ALS 3203 - Lesson 2
Glossary of Terms

copy and paste: (Or "cut and paste", after the paper, scissors and glue method of document production) The system supported by most document editing applications (e.g. {text editors}) and most {operating systems} that allows you to select a part of the document and then save it in a temporary buffer (known variously as the "clipboard", "cut buffer", "kill ring"). A "copy" leaves the document unchanged whereas a "cut" deletes the selected part. A "paste" inserts the data from the clipboard at the current position in the document (usually replacing any currently selected data). This may be done more than once, in more than one position and in different documents. More sophisticated {operating systems} support copy and paste of different data types between different applications, possibly with automatic format conversion, e.g from {rich text} to plain {ASCII}.

Directory: Method of organizing the files stored on a disk. A directory is created to use for grouping one or more files that have some association (you might create a directory to organize all of your term papers).Since Windows 95 and 98 the term folder is synonymous with directory.

DOS: Disk Operating System. Section of the operating system software that controls the disk and file access

Drive (aka. hard drive, hard disk, floppy disk, CD-ROM drive): Designated by a letter and a colon (e.g. A: B: C: D:), the letter assigned to storage devices. All drives are designated by letters, and the number of available drive designations is limited to 26, A: to Z: on a PC. Physical devices such as a hard drive may be dividied into logical drives by using disk partitions, so a disk that initially is shipped as a single large partition of 10 Gigabytes may be partitioned into smaller logical drives by software. Thedisk drive is the mechanism that spins the disks. Technially speaking the drive spins the disks, so proper distinction would be hard disk, not hard drive.

Floppy disk: One of many secondary storage devices, in the form of a flat, circular flexible disk onto which data can be stored in a magnetic form.

Program: A complete set of instructions that direct a computer to carry out a particular task. An executable file. Programs are also known as applications. Many may be recognized by a filename ending in .exe, .com, or even .bat.

Executable file: File that contains a program rather than data. Recognized by extensions of .exe, .com, and .bat

Operating System: Written also as OS, the software that controls the basic, low-level hardware operations, and file management, without the user having to operate it. Consisting of 3 files (command.com, IO.sys, MSDOS.sys). These files are put onto a bootable systems disk when you create one. The IO.sys and MSDOS.sys are hidden files. All 3 files must reside in the root directory of C:, which is indicated by C:\. Prior to Windows 98 the PC operating system was still DOS, and Windows 95 and prior versions ran on top of DOS. With Windows 98 and all later versions of Windows, Windows is a true stand-alone OS which uses many of DOS's features, but entire DOS is no longer the OS.

Command window: Area of a screen where commands are entered. You may access this by the Start, Run menu task bar, then typing Command.

Command line: Program line that contains a command instruction, includes the command prompt.

GUI: Graphical User Interface. The interface between an operating system or program and the user. It uses graphics or icons to represent functions or files and allows the software to be controlled more easily; system commands do not have to be typed in. Contrast with Command Line Interface, where commands must be typed in.

Window: Area of the screen that always displays the range of commands available.

Windows™: Multi-tasking graphical user interface for the IBM PC developed by Microsoft Corp. that is designed to be easy to use. Windows uses icons to represent files and devices and can be controlled using a mouse, unlike MS-DOS which requires commands to be typed in.

Icon: Graphic symbol or small picture displayed on screen, used in an interactive computer system to provide an easy way of identifying a function.

Scroll: To move displayed text vertically up and down the screen. You may also scroll horizontally.

Scroll bar: In a GUI application, the bar displayed along the side of a window with a marker which indicates how far you have scrolled.