Author Topic: Computer Terms Beginning with "G"  (Read 9547 times)

Offline MysteRy

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "G"
« Reply #15 on: March 31, 2014, 07:42:43 AM »
Gopher

The Gopher technology was invented at the University of Minnesota, whose mascot is, not surprisingly, the Golden Gopher. The gopher system allows people to search for and retrieve information using a text interface. The technology is based on a client-server structure, where a gopher client program is used to search gopher servers. These servers can store documents, articles, programs, and other information. Instead of hyperlinks, the gopher interface uses menus of links to other documents and programs.

The University of Minnesota began a licensing program for the gopher technology in 1993 as the use of gopher was spreading rapidly over the Internet. However, this was around the same time that the World Wide Web was introduced. Because the Web used hypertext and images, it soon became the preferred way to search and browse for information. While there are still servers and client programs that use gopher technology, their use is not nearly as widespread as the Web.

Offline MysteRy

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "G"
« Reply #16 on: March 31, 2014, 07:43:19 AM »
GPS

Stands for "Global Positioning System." GPS is a satellite navigation system used to determine ground position and velocity (location, speed, and direction). Though it was created and originally used by the U.S. military, GPS is now available to the general public all over the world. GPS navigation systems are currently installed in a number of luxury cars, complete with an LCD map that shows the driver exactly where in the world he is. Advanced car GPS units can actually speak the directions to a certain destination and tell the driver when to turn. Cool, huh?

Offline MysteRy

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "G"
« Reply #17 on: March 31, 2014, 07:43:56 AM »
GPU

Stands for "Graphics Processing Unit." Like the CPU (Central Processing Unit), it is a single-chip processor. However, the GPU is used primarily for computing 3D functions. This includes things such as lighting effects, object transformations, and 3D motion. Because these types of calculations are rather taxing on the CPU, the GPU can help the computer run more effienciently.

The first company to develop the GPU was NVidia, Inc. Its GeForce 256 GPU can process 10 million polygons per second and has over 22 million transistors. Compare that to the 9 million transistors found on the Pentium III chip. Wow -- that's a lot of processing power. There is also a workstation version of the chip called the Quadro, designed for CAD applications. This chip can process over 200 billion operations a second and deliver up to 17 million polygons per second. If only you could think that fast during those darn Calculus tests...

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "G"
« Reply #18 on: March 31, 2014, 07:44:32 AM »
Graphics

Example: "Modern video games have 3D graphics that can appear incredibly realistic."

Computer graphics are images displayed on a computer screen. They can be either two or three-dimensional. Two-dimensional graphics come in raster or vector formats.

Raster graphics are the most common type of computer graphic and are used for icons, photos, and other basic images. Vector graphics are used for drawings, logos, and other scalable objects. 3D graphics are made up of polygons and can be created with CAD and 3D modeling programs. They are most commonly seen in video games and 3D animations.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "G"
« Reply #19 on: March 31, 2014, 07:45:11 AM »
GUI

Stands for "Graphical User Interface," and is pronounced "gooey." It refers to the graphical interface of a computer that allows users to click and drag objects with a mouse instead of entering text at a command line. Two of the most popular operating systems, Windows and the Mac OS, are GUI-based. The graphical user interface was first introduced to the public by Apple with the Macintosh in 1984. However, the idea was actually taken from an earlier user interface developed by Xerox.

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Re: Computer Terms Beginning with "G"
« Reply #20 on: March 31, 2014, 07:45:47 AM »
GUID

Stands for "Globally Unique Identifier." A GUID is a 128-bit (16 byte) number used by software programs to uniquely identify the location of a data object. Some examples of data that include GUIDs are streaming media files, Windows registry entries, database keys, and various file types. GUIDs are typically written in hexadecimal notation, containing 32 digits, and may look something like this:

{12345678-9012-3456-7890-123456789012}

Globally unique identifiers are also the basis of the GUID Partition Table (GPT). This is a hard disk partitioning scheme proposed by Intel as part of the Extensible Firmware Interface. It is used by Windows PCs as well as Intel-based Macintosh computers. GPT uses GUIDs to define the different partitions on a hard drive. Some examples include the boot partition, the file system partition, and the data partition. Each operating system that supports the GPT partitioning scheme uses specific GUIDs to label each partition.