computer science - the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structuresstorage allocation, allocation - (computer science) the assignment of particular areas of a magnetic disk to particular data or instructions data encryption - (computer science) the encryption of data for security purposes desktop publishing - (computer science) the use of microcomputers with graphics capacity to produce printed materials memory access, access - (computer science) the operation of reading or writing stored information computer backup, backup - (computer science) a copy of a file or directory on a separate storage device; "he made a backup in case the original was accidentally damaged or erased" buffer storage, buffer store, buffer - (computer science) a part of RAM used for temporary storage of data that is waiting to be sent to a device; used to compensate for differences in the rate of flow of data between components of a computer system memory cache, cache - (computer science) RAM memory that is set aside as a specialized buffer storage that is continually updated; used to optimize data transfers between system elements with different characteristics command key, control key - (computer science) the key on a computer keyboard that is used (in combination with some other key) to type control characters magnetic core, core - (computer science) a tiny ferrite toroid formerly used in a random access memory to store one bit of data; now superseded by semiconductor memories; "each core has three wires passing through it, providing the means to select and detect the contents of each bit" counter - (computer science) a register whose contents go through a regular series of states (usually states indicating consecutive integers) cursor, pointer - (computer science) indicator consisting of a movable spot of light (an icon) on a visual display; moving it allows the user to point to commands or screen positions dialog box, panel - (computer science) a small temporary window in a graphical user interface that appears in order to request information from the user; after the information has been provided the user dismisses the box with `okay' or `cancel' DIP switch, dual inline package switch - (computer science) one of a set of small on-off switches mounted in computer hardware; used in place of jumpers to configure the machine for a user disk controller - (computer science) a circuit or chip that translates commands into a form that can control a hard disk drive dongle - (computer science) an electronic device that must be attached to a computer in order for it to use protected software drive - (computer science) a device that writes data onto or reads data from a storage medium file server - (computer science) a digital computer that provides workstations on a network with controlled access to shared resources |