- Absolute value
- The absolute value of a number is the number without its sign. MS-Excel uses
ABS(number). Examples: ABS(2) equals 2, ABS(-2) equals 2.
- Access Arm
- The arm that holds the read-write head and moves back and forth over the surface of the
diskette.
- Access motion time
- When accessing a disk - the time necessary for the access arm to move in or out to the
correct track location.
- Access Time
- The period between the time that the computer requests data from a secondary storage
device and the time that the transfer of data is completed.
- Accounts Payable
- The activity that shows the money a company owes to its suppliers for the materials and
services it has received.
- Accounts Receivable
- The activity that shows what money has been received from or is owed by customers.
- Accumulator
- A CPU register used to accumulate the results of an arithmetic operation..
- Acoustic Coupler
- A device performing the same function as Modems, and are strapped to a telephone
handset.
- Active-Matrix
- Best, brightest most expensive laptop display system.
- Adder
- Set of logical circuitry that receives data from two source, does addition, then stores
the result.
- Address
- A label, name or number identifying a register, location or unit where data is stored.
- Address matching (GIS)
- A special instance of geocoding in which street addresses are assigned map co-ordinates
by comparing the addresses to a list of already geocoded street addresses.
- AI
- see Artificial Intelligence
- ALGOL (ALGOrithmic Language.
- A third generation data processing programming language.
Forerunner to Pascal.
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- Algorithm
- a procedure that exhibits the following properties; finiteness (eventually stops),
definiteness, effectiveness, receives 0 or more inputs, produces one or more outputs.
Derived from the name of Persian mathematician Abu Ja'far Mohammed Ibn Musa Al-Khowarizmi
(-- amazing aye ! )
- Alpha blending (3D-graphics)
- Defines opacity of objects. Blending allows two textures to be mixed to create
the illusion of transparency (eg. fog or glass door)
- ALU
- see Arithmetic and Logic Unit
- AM
- American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
- American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)
- The data alphabet used in a PC.
- Amplitude Modulation
- loudness of signal modulated, where the Height/Depth of the signal is changed. (Analog
Mode)
- Analog computer
- Device measuring actual conditions, such as temperature, pressure, speed and translates
them into electrical-equivalent signals.
- Analog Mode
- Sound waves are sent across communications media
- Analog Signal
- A signal that represents a range of frequencies, such as the human voice.
- ANSI
- see American National Standards Institute
- Anti-aliasing (3D-graphics)
- Lines that are on an angle tend to appear jagged. Anti-aliasing smudges the pixels on
either side to smooth the jagged lines.
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