1. BCT Section 1.2 Terms
Data Communications, Networks
1. Data Communications The Technology that enables computers to
communicate
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 sent.
6. Network when computers are connected to other
computers, they can share information.
7. Local Area Network 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"Brains of the Computer"
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.
Uses programming instructions, it controls the flow of
information through the processor by controlling what
happens inside the processor.
12. Random Access Memory 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 Long Term Memory
14. Basic Controllers on the motherboard, a device that controls the transfer of
data from the computer to a peripheral device and vice
versa.

2. 15. Serial & Parallel Ports used to connect our peripheral devices to the computer;
usually one serial and one parallel port on a computer.
16. Universal Serial Bus a new standard that supports data transfer rates
of up to 12 million bits per second.
17. Motherboard 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 the most popular and widely used standardized
coding system
19. Byte eight bits or combinations of ones and zeros
represent a character.
20. Megabyte Megabyte or roughly 1 million bytes
Gigabyte roughly one billion bytes