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Welcome to the interactive glossay at Inside Computers. This glossary allows members of Inside Computers to post new definitions, allowing for collective information sharing.
If there is some acronym that most people might not know, or a special computer term which others would most likely want to know, go ahead and add it.
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| B | Back Buffer :
The current working space for a video card to draw frames when double buffering is used. Once the image is rendered, it is copied to the front buffer which is the current frame being draw on screen.
Backward Compatibility :
A software or hardware product that will work with earlier versions of that same hardware.
Banding :
What happens when colours can't fade together because not enough colours are available to be used.
Bandwidth :
The amount of data that can be transferred in a certain amount of time. Factors that effect bandwidth are the frequency of operation, the number of transfers per clock, and the number of bits per transfer. Bus width does not directly effect bandwidth unless the connection is parallel and uses all of the connections per transfer.
Basic Input Output System (BIOS) :
A small section of code which is loaded from a separate ROM chip during boot-up. The BIOS defines how the OS interacts with hardware, as well as configuring devices and loading the OS. All low level functions are defined in the BIOS instructions, allowing for a more generic hardware. Also, by having all low level functions defined by the BIOS information, updates to low level operations can be made without replacing the hardware. BIOS are hardly ever changed, but can be flashed with new instructions if they need to be updated.
Batch Process :
An automated process where the same action happens in repetition to different objects or files.
Beta :
A term used with pre-production hardware or software products.
Bevel :
Gives a 2D image the effect of 3D by shading the borders.
Bezier Path :
In vectoring, a curved path which is defined by at least 3 points, and the most equal curve is used to connect them.
Bilinear Filtering :
This filters an output pixel by filtering the four nearest pixels, and interpolating the average.
Binary :
A number language like the decimal system which operates using 1's and 0's. Often referred to as base 2.
Any sort of information which is stored as binary data. A floppy disc image or a direct copy of the contents of a ROM are binary information. Any base 2 information which isn't converted from its computer 1 and 0 form.
Bin :
The term given to a single increment in a processor's multiplier. A bin usually consists of an increase of 0.5.
Bit Block :
Know as a bit block transfer because it is when graphics are copied from one area of a screen to another.
Bitmapped :
An image format that is usually uncompressed, where each pixel is mapped with a bit, or multiple bit values to denote colour.
Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) :
What happens when a Microsoft OS has an non-recoverable error. A blue screen is output with white text saying what the error was.
Bot :
A AI driven opponent.
Bottleneck :
A slow link in a process or pipeline that slows down and limits overall performance.
Branch Prediction :
A technique of CPU processing that allows the processor to speed up conditional calculations. The CPU tries to predict the outcome of the conditional calculation by what it has done in the past. It will predict what the outcome will be and it will start computing the corresponding code. If the CPU prediction was true, a lot of time was saved by not waiting for the first instruction to finish. If the prediction was false, minimal time was lost, the previous branch is flushed, and the correct code begins execution.
Broadband :
Any network connection which is capable of transferring at speeds greater than 56 kbits per second. Broadband connects are capable of sending multiple signals at the same time.
Bump Mapping :
This is a technique used in rendering to create the illusion of texture. Two textures are used; the ordinary texture and a bump map. The bump map is usually a greyscale image that will represent the texture's displacement on the image surface. It creates dark areas (depressions) and light areas (elevations).
Bus :
A data channel which connects two or more parts of a computer.
Byte :
A collection of 8 bits into a package. All computer information is grouped into bytes, rather than just plan bits for easier addressing.
Bytecode :
Used in JAVA, where the programming language is compiled into a bytecode. This bytecode is then interpreted by a virtual machine. The advantage of this is that the bytecode is platform independent, it only has to know how to interface with the virtual machine, making the bytecode cross platform.
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