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