Questions tagged [terminology]
Questions regarding computer-specific terms and jargon. Make sure you show research effort and that your question can be objectively answered.
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What does "spare capacity available: 99%" mean in a disk report? [duplicate]
Example:
What does "spare capacity available: 99%" mean in a disk report?
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What is the name of this character that looks like an upside down arrowhead?
It came to my attention that the term "caret" refers specifically to the inversely-oriented variant of this symbol, i.e., upward pointing.
Oddly enough, searching caret didn't readily reveal ...
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Cable with multiple identical connectors in a PSU
Most PSUs I've seen have multiple copies of a connector on each branch (i.e, a Molex branch, a 4-pin PCIe branch, etc). I've taken to calling one of those cables a 'branch' or a 'strip'. Is there a ...
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What is the proper generic term for what is sometimes called an "XHR" or "AJAX" request?
"AJAX" seems plainly inaccurate for the vast majority of these requests in 2023. However, like Kleenex it has certainly been genericized.
In my browser's Network tab, they are categorized as ...
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What is the difference between a web server redirect and a hyperlink?
When dealing with web browsers, both a web server redirect and a hyperlink can have the same destination (on the same web site or on another web site).
So, what is the difference between a web server ...
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What exactly is a client? [closed]
In the context of the Internet I always thought of a client being something or someone requesting something from a server (Server-Client model).
Then I stumbled upon Git and it's numerous clients. The ...
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In AllDup → Search Method, how does "Pixel" differ from "Comparison Size"?
Please see the options underlined in red and green. If "Pixel" (red) refers to "Picture area", then what does "Comparison size" (green) mean?
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Is there a standard term for monitors which can be adjusted to both landscape and portrait? Do they signal the computer when it changes?
I'm thinking of upgrading my monitor. I've noticed that flat panels that can be adjusted between landscape and portrait mode are no longer always expensive and not necessarily scarce.
But searching ...
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What is the email address format "Name <email>" called?
Given an email address in the format
John Doe <[email protected]>
I wonder where this format is explicitly defined and what the whole thing is called. It doesn't seem to be specified in rfc5322 (...
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What is an “OSE build” for software?
Recently, I've seen the term “OSE build” a few times for software.
The most recent example is on this page for Swiss File Knife:
Note the term “OSE build” is used for only one of the items listed:
sfk....
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Where can caching happen in the DNS hierarchy and how are queries forwarded?
For a hostname to resolve into its IP address, there are several DNS servers that may be queried. Assuming caching doesn't happen, it goes from whoever made the request (the client), the recursive DNS,...
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What exactly is Network as a Service?
I've red a few articles, including the Wikipedia one, and it's not clear to me how networking can be done in the cloud. By definition the cloud is offsite so you would need at least an internet ...
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What's the difference between CPU and MPU? [duplicate]
Can somebody explain what's the difference between these two terms? This answer What is the difference between CPU and Microprocessor? contradicts with what I found on the internet:
CPU is ...
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What is the processed called when converting data in repeated columns to rows on a spreadsheet?
If I have a spreadsheet with a data structure where similar information is repeated across multiple columns like so:
TxID Date Merchant Item 1 Name Item 1 Value Item 2 Name Item 2 ...
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Definition of a file system [duplicate]
I'm trying to understand what is exactly a file system. I found various answers on the web including the ones provided here: Is a file system just the layout of folders?.
While these answers provide ...
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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 &...
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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
...
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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?
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...