Computer science unit 1 vocab

Abstraction

a simplified representation of something more complex. Abstractions allow you to hide details to help you manage complexity, focus on relevant concepts, and reason about problems at a higher level.

Analog data

data with values that change continuously, or smoothly, over time.

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange; the universally recognized raw text format that
            any computer can understand.

Binary

a way of representing information using only two options.

Bit

a contraction of "Binary Digit"; the single unit of information in a computer, typically represented as a 0 or 1.

Byte

the standard fundamental unit (or “chunk size”) underlying most computing systems today.

Copyright

a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture.

Creative Commons

a collection of public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work, used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that they have created.

Digital Data

data that changes discreetly through a finite set of possible values.

Hexadecimal

a base-16 number system that uses sixteen distinct symbols 0-9 and A-F to represent numbers from 0 to 15.

Image

 a type of data used for graphics or pictures

Information

what is conveyed or represented by a particular arrangement or sequence of things.

Intellectual Property

  a work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a piece of writing or a design, to which one has rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright, trademark, etc.

Lossless Compression

a data compression algorithm that allows the original data to be perfectly reconstructed from the compressed data.

Lossy/irreversible Compression

 a data compression method that uses inexact approximations, discarding some data to represent the content.

Metadata

 data that describes other data. For example, a digital image may include metadata that describe the
                  size of the image, number of colors, or resolution.

Overflow Error

 error from attempting to represent a number that is too large.

Pixel

short for "picture element", the fundamental unit of a digital image, typically a tiny square or dot that
            contains a single point of color of a larger image.

RGB

the color model that uses varying intensities of red, green, and blue light added together to reproduce a
          broad array of colors.

Round-off Error

 error from attempting to represent a number that is too precise.

Sampling

the process of taking samples from the analog image at regular intervals.

Syntax

 the grammar that differentiates different types of code

Variables

store a value

Conditional

 an if statement

Decimal

a way of representing information using ten options