AP CS Principles Unit 6 Vocab

computing innovation

an innovation that includes a program as an integral part of its function

personally identifiable information (PII)

information about an individual that identifies, links, relates, or describes them

metadata

data about data

digital divide

the differing access to computing devices and the Internet, based on socioeconomic, geographic, or demographic characteristics

computing device

a physical artifact that can run a program

computing system

a group of computing devices and programs working together for a common purpose

computer network

a group of interconnected computing devices capable of sending or receiving data

redundancy

the inclusion of extra components that can be used to mitigate failure of a system if other components fail

fault-tolerant

the term used when a system can support failures and still continue to function

protocol

an agreed-upon set of rules that specify the behavior of a system

bandwidth

the maximum amount of data that can be sent in a fixed amount of time

routing

the process of finding a path from sender to receiver

path

is a sequence of directly connected computing devices that begins at the sender and ends at the receiver

data streams

streams that contain chunks of data, which are encapsulated in packets

packets

contain a chunk of data and metadata used for routing the packet between the origin and the destination on the Internet, as well as for data reassembly

World Wide Web

a system of linked pages, programs, and files

HTTP

a protocol used by the World Wide Web

sequential computing

a computational model in which operations are performed in order one at a time

distributed computing

a computational model in which multiple devices are used to run a program

parallel computing

a computational model where the program is broken into multiple smaller sequential computing operations, some of which are performed simultaneously

speedup of a parallel solution

the time it took to complete the task sequentially divided by the time it took to complete the task when done in parallel

public key encryption

encryption that pairs a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption

multifactor authentication

a method of computer access control in which a user is only granted access after successfully presenting several separate pieces of evidence to an authentication mechanism, typically in at least two of the following categories: knowledge (something they know); possession (something they have), and inherence (something they are)

malware

software intended to damage a computing system or take partial control over its operation

computer virus

a malicious program that can copy itself and gain access to a computer in an unauthorized way

phishing

a technique that attempts to trick a user into providing personal information

keylogging

the use of a program to record every keystroke made by a computer user in order to gain fraudulent access to passwords and other confidential information

rogue access point

a wireless access point that gives unauthorized access to secure networks