Comprehensive Review: Architecture, Systems Integration, Databases, Infrastructure, and Intelligent Systems

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms across computer architecture, system integration, database environments, IT infrastructure, and intelligent systems.

Computer Organization and Architecture

The study of the internal working, structuring, and implementation of a computer system, where architecture specifically refers to the externally visual attributes of the system.

ENIAC

Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer; the world's first general-purpose electronic digital computer, designed and constructed at the University of Pennsylvania by John Mauchly and John Eckert.

Transistor

A solid-state device made from silicon that replaced the vacuum tube in second-generation computers, operating as a smaller, cheaper component that dissipates less heat.

Discrete Component

A single, self-contained transistor manufactured separately before being combined with other components on circuit boards.

Pipelining

A microprocessor performance technique that enables a processor to work on multiple instructions simultaneously.

Branch Prediction

A technique where the processor looks ahead in instruction code fetched from memory and predicts which branches or instruction groups are likely to be processed next.

Data Flow Analysis

A microprocessor optimization process where the processor analyzes which instructions depend on each other's data to schedule out-of-order execution when instructions are ready.

Speculative Execution

The execution of instructions ahead of their actual appearance in a program's execution using branch prediction and data flow analysis, holding the results in temporary locations.

Systems Integration

The process of allowing heterogeneous Information Systems to communicate, integrate, and share information seamlessly with one another.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

A major kind of information system allowing organizations to integrate different functional systems into one organization-wide application with an integrated database management system.

Silos

Compartmentalized operating units within an organization that are isolated from their environment.

Horizontal Silos

Organizational structures classified into distinct functional departments, such as Accounting and Human Resources, to divide complex tasks into manageable units.

Vertical Silos

Organizational divisions structured into hierarchical layers ranging from strategic planning down to tactical management and operational control.

Metadata

Descriptions and specifications of data characteristics, such as data type, length, value ranges, and descriptions of elements in a database.

Database Management System (DBMS)

A software system that enables the creation, maintenance, and controlled access to a centralized shared database.

Program-Data Dependence

A key disadvantage of traditional file processing systems where file structures and data definitions are hardcoded directly into individual application programs.

Program-Data Independence

An advantage of the database approach where data definitions and structures are stored separately from application programs, allowing data to change without breaking programs.

IT Infrastructure

A combined set of hardware, software, networks, facilities, and related equipment used to develop, test, deliver, monitor, control, or support IT services, explicitly excluding people, processes, and documentation.

Artificial Intelligence

Intelligence demonstrated by machines, commonly implemented in computer systems using specialized software programs and hardware.

Internet of Things (IoT)

A web of interconnected devices and machines embedded with sensors that automatically and securely transmit and receive data via an Internet or cloud connection.

Uncertainty (in Intelligent Systems)

A research challenge where physical sensors and effectors provide limited, noisy, and inaccurate information or action during interaction with the environment.

Mapping Challenge

The loss of information that occurs during the computer vision transformation from a 3D physical world to a 2D computational representation.