A dormant
background process on a
Web server (in a
UNIX environment), waiting to perform tasks. Well-known daemons are the sendmail daemon and the
HTTP daemon.
A
file type that contains
data to be used by an
application program. DAT Files have a
File extension of DAT. It has nothing to do with DISS file and DAT file
The content of a
File, e.g. the information contained within a
Spreadsheet, the contents of the
Records on a
Database
A collection of
Data organized & designed for easy access. A collection of customer names & addresses may form the content of a database.
The speed at which
data can be read from the
hard disk & delivered to the
processor
When you
save a
data file to your
hard disk, the
operating system will try and store the complete contents of the file to the same section of the hard disk. Once the disk starts to become full, this
process becomes impossible to achieve & the operating system splits the contents of the file over sections of the disks - the files become fragmented. Defragmentation is a
utility that you can run over your hard disk to put the defragmented files back together.
The look, feel, and structure of a
web site. It is the synergy and synthesis of three aspects:sensory, conceptual, and reactive.
Software for managing the PC's within a
network from a central PC.
Software that allows the PC to talk to
hardware devices such as the printer & the
Mouse. If you buy a new Printer it will come complete with a Disk containing the necessary Device Drivers.
Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol
A box displayed on your PC screen by a
program including a message normally indicating that something is about to happen or has just happened. The dialog box requires the user to respond to the message before continuing with what it is about to do - normally the response is in the form of a Yes or No & based on the answer the program will carry out the next step or stop what it is doing. An example of this could be within an Email program - you read a message that has been sent to you & you decide to delete the message. After clicking on the delete button a dialog box containing the message "Are you sure you want to remove this message from your PC ? Yes or No" may be displayed.
A temporary connection between two computers via a telephone line normally using a
modem - the most common method used to access the
Internet
New Disk Technology. Digital Video Disks can hold over 4
Gigabytes of information - these are predicted to eventually supersede CD's.
Digital Video Disks that can only be read.
Dual In-line Memory Modules
A directory is catalog for
files stored on the
Hard disk of a PC; a mechanism to group the files so that the user is not overwhelmed by a one huge long list of all the files stored on the hard disk. All the filenames belonging to a particular project, for example, might be kept together in one directory. The topmost directory is called the
root directory; the directories within a directory are called sub directories. Example: C:
WINDOWSSYSTEM. In this Example "C:" is the Root Directory, "C:WINDOWS" is referred to as the WINDOWS directory & "C:WINDOWSSYSTEM" is referred to as the SYSTEM directory. This directory is a subdirectory of "C:WINDOWS". Windows 95 refers to directories as Folders
A
DMA channel is used to transmit
data at a high speed between an I/O device & the PC's
memory - without involving the
microprocessor.
Software used by
windows to allow
application programs direct access to the
sound &
graphics hardware - very popular in computer games that take full advantage of the PC's
Multimedia capabilities.
Another name for a 3.5 inch
Floppy Disk.
The
hardware that performs the
basic operations on the
hard disk - including rotating the disk & reading/writing
data to the disk.
It oversees such operations as disk
input and output, video support, keyboard control, and many internal functions related to
program execution and
file maintenance.
An undesirable effect that occurs when an
image is displayed at a lower
resolution than the resolution at which it was created.
Dynamic Link Library
Direct Memory Access
Direct Memory Access
Desktop Management Interface
Domain Name
Server [Service];
How the
Internet links together the thousands of
Networks. The
DNS is utilized whenever you send an Email or access a particular
Web Page. Each computer on the Internet has a one of more Domain Names such as "fredbloggs.co.uk". The .co indicates a commercial
organization & the .uk indicates that the computer is in the United Kingdom. Standard conventions used in Domain Names include: ac - Educational institution: co - Commercial organization: com - Commercial organization: edu - Educational institution: gov - Non military government organizations: int - International Organizations: mil - Military government organizations: net - Networks; org - non profit organization. u will also see these codes in
URL's such as "homepages.enterprise.net/jenko/index.htm". These DNS converts the Domain Names to a unique number known as an
IP address (the IP stands for
Internet Protocol). You will often see the IP address displayed by your Web
Browser when you are connecting to a particular computer.
Disk Operating System
A measure of the quality of the output from a printer - the greater the number of
DPI the better the printer.
A measure of the space between
pixels displayed on the
monitor.
To
copy files from another computer to your own PC via a
network or using a
modem.
Dots Per Inch
An action performed using the
mouse. Hold down the left hand mouse button & move the mouse. Many
windows applications allow the use of the drag option - in particular to move
files between different directories
This term relates to a
GUI (
Graphical User Interface). You can
drag a
file by clicking its
icon with the left-hand
mouse button depressed & moving the mouse
pointer - the file is dragged along. When you let go of the file pointer the icon is released or dropped. You can use this technique to move a file between directories.
Dynamic Random Access
Memory
Memory chips which are soldered onto plugs that slot into sockets on the
Motherboard of the PC - makes fitting memory much easier than it use to be. They have 168 pins in two rows. See
SIMMs
A special way of saving a
file to disk from computer
memory; what you take when you go to the can [take a dump]
Digital Video Disk.
Digital Video Disk Read Only Media
Something that occurs as and when it is needed - the word is used frequently in PC terminology. Examples include
DLL (
dynamic link library) and
DRAM (dynamic RAM).
A standard method for assigning
IP addresses automatically to the devices on a TCP/IP
network. As a new device connects, the
DHCP server assigns an IP address from a list of available addresses. The device retains this IP address for the duration of the session - once the device disconnects the IP address becomes available for use again.
Allows a
Web page to change after it's loaded into the
browser --there doesn't have to be any communication with the Web
server for an update.
A library of
program subroutines that can be shared amongst several different
Application Programs - a concept which is extensively used under
Windows. Windows programmers do not have to re-invent the wheel each time they want to do something common such as undo the last command or highlight a line of text.
It is a type of
RAM capable of speeds of about 40MHz. Superseded by
EDO RAM.