1. BCT Section 1.2 Terms
Data Communications, Networks
1. Data Communications The transmission of text, numeric, voice or video
data from one machine to another.
2. Sender The computer that is sending the message.
3. Receiver The computer receiving the message
4. Channel The media that carries the message. (telephone
wire, coaxial cable, microwave signal, or fiber
optic)
5. Protocol The rules that govern the orderly transfer of the
data sender.
6. Network When computers are connected to other
computers, they can share information.
7. Local Area Network LAN- Computers connected together in a
relatively close location such as in the same
building or department.
8. Wide Area Network When local area networks are expanded to
include several local area networks within a city,
state, region, territory, country, continent, or the
world.
9. Central Processing Unit The microprocessor
10. Arithmetic/Logic Unit performs arithmetic computations and logical
operations; by combining these two operations
the ALU can execute complex tasks.
11. Control Unit is the “boss” and coordinates all of the CPU’s
activities.
12. Random Access Memory RAM-Memory on the motherboard that is short
term; where data, information, and program
instructions are stored temporarily on a RAM
chips
13. Read Only Memory ROM- Memory on the motherboard - Where the
Specific Instructions that are needed for the
computer to operate are stored.
14. Basic Controllers on the motherboard, a device that controls the
transfer of data from the computer to a peripheral
device and vice versa.
Examples: keyboards, mouse, monitors, and
printers.

2. Generally stored on one single chip.
15. Serial & Parallel Ports On the motherboard, a device that controls the
transfer of data from the computer to a peripheral
device and vice versa.
Examples: keyboards, mouse, monitors, and
printers.
Generally stored on one single chip.
16. Universal Serial Bus a new standard that supports data transfer rates
of up to 12 million bits per second.
17. Motherboard Central to all of this is the motherboard or system
board that mounts into the case, is a circuit
board (a thin plate or board that contains
electronic components) that contains many
integral components.
18. ASCII Code American Standard Code for Information
Interchange): the most popular and widely used
standardized coding system
19. Byte eight bits or combinations of ones and zeros
represent a character.
20. Megabyte MB- Megabyte or roughly 1 million bytes
Gigabyte GB-Gigabyte or roughly one billion bytes