A web application is a computer program that you access over the Internet. Some of the first ones to gain widespread use were web mail services like Hotmail (now part of Windows Live) and Yahoo Mail. Other popular examples are shopping sites, blogs, forums, and instant messaging. You can also put active content on your […]
Data compression is a function performed by computers to decrease the size of a data file, while controlling the amount of information that gets lost. The purpose of data compression is to reduce the amount of space required to store the file and to reduce the bandwidth required to transfer the file.
With audio files, especially […]
Data compression, or file compression, is a function performed by computers to decrease the size of a data file, while controlling the amount of information that gets lost. The purpose of data compression is to reduce the amount of space required to store the file on a hard disk, memory card, or optical disk, and […]
Most of today’s consumer electronic products now record everything in digital format. Digital cameras have replaced almost all film snapshot cameras. Video cameras now record on a hard drive or directly to memory cards or mini-DVDs. Telephone answering machines have been digital (replacing the analog cassette tapes) for quite awhile now. Digital video recorders (DVR) […]
Digital media refers to any type of media — words, pictures, audio, or video — which is stored on a computer, digital device, or optical media. As discussed in the article, Digital Bits and Bytes, everything on a computer is stored as a series of numeric bits. In other words, to the computer, there is […]
Also read about Hardware and Software.
Firmware
Once the ware terminology was established in computer science, other forms of the word have come into usage. Between hardware and software comes firmware. Firmware is the term used to describe the software which is embedded onto the circuits of hardware. Unlike normal software, users have no control over, or […]
Also read about Hardware, Software, and other Ware.
Adware
Adware is a type of software that is part of some other software application, designed to display advertisements via the Web. In most cases, the adware is included in free software packages to offset the costs to the program developer. In other words, you get the software for […]
Rip a Disk
Rip is the slang term for the process of copying digital data from a CD or DVD onto a computer. The word rip comes from the idea of ripping, or peeling, the data from a disc, which is not what really happens. Ripping a disk simply copies the data. It does not remove […]
A database is a computer application used primarily by businesses to keep track of all types of data. In fact, any computerized business uses a database of one kind or another.
What makes a database useful is the fact that each piece of data, called a record, is entered into the system individually, but remains linked […]
A spreadsheet is a computer application used primarily to create, edit, and display financial and mathematical data on a grid of columns and rows. The name pre-dates computer applications, from the days when a large handwritten worksheet had to be spread across multiple sheets of paper.
Each box on a spreadsheet is called a cell. Each […]