COMPUTER & INDUSTRY LANGUAGEFor Commercial Art
MACINTOSH Computers known as “Mac” for short
A family of personal computers
Manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc.
Since 1984
Apple History
Apple History
Apple History What Ms. Messer used in 1989
Apple History Funny Apple Ad…
mid 1980s
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT Or “CPU” for short
A computer’s primary control circuitry
HARDWARE Equipment and electronic components that make
up your computer system
SOFTWARE Computer applications / programs
Written coded commands that tell a computer what tasks to perform
Do not install any additional software on any of the Commercial Art computers!
SOFTWARE
BIT A binary digit
This is the single digit of a binary number
The smallest unit of information a computer can hold
0 or 1
RAM Random Access Memory
Found in computers and other devices, like printers
The main memory available for programs
Don’t confuse with ROM (Read-Only Memory) Special memory that stores
programs that boot the computer and performscomputer diagnostics.
MONITOR The hardware that displays information, text, and
visuals on a screen in full color
The iMac computers we use in class include both the monitor and the CPU within one unit
RGB Red, Green, Blue
The primary colors of a screen / monitor
PIXEL Short of “Picture Element”
The smallest unit of a picture element / digital image displayed on a screen / monitor
PIXEL
PIXEL
PIXEL
PIXEL
PIXEL
DPI Dots per inch
Refers to the measure of output resolution produced by the printer
The higher the DPI, the higher the image quality
PPI Pixels per inch
Refers to the measure of resolution produced on a computer monitor
IMPORT To bring a support file into another program
You will be “importing” a Microsoft Word file into a Quark document and/or an InDesign document
EXPORT To output a document from one application and be
able to place it or open it in another program
You will be “exporting” PDF files from Quark and/or InDesign so that they can be read by anyone, anywhere, on any computer type
KEYBOARD The main input device which connects to the
computer, similar in appearance to a typewriter
MOUSE A hand-size input device, used in addition to the
keyboard, designed to move a cursor quickly around the screen
ICON An on-screen symbol representing a file or other
computer function
MENU A list of choices by a program to select a desired
function
FONT All of the characters and numbers available to a
specific family variation of a typeface
Computer fonts have 2 components: Screen Fonts – Display the text on the monitor Printer fonts – Communicate to the printer how to
correctly print the text
An improperly constructed font may not print or display correctly
FONT
CDs & DVDs Storage devices used to save digital data
Used to store completed projects / backups to avoid storage of large files on the hard drive
FLASH DRIVES A small self-powered device that connects to a computer
directly through a USB port
Transers file to and from multiple computers
Both Mac and PC compatible
Also called key drives thumb drives jump drives USB drives pen drives
FLOPPY DISK A thin, flexible plastic disk coated with magnetic
material
Stored data - smaller files such as text documents
Held 1.44 MB of data
NOT USED ANYMORE!
ZIP DISK A portable device used for storing information
Similar in size to a floppy disk
Held between 100 and 250 MB of data
NOT USED ANYMORE!
SCANNER A device that converts visual information
into digital data
Used in conjunction with software that allows you to scan a visual or document onto your computer
PRINTER The process of applying ink / toner to paper
A piece of hardware that allows you to produce a hard copy of what appears on the computer screen
LOG OFF (OUT) / SHUT DOWN Log Off: To terminate a work session on a computer
Shut Down: To turn off the computer