Jargon Buster C

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Cache
A special area of RAM that stores the data most frequently accessed from the hard drive. Cache memory can optimize the use of your systems.

CAD - Computer Aided Design
Computer Aided Design: Software used to produce complex technical drawings by designers and engineers.

Calibration
In information technology and other fields, calibration is the setting or correcting of a measuring device or base level, usually by adjusting it to match or conform to a dependably known and unvarying measure.

Card
Generic term for anything that you can snap into an expansion slot.

CardBus
CardBus is the trade name for an advanced PC Card (also known as PCMCIA card) specification. The technology is used primarily in notebook and portable computers. The CardBus card fits in a slot like a conventional PC card.

CAS
In computer memory technology, CAS (column address strobe) is a signal sent to a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) that tells it that an associated address is a column address. A data bit in DRAM is stored in a cell located by the intersection of a column address and a row address. A RAS (row address strobe) signal is used to validate the row address.

CAT3 - Category 3
An EIA/TIA standard for UTP wiring that can operate up to 20 megabits per second.

CAT5 - Category 5
An EIA/TIA standard for UTP wiring that can operate up to 100 megabits per second.

Cathode Ray Tube
A cathode ray tube (CRT) is a specialized vacuum tube in which images are produced when an electron beam strikes a phosphorescent surface. Most desktop computer displays make use of CRTs. The CRT in a computer display is similar to the "picture tube" in a television receiver.

CCD - Charge Coupled Device
Charge Coupled Device: The component of a scanner or digital camera which actually takes the pictures. The quality of image it is capable of is usually measured in Megapixels - the higher the number, the better the image.

CCTV (closed circuit television)
CCTV (closed circuit television) is a television system in which signals are not publicly distributed; cameras are connected to television monitors in a limited area such as a store, an office building, or on a college campus. CCTV is commonly used in surveillance systems

CD Burner - informal name for a CD recorder
A CD burner is the informal name for a CD recorder, a device that can record data to a compact disc. CD-Recordable (CD-R) and CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) are the two most common types of drives that can write CDs, either once (in the case of CD-R) or repeatedly (in the case of CD-RW). In the recording process, the data is actually etched into the disc (burned) with a laser, as compared with non-recordable CDs. Audio CDs and CD-ROMs are pressed from copies of the original recordings (which are burned by lasers). Since the non-recordable CDs are manufactured in this manner, they can not be written, or rewritten in a desktop environment.

CD-RW
CD-RW (for compact disc, rewriteable) is a compact disc (CD) format that allows repeated recording on a disc. The CD-RW format was introduced by Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi, Philips, Ricoh, and Sony, in a 1997 supplement to Philips and Sony's Orange Book. CD-RW is Orange Book III (CD-MO was I, while CD-R was II). Prior to the release of the Orange Book, CDs had been read-only audio (CD-Digital Audio, described fully in the Red Book), to be played in CD players, and multimedia (CD-ROM), to be played in computers' CD-ROM drives. After the Orange Book, any user with a CD Recorder drive could create their own CDs from their desktop computers. CD-RW drives can write both CD-R and CD-RW discs and can read any type of CD.

CDROM - Compact Disk-Read Only Memory
Compact Disk-Read Only Memory: A misnomer, as strictly speaking it is not memory but storage. Identical to standard music CDs. Currently the most popular medium for releasing programs on, as it can hold literally hundreds of times as much information as a standard floppy disk, about 650 Megabytes in total. Once a CD-ROM has been created its contents cannot be changed.

CDRW - Recordable and Re-writeable Compact Disc
Recordable and Re-writeable Compact Disc - this allows up to 650Mb of data to be stored very cheaply on a compact disc using a special CD Writer. Unlike CDR, data can be written to the CDRW more than once.

Celeron
A lower-cost CPU based on Intel's Pentium range of CPU's.

Centrino
Centrino is a technology package from Intel that provides built-in wireless support for laptop computers while making it possible to run a laptop all day (up to seven hours) without a battery recharge. Through Centrino, Intel hopes to encourage corporations and users to replace their current laptops with a newer, more mobile version.

CGI - Common Gateway Interface
Common Gateway Interface : refers to a specification that allows a web server and a CGI program to communicate and transfer data. CGI programs provide interactivity for users of a web site, a typical example of a CGI implementation is a contact form where the data the user enters into a web form gets transferred to the CGI program and then processed. The transfer of data can be done using the ACTION parameter of a HTML form, the two options are GET and POST, the former sending the data as part of the URL and the latter sending the data via the HTTP headers.

Checksum
A checksum is a count of the number of bits in a transmission unit that is included with the unit so that the receiver can check to see whether the same number of bits arrived. If the counts match, it's assumed that the complete transmission was received. Both TCP and UDP communication layers provide a checksum count and verification as one of their services.

Chipset
A chipset is a group of integrated circuits (microchips) that can be used together to serve a single function and are therefore manufactured and sold as a unit. For example, one chipset might combine all the microchips needed to serve as the communications controller between a processor and memory and other devices in a computer.

CMOS - Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor: When in the context of computing CMOS refers to a chip that stores information about your PC including the time, date and configuration data, this technology is used due to the low power consumption. The CMOS device is backed up by a battery to retain the information when the system is switched off. The information (typically 64 Bytes) in the CMOS device is accessed by the BIOS when the machine is booted up (turned on), the CMOS settings (information) can be changed by the user by the way of a setup program usually accessed with a key sequence when the machine is first booted, different systems use different key sequences to access the CMOS settings, you can find out the key sequence for your particular system from either the manual that came with your machine or your motherboard manual.

Coaxial Cable
Coaxial cable is the kind of copper cable used by cable TV companies between the community antenna and user homes and businesses. Coaxial cable is sometimes used by telephone companies from their central office to the telephone poles near users. It is also widely installed for use in business and corporation Ethernet and other types of local area network. Coaxial cable is called "coaxial" because it includes one physical channel that carries the signal surrounded (after a layer of insulation) by another concentric physical channel, both running along the same axis. The outer channel serves as a ground. Many of these cables or pairs of coaxial tubes can be placed in a single outer sheathing and, with repeaters, can carry information for a great distance.

CODEC - Compressor/DECompressor
CODEC: A small piece of computer code that tells the computer how to decode particular types of information, usually video files. If your video player won't play a particular format, you can usually download and install a codec which will tell it how from the internet.

CompactFlash card
A CompactFlash (CF) card is a popular memory card developed by SanDisk in 1994 that uses flash memory to store data on a very small card. A CompactFlash card makes data easy to add to a wide variety of computing devices, including digital cameras and music players, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), digital audio recorders, and photo printers.

Cookie
A transaction ID used between cooperating programs. Cookies are used by some browsers and Web server programs to identify the client user and even unique preferences or requests from the client user. Cookies may be stored for use during a given session, for a set length of time (seconds, minutes, hours, or days), or retained permanently. Cookie information is stored with the browser on the client side; the information is automatically accessed and used by the browser in subsequent transactions.

Cordless Mouse
A cordless mouse frees you from cord problems. It connects to your computer with a radio (rather than an infrared) signal, powered by two AAA batteries. One manufacturer, Logitech, offers two versions of a three-button mouse; one includes a button positioned for the thumb (for right-handed users). The buttons can be assigned different uses during system setup.

CPS : Characters Per Second
CPS: A measure of how quickly information, particularly text, is being transferred over a modem link or network. See also bps.

CPU - Central Processing Unit
Central Processing Unit. The main processing chip of a computer

Crossover Cable
Special UTP cable used to connect hubs or to connect network cards without a hub. Crossover cables reverse the sending and receiving wire pairs from one end to the other.

CRT - Cathode Ray Tube
CRT: The imaging technology used in most desktop monitors. Provides an excellent colour display, but is extremely bulky and is now being gradually supplanted by TFT