Glossary 113
input/output (I/O): Input and output are two of the three functions that computers perform (the other is processing). Input/Output describes the interrelated tasks of providing information to the computer and providing the results of processing to users. I/O devices include keyboards (input) and printers (output). A disk drive is both an input and an output device, since it can both provide information to the computer and receive information from the computer.
K | keyboard: The device you use to type information into the | |
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| computer. Each key on the keyboard is a switch that is activated | |
| when you press it. The switch sends a specific code, representing | |
| the character printed on the key, to the processor. | |
| kilobyte (KB): A unit of data storage equal to 1024 bytes. Its | |
| abbreviations (K and KB) are taken from the Greek word kilo, | |
| meaning 1000, although the abbreviation refers to 1024, or 2 | |
| raised to the 10th power. See also byte. | |
M | megabyte (MB): A unit of data storage equal to 1024 KB. From the | |
Greek work mega for million, one megabyte is actually | ||
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| 1,048,576 bytes (1024 x 1024 bytes). See also byte. | |
| MIPS (Millions of Instructions Per Second): A computer | |
| processor’s performance. | |
| modem: A device for transmitting computer information over | |
| telephone lines. A modem converts (modulates) digital | |
| information for transmission and also converts (demodulates) | |
| information it receives back to digital format. Many modems also | |
| interpret and execute commands received from the computer. | |
| modem port: The port to send and receive data to and from the | |
| modem of a remote station. | |
| MNP: A protocol developed by Microcom®, a modem | |
| manufacturer in the United States, which with an error correcting | |
| function built into the modem itself corrects errors in the modem. |