H
hard drive — A drive that reads and writes data on a hard disk. The terms hard drive and hard disk are often used interchangeably.
heat sink — A metal plate on some processors that helps dissipate heat.
hibernate mode — A power management mode that saves everything in memory to a reserved space on the hard drive and then turns off the computer. When you restart the computer, the memory information that was saved to the hard drive is automatically restored.
HTTP — hypertext transfer protocol — A protocol for exchanging files between computers connected to the Internet.
Hz — hertz — A unit of frequency measurement that equals 1 cycle per second. Computers and electronic devices are often measured in kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz), gigahertz (GHz), or terahertz (THz).
I
IC — integrated circuit — A semiconductor wafer, or chip, on which thousands or millions of tiny electronic components are fabricated for use in computer, audio, and video equipment.
IDE — integrated device electronics — An interface for mass storage devices in which the controller is integrated into the hard drive or CD drive.
IEEE 1394 — Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. — A high- performance serial bus used to connect IEEE
infrared sensor — A port that allows you to transfer data between the computer and
integrated — Usually refers to components that are physically located on the computer’s system board. Also referred to as
I/O — input/output — An operation or device that enters and extracts data from your computer. Keyboards and printers are I/O devices.
I/O address — An address in RAM that is associated with a specific device (such as a serial connector, parallel connector, or expansion slot) and allows the processor to communicate with that device.
Glossary