IGCSE ICT Glossary with Complete Solutions
abnormal data - ANSWER-Data that is of the wrong type (e.g. text in a numeric field) or
is outside the accepted range (e.g. an exam mark percentage of 110).
absolute referencing - ANSWER-Fixes a cell reference within a spreadsheet so that
when the formula is copied this cell reference never changes.
absolute value - ANSWER-Fixes a value so that it cannot change, for example in a
webpage a table width can be set to 300 points. This table will always remain 300 points
wide and will not change if the size of the browser window is changed.
access point - ANSWER-Used in wireless networks to allow access to the network at
various points using wireless technology (e.g. an airport will have several APs allowing
100 per cent coverage for users).
actuator - ANSWER-A transducer which takes signals from a computer and converts
them into some form of motion (e.g. motors, pumps, valves etc.).
administrator - ANSWER-The person who is in control of a computer network.
alphanumeric - ANSWER-A field type where any character is acceptable input -
sometimes called text.
analogue data - ANSWER-Data which represents physical constantly varying quantities
such as time, temperature, etc.
analogue device - ANSWER-A device/apparatus that measures information that is
continuously changing (analogue data), e.g. an analogue sensor.
analogue sensor - ANSWER-See analogue device
analogue to digital converter (ADC) - ANSWER-A device used to convert analogue
signals (usually from sensors) into digital signals which can then be understood and
processed by a computer.
animation - ANSWER-A rapidly changing set of images (either in 2D or 3D) which
creates the illusion of actual movement.
anti-spyware - ANSWER-Software that detects and removes/isolates spyware.
anti-virus - ANSWER-Software that detects and removes/ isolates computer viruses.
AP - ANSWER-See access point
,applications software - ANSWER-Software that enables a user to carry out a specific
function on a computer e.g. spreadsheet, word processor, database, etc.
ascender - ANSWER-The part of a lowercase letter (b, d, f, h, k, l or t), that extends
above the body of the letters.
ascii - ANSWER-An abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information
Interchange. This is the standard set of codes (numbers) used by the computer to
identify each letter and symbol of the character set (on the keyboard).
aspect ratio - ANSWER-The proportion of length to width of an image. Maintaining the
aspect ratio means to keep the original proportion of the image (without distortion) and
is usually needed when images are resized.
attachment - ANSWER-A document/file sent with an email which requires the recipient
to open it to read/ see/listen to the contents.
attribute - ANSWER-Provide additional information about HTML elements. Attributes
follow the start tag and come in name/value pairs. E.g. <table border="1"> where the
table tag has an attribute called border which has a value set to 1.
audience notes - ANSWER-Printed copies of the slides from a presentation, which are
given to the audience so that they can take them away and refer to them after the
presentation.
authentication - ANSWER-The process of determining whether someone is in fact who
they claim to be; the most common form of authentication is user IDs and passwords,
but there are others (e.g. biometric data).
automatic teller machine - ANSWER-A machine where customers can access their
bank accounts using a card and PIN; usually used to withdraw cash from their account.
AutoSum - ANSWER-A function within Microsoft Excel that adds together the contents
of a number of cells.
AVERAGE - ANSWER-A function within Microsoft Excel that calculates the mean
(average) of a list of numbers.
back up - ANSWER-A copy of a file/data on a different medium (e.g. disk, flash drive,
CD, etc.) in case of problems with the internal hard disk drive.
backing storage - ANSWER-Secondary storage device that allows a user to back up
data from a computer system (e.g. CD, DVD, floppy disk, memory stick).
bandwidth - ANSWER-This is a reference to the range of frequencies a communication
channel can handle. The bigger the bandwidth the more data can be sent and received
,at the same time. The amount of data that can be communicated also relies upon the
transfer rate. This is often used to describe Internet connection, with the term
broadband meaning it has more than 3KHz (although in real terms at least 300MHz is
needed in current systems).
barcode - ANSWER-Optical machine-readable representation of data that uses thick
and thin lines to represent numbers.
barcode reader - ANSWER-An input device that can read/scan barcodes using laser
light.
basic input/output system (BIOS) - ANSWER-Code used to tell computer what to do
when it first starts up (sometimes referred to as the boot).
batch processing - ANSWER-System where all the data is first gathered together before
it is processed all in one go without further need of human intervention. It is used in
billing systems and cheque processing, for example.
behaviour layer - ANSWER-One of the 3 layers in webpage development. The
behaviour layer is used to do 'an action' (rather than just display or link to other pages)
and often uses script languages embedded into the HTML. There are many different
script languages but the most common for web development are Javascript, PHP, Perl
and CGI.
BIOS - ANSWER-See basic input/output system
bit - ANSWER-Short for binary digit and equal to a 1 or a 0; the fundamental memory
unit.
bit map - ANSWER-Representation, consisting of rows and columns of dots, of a
graphical image in a computer. The density of the dots is called the resolution. In
computer screens/monitors the dots are referred to as a pixels.
blogger - ANSWER-Someone who maintains a blog.
blogs - ANSWER-Short for web log; a webpage which is accessed by the public, who
can read or write messages.
blu-ray disk - ANSWER-An optical disk with very large capacity (currently the largest of
all the optical media) using laser light close to the blue/violet spectra, which permits
much larger storage capacity.
Bluetooth - ANSWER-Open wireless protocol over a short distance that allows devices
to communicate using radio waves instead of wires.
, body - ANSWER-The section of HTML in a webpage that contains the contents (e.g.
text, images, etc) and the tags describing the content, hyperlinks and structure (e.g.
tables used to lay out the page) of a webpage.
body text - ANSWER-The basic style of text within a document, commonly used for all
of the paragraphs.
bookmark - ANSWER-The address (URL) of a webpage saved by a user so that it can
be revisited at some later date.
Boolean data - ANSWER-Data that can have only two possible answers: true (1) or
false (0).
boot file - ANSWER-Code used to tell computer what to do when it first starts up
(sometimes referred to as the BIOS).
break - ANSWER-A split between two pages, sections or columns, or inserted to force
text wrapping at the end of a line of text.
bridge - ANSWER-A device that connects one LAN to another LAN that uses the same
protocol.
brightness - ANSWER-Is a measure of the intensity of light from a point on an image. It
is a measure of the amount of red, green and blue light reflected from, or transmitted
through any given point on an image. It is sometimes called luminous brightness.
broadband - ANSWER-A telecommunications method in which a wide band of
frequencies is available to transmit data. It allows internet traffic and normal telephone
traffic to share the same communication lines.
browse - ANSWER-To read and navigate through a series of webpages received from
the internet.
browser - ANSWER-See web browser
bus network - ANSWER-Type of network where all the stations are connected to a
central cable.
byte - ANSWER-A unit of memory (usually equal to eight binary bits); more commonly
shown as Kbyte (just over one thousand bytes), Mbyte (one million bytes), Gbyte
(1000MB) or Terrabyte (1000GB).
CAD software - ANSWER-See computer-aided design software
cascading stylesheet - ANSWER-A stylesheet saved in CSS format with a .css file
extension. This allows the stylesheet to be attached to each webpage to define how to
abnormal data - ANSWER-Data that is of the wrong type (e.g. text in a numeric field) or
is outside the accepted range (e.g. an exam mark percentage of 110).
absolute referencing - ANSWER-Fixes a cell reference within a spreadsheet so that
when the formula is copied this cell reference never changes.
absolute value - ANSWER-Fixes a value so that it cannot change, for example in a
webpage a table width can be set to 300 points. This table will always remain 300 points
wide and will not change if the size of the browser window is changed.
access point - ANSWER-Used in wireless networks to allow access to the network at
various points using wireless technology (e.g. an airport will have several APs allowing
100 per cent coverage for users).
actuator - ANSWER-A transducer which takes signals from a computer and converts
them into some form of motion (e.g. motors, pumps, valves etc.).
administrator - ANSWER-The person who is in control of a computer network.
alphanumeric - ANSWER-A field type where any character is acceptable input -
sometimes called text.
analogue data - ANSWER-Data which represents physical constantly varying quantities
such as time, temperature, etc.
analogue device - ANSWER-A device/apparatus that measures information that is
continuously changing (analogue data), e.g. an analogue sensor.
analogue sensor - ANSWER-See analogue device
analogue to digital converter (ADC) - ANSWER-A device used to convert analogue
signals (usually from sensors) into digital signals which can then be understood and
processed by a computer.
animation - ANSWER-A rapidly changing set of images (either in 2D or 3D) which
creates the illusion of actual movement.
anti-spyware - ANSWER-Software that detects and removes/isolates spyware.
anti-virus - ANSWER-Software that detects and removes/ isolates computer viruses.
AP - ANSWER-See access point
,applications software - ANSWER-Software that enables a user to carry out a specific
function on a computer e.g. spreadsheet, word processor, database, etc.
ascender - ANSWER-The part of a lowercase letter (b, d, f, h, k, l or t), that extends
above the body of the letters.
ascii - ANSWER-An abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information
Interchange. This is the standard set of codes (numbers) used by the computer to
identify each letter and symbol of the character set (on the keyboard).
aspect ratio - ANSWER-The proportion of length to width of an image. Maintaining the
aspect ratio means to keep the original proportion of the image (without distortion) and
is usually needed when images are resized.
attachment - ANSWER-A document/file sent with an email which requires the recipient
to open it to read/ see/listen to the contents.
attribute - ANSWER-Provide additional information about HTML elements. Attributes
follow the start tag and come in name/value pairs. E.g. <table border="1"> where the
table tag has an attribute called border which has a value set to 1.
audience notes - ANSWER-Printed copies of the slides from a presentation, which are
given to the audience so that they can take them away and refer to them after the
presentation.
authentication - ANSWER-The process of determining whether someone is in fact who
they claim to be; the most common form of authentication is user IDs and passwords,
but there are others (e.g. biometric data).
automatic teller machine - ANSWER-A machine where customers can access their
bank accounts using a card and PIN; usually used to withdraw cash from their account.
AutoSum - ANSWER-A function within Microsoft Excel that adds together the contents
of a number of cells.
AVERAGE - ANSWER-A function within Microsoft Excel that calculates the mean
(average) of a list of numbers.
back up - ANSWER-A copy of a file/data on a different medium (e.g. disk, flash drive,
CD, etc.) in case of problems with the internal hard disk drive.
backing storage - ANSWER-Secondary storage device that allows a user to back up
data from a computer system (e.g. CD, DVD, floppy disk, memory stick).
bandwidth - ANSWER-This is a reference to the range of frequencies a communication
channel can handle. The bigger the bandwidth the more data can be sent and received
,at the same time. The amount of data that can be communicated also relies upon the
transfer rate. This is often used to describe Internet connection, with the term
broadband meaning it has more than 3KHz (although in real terms at least 300MHz is
needed in current systems).
barcode - ANSWER-Optical machine-readable representation of data that uses thick
and thin lines to represent numbers.
barcode reader - ANSWER-An input device that can read/scan barcodes using laser
light.
basic input/output system (BIOS) - ANSWER-Code used to tell computer what to do
when it first starts up (sometimes referred to as the boot).
batch processing - ANSWER-System where all the data is first gathered together before
it is processed all in one go without further need of human intervention. It is used in
billing systems and cheque processing, for example.
behaviour layer - ANSWER-One of the 3 layers in webpage development. The
behaviour layer is used to do 'an action' (rather than just display or link to other pages)
and often uses script languages embedded into the HTML. There are many different
script languages but the most common for web development are Javascript, PHP, Perl
and CGI.
BIOS - ANSWER-See basic input/output system
bit - ANSWER-Short for binary digit and equal to a 1 or a 0; the fundamental memory
unit.
bit map - ANSWER-Representation, consisting of rows and columns of dots, of a
graphical image in a computer. The density of the dots is called the resolution. In
computer screens/monitors the dots are referred to as a pixels.
blogger - ANSWER-Someone who maintains a blog.
blogs - ANSWER-Short for web log; a webpage which is accessed by the public, who
can read or write messages.
blu-ray disk - ANSWER-An optical disk with very large capacity (currently the largest of
all the optical media) using laser light close to the blue/violet spectra, which permits
much larger storage capacity.
Bluetooth - ANSWER-Open wireless protocol over a short distance that allows devices
to communicate using radio waves instead of wires.
, body - ANSWER-The section of HTML in a webpage that contains the contents (e.g.
text, images, etc) and the tags describing the content, hyperlinks and structure (e.g.
tables used to lay out the page) of a webpage.
body text - ANSWER-The basic style of text within a document, commonly used for all
of the paragraphs.
bookmark - ANSWER-The address (URL) of a webpage saved by a user so that it can
be revisited at some later date.
Boolean data - ANSWER-Data that can have only two possible answers: true (1) or
false (0).
boot file - ANSWER-Code used to tell computer what to do when it first starts up
(sometimes referred to as the BIOS).
break - ANSWER-A split between two pages, sections or columns, or inserted to force
text wrapping at the end of a line of text.
bridge - ANSWER-A device that connects one LAN to another LAN that uses the same
protocol.
brightness - ANSWER-Is a measure of the intensity of light from a point on an image. It
is a measure of the amount of red, green and blue light reflected from, or transmitted
through any given point on an image. It is sometimes called luminous brightness.
broadband - ANSWER-A telecommunications method in which a wide band of
frequencies is available to transmit data. It allows internet traffic and normal telephone
traffic to share the same communication lines.
browse - ANSWER-To read and navigate through a series of webpages received from
the internet.
browser - ANSWER-See web browser
bus network - ANSWER-Type of network where all the stations are connected to a
central cable.
byte - ANSWER-A unit of memory (usually equal to eight binary bits); more commonly
shown as Kbyte (just over one thousand bytes), Mbyte (one million bytes), Gbyte
(1000MB) or Terrabyte (1000GB).
CAD software - ANSWER-See computer-aided design software
cascading stylesheet - ANSWER-A stylesheet saved in CSS format with a .css file
extension. This allows the stylesheet to be attached to each webpage to define how to
