Character

Anything that can be printed in a single space on the page or the screen; includes numbers, letters, punctuation marks, spaces, formatting codes, and graphic symbols that are represented to the computer by one byte of data. See also Byte.

Chip

A piece of silicon containing many miniature transistors and resistors wrapped in insulating material. Chips process electrical signals sent to them and then transmit the processed signals to the computer system. Also called an integrated circuit. See also CPU.

CMOS

Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor. A type of low-power silicon chip used for RAM and switching applications that is backed up by a battery.

Code

A system of symbols for representing data or instructions; also any software program or part of a program.

Command

An instruction you enter or select to direct a computer program to perform a specific function.

Command prompt

The symbol or message that displays on the screen to tell you that the operating system is loaded and ready to receive instructions. The default MS-DOS command prompt displays the current drive and directory. If you are logged onto drive C, the command prompt may look like this: c : \ >.

4 Glossary