Glossary of terms (assignment...)
- 1. Glossary of Terms RAM- RAM is made up of small memory chips that form a memory module. These modules are installed in the RAM slots on the motherboard of your computer. Every time you open a program, it gets loaded from the hard drive into the RAM. This is because reading data from the RAM is much faster than reading data from the hard drive. CPU- Stands for "Central Processing Unit." This is the pretty much the brain of your computer. It processes everything from basic instructions to complex functions. Any time something needs to be computed, it gets sent to the CPU. Graphics Processor- 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. Video Display/Output-Video output is the type of output that a TV uses to show a picture. There are a number of different types of video output currently available including; LCD, Plasma and LED. Sound/Audio-Sound or Audio on a console is how someone is able to hear what is happening in a game. This sound can come from different methods including; a Scart lead or surround sound. Storage Media-Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, is a technology consisting of computer components and recording media used to retain digital data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers. The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer is what manipulates data by performing computations. Power Supply- The power supply is what powers the console, it can vary in size and place for example on the PlayStation 4 the power supply is located within the console but on the Xbox one the power supply is located externally. Software Kernel-In computing, the kernel is a computer program that manages input/output requests from software and translates them into data processing instructions for the central processing unit and other electronic components of a computer. The kernel is a fundamental part of a modern computer's operating system. HCI-Human–computer interaction (HCI) involves the study, planning, design and uses of the interaction between people (users) and computers. It is often regarded as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design and several other fields of study.
- 2. LAN-A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that share a common communications line or wireless link. Typically, connected devices share the resources of a single processor or server within a small geographic area (for example, within an office building). Usually, the server has applications and data storage that are shared in common by multiple computer users. GPRS-Short for GeneralPacketRadioService, a standard for wireless communications which runs at speeds up to 115 kilobits per second, compared with current GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) systems' 9.6 kilobits. WAP-Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network. A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol. Cache-In computing, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere. MCP-NVidia’s Media CommunicationsProcessor (MCP) for nforce 6 offers six Serial ATA/300 ports with NCQ and a total of 10 USB 2.0 ports. The fact that the nforce 680i SLI chipset offers the best feature set of all the core logic products for Core 2 Duo does not necessarily mean that it does everything best as well. 2D v 3D Graphics Processing-2D computer graphics are the computer-based generation of digital imagesmostly from models, such as digital image, and by techniques specific to them.3D graphics compared to 2D graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data. For the purpose of performance this is stored in the computer. This includes images that may be for later display or for real-time viewing. Subscription TV- Subscription TV is a type of TV service where the customer must pay a monthly bill in order to use the service. Subscription TV can vary in price depending on what the subscription package entails. ETV-Enhanced Television (ETV) is a collection of specifications developed under the OpenCable project of CableLabs (Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.) that define an ETV Application consisting of resources (files) adhering to the Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF). API-Application programming interface Interpreted programming languages for games- An interpreted language is a kind of programming language that relies on another piece of software called an interpreter to run.
- 3. Most programminglanguages rely on a compiler, which changes the code into a set of instructions that are specifically designed for a particular type of machine and operating system. Compiled Programming languages for games-A compiled language is a programming language whose implementations are typically compilers (translators that generate machine code from source code), and not interpreters (step-by-step executors of source code, where no pre-runtime translation takes place). Object-oriented programming-Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm that represents the concept of "objects" that have data fields (attributes that describe the object) and associated procedures known as methods. Objects, which are usually instances of classes, are used to interact with one another to design applications and computer programs. Scripting languages for games-There are many scripting languages suited to such a task. Lua is perhaps the most popular game scripting language. Other choices include: AngelScript, GameMonkey, Io, Pawn, Squirrel, and Scheme. Sometimes heavy-weight languages are also used, like Python or Ruby. These languages are usually quite a bit harder to embed, and aren’t know for their speed.