computers

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Electronic data processors

Nouns

1. computer, analog or digital computer, CISC or RISC computer, workstation, supercomputer, mainframe, minicomputer, microcomputer, personal computer, PC, Macintosh, IBM-compatible, Amiga, clone; 286, 386, 486, Pentium, PowerPC, G3, or G4 processor; personal computer, desktop computer, portable, laptop, notebook, or palmtop [computer]; peripheral; digitizer; binary system; computerese, computer literacy; computer science, cybernation, electronic or desktop publishing, DTP, digital imaging; multitasking, multiprogramming, serial or parallel processing, timesharing; configuration; computer graphics, line drawing; multimedia; pixel; telecommuting, paperless office; hacking, cybercrime; Silicon Valley. Slang, confuser, 'puter.

2. (computer science) informatics, computerization, automated data processing, ADP; artificial intelligence, AI; computing, batch processing; hierarchical system or menu; computer-aided design, CAD; electronic mail, e-mail, first in first out, FIFO; last in first out, LIFO; garbage in garbage out, GIGO; management information system, MIS. Slang, glitch.

3. (terms) access code, password; batch file; clock speed; access time, response time, cycle time, downtime, real time, execution time, rollover, throughput, seek time; background operation; interface; graphic user interface, GUI, shell, icon, window, toolbar, Windows; WYSIWYG, what you see is what you get; bomb, crash; cursor, prompt; readout; data file; computer graphics, crosshair, line or halftone art; virtual reality; backup; universal product code, UPC, bar code, optical reader wand; baud, parity; cold or warm boot; [virtual] storage, swapping, tape or disk memory, [non]volatile memory; data entry, input, output; decryption, encryption; default; delimiter; hit; housekeeping; [conventional, expanded, extended, random access, cache, or read-only] memory, RAM, ROM, bubble memory, flash memory, memory bank; clipboard; [bad] sector, track, cluster, cylinder, file allocation table, FAT, interleave, partition.

4. electronic communications (see communication).

5. (programming)

a. bit, byte, nibble, chunk; kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte; [source, object, or executable] code, operation code, algorithm, parameter, recursion; assembler, compiler, interpreter; parity bit, binary coded decimal, BCD; bit vector, bitmap, Bézier curve; object-oriented graphics or programming; object linking and embedding, OLE; character; Boolean variable, floating point, fractal; file name, extension; bootstrap, branch; bug, patch; handshaking; command; directory tree, [parent, root, child, or subdirectory, folder, file; HTTP, hypertext, hypermedia, [hyper]link; benchmark [program]; BIOS; operating system, OS, DOS, disk operating system, MSDOS; memory management; interrupt, job, instruction, jump, loop, push, poke, nesting, default; radio or option button; sentinel, tag; mnemonic; string, delimiter; [pop-up or pull-down] menu, directory; virus, worm, Trojan horse; error message. Informal, bells and whistles. Slang, kludge, gulp.

b. low-level language, machine language, assembly language; high-level, object-oriented, or structured language, Ada, Algol, AppleDOS, BASIC, Pascal, C, C++, Cobol, CP/M, Fortran, FORTH, HTML, Java[script], Linux, Lisp, Logo, Prolog, SNOBOL, Unix; structured query language, SQL; job control language, JCL; graphics interchange format, GIF, joint photographic experts group, JPEG, tagged image file format, TIFF, motion picture experts group, MPEG; page description language, PDL, PostScript.

6. (hardware)

a. [micro]chip, integrated circuit, IC, large scale integration, LSI, very large scale integration, VLSI, biochip, open architecture.

b. central processing unit, CPU, processor, [math, graphics, etc. ] coprocessor, accumulator, arithmetic logic unit, ALU, motherboard, backplane, logic board, buffer, card, accelerator board or card; firmware; clock; expansion slot, data bus, channel, card, chad; parallel or serial port, COM or LPT port, small computer system interface, SCSI, universal serial bus, USB, firewire; footprint.

c. modem (see communication).

d. (input) optical character recognition, OCR; keypunch; keystroke, [QWERTY or Dvorak] keyboard, ASCII, [alt, control, enter, line feed, escape, reset, return, arrow, or function] key; keypad, graphics tablet, mouse, click, trackball, light pen, stylus, pointer, joystick, voice recognition or synthesis; [optical image or flatbed] scanner.

e. (output) [laser, inkjet, thermal, thimble, impact, letter-quality, draft, daisy wheel, line, page, or dot-matrix] printer, plotter, bidirectional printing, boustrophedon, landscape or portrait printing, print spooling, carriage, fanfold paper, printout, anti-aliasing, jaggies, [Encapsulated] PostScript, [scalable or bit-mapped] font, screen or printer font, soft or downloadable font, PostScript, TrueType; video monitor, video display terminal, cathode ray tube, CRT, active or passive display, pixel, sprite, LED or light-emitting diode display, LCD or liquid crystal display, [gas] plasma display; ANSI, CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA; dots per inch, DPI, dithering.

f. CD-ROM drive, magneto-optical drive, disk drive, hard or fixed disk, floppy disk, diskette, index hole, read/write head; Syquest cartridge; ZIP disk, Bernoulli or Winchester drive, holographic storage; physical or logical drive.

7. (marketing) bundling; end user.

8. (software) software, shareware, freeware, groupware; productivity, recreational, instructional, or utility program, application, applet; macro; platform; bundled sortware; relational, free-form, or flat-file database, database management system, DBMS; word processor, text editor; spreadsheet; draw, paint, or illustration program, clip art; emulator; utility; control panel, extension, desk accessory, DA; memory-resident program, terminate-and-stay-resident program, TSR; driver; screen saver; spell check. Slang, vaporware, bloatware.

9. computer scientist, computer engineer; power user; programmer; computer nerd, hacker, cyberthief. Slang, geek, propeller-head, net potato, lamer, computer widow.

Verbs — computerize, digitize, rasterize; crunch; debug; import, export; load, upload, download, dump, read, write, write-protect; execute, launch, fetch, close, exit, terminate; format, configure; retrofit, reprogram; flame; navigate or surf [the Web], point-and-click; abort; boot, reboot; capture; clear, erase, delete, undelete, undo, overwrite, restore, override, refresh; save, close, archive, copy; get, put; compress, zip, unzip; upgrade; drag; crash, hang, bomb, lock up; park; log on, out, or off; hack into; power down or up. Informal, zap.

Adjectives — alphanumeric; dedicated; up, down; fuzzy; user-friendly; computer literate; interactive; octal, hexadecimal, binary; off- or on-line, onscreen, plug-and-play, drag-and-drop; case-sensitive; memory resident; menu-driven; backward compatible.

Phrases — to err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.

Quotations — A modern computer hovers between the obsolescent and the nonexistent (Sydney Brenner), The Puritan work of an eyeless computer (John Betjeman).

Related categories, numeration.