory is typically integrated directly with the CPU chip or placed on a separate chip that has a separate bus interconnect with the CPU        
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