Questions tagged [terminology]
Questions regarding computer-specific terms and jargon. Make sure you show research effort and that your question can be objectively answered.
179
questions
1
vote
1
answer
1k
views
What's the difference between sector interleave and sector skew, and are both ever used on the same disk?
In reading about the geometries and layouts of different disks and filesystems in various OSes, or at least floppies from the late '70s through the mid '90s where I was focusing, I noticed the terms &...
0
votes
2
answers
705
views
In reference to disks "allocation unit", "block", and "cluster" synonyms?
In the context of spinning disk media such as floppy and hard disks, do these terms all refer to the same underlying concept, differing only by which term is used by which platform?
allocation unit
...
39
votes
1
answer
12k
views
What does XDG stand for?
The XDG Base Directory Specification standardizes best practices for which folders a user-scoped programs may write to.
What does XDG stand for, what's the story behind the name?
-1
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Why Random Access Memory, RAM, called "Random Access"?
Mark Hahn,
RAM is not random-access. It’s much more like disk, which has two-dimensional access, and an inherent block-size.
Vikki Kinsella
So in order to give you the correct answer, I'm going ...
8
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is there a difference between the terms "inbound", "incoming", and "ingress"?
I see often those three terms (and even some others, but I do not remember them for now) used when it's about talking about a network interface or a network flow.
Are those three interchangeable, or ...
3
votes
1
answer
760
views
What is the info-thingy before the CLI cursor called?
So, in all command lines I've ever seen, there's a little info-thingy at the start of the line before the cursor.
CMD just shows your current working directory:
PowerShell does the same and also ...
8
votes
2
answers
952
views
What is the contemporary meaning of primary storage?
I've always associated the term "primary storage" with main memory, so memory which can be accessed directly by the CPU and its of the volatile type. The past few days I've been reading some technical ...
45
votes
4
answers
9k
views
What are the origins of "Download", "upload", "downstream", "upstream", and why are they respectively down or up?
I assume that the term download was coined first and then similar terms as upload, downstream, upstream followed.
But why are servers up, while clients are down? Who coined (one of) these terms and ...
2
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Is a trackball a mouse? [closed]
The question is in regard to the devices found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Trackballs/
Are they by definition computer mice?
The mice I have seen have been designed with:
Rollerball (ball on the ...
0
votes
2
answers
235
views
If firmware is a CS concept, how is it defined?
I have a problem understanding the term firmware (as a type of software);
If it is a CS concept, it might be good to ask about it here to get a formal definition and a correction for my mistake, as a ...
0
votes
1
answer
381
views
What terms are used to classify SATA headers?
Background: I'm currently trying to replace a SATA header on a solid-state drive. It has a specific header format, and inadvertently buying the wrong one is a waste of time and money, so I'm ...
9
votes
1
answer
2k
views
ShellExView vs ShellMenuView
I'm unskilled with computers. Can someone please explain, like I'm 5 years old, the:
differences between ShellExView and ShellMenuView?
meanings of 'shell extensions' and 'static menu items'? This ...
0
votes
1
answer
890
views
What is meant by "section name" in the symantec stuxnet analysis?
The blockquote below is found here on page 12
The dropper component of Stuxnet is a wrapper program that contains
all of the above components stored inside itself in a section name
“stub”. This ...
0
votes
0
answers
102
views
Is "Dot Pitch" the distance between like-colored LEDs?
My understanding is that LEDs provide backlight in LED displays, while dot pitch is the distance between subpixels on the screen——these two are completely different concepts.
But according to New ...
0
votes
0
answers
40
views
Is there a specific terminology to describe a non refreshing background?
I was looking for an explanation to why this is occurring to a Windows 10 64 bit machine. But I could not find any result as I don't know what is the name of this effect, the terms I used were too ...