Secondary Storage

FILE COMPRESSION

File compression is a system that lets Web users reduced the overall number of bits and bytes in a file so that it can be transmitted at a faster speed on a limited broadband. After the file has been downloaded, programs such as WinZip or WinRar can be used to decompress the file back to its original size. The decompressed file is usually identical to the original file, before it was compressed. File compression can also be used to keep multiple files into a single compressed archive to minimize disk space.


HEAD CRASH

A head crash is the hard-disk malfunction that occurs when the read-write head of a hard disk drive, which normally hovers a few microinches from its rotating platter, gets in contact with it, which will result in permanent and usually fatal damage to the magnetic media on the platter surface. It can also happen when dust or debris accumulates on the surface of the platter. If that happens, both the head and the disk will have to be replaced. Also, depending on the severity of the crash, some or all of the data stored on the drive will be lost.


INTERNET HARD DRIVE
Internet hard drives enable the users to backup their files on the Internet through many backup servies available, which means that the files uploaded, such as pictures, documents, music and videos can be accessed from any computer, as long as it is connected to the Internet. With that, backing up files on the Internet may take a long time, as it depends on the speed of the internet. Likewise, uploading your file back on the computer may also take a long time. However, what internet hard drive offers is the freedom to retrieve any document you need from anywhere in the world.


OPTICAL DISK DRIVE

The optical disc drive (ODD) is a disk drive which uses low-powered laser light or electromagnetic waves near the light spectrum to read or write data to or from optical discks. Optical disc drivs are circular, flat, glass or plast disk in which data can be stored in the form of light and dark pits. When the laser beam reads the pits, data can be accessed. They can store up to 6 gigabytes of data, and are a part of stand-alone consumer appliance such as CD and DVD players and recorders. It has mostly replaced magnetic tape drives and floppy disk drives because of the low cost of optical media and the near-ubiquity of optical drives in computers and consumer entertainment hardware.


SOLID-STATE STORAGE

A solid-state storage is a type of nonvolatile, removable data storage device which uses solid-state memory to keep persistent data. It is distinguished from traditional hard disk drives, which are electromechanical devices containing spinning disks and movable read/write heads since solid-state storage does not contains any mechanical parts. Thus, data transfer to and from solid-state storage media takes place at a much higher speed than electromechanical disk drives do. It is also less susceptible to physical shock, quieter, and have lower access time and latency, as it uses integrated circuits rather than magnetic or optical media.

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Input and Output

ERGONOMIC KEYBOARD

First and foremost, ergonomics is the science of designing the workplace environment to provide the most comfort to users. An ergonomic keyboard is designed with considerations to reduce muscle straints on the user's wrists, along with other problems to provide a more comfortable platform for typing. These keyboards are specially designed and contoured so that the wrists will adopt a more natural positions. They are also often recommended by therapists and health care professionals to vigorous computer users.


INK-JET PRINTER

An ink-jet printer is a type of printer that spray small dots of ionized ink into paper precisely to create a specific image. Most ink-jet printers nowadays also include scanner, photocopier, and fax machine to add appeal to consumers. In addition, ink-jet printers less expensive than laser printers. However, they are also considerably slower. Another disadvantage of ink-jet printers is that they need a special type of ink that is known to smudge on inexpensive copier paper.


LASER PRINTER

Laser printer is a type of printer that is known to produce high quality text and images on normal paper within a small amount of time. It uses a non-impact photocopier technology known as xerographic, where the keys do not touch the paper. Instead, a laser beam is utilized to produce an image. The light of the laser changes the electrical charge on the drum wherever it hits. Then, the drum is rolled in toner, which is a dry powdered type of ink, and picked up by the charged parts of the drum. Lastly, the toner is transferred onto a piece of paper and fused to the paper with heat and pressure.


MAGNETIC-INK CHARACTER RECOGNITION (MICR)

MICR, short for Magnetic-Ink Character Recognition, is a character recognition technology, which is font that can be recognized using magnetically charged ink. The technology enables computers which are installed with the right hardware and software to read information off of printed documents. Unlike barcodes, MICR can easily be read by humans. Also, MICR use magnetic printing, characters can be read easily even if they are overprinted or obscured by other marks, such as cancellation stamps. This technology is usually used to print checks, deposit slips, mortgage coupons and many more.


OPTICAL-CHARACTER RECOGNITION (OCR)

OCR, short for Optical-Character Recognition is the electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It involves photoscanning of the text, analysis of the scanned image and then the translation of the character image into character codes, such as ASCII, which is commonly used in data processing. It is usually used to convert books and documents into electronic files, whether for the record system in an office, or to be published on the internet. This technology has made it possible for materials to be stored using much less storage space than the hard copy materials, and changed the way information is stored, shared and edited.


OPTICAL-MARK RECOGNITION

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) is a type of technology that can electronically extract intended data from marked fields, such as checkboxes and fill-in fields, on printed forms. It differs from OCR since a recognition engine is not required, which requires the image to have high contrast and an easily-recognizable or irrelevant shape. With the OMR technology, a printed form is scanned to read predefined positions and records where marks are made on the form. It is a useful technology for applications in which large numbers of hand-filled forms need to be processed quickly and with great accuracy, such as surveys, reply cards, questionnaires and ballots.

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The System Unit

FLASH MEMORY

Flash memory, or sometimes called "flash RAM", is a type of EEPROM (Electornically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) which is a variation of electically erasable programmable read-only memory, but which, unlike flash memory, is erased and rewritten at the byte level, which is slower than flash memory updating. It is a chip that maintains stored information without requiring a power source. It is a contantly-powered nonvolatile memory that can be erased and reprogrammed in units of memory called blocks. It is often used in portable electronics, like MP3 players, digital cameras and in removable storage devices.


GRAPHIC CARDS

Graphic card is an expansion card whose function is to generate output images to a display. It is the part of the computer that control and enhance how graphics (pictures, videos, programs, animation, 3D) are displayed on your computer screen. Other modern high performance video cards are used for more graphically demanding purposes, such as PC games. The graphic card is a separate component that plugs into a slot on the motherboard, which is the main part of the computer. Though sometimes, the graphic card components are build directly into the motherboard.


SOUND CARDS

A sound card, which is also known as audio card, is an internal computer component that processes audio files in order to provide high-quality playback through computer speakers. A sound plays voice as well as music files, and can handle various audio file formats including .wav, .mp3 and .cda to name but a few. The typical sound has an interface available at the back of the computer with various input and output ports. The quality of the sound card and speakers both affect the overall sound quality of the computer system. Speakers plug directly into the back of the sound card. Many computers have sound capabilities built in, while others require additional expansion cards to provide for audio capability.


NETWORK INTERFACE CARD (NIC)

A network interface card, more commonly referred to as a NIC, is axpansion board that is inserted into a computer which allows computers to be joined together in a LAN, or local area network. Networked computers then communicate with each other using a given protocol or agreed-upon language for transmitting data packets between the different machines, known as nodes. The network interface card acts as the liaison for the machine to both send and receive data on the LAN and provide a dedicated, full-time connection to a network. Most NICs are designed for a particular type of network, protocol, and media, although some can serve mulltiple networks.


PLUG & PLAY

Plug & Play (PnP) is a technology that provides a combination of software and hardware support that enables the Windows operating system to detect and configure hardware with little or no user involvement.  In many earlier computer systems, the user was required to explicitly tell the operating system when a new device had been added. Plug and Play makes it easier to add and configure hardware on a computer. Microsoft made Plug and Play a selling point for its Windows operating systems, but similar capability had long been built into Macintosh computers.


BUS LINE

The bus lines are a collection of communicating eloctronic lines through which data is transmitted in the form of bits. Bus lines connect different parts of the CPU to various other parts, as well as the system board of the computer. The bus lines are like multilane pathway which means that the more bus lines are on the system the greater is the rate of transfer of data along the bus, which means that the computer can run efficiently and will perform the operations at a faster rate.


HDMI

HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface, which is an uncompressed, all-digital signal, while the aforementioned interfaces are all analog. With an analog interface, a clean digital source is translated into less precise analog, sent to the television, then converted back to a digital signal to display on screen. At each translation, the digital signal loses integrity, resulting in some distortion of picture quality. HDMI preserves the source signal, eliminating analog conversion to deliver the sharpest, richest picture possible. High Definition technology or HD has seen a rapid increase in consumer use especially with HDTVs, HD-DVD and Blu-ray players, HD camcorders and other HD components.


CACHE MEMORY

Cache (pronounced as cash) memory is a special high-speed storage device that is built into a computer's central processing unit (CPU), or located next to it on a separate chip. The CPU uses cache memory to store instructions that are repeatedly required to run programs, improving overall system speed. The advantage of cache memory is that the CPU does not have to use the motherboard's system bus for data transfer. Whenever data must be passed through the system bus, the data transfer speed slows to the motherboard’s capability. The CPU can process data much faster by avoiding the bottleneck created by the system bus.

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Specialized Application Software

AUDIO EDITING SOFTWARE

An audio editing software is a program which a allows the process manipulating digital audio, like taking recorded sound and changing it directly on the recording medium. With an audio editing software, one can record audio from one or more inputs to be stored in the computer's memory as digital audio. Audio can be edited to start and stop at any duration of the audio. Multiple sound sources can be mixed at various volume levels and can then be played back to one or more outputs, such as the speakers.


BITMAP IMAGE

Bitmap images are raster images that are made up of pixels in rows and columns. Pixels are picture elements which are tiny blocks of individual colour that come together to form images on the computer screen. It carries the extension .bmp and use bits of 1 and 0 to store data. theb In a bitmap image, each pixel is assigned at least one bit to indicate whether the pixel should reflect background color, the foreground color, or some other color.



DESKTOP PUBLISHING PROGRAM

Desktop publishing program is a tool for graphic designers and non-designers to create visual communications for professional or desktop printing as well as for online or on-screen electronic publishing. It combines a personal computer and WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) page layout software to create publication documents on a computer for either large scale publishing or small scale local multifunction peripheral output and distribution. The same software is often used to create graphics for point of sale displays, promotional items, etc.


HTML EDITORS

HTML editors are authoring tool that is essentially a text editor, specialized for writing HTML codes as you create a HTML file. Some editors will provide a word processing GUI enabling users to create HTML documents without knowing any HTML code. For example, many HTML editors work not only with HTML, but also with related technologies such as CSS, XML and JavaScript or ECMAScript.


IMAGE EDITORS

Image editors are a type of software that allows images to be edited and also converted to different graphics formats, whether they be digital photographs, traditional analog photographs, or illustrations. Common functions are manually cropping and resizing the image and using "filters" to adjust brightness, contrast and colours. Many image editors are also used to render or create computer art from scratch.



MULTIMEDIA

Multimedia is the integration of multiple forms of media which includes text, graphics, audio and video. For example, a presentation involving audio and video clips would be considered a "multimedia presentation." CDs and DVDs are often considered to be "multimedia formats" since they can store a lot of data and most forms of multimedia require a lot of disk space. Multimedia is usually recorded and played, but it can also be part of a live performance.


VECTOR IMAGE

Vector image is an image created using mathematical statements that define geometric shapes. Vector images are comprised of paths, which are defined by a start and end point, along with other points, curves, and angles along the way. Because vector-based images are not made up of a specific number of dots, you can move, resize, and change the color of vector graphics without losing any quality. Unlike bitmaps, vector graphics are not dependent on resolution. You can scale a vector graphic to any size and it won’t lose detail or clarity.

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Basic Application Software

GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI)

Graphical user interface is a type of program interface that uses a combination of technologies and devices to provide a base that enables the user to interact with, for the tasks of gathering and producing information. For example, computers, MP3 players, portable media players, gaming devices, household appliances and office equipments. GUI takes  advantage of the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use.


WORD PROCESSOR

Word processor is a computer application that is used for the production, which includes composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing, of any sort of printable material. Some examples of word processing programs include Microsoft Word, WordPerfect (Windows only), AppleWorks (Mac only), and OpenOffice.org. The greatest advantage of word processors over using a typewriter is that you can make changes without retyping the entire document.



SPREADSHEET

A spreadsheet is a document that stores data in a grid of horizontal rows and vertical columns.  Rows are typically labeled using numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.), while columns are labeled with letters (A, B, C, etc). Individual row/column locations, such as C3 or B12, are referred to as cells. Each cell can each store a unique instance of data. Spreadsheets are frequently used for financial information because of their ability to re-calculate the entire sheet automatically after a change to a single cell is made.




DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A database management system is a program that lets one or more computer users to create and access data in a database. It is a part of a data processing system, which aids in the storage, manipulation, reporting, management, and control of data. It manages user requests so that users and other programs are free from having to understand where the data is physically located on storage media and, in a multi-user system, who else may also be accessing the data.


UTILITY SUITES

Utility suites is a combination of many utility softwares that combines specific tasks related to the management of computer functions, resources, or files, as password protection, memory management, virus protection, and file compression into one piece of software. They help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer. Utilities are often rather technical and targeted at people with an advanced level of computer knowledge as they usually focus more on how the computer infrastructure operates.

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The Internet, The Web and Electronic Commerce.

JAVASCRIPT

JavaScript is a simple programming language that is often used to make the web pages more interesting. It was used to be called LiveScript, but was later changed to JavaScript as part of a marketing contract between Netscape and Sun. Although many think so, Java and JavaScript are actually two very different programs. For example, you do not need a Java-enabled browser to run JavaScript on a web page. JavaScript code was first invented to validate form fields. It warns users of any errors made before the form is submitted. Nowadays, JavaScript also run beyond web pages, such as through desktop widgets.


APPLETS

An applet is a small application that is written in a script language called Java. It is a program that can work on its own or through other applications. Standalone applets are usually small in size and call only perform a small set of task. Some examples are the Windows NotePad and Microsoft Paint. Applets that work as an extension to other applications must run in a container provided by the webhost, through a plug-in. Applets of this kind includes flash movies and browser games.


FILTERS

Filters are programs whose purpose is to block selected web sites, set time limits per use, monitor web page viewed on a certain computer or network, and create reports on use. In the case of internet safety among the younger audience, filters can help parents limit communication between their kids and other internet users, as well as the amount of time their kids can use the computer. Other than websites, filters can also block downloads and warn and block users from suspicious websites that could be fraudulent.


PLUG-INS

Plug-ins is a type of software components that enable specific tasks in a certain software program. It is commonly used in web browsers to play video, games, and other features. It can easily be installed and used as part of the browser as a plug-in application is recognized automatically by the browser and its function is integrated into the main HTML file that is being presented. Some of its advantages is that it minimize the size of the application, and enable third-party developers to create components to enhance a certain feature of the web browser.


INTERNET SECURITY SUITE

Internet security suite is a software that can be installed into a computer to protect it from various threats that could damage the internal data of the computer. It is usually packed with different kinds of security system like personal firewall, anti-spam, anti-pishing, parental controls, anti-virus and anti-spyware. It is affective in fighthing against virus, spyware, adware or keyloggers.





FTP (FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL)

FTP or also known as File Transfer Protocol is an internet service which is used to upload and download files to be transferred between computers on a network, using TCP/IP protocols. It can be used to exchange files between different computer accounts, or even access online software archives. FTP can be used with a simple command line interface (for example, from the Windows MS-DOS Prompt window) or with a commercial program that offers a graphical user interface.


WIKI

Wikis are web pages that allow different users to contribute to the content of the page in addition to content itself through writing or editing. Wiki usually supports hyperlinks and simple text. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users. An example of Wiki pages are Wikipedia. A wiki farm is a collection of individual wikis, usually hosted by the same website.  The word wiki originated from Hawaiian bearing the meaning "fast".


URL

URLs, or Uniform Resource Locators, are the specific addresses for the location of a resource that enables browsers to connect you to the resource page. The first part of the URL, which is the "http" is called a protocol identifier, which indicates what protocol to use. The second part of the URL, which is the address of the resource is called a resource name and it specifies the IP address or the domain name where the source is located. The protocol identifier and the resource name are separated by a colon and two forward slashes (://).

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Careers in IT

With the world of IT expanding from just a big square box called the desktop computer, to wifi enabled handheld devices like smartphones and tablet PC, there has been an increased surge of careers in the IT field as well. The people who works in the field are specialists in IT, who are required to know in-depth informations about computers, let it be supercomputers or the more commonly used microcomputers. Some of the in-demand careers in IT includes webmaster, computer support specialist, technical writer, software engineer, network administrator, system analyst, and programmer, among many others. Following the success of many other millionaires involved in IT such as Bill Gates with Microsoft, Steve Jobs with Apple and Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook, it is a surefire that careers in IT will be the choice of many undergraduates in the future.


WEBMASTER

Webmaster, or also known as the website administrator is the person behind every website available on the internet. The webmaster is the one who is in charge of keeping a particular website online and constantly updated, as well as replying comments from readers. Usually, they are also the one who design the layout of the website, so basic knowledge in HTML is essential, as well as CSS and Javascript. Although nowadays, these layouts can often be purchased from web graphics designers and layout developers.


COMPUTER SUPPORT SPECIALIST

Computer support specialist are the go-to people when one has problems regarding their computer, and they try to fix them. These people can usually be reached through phones and e-mails, but there are also specialists who help people face-to-face, such as at Apple's Genius Bar. The specialists could also work with computer manufacturers, and provide extended care support for buyers who could be having problems with their computers for a certain period of time. For instance, IBM has a team of computer support specialists who are in charge of keeping their clients' supercomputers working at all time.


TECHNICAL WRITER

A technical writer is the one who writes technical or scientific documentations, such as user guides and system manuals for consumers. Meanwhile, a professional technical writer will edit, proofread and arrange the user guides into a proper format. Technical writers' job is to mainly translate and organize complex information and terms about a certain software or hardware into words that can be understood by a common audience.


SOFTWARE ENGINEER

A software engineer is the person who creates a software that will make a particular system work. They design, develop, test and evaluate the softwares in a lab before they are marketed to consumers.  Although their job desription seems familiar to a programmer, they usually posess other software engineering skills, instead of just programming and focus more on the design and development of the programs.  Software engineers are responsible in making efficient and reliable softwares that are affordable for every user. They usually work with software-making companies or freelance.


NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR

A network administrator's responsibility includes managing a company's Wide Area Network (WAN) and Local Area Network (LAN). Network administrator handles maintenance of both hardware and software related to a company's networks. This includes deploying, configuring, maintaining and monitoring active network equipment. Other than diagnosing and repairing problems with networks, network administrators are also responsible for planning and implementations of network security.




SYSTEM ANALYST

The people who work as system analysts are the ones who researches problems, plans solutions, recommends software and systems, and coordinates development for an organization or business. They have to first and foremost determine the purpose of computers, and then understand the general objectives of the business they can choose the appropriate systems that will help accomplish the business' goals.


PROGRAMMER

Programmers are the people who are in charge of coding or writing new computer softwares. They also update and repair existing softwares. Most programmers are employed by companies to create and sell softwares, although they could also be employed for other businesses. Demand for programmers with specializations in advanced program has also increased.

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