QuickStudy

Optical character recognition (OCR) is the translation of optically scanned bitmaps of printed or written text characters into character codes, such as ASCII. This is an efficient way to turn hard-copy materials into data files that can be edited and otherwise manipulated on a computer.

Unified messaging is the term for a system that provides access to e-mail, voice and fax messages through a single common interface, usually an e-mail client application.

Denial of service is a form of attack in which a network server is overloaded by thousands of false communications and/or requests for services originating from programs in one or more outside computers. Ultimately, the network receives so many queries that it can't keep up with them and is thus unavailable to answer or service legitimate requests.

Chip fabrication is the process by which multibillion-dollar plants turn common sand into microprocessors, memory chips and integrated circuits of all kinds. Producing a microchip is one of the most complicated, exacting and expensive of all industrial activities, yet makers continue to double the capabilities of chips every 18 to 24 months.

Decision-support systems are interactive computer-based tools used since the 1960s by decision-makers to help answer questions, solve problems and support or refute conclusions.

Wireless security requires a number of technical safeguards to protect the confidentiality and integrity of e-mail and other data broadcast over radio waves.

Web site traffic is measured in many ways, including analysis of server logs and user tracking. Using an outside measurement service is another option. Reported traffic numbers typically include unique visitors (the number of different people who have come to a site) and page views (how many pages have been requested and loaded by a site's visitors in a given time period).

Web services are a new class of applications that can talk and work with one another over the Internet.

Replication is the process of making duplicate copies of enterprise data for content distribution, disaster recovery or other business needs.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a modern standard for connecting peripheral devices to a computer using a single connector that replaces serial, parallel and network connections. USB delivers both power and data, and up to 127 USB devices can be daisy-chained together. USB 1.1 operates at up to 12M bit/sec., while USB 2.0 delivers up to 480M bit/sec. IEEE 1394, a competing technology (also called FireWire and iLink), delivers 400M bit/sec.

Once upon a time, software development consisted of a programmer writing code to solve a problem or automate a procedure. Nowadays, systems are so big and complex that teams of architects, analysts, programmers, testers and users must work together to create the millions of lines of custom-written code that drive our enterprises.

Before USB, the primary high-speed serial connection was that defined by IEEE standard 1394 - better known by the name Apple Computer Corp. gave it, FireWire. (Sony and others call it iLink.)

The Windows registry is a database that stores configuration information for the operating system and the applications that run on it. The registry contains a wide range of information, such as profiles for users, the programs installed on the computer, property settings for folder and program icons, and system hardware and ports.

-- A database is an organized collection of information. -- A data warehouse is a very large database with special sets of tools to extract and cleanse data from operational systems and to analyze data. -- A data mart is a focused subset of a data warehouse that deals with a single area of data and is organized for quick analysis.

A peer-to-peer network is one in which two or more PCs share files and access to devices such as printers without requiring a separate server computer or server software.