CAMS Level I
Fundamentals of ICT Skills glossary
Every term this guide defines, A to Z, each with the chapter that teaches it. Open it when a word in a question is unfamiliar, and test yourself on it in the last week: cover the definition and say it in one sentence.
15 terms from the free first chapter
A
- Analog computer
Works directly on a physical quantity that varies smoothly, voltage, temperature or pressure, chiefly found in scientific and industrial measurement instruments.
Taught in Foundations of computing
B
- Bit
The smallest unit a machine can hold, a single binary digit fixed at either 0 or 1.
Taught in Foundations of computing
- Byte
Eight bits grouped together, the unit storage capacity is actually quoted in. The scale climbs in steps of 1,024: 1,024 bytes make a kilobyte (KB), 1,024 KB make a megabyte (MB), and 1,024 MB make a gigabyte (GB).
Taught in Foundations of computing
D
- Data
Unprocessed facts on their own, a stock count of 340 units, a customer's phone number, a date, none of which tells its reader anything useful until it is arranged and interpreted.
Taught in Foundations of computing
- Digital
Built entirely from discrete 0/1 values, in contrast to an analog signal, which varies smoothly and continuously rather than switching between fixed states.
Taught in Foundations of computing
- Digital computer
Works only on discrete binary values, the type this whole paper is built around from here on.
Taught in Foundations of computing
G
- General purpose computer
Built to be repurposed by whatever program is loaded onto it, accounting today, a game tomorrow, the category nearly every desktop and laptop falls into.
Taught in Foundations of computing
H
- Hybrid computer
Takes an analog reading in (a continuous signal from a sensor) and switches to digital processing on it, the pattern behind equipment such as a hospital ECG monitor.
Taught in Foundations of computing
I
- Information
The output once data has been arranged, summarised or interpreted for a specific reader, a stock count of 340 units becomes information the moment it is compared against a reorder level and flagged as low.
Taught in Foundations of computing
M
- Mainframe
A large-organisation workhorse, built to hold and process very high transaction volumes centrally, the kind of machine sitting behind a bank's core ledger.
Taught in Foundations of computing
- Microcomputer
Built around one microprocessor and by far the most common size in everyday use, the desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone all belong here.
Taught in Foundations of computing
- Minicomputer
A step down from a mainframe in raw power, but still able to serve several users working at once, usually sized to one department rather than a whole institution.
Taught in Foundations of computing
S
- Special purpose computer
Built and permanently programmed for exactly one job, the embedded controller inside an ATM or a washing machine, for instance, and nothing beyond it.
Taught in Foundations of computing
- Supercomputer
Sits at the top of the scale on cost, speed and physical size alike, built for work no ordinary machine could finish in useful time, climate modelling and large-scale scientific simulation among its typical jobs.
Taught in Foundations of computing
U
- User
Anyone operating the machine directly, typing in a figure, running a report, or pulling data back out of it.
Taught in Foundations of computing
The full glossary adds every term from the other 6 chapters, A to Z, each with the chapter that teaches it.