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?
user269574
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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 (...
user52375
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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 ...
user269574
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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 ...
user269574
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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 ...
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How are multiple keystroke shortcuts called?
Do combinations of sequential keystrokes, like
CTRL+R,Z
have any specific name?
The Wikipedia description does not call them anything:
Some keyboard shortcuts, including all shortcuts involving ...
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Is it wrong to refer to the "~" character as the home directory path on Windows? [closed]
The tilde character ~ doesn't function as the home directory shortcut on Windows, unlike as on Unix systems. I've always used the character as the home path in written text for all operating systems ...
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What is the name of that metal stripe, which holds PCI cards?
What is the name of that metal stripe, which holds PCI cards?
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Why traceroute on Windows is named tracert - book that I am reading is claiming that there is some historical context
The book called "UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook, 5th Edition" on a page about traceroute, in the footnote is saying that "Windows have it's own version, named tracert (special points on ...
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Is SQL Server's Telemetry CEIP "spyware"? [closed]
SQL Server has a process called Telemetry that is,
opt-out
closed-source
tracks the user
tracks usage patterns
bundled with "desirable" software
It's marketed as "Customer Experience Improvement ...
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What does Alpha and Beta mean? Can a piece of software be both? [closed]
I'm just wondering what it means to be alpha and beta? Can a piece of software be Alpha and Beta at the same time. Is there any standard that defines these terms? Can a piece of software always be ...
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What are the text used to search specific fields in Windows Search and Outlook called?
When you search for files in the Windows explorer Search bar or in Outlook there are fields you can specifiy like content: for text found in the file or type: for the file extention of the files you ...
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Name for a single partition of URL path
Suppose we have this URL:
https://superuser.com/questions/ask
This is its path: /questions/ask
What is the name for a partition of a path, i.e. /questions?
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Where did the term "superuser" originate?
Where did the term "superuser" originate? Is it a shortening of "supervisory user", or is it just an indicator of the level of power one such user holds in a system?
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What does IOT mean in regards to SIGIOT?
I've been looking around and I found that it was related to an abort call, Something to do with an IOT trap, but any resource I find seems to assume you already know what that is. Probably isn't ...
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What exactly is microcode and how does it differ from firmware?
Insofar as terminology, what exactly is "microcode" and if it can be updated, how does it differ from firmware?
This question is not a duplicate of this question (as far as I can tell) which I've ...
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"Baudrate" or "Baud Rate" [closed]
In the context of technical writing (e.g: documentation), would it be more correct to use "baudrate" or "baud rate"?
I believe that both are acceptable informally.
However:
I've often seen "...
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What is "telemetry" data?
I see occasional references to computers storing "telemetry" data. For example, Computer World just published an article about HP putting software on its computers called "HP Touchpoint Analytics ...
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What is the difference between host name and sub-domain name?
We know that Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) consists of hostname.domain.TLD.
Is that hostname also called the subdomain name?
What's the hostname and what's the subdomain name?
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How do I describe this software tool?
Imagine you have 100 files stored across your computer, and you need to add a certain piece of text in 20 of them.
A software tool helps you do this by providing filter criteria, which helps you ...
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How do you verbally distinguish between a single directory in a path and the full path?
This is a terminology question.
Say you have a path like C:\foo\bar\MyFolder\
foo, bar, and MyFolder are all individual directories, also known as folders, right? And they're arranged in a ...
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What does GT stand for as in GT1, GTX graphics core nomenclatures?
Does GT stand for anything? If not, does anyone know the historical context/origination of this?
Some say, it stands for GigaTransfers. But I don't think GT1 means 1 Giga Transfers and surely GTX ...
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What do letters PC-xxxx in the RAM memory naming stand for?
I have searched online and I did not find a single answer about this question.
I know that the numbers after PC reprsent the bandwidth of the RAM memory module, but my question is what do the letters ...
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Is it technically correct to call hard disk drives or an SSD, also RAM memory types (Random Access Memory) [closed]
In computer jargon, is it correct to call drives of various types (e.g. hard disk, SSD, DVD) a type of random access memory (RAM)?
From what I understand RAM is a device that holds information that ...
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Correct terminology for WiFi broadcasting and receiving devices?
I am using a mobile device's hotspot to broadcast a Wifi signal, and a computer that connects to the hotspot. What are the correct terms for these two devices?
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