ABOUT COMPUTERS
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BOX/CASE/TOWER
The unit in which your actual computer is housed. Part of a computer system – that is the tower, the monitor, the keyboard and mouse and usually, a printer.
CLICK
A tap on a mouse button. To click a mouse, you press it down and then immediately release it. Note that clicking a mouse button is different from pressing (or dragging) a mouse button, which implies that you hold the button down without releasing it. The phrase to click on means to choose something on your screen by moving the mouse pointer to the object's position and clicking a mouse button. Some operations require a double click, meaning that you must click a mouse button twice in rapid succession.
COMPUTER
A machine that can respond to instructions and perform tasks by following specifically written instructions. A computer is programmable.
DISK
A round piece onto which data can be recorded. There are two types of disks: magnetic disks and optical disks. On magnetic disks, data is encoded as microscopic magnetized needles on the disk's surface. You can record and erase data on a magnetic disk any number of times.
GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE (GUI)
A computer whose operating system uses pictures instead of text to communicate with its users.
HARDWARE
Anything tangible – the printer, the mouse, the keyboard, etc.
KEYBOARD
The set of typewriter-like keys that enables you to enter data into a computer. Computer keyboards are similar to electric-typewriter keyboards but contain more keys. The keys on computer keyboards include the following:
- alphanumeric keys -- letters and numbers
- punctuation keys -- comma, period, semicolon, and so on.
- special keys -- function keys, control keys, arrow keys, Caps Lock key, etc
MONITOR
The visual display that connects to your computer.
MOUSE
The mechanism by which you move around your display screen. You roll a mouse over a flat surface. It gets its name because it looks a bit like a mouse.
MOUSE POINTER (see pointer)
OPERATING SYSTEM
The most important program that runs on a computer. Each computer must have an operating system to run other programs. Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and folders on the hard disk, and controlling devices such as disk drives and printers.
POINTER
In graphical user interfaces, a pointer is a small arrow or other symbol on the display screen that moves as you move the mouse. You can select commands and options by positioning the tip of the arrow over the desired choice and clicking a mouse button.
Many word-processing programs use an I-beam pointer. Pointers also are called mousepointers.
PRINTER
The device that allows you to print out what you have created on your computer.
SOFTWARE
The instructions that make your computer do what you want it to do.
WEB SITES THAT GIVE YOU MORE INFO!
Computer Terminology
Webopedia.com
How Does a Computer Work?
WHERE DOES THE WORD COMPUTER COME FROM?[
According to DavidR.Wilton, management consultant and amateur etymologist, the origin and evolution of the word computer is rather straightforward. Computer derives directly from the Latin computus and computare. Both Latin words mean the same as the English verb compute: to determine by mathematical means. Putare means to reckon, and com is an intensifying prefix. An intensifying prefix heightens or stresses, but does not change the meaning of the word it modifies; for example, in the word inflammable, in is an intensifier, and inflammable means easily inflamed.
The use of computer to refer to a person who does mathematical calculations dates to at least 1646. The verb form to compute dates from about the same time, with the first recorded usage in 1631.
The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition (OED2) dates use of the word to refer to a mechanical calculating device as 1897, in the January 22 issue of the journal Engineering. The earliest reference in the OED2 to electronic computer is in 1946. However, from the context of the citation, it is obvious that the term was in use prior to 1946.
Citations for the term digital computer are somewhat older than 1946. The OED2 lists one citation, referring to ENIAC, from a 1945 Applied Mathematics Panel Report, 171.2R, by J.Eckert, et al. From the context, it is clear that the term was in general use among engineers already. The retronym analog computer arose around the same time, with the earliest citation in the OED2 as 1946. (A retronym is a term that previously did not need to exist, but is coined because of changes in technology or culture.) Prior to the digital age, no one referred to analog computers because all computers were analog.
In his 1945 paper on the EDVAC, Johnvon Neumann used the term automatic computing system, which he italicized as a definition. Eventually, the descriptive adjective in front of computer was dropped as digital computers became more and more common, driving out the other usages of the language.
The above information was found at
You can find other discussions of the etymology of words at or go to any search engine and type in "etymology".
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