0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XYZ

PREVIOUS PAGE         Return to ANSDIT

computer:
(1) A functional unit that can perform substantial computations, including numerous arithmetic operations and logic operations without human intervention. A computer may consist of a stand-alone unit or several interconnected units. The term computer usually refers to a digital computer. (2) Historically, a person who computes.

computer abuse:
A willful or negligent unauthorized activity that affects or involves the computer security of a data processing system.

computer-aided (CA):
Pertaining to a technique or process in which part of the work is done by a computer. Synonymous with computer-assisted.

computer-aided design (CAD):
The design activities, including drafting and illustrating, in which data processing systems are used to carry out functions such as designing or improving a part or a product. Computer-aided design programs may provide precise dimensioning and positioning of each graphic element for engineering and manufacturing purposes.

computer-aided drafting:
Synonym for computer-aided drawing.

computer-aided drawing:
The drafting methods and techniques using graphics software and hardware. Synonymous with computer-aided drafting.

computer-aided engineering (CAE):
Engineering activities in which data processing systems are used to carry out essential functions such as optimizing manufacturability, performance, productivity, or economy. Information from the CAD/CAM design database is used to analyze the functional characteristics of a part or a product under design, or to simulate its performance under various conditions.

computer-aided manufacturing (CAM):
Manufacturing in which the production process is directed and controlled by data processing systems.

computer-aided planning (CAP):
The planning of all production activities with the use of data processing systems such as planning and decision-help software. The production activities pertain to volume, kind, timing, method, place, facility, and personnel.

computer-aided process planning (CAPP):
All planning activities in which data processing systems are used for preparation of the basic data about production processes such as machining.

computer-aided production control:
Synonym for computer-aided production management.

computer-aided production management (CAPM):
Production management activities in which data processing systems are used from material requirements planning to production and control. Synonymous with computer-aided production control.

computer-aided publishing:
The production of typeset-quality documents including text, graphics, and pictures with the assistance of a computer. In some instances, computer-aided publishing is accomplished through the use of application programs on general purpose computers and in other instances it is achieved through the use of a dedicated system. Synonymous with computer-assisted publishing.

computer-aided quality assurance (CAQA) (CAQ):
Quality assurance ensured by computerized planning and monitoring and control of processes, parts and products throughout all phases of the product life cycle. Computer-aided quality assurance includes a quality report system from design to field performance and from shop floor to management.

computer-aided testing (CAT):
Testing and checking of a product or a part thereof, by means of information processing systems. Computer-aided testing is an aspect of computer-aided quality assurance.

computer architecture:
The logical structure and functional characteristics of a computer, including the interrelationships among its hardware and software components.

computer-assisted:
Synonym for computer-aided.

computer-assisted publishing:
Synonym for computer-aided publishing.

computer center:
A facility that includes personnel, hardware, and software, organized to provide data processing services. Synonymous with data processing center.

computer conference:
A communication by means of a computer network, between several participants, each of them having access to messages submitted from other participants. Some conferences are moderated or have content filters. Messages may contain text, graphics, software, voice, or sounds, or a combination thereof.

computer conferencing:
Interactive communication among participants using one or more computer networks.

computer crime:
A crime committed with the aid of, or directly involving, a data processing system or network.

computer cryptography:
The use of a cryptographic algorithm in a computer to perform encryption and decryption to protect information or to authenticate users, sources, or information.

computer fraud:
A fraud committed with the aid of, or directly involving, a data processing system or network.

computer generation:
A category in a historical classification of computers based mainly on the technology used in their manufacture. First generation based on relays or vacuum tubes, the second on transistors, the third on integrated circuits. There is no consensus as to what constitutes fourth generation.

computer graphics:
(1) Methods and techniques for the creation, manipulation, storage, and display of pictorial representations of objects and data by means of a computer. The results of applying such methods and techniques are also called computer graphics. (2) That branch of science and technology that is concerned with methods and techniques for converting data to or from visual presentation, using computers.

Computer Graphics Interface (CGI):
A standardized interface between device-independent and device-dependent parts of a graphic system. ISO/IEC 9636-1 is the International Standard for Computer Graphics Interface.

Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM):
A standardized file format, called a metafile, suitable for the storage and transfer of descriptive data for creating a display image. ISO/IEC 8632-1 is the International Standard for Computer Graphics Metafile.

Computer Graphics Reference Model (CGRM):
A standardized conceptual framework for computer graphics. ISO/IEC 11072 is the International Standard for Computer Graphics Reference Model.

computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM):
Manufacturing in which all activities are integrated into a computer-based planning, management, and control system. CIM includes the technologies of computer-aided design, computer-aided planning, computer-aided manufacturing, computer-aided quality assurance, and the sharing of information among them.

computerization:
Automation by means of computers.

computerize:
To automate by means of computers.

computer micrographics:
Methods and techniques for recording on microforms of data produced by a computer, or for transforming data recorded on microforms into a form suitable for computer use.

computer network:
A network whose nodes consist of computers and data communication equipment, and whose branches are data links.

computer numerical control (CNC):
Numerical control wherein a dedicated computer is used to store and to perform some or all of the basic numerical-control instructions. The dedicated computer also enables the local input of data.

computer-oriented language:
Synonym for machine-oriented language.

computer-output microfilm (COM):
The product of converting and recording data from a computer directly to a microform.

computer output microfilm printer:
Synonym for COM printer.

computer program:
Synonym for program.

computer resource:
Synonym for resource.

computer science:
The branch of science and technology that is concerned with the processing of data, information, and knowledge by means of computers.

computer security (COMPUSEC):
The protection of data and resources from accidental or malicious acts, usually by taking appropriate actions. These acts may be loss or unauthorized modification, destruction, access, disclosure, or acquisition.

computer security incident:
An adverse event associated with a computer system that:
  1. is a failure to comply with security regulations or directives, or
  2. results in suspected or actual compromise of information, or
  3. results in the misuse, loss, or damage of property or information.

computer security model:
A mathematical description of the subjects, objects, and other entities of a system for the purpose of analyzing the security of the system. Computer security models include Bell-LaPadula, Biba, Clark-Wilson, and take-grant.

computer system:
(1) A functional unit, including one or more computers and associated software. A computer system may be a stand-alone unit or may consist of several interconnected units. Synonymous with ADP system. (2) Synonym for data processing system.

computer system architecture:
The logical structure and functional characteristics of a computer system including the interrelationships among its hardware and software components.

computer-system audit:
An examination of the procedures used in a data processing system to evaluate their effectiveness and correctness, and to recommend improvements.

computer vision:
The capability of a functional unit to acquire, process, and interpret visual data. Computer vision involves the use of visual sensors to create a digital image of a visual scene. See machine vision. Synonymous with electronic vision, artificial vision.

computer word:
A word, usually treated as a unit, that is suitable for processing by a given computer. Synonymous with machine word.

computing system:
Synonym for data processing system.

concatenation synthesis:
A method of speech synthesis that consists of chaining synthesized or prerecorded speech units. When compared with direct waveform synthesis, more computation is required at the time of playback to recreate the speech signal, but the storage requirements per message are reduced.

concentrator:
In data communications, a device used to divide a data channel into two or more channels of lower average speed, dynamically allocating channel space according to demand in order to maximize throughput. Synonymous with statistical multiplexor.

concept:
An abstraction of one or more characteristics of a set of instances or occurrences, and typically represented by a set of rules for determing category membership.

concept description:
A data structure describing the class of known instances of a concept.

concept formation:
The generation of concepts used to characterize a given collection of objects, events, or facts.

concept generalization:
An extension of the scope of a concept description so as to increase that part of the description space that is included.

concept learning:
Building a concept representation by applying existing knowledge to new information in order to derive new knowledge and store it for subsequent use. Concept learning may involve an interaction between the version space and the example space of that concept. This interaction may in turn involve reformulation or transformation of initial assertions, experimentation, and selection of tentative examples.

concept specialization:
A narrowing of the scope of a concept description so as to reduce that part of the description space that is included.

conceptual clustering:
Arranging objects, events, or facts into classes characterized by means of simple, descriptive concepts. Contrast with unsupervised learning and chunking.

conceptual data structure:
An end user view of the relationships among data elements.

conceptual level:
In an information system, a level of consideration at which all aspects deal with the interpretation and manipulation of information describing a particular universe of discourse or entity world.

conceptual model:
A representation of the characteristics of a universe of discourse by means of entities and entity relationships.

conceptual schema:
(1) In the ANSI/SPARC database model, a consistent collection of sentences expressing the necessary propositions that hold for a universe of discourse. (2) A schema that defines a conceptual model of a database.

conceptual schema language:
A database language, parsable by a computer as well as a human being, containing all linguistic constructs necessary to express propositions and their manipulation in such terms as action-descriptions and command-conditions.

conceptual subschema:
A part of a conceptual schema for one or more applications.

conceptual system design:
A system design activity concerned with specifying the logical aspects of the system organization, its processes, and the flow of information through the system.

concept validation:
A method of testing learned concepts by applying their descriptions to tentative examples and by computing a confusion matrix.

concrete syntax:
In the context of the OSI Reference Model, those aspects of the rules used in the formal specification of data that embody a specific representation of those data.

concurrent:
Pertaining to processes that take place within a common interval of time during which they may have to alternately share common resources. Example: Several programs executed by multiprogramming in a computer that has a single instruction control unit. Contrast with simultaneous.

concurve:
A chain of straight lines and arcs. A boundary may be approximated by a concurve.

conditional branch:
Synonym for conditional jump.

conditional entropy:
The mean value of the conditional information content of the events in a finite set of mutually exclusive and jointly exhaustive events, given the occurrence of the events in another set of mutually exclusive and jointly exhaustive events; in mathematical notation, this measure is
n
m
H(X|Y) =
p(xi, yj) I(xi|yj)
i = 1
j = 1
where X = {x1...xn} is the set of events xi (i=1...n), Y = {y1 ...ym} is the set of events yj (j=1...m), I(xi|yj) is the conditional information content of xi given yj, and
p(xi,yj) the joint probability that both events occur. Synonymous with mean conditional information content, average conditional information content.

conditional expression:
An expression whose evaluation is used to select subsequent execution sequences.

conditional information content:
A quantitative measure of information about the occurrence of an event x given the occurrence of another event y, equal to the logarithm of the reciprocal of the conditional probability p(x|y) of the event x given the event y; in mathematical notation, this measure is:
I(x|y) = log [1/p(x|y)]
The conditional information content is also the amount by which the joint information content of the two events exceeds the information content of the second:
I(x|y) = I(x,y) - I(y)

conditional jump:
A jump that takes place only when the instruction that specifies it is executed and specified conditions are satisfied. Synonymous with conditional branch, conditional transfer. Contrast with unconditional jump.

conditional jump instruction:
A jump instruction that specifies a condition for the jump.

conditional statement:
A compound statement that selects for execution one or none of the enclosed sequences of statements depending on the value of a conditional expression of one or more corresponding conditions. For example, in Pascal, if statements and case statements are conditional statements.

conditional transfer:
Synonym for conditional jump.

condition code register:
A register in which bits are set according to specified conditions that occur during the execution of instructions.

conference call:
Teleconferencing that provides transmission of sound or text. Contrast with video conferencing. (Figure 60 - Teleconferencing).

confidence factor:
Synonym for certainty factor.

confidentiality:
The property of data that indicates the extent to which these data have not been made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals, processes, or other entities.

configuration:
The manner in which the hardware, software, or other aspects of an information processing system are organized and interconnected.

configuration control board (CCB):
Qualified personnel who evaluate, for approval or disapproval, all proposed changes to the current baseline.

configure:
To select, arrange, and connect the elements of an information processing system.

confirmability:
A measure of the extent to which a program is designed and structured in such a manner that all of its parts can be readily tested.

confirm primitive:
In OSI, a primitive issued by a service provider to the requesting service user, to indicate that the accepting service user has completed a procedure previously invoked by a request primitive at the same service access point. (Figure 51 - Primitive).

conflict resolution:
A technique for solving the problem of multiple matches in a rule-based system. Multiple matches may occur, for example, in pattern matching or in the left-hand side of a rule, where two rules produce conflicting assertions.

confusion matrix:
In machine learning, a matrix used to record the number of correct and incorrect classifications of tentative examples by a set of rules.

congruencing:
A process by which two images of a multi-image set are transformed so that the size and shape of any object on one image is the same as the size and shape of that object on the other image. When two images are congruent, their geometries are the same and they coincide exactly.

conjunct:
One of a number of subproblems or conditions of a conjunction, all of which are required to be satisfied in order for the conjunction as a whole to be satisfied.

conjunction:
The logic operation where results are True if and only if each operand is True. Truth values are frequently represented by 1 and 0 as in Boolean operations. Synonymous with AND operation, intersection. (Figure 4 - Table of Boolean operations).

Next Page