EXPLANATORY NOTES 1. Information Worker/ Knowledge Worker is a person engaged in the business of ‘information technology’ or 'knowledge' processing, 2. CAD, CAE, CAM. CAD (computer-aided design) denotes the use of computers for drafting and modeling designs. It facilitates the conversion of design concepts to digital form and testing various options. CAE (computer-aided engineering) is a broad term signifying the use of computers to design, analyse, and manufacture products and processes. It includes CAD and CAM. CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) connotes the use of computers for managing manufacturing processes. 3, Semiconductor is a substance, usually a solid chemical element or compound, that can conduct electricity under some conditions but not others, making it a good medium for the control of electrical current, Its conductance varies depending on the current or voltage applied to a control electrode, or on the intensity of irradiation by infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, or X rays. Elemental semiconductors include antimony, arsenic, boron, carbon, germanium, selenium, silicon, sulfur, and tellurium. Silicon is the best known of these, forming the basis of most ICs. Common semiconductor compounds include gallium arsenide, indium antimonide, and the oxides of most metals. 4. Fibre optic (or optical fibre) refers to the medium and the technology associated with the transmission of information as light impulses along a glass or plastic wire or fibre Fibre optic wire carries much more information than conventional copper wire and is far less subject to electromagnetic interference. 5. CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) means the implementation of a fully imegrated data base that flows through the entire manufacturing process--from process control to finance with all intermediate steps such as production control, scheduling, inventory, cost accounting and engineering, driven from the same data base. 6, ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), precursor to the Internet, was developed towards the late 1960s and early 1970s by the US Department of Defence, as an experiment in wide area networking that would survive a nuclear war. 7. E-mail (Electronic Mail) are messages, usually text, sent from one person to another or a large number of addresses (Mailing List) via computer. 8, Website/Webhosting Website is a collection of Web files on a particular subject that includes a beginning file called a home page’. For example, most companies, organisations, or individuals that have Websites have thair home page from where all the other pages on their particular site can be accessed. Webhosting is the business of housing, serving, and maintaining files for one or more Websites. Using a hosting service lets many companies share the cost of a fast Internet connection for serving files. 9. Internet Telephony or Internet Protocol (IP) telephony is a general term for the technologies that use the IP's packet-switched connections to exchange voice, fax, and other forms of information that have traditionally been carried over the dedicated circuit-switched connections of the public switched telephone network. IP telephony when used over the Internet is referred to as Internet telephony. 10. E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web, TI. ASP (Internet Service Provider) is an organisation that provides access to the Internet and other related services. 12. Doteom is any Website intended for business use and, in some usages, itis a term for any kind of Website. The term is based on the ‘com’ that forms the last part of the address for most commercial Websites. 13. Dial-up pertains to a telephone connection in a system of many lines shared by many users. It is established and maintained for a limited time duration. The alternative is a dedicated connection, which is continuously in place. 14. ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) is a set of ITU standards for digital transmission over ordinary telephone copper wire as well as other media. It is the integration of both analog or voice data together with digital data over the same network. 15. DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology for bringing high-bandwidth information to homes and small businesses over ordinary copper telephone lines. A DSL line can carry both data and voice signals and the data part of the line is continuously connected, 16, VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) is a satellite communications system that serves home and business users, A VSAT end user needs a box that interfaces between the user's computer and an outside antenna with a transceiver. The transceiver receives or sends a signal to a satellite transponder in the sky. The satellite sends and receives signals from an earth station computer that acts as a hub for the system. Each end user is interconnected with the hub station via the satellite in a star topology. For one end user to communicate with another, each transmission has to first go to the hub station which retransmits it via the satellite to the other end user's VSAT. VSAT handles data, voice, and video signals. 17. E-governance or electronic governance denotes the application of IT to the processes of government functioning, aimed at accountable, responsive and transparent governance, and thus facilitating government-citizen interface. It amounts to the transformation of public sector internal and external relationships through IT, for optimising governance, 18, Microprocessor! Multiprocessor ‘A processor is the logic circuitry that responds to and processes the basic instructions that drive a computer. The term processor has generally replaced the term central processing unit (CPU). The processor in a personal computer or embedded in small devices is often called a microprocessor. When a device has or uses more than one processor to perform its instructions (or logic) it is said to be multiprocessor based. 19, Vacuum tube (also called an electron tube or a valve) is a device sometimes used to amplify electronic signals. In most applications, the vacuum tube is obsolete, having been replaced by the transistor. However, tubes are still used in some high-power amplifiers, especially at microwave radio frequencies and in some hi-fi audio systems. 20. Transistors are the basic elements in ICs which consist of very large numbers of transistors interconnected with circuitry and baked into a single silicon microchip or ‘chip!. The transistor can act as a switch, opening and closing an electronic gate many times per second. It rapidly replaced the vacuum tube as an electronic signal regulator. VI21. ICs, ASICs, VLSIs An Integrated Circuit (IC), sometimes called a chip or microchip, is a semiconductor wafer on which thousands or millions of tiny resistors, capacitors, and transistors are fabricated. It can function as an amplifier, oscillator, timer, counter, ‘computer memory, or microprocessor. ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) is a computer chip designed for a particular purpose. VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) is the current level of computer microchip miniaturisation and refers to microchips containing hundreds of thousands of transistors. 22. Mainframe is an industry term for a large computer, typically manufactured by a large company such as IBM for commercial applications and other large-scale computing purposes. Historically, a mainfiame is associated with centralised rather than distributed computing, 23. Bytes/Gigabytes A byte is a unit of data that is eight binary digits long. It is the unit most computers use to represent a character such as a letter, number, or typographic symbol. Binary describes a numbering scheme in which there are only two possible values for each digit: Oand 1 ‘A gigabyte is a measure of computer data storage capacity and is roughly a billion bytes. 24. Supercomputer is a computer that performs at or near the currently highest operational rate for computers. It is typically used for scientific and engineering applications that must handle very large databases or do a great amount of computation (or both). Supercomputers are really multiple computers that perform parallel processing. 25, Minis mputer, a term no longer much used, is a computer of a size intermediate between a microcomputer and a mainframe. Typically, minicomputers have been stand- alone computers sold to small and mid-size businesses for general business applications and to large enterprises for department-level operations. 26. Microcomputer is a complete computer on a smaller scale. It is generally a synonym for the more common term, personal computer or PC, a computer designed for an individual. 27. Handheld A handheld computer is a computer that can conveniently be stored in a pocket (of sufficient size) and used while holding it, Also called Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), these can be divided into those that accept handwriting as input and those with small keyboards. Handheld computers are typically used for personal information manager types of applications, ie., maintaining schedules, keeping names and phone numbers, doing simple calculations, taking notes, and, with a modem, exchanging e-mail and getting information from the Web. 28. Notebook/Laptop ‘A notebook computer is a battery- or AC- powered personal computer generally smaller than a brief case that can be easily transported and used in temporary spaces such as on aitplanes, in libraries, temporary offices, and at meetings. A notebook computer, sometimes called a laptop computer, typically weighs less than 5 pounds and is 3 inches or less in thickness. They generally cost more than desktop computers with the same capabilities because they are more difficult to design and manufacture, Vil29. Desktop ‘A desktop is considered as a computer display area that represents the kind of objects ‘one might find on a real desktop: documents, phonebook, telephone, reference sources, writing (and possibly drawing) tools, project folders. It can be contained in a window that is part of the total display area or can be full-screen (the total display area). Conceivably, you can have multiple desktops (for different projects or work environments you may have) and switch among them. Desktop is also an abbreviated form of desktop computer, a personal computer that fits on top of a desk. 30. Workstation is a computer intended for individual use that is faster and more capable than a PC. It is intended for business or professional use (rather than home or recreational use), Workstations and applications designed for them are used by organisations! individuals requiring a faster microprocessor, a large amount of random access memory, and special features such as high-speed graphics adapters. 31. Server In general, a server is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs in the same or other computers. The computer that a server program runs in is also frequently referred to as a server (though it may contain a number of server and client programs). In the client/server programming model, a server is a program that, awaits and fulfills requests from client programs in the same or other computers. Servers also denote powerful computers that come next in hierarchy to the mainframes in the classification of computers. 32. Compiler is a special program that processes statements written in a particular programming language and turns them into machine language or ‘code! that a computer's processor uses. It converts the statements of a specific high-level programming language into machine language. 33. FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC, C FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) is a third-generation (3GL) programming language that was designed for use by engineers, mathematicians, and other users and creators of scientific algorithms. It has a very succinct and spartan syntax. Today, the C language has largely displaced FORTRAN. COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) was the first widely used 3GL or high-level programming language for business applications. Despite repeated updates, it is generally perceived as out-of-date and COBOL programs are generally viewed as legacy applications. BASIC was an early programming language that is still among the simplest and most popular of programming languages. Originally designed as an interactive mainframe timesharing language, it became widely used on PCs everywhere, because of its simplicity. A popular version of BASIC today is ‘QBASIC’. Microsoft's "Visual Basic’ adds object-oriented features and a graphical user interphase to the standard BASIC. Cis a third-generation programming language. 34, Sweat Equity is an equity share issued by the company to employees or directors and in some cases to promoters at a discount or for consideration other than cash for providing knowhow or making available rights to intellectual property or value additions. 35, Software Engineering/CASE CASE (computer-aided software engineering) is the use of a computer-assisted method to organise and control the development of software, especially on large, vicomplex projects involving many software components and people. It helps ensure a disciplined, check-pointed process. 36. Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) is a program that lets create, update, and administer a relational database. A popular instance is ‘Oracle’. 37. Graphical User Interphase (GUI) is a graphical (rather than purely textual) user interphase to a computer. The term came into existence because the first interactive user interphase to computers were text-and-keyboard oriented, and not graphical. Today's major operating systems provide graphical user interphase. Applications use the elements of GUI that come with the operating system and add their own GUI elements and ideas. 38, Object-oriented technology Object-oriented programming (OOP) is organised around ‘objects' rather than ‘actions’, data rather than logic. Historically, a program has been viewed as a logical procedure that takes input data, processes it, and produces output data, OOP takes the view that what are to be cared about are the objects to be manipulated rather than the logic required to ‘manipulate them. C++ and Java are the most popular object-oriented languages today. 39. Computer Animation is the use of computers to create animations. A few among the ways to make computer animations are: (i) 3D animation; (ii) create objects and then render them; (iii) use standard computer painting tools and paint single frames and composite them; and (iv) use transitions and other special effects like morphing to modify existing images and video. 40. Datawarehousing, Datamining Data warehouse is a central repository for all or significant parts of the data that an enterprise's various business systems collect. Typically, a data warehouse is housed on an enterprise mainframe server. Data from various online transaction processing (OLTP) applications and other sources is selectively extracted and organised on the data warehouse database for use by analytical applications and user queries. Datamining, Web mining, and decision support system (DSS) are three kinds of applications that can make use of a data warehouse. Datamining is sorting through data to identify pattems and establish relationships. 41. ERP/MRP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is an industry term for the broad set of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a manufacturer or other business manage the important parts of its business, including product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service, and tracking orders. ERP can also include application modules for the finance and human resource aspects of a business. Material Requirements Planning (MRP) is a computerised system for managing dependent-demand inventory, scheduling replenishment orders, and meeting demand for end items as given in the Master Production Schedule. MRP calculates and maintains an optimum manufacturing plan based on master production schedules, sales forecasts, inventory status, open orders and bills of material. 42. Systems integration ‘The job of a systems integrator is to combine standard hardware with custom software or certain standard software after requisite modifications in a unique configuration to meet the users’ requirements. Ix43. Turnkey projects are the sum total of systems integration and network integration services rendered for sectors like banks/financial institutions, stock exchanges, railways, government departments/offices, etc. 44, Application Service Provider Model, ‘Application hosting’ or ‘net bureau-based services’ ‘An application service provider (ASP) is an organisation that offers individuals or enterprises access over the Internet to applications and related services that would otherwise have to be located in their own personal or enterprise computers. ASP services are expected to become an important alternative, not only for smaller companies with low budgets for IT, but also for larger companies as a form of outsourcing and for many services for individuals as well 45. LAN/WAN ‘A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that share a common communications line or wireless link and typically share the resources of a single processor or server within a small geographic area like an office building. ‘A wide area network (WAN) is any Internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus. It is a geographically dispersed network. 46. Node is any single computer connected to a network. 47. 4GL ot fourth-generation language is a programming language designed to be closer to natural language than a 3GL or third-generation language. Languages for accessing databases are often described as 4GL. 48. Computer Society of India is an association of computer professionals and academics in India. 49. Bandwidth means how much information can be carried in a given time period (usually a second) over a wired or wireless communications link. In simple terms, how much ‘stuff can be sent through a connection, usually measured in bits per second. More technically, bandwidth is the width of the range of frequencies that an electronic signal occupies on a given transmission medium. 50. Portal is a term, generally synonymous with gateway, for a World Wide Web site that is or proposes to be a major starting site for users when they get connected to the Web or that users tend to visit as an anchor site, There are general portals and specialised or niche portals. 51. Webcasting broadcasts. 52. Packet Switched Network describes the type of network in which relatively small units of data called packets are routed through a network based on the destination address contained within each packet. Breaking communication down into packets allows the same data path to be shared among many users in the network. This type of communication between sender and receiver is known as connectionless (rather than dedicated). Most traffic over the Internet uses packet switching and the Internet is basically a connectionless network. using the Web to deliver live or delayed versions of sound or video