GLOSSARY

Look up definitions for rugged and industrial computer terminology.

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    Bit

    The smallest unit of stored data on a computer. It can only take one of two values. For simplicity, these values are assigned the numbers 1 or 0. It is similar to a lightbulb that can only be in one of two states: on or off. Bits can be stored in many different ways. Many years ago, computers stored data on paper punch cards. In each location, there would either be a hole punched in the paper or there would be no hole. In hard disk drives, the spinning disks are divided into millions of locations. Each location can either be magnetized or not. In RAM, there are millions of locations where electricity can be stored. Each of these locations can exist in 2 states: either they hold electricity or they don’t.

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    Thermal Design Power (TDP)

    This tells the maximum heat that a CPU can produce during operation. It is measured using Watts, which represent how much energy is transferred in a single second. So the higher the TDP, the more heat is produced by the CPU. But this also means that a CPU with a higher TDP will typically have better performance than a CPU with low TDP. This is a very important concept when designing a computer. A powerful processor with a high TDP may be very fast, but if it needs to operate in a hot environment, with little to no airflow, it will likely overheat.

    Terabyte

    One trillion Bytes.

    Transistor

    An electronic component composed of semiconducting material, commonly in use in computers, radios, televisions, etc. It controls the flow of electricity. It can open or close a circuit, or control the strength of an electrical signal.

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