AP CSP - Unit 2 Vocab

  • 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. 

  • Path: the series of connections between computing devices on a network starting with a sender and ending with a receiver.

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

  • Protocol: An agreed-upon set of rules that specify the behavior of some system

  • IP Address: The unique number assigned to each device on the Internet.

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

  • Router: A type of computer that forwards data across a network, and decides which network to send data to.  Routers are on the "edge" of networks.

  • 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.

  • Fault Tolerant: Can continue to function even in the event of individual component failures. This is important because elements of complex systems like a computer network fail at unexpected times, often in groups.

  • HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol - the protocol used for transmitting web pages over the Internet

  • DNS: Doman Name System - the process for finding the numeric address of a device, if you know the "name".  For example, translating "code.org" to "172.45.76.3", so that you can send data to that device.

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

  • 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.

  • Routing: the process of finding a path from sender to receiver.  Routing takes place on ALL data going across networks, including point-to-point and broadcast data.

  • UDP: A protocol used on the internet for fast transmission of information but with minimal error checking

  • World Wide Web: a system of linked pages, programs, and files.

  • Certificate authority: issue digital certificates that validate the ownership of encryption keys used in secure communications and are based on a trust model .

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

  • Net Neutrality: a debate about the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products, services, or websites.

  • Internet Censorship: the attempt to control or suppress what can be accessed, published or viewed on the Internet by certain people.  This can be used to protect people (i.e. child pornography) but can also be used to limit free speech.

  • Abstraction: when something more complex is simplified and represented by something else.  For instance binary digits "0101" are complex and can be abstracted by decimal "5".  "5" is an abstraction of "0101".  Programmatic functions are also an abstraction because they "hide" the complex details of the inner workings of the program.