Author Topic: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"  (Read 8930 times)

Offline MysteRy

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Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« on: April 04, 2014, 07:43:04 AM »
Source : PC.net


LAN

Stands for "Local Area Network," and is pronounced like "land" without the "d". (Computer people will think you're weird if you pronouce it "L-A-N"). A LAN is a computer network limited to a small area such as an office building, university, or even a residential home. Most mid to large-sized businesses today use LANs, which makes it easy for employees to share information. Currently, the most common type of LANs are Ethernet-based and use software from Novell or Oracle. However, with the emergence of wireless networking, wireless LANs have become a popular alternative.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2014, 07:43:50 AM »
Laptop

Laptop computers, also known as notebooks, are portable computers that you can take with you and use in different environments. They include a screen, keyboard, and a trackpad or trackball, which serves as the mouse. Because laptops are meant to be used on the go, they have a battery which allows them to operate without being plugged into a power outlet. Laptops also include a power adapter that allows them to use power from an outlet and recharges the battery.

While portable computers used to be significantly slower and less capable than desktop computers, advances in manufacturing technology have enabled laptops to perform nearly as well as their desktop counterparts. In fact, high-end laptops often perform better than low or even mid-range desktop systems. Most laptops also include several I/O ports, such as USB ports, that allow standard keyboards and mice to be used with the laptop. Modern laptops often include a wireless networking adapter as well, allowing users to access the Internet without requiring any wires.

While laptops can be powerful and convenient, the convenience often comes at a price. Most laptops cost several hundred dollars more than a similarly equipped desktop model with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Furthermore, working long hours on a laptop with a small screen and keyboard may be more fatiguing than working on a desktop system. Therefore, if portability is not a requirement for your computer, you may find better value in a desktop model.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2014, 07:44:38 AM »
Laser Printer

A laser printer is a printer that uses a focused beam or light to transfer text and images onto paper. Though contrary to popular belief, the laser does not actually burn the images onto the paper. Instead, as paper passes through the printer, the laser beam fires at the surface of a cylindrical drum called a photoreceptor. This drum has an electrical charge (typically positive), that is reversed in areas where the laser beam hits it. By reversing the charge in certain areas of the drum, the laser beam can print patterns (such as text and pictures) onto the photoreceptor.

Once the pattern has been created on the drum, it is coated with toner from a toner cartridge. The toner is black in most cartridges, but may be cyan, magenta, and yellow in color laser printers. The positively charged toner clings to areas of the drum that have been negatively charged by the laser. When the paper passes through the printer, the drum is given a strong negative charge, which allows the toner to transfer and stick to the paper. The result is a clean copy of the image written on the paper.

Because laser printers do not use ink, they have less image smearing problems than inkjet printers and are able to print pages faster. While laser printers and toner cartridges typically cost more than inkjet printers and ink cartridges, most laser toner cartridges last several times longer than ink cartridges, which makes their cost per page about equal. For this reason, businesses tend to use laser printers, while consumers are more likely to use inkjet printers. Laser printers typically have a resolution of 600 dpi (dots per inch) or higher.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2014, 07:45:25 AM »
Latency

This is the amount of time it takes a packet of data to move across a network connection. When a packet is being sent, there is "latent" time, when the computer that sent the packet waits for confirmation that the packet has been received. Latency and bandwidth are the two factors that determine your network connection speed.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2014, 07:46:22 AM »
LCD

Stands for "Liquid Crystal Display." LCDs are super-thin displays that are used in laptop computer screens and flat panel monitors. Smaller LCDs are used in handheld TVs, PDAs, and portable video game devices. The image on an LCD screen is created by sandwiching an electrically reactive substance between two electrodes. This color of this substance can be changed by increasing or reducing the electrical current. Since LCD screens are based on the principle of blocking light (rather than emitting it), they use up much less power than standard CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube) monitors.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2014, 07:47:14 AM »
LDAP

Stands for "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol." If you want to make directory information available over the Internet, this is the way to do it. LDAP is a streamlined version of an earlier directory standard called X.500. What makes LDAP so useful is that it works great over TCP/IP networks (unlike X.500), so information can be accessed through LDAP by anyone with an Internet connection. It is also an open protocol, which means directories can be stored on any type of machine (i.e. Windows 2000, Red Hat Linux, Mac OS X).

To give you an idea of how an LDAP directory is organized, here are the different levels of a simple LDAP tree hierarchy:

The root directory
Countries
Organizations
Divisions, departments, etc.
Individuals
Individual resources, such as files and printers.

Most LDAP connectivity is done behind the scenes, so the typical user probably won't notice it when surfing the Web. However, it is a good technology to know about. If nothing else, it is another term to impress your parents with.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2014, 07:47:55 AM »
Leaderboard

As the average computer screen size has grown larger, the size of online advertisements as grown as well. The leaderboard ad, which was introduced in 2003, has a standard size of 728 pixels wide by 90 pixels tall (728x90). Compare that to its predecessor, the banner ad, which is 468 pixels wide by 60 pixels tall (468x60).

Leaderboards can contain text, images, or even animations. When a visitor clicks on a leaderboard, he or she is directed to the advertiser's website. While leaderboards are larger than the original banner ads, most Web developers have found ways to incorporate the ads in ways that are not too distracting to the user.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2014, 07:49:22 AM »
Leaf

What does a computer's hard disk have in common with a tall oak? While it may not look like a tree on the outside, the hard disk is organized the same way. Directories of files and folders on a hard drive are organized into branches, where each directory is a branch with files and folders. Folders make up the branches, while files are the leaves. Therefore a leaf is a file within a directory on your hard drive.

Technically speaking, a leaf is a node on a tree with no child nodes. Because files cannot have child nodes like folders can, they are always leafs. When referring to a tree structure, a leaf can also be called a leaf node.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2014, 07:50:22 AM »
LED

Example: "Many modern cars use LEDs for their brake lights."

LED is short for "Light-Emitting Diode." It is a type of electronic light source that is activated by an electrical current. LEDs are highly energy-efficient and last much longer than traditional light bulbs. They can used for indicator lights, clock displays, street lights, and many other applications. LEDs have also begun to replace traditional bulbs as the backlight source in LCD monitors and TVs.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2014, 07:51:17 AM »
LIFO

Stands for "Last In, First Out." LIFO is a method of processing data in which the last items entered are the first to be removed. This is the opposite of LIFO is FIFO (First In, First Out), in which items are removed in the order they have been entered.

To better understand LIFO, imagine stacking a deck of cards by placing one card on top of the other, starting from the bottom. Once the deck has been fully stacked, you begin to remove the cards, starting from the top. This process is an example of the LIFO method, because the last cards to be placed on the deck are the first ones to be removed.

The LIFO method is sometimes used by computers when extracting data from an array or data buffer. When a program needs to access the most recent information entered, it will use the LIFO method. When information needs to be retrieved in the order it was entered, the FIFO method is used.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #10 on: April 04, 2014, 07:52:19 AM »
Link

When you are browsing the Web and you see a highlighted and underlined word or phrase on a page, there is a good chance you are looking at a link. By clicking on a link, you can "jump" to a new Web page or a completely different Web site. While text links are typically blue and underlined, they can be any color and don't have to be underlined. Images can also serve as links to other Web pages. When you move the cursor over a link in a Web page, the arrow will turn into a little hand, letting you know that it is a link. The term "hypertext" comes from the way links can quickly send you to another Web destination.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #11 on: April 04, 2014, 07:53:19 AM »
LinkedIn

Example: "She uses LinkedIn to keep track of all her business contacts."

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking website. It allows you to create a custom profile and add other LinkedIn users to your list of connections. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn profiles are designed to be professional, rather than personal. They appear like a resume, with education and work experience being the most prominent. By using LinkedIn, you can keep in touch with past colleagues and meet new potential business partners.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #12 on: April 04, 2014, 07:54:11 AM »
Linux

Example: "Web servers commonly run the Linux operating system."

Linux is a free, open source, Unix-like operating system. It is available in several different distributions, including CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, and Red Hat. Linux can run on several different hardware platforms and may even be used as the OS for electronics devices besides computers. Though Linux is not commonly installed on home computers, it is widely used by Web hosting companies and has many other specialized applications.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #13 on: April 04, 2014, 07:55:07 AM »
Listserv

This term looks like it's missing an "e", but that's how it's spelled. A listserv, or list server, is a small program that automatically sends messages to multiple e-mail addresses on a mailing list. When someone subscribes to a mailing list, the listserv will automatically add the address and distribute future e-mail messages to that address along with all the others on the list. When someone unsubscribes, the listserv simply removes the address. At least that is the way it supposed to work. Unfortunately, with some SPAM lists, unsubscribing only adds you to more lists.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "L"
« Reply #14 on: April 04, 2014, 07:56:10 AM »
Load Balancing

Computer networks are complex systems, often routing hundreds, thousands, or even millions of data packets every second. Therefore, in order for networks to handle large amounts of data, it is important that the data is routed efficiently. For example, if there are ten routers within a network and two of them are doing 95% of the work, the network is not running very efficiently. The network would run much faster if each router was handling about 10% of the traffic. Likewise, if a website gets thousands of hits every second, it is more efficient to split the traffic between multiple Web servers than to rely on a single server to handle the full load.

Load balancing helps make networks more efficient. It distributes the processing and traffic evenly across a network, making sure no single device is overwhelmed. Web servers, as in the example above, often use load balancing to evenly split the traffic load among several different servers. This allows them to use the available bandwidth more effectively, and therefore provides faster access to the websites they host.

Whether load balancing is done on a local network or a large Web server, it requires hardware or software that divides incoming traffic among the available servers. Networks that receive high amounts of traffic may even have one or more servers dedicated to balancing the load among the other servers and devices in the network. These servers are often called (not surprisingly) load balancers.

Clusters, or mulitple computers that work together, also use load balancing to spread out processing jobs among the available systems.