Key Concepts in Computing and Data Management

Abstraction

a simplified representation of something more complex.

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.

Decimal

a way of representing information using ten options.

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 Compression

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

Metadata

data that describes other data.

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.

Bandwidth

the maximum amount of data that can be sent in a fixed amount of time, usually measured in bits per second.

Computing Device

a machine that can run a program, including computers, tablets, servers, routers, and smart sensors.

Computing System

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

Computing Network

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

Digital Divide

the gap between people who have access to modern information and communications technology and those who don't.

DNS

a system that translates domain names to IP addresses.

Fault Tolerant

can continue to function even in the event of individual component failures.

HTTP

HyperText Transfer Protocol - the protocol used for transmitting web pages over the Internet.

Internet

a computer network consisting of interconnected networks that use standardized, open (nonproprietary) communication protocols.

Internet Protocol (IP)

a protocol for sending data across the Internet that assigns unique numbers (IP addresses) to each connected device.

IP Address

the unique number assigned to each device on the Internet.

Packet

a chunk of data sent over a network. Larger messages are divided into packets that may arrive at the destination in order, out-of-order, or not at all.

Packet Metadata

data added to packets to help route them through the network and reassemble the original message.

Protocol

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

Redundancy

the inclusion of extra components so that a system can continue to work even if individual components fail, for example, by having more than one path between any two connected devices in a network.

Router

a type of computer that forwards data across a network.

Routing

the process of finding a path from sender to receiver.

Server

a computer that awaits and responds to requests for data.

TCP

a protocol for sending packets that does error-checking to ensure all packets are received and properly ordered.

UDP

a protocol used on the internet for fast transmission of information but with minimal error checking.

URL

an easy-to-remember address for calling a web page.

World Wide Web

a system of linked pages, programs and files.

Computing Innovation

includes a program as an integral part of its function. Can be physical (e.g. self-driving car), non-physical computing software (e.g. picture editing software), or non-physical computing concepts (e.g., e-commerce).

Comment

form of program documentation written into the program to be read by people and which do not affect how a program runs.

Debugging

Finding and fixing problems in an algorithm or program.

Development process

the steps or phases used to create a piece of software. Typical phases include investigating, designing, prototyping, developing, and testing.

Documentation

a written description of how a command or piece of code works or was developed.

Event

associated with an action and supplies input data to a program. Can be generated when a key is pressed, a mouse is clicked, a program is started, or by any other defined action that affects the flow of execution.

Event Driven Programming

some program statements run when triggered by an event, like a mouse click or a key press.

Incremental Development Process

a design approach that breaks the problem into smaller pieces and makes sure each piece works before adding it to the whole.

User Interface

the inputs and outputs that allow a user to interact with a piece of software. User interfaces can include a variety of forms such as buttons, menus, images, text, and graphics.

Input

data that is sent to a computer for processing by a program. Can come in a variety of forms, such as tactile interaction, audio, visuals, or text.

Iterative Development Process

a design approach requires refinement and revision based on feedback, testing, or reflection throughout the process. This may require revisiting earlier phases of the process.

Logic Error

a mistake in the algorithm or program that causes it to behave incorrectly or unexpectedly.

Output

any data that is sent from a program to a device. Can come in a variety of forms, such as tactile interaction, audio, visuals, or text.

Pair Programming

a collaborative programming style in which two programmers switch between the roles of writing code and tracking or planning high level progress.

Plagiarism

The use of material created by someone else without permission and presented as one's own.

Program

a collection of program statements. Programs run (or "execute") one command at a time.

Program Requirements

descriptions of how a program functions and may include a description of user interactions that a program must provide.

Program Specification

a description of all the requirements for the program.

Program Statement

a command or instruction. Sometimes also referred to as a code statement.

Sequential Programming

program statements run in order, from top to bottom.

Software

A program or a collection of programs.

Syntax Error

a mistake in the program where the rules of the programming language are not followed.

Algorithmic Bias

systematic and repeatable errors in a computer system that create unfair outcomes, such as privileging one arbitrary group of users over others.

Artificial Intelligence

the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.

Big Data

data sets that are too large or complex to be processed by traditional data-processing application software.

Citizen Science

scientific research conducted in whole or part by distributed individuals, many of whom may not be scientists, who contribute relevant data to research using their own computing devices.

Cleaning Data

a process that makes the data uniform without changing its meaning (e.g., replacing all equivalent abbreviations, spellings, and capitalizations with the same word).

Correlation

a relationship between two pieces of data, typically referring to the amount that one varies in relation to the other.

Crowdsourcing

the practice of obtaining input or information from a large number of people via the Internet.

Data Bias

data that does not accurately reflect the full population or phenomenon being studied.

Data Filtering

choosing a smaller subset of a data set to use for analysis, for example by eliminating / keeping only certain rows in a table.

Information

the collection of facts and patterns extracted from data.

Machine Learning

the use and development of computer systems that are able to learn and adapt without following explicit instructions, by using algorithms and statistical models to analyze and draw inferences from patterns in data.

Open Data

publicly available data shared by governments, organizations, and others.

Parallel Processing

a computing method that uses multiple processors to complete tasks simultaneously.

Racism

prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.

Append

add elements to the end of a list.

Data Abstraction

manage complexity in programs by giving a collection of data a name without referencing the specific details of the representation.

Element

an individual value in a list that is assigned a unique index.

Index

a common method for referencing the elements in a list or string using numbers.

Infinite Loop

occurs when the ending condition will never evaluate to true.

Iteration

a repetitive portion of an algorithm which repeats a specified number of times or until a given condition is met.

List

an ordered collection of elements.

Loop

change the sequential flow of control by repeating a set of statements zero or more times, until a stopping condition is met.

Parallel Lists

two or more lists of the same length that contain related data for each index.

Simulation

abstractions of more complex objects or phenomena for a specific purpose.

String

an ordered sequence of characters.

Substring

part of an existing string.

Traversal

the process of accessing each item in a list one at a time.

Variable

a named reference to a value that can be used repeatedly throughout a program.

API

Application Program Interface - specifications for how functions in a library behave and can be used.

Argument

the value passed to the parameter.

Binary Search

a search algorithm that starts at the middle of a sorted set of numbers and removes half of the data; this process repeats until the desired value is found or all elements have been eliminated.

Library

a group of functions (procedures) that may be used in creating new programs.

Linear Search

a method for finding the position of a target value within a list by sequentially checking each element of the list until a match is found or the entire list has been searched.

Modularity

the subdivision of a computer program into separate subprograms.