Toshiba L310 Manual Do Utilizador

User’s Manual

Glossary-3

Glossary

alphanumeric: Keyboard characters including letters, numbers and other 

symbols, such as punctuation marks or mathematical symbols.

alternating current (AC): Electric current that reverses its direction of flow 

at regular intervals.

analog signal: A signal whose characteristics such as amplitude and 

frequency vary in proportion to (are an analog of) the value to be 

transmitted. Voice communications are analog signals.

application: A group of programs that together are used for a specific task 

such as accounting, financial planning, spreadsheets, word 

processing and games.

ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII code is 

a set of 256 binary codes that represent the most commonly used 

letters, numbers, and symbols.

B:

backup: A copy of a file, usually on a removable disk, kept in case the 

original file is lost or damaged.

binary: The base two number system composed of zeros and ones (off or 

on), used by most digital computers. The right-most digit of a binary 

number has a value of 1, the next a value of 2, then 4, 8, 16, and so 

on. For example, the binary number 101 has a value of 5. See also 

ASCII.

BIOS: Basic Input/Output System. The firmware that controls data flow 

within the computer. See also firmware.

bit: Derived from “binary digit”, the basic unit of information used by the 

computer. It is either zero or one. Eight bits is one byte. See also 

byte.

Bluetooth: A short-range radio technology designed to simplify wireless 

communication among computers, communication devices and the 

Internet.

board: A circuit board. An internal card containing electronic components, 

called chips, which perform a specific function or increase the 

capabilities of the system.

boot: Short for bootstrap. A program that starts or restarts the computer. 

The program reads instructions from a storage device into the 

computer’s memory.

boot disk: See system disk.
bootable disk: See system disk.
bps: Bits per second. Typically used to describe the data transmission 

speed of a modem.

buffer: The portion of the computer’s memory where data is temporarily 

stored. Buffers often compensate for differences in the rate of flow 

from one device to another.

bus: An interface for transmission of signals, data or electric power.
byte: The representation of a single character. A sequence of eight bits 

treated as a single unit; also the smallest addressable unit within the 

system.