The Computer Folks Glossary

I/O (Input/Output)	The collection of data for the microprocessor to manipulate, and the transportation of the results to display, print, or storage devices.
Icon	A small picture on a computer screen that represents an object.
Importing	The process by which a program reads and translates data from another source.
Inaccurate data	Data that is incorrect because it was entred wrong, was deliberately or accidentally altered, or is not up to date.
Incremental backup	A copy of the files that have changed since the last backup.
Indexing	Method of organizing records that maintains the records in their original order, but creates additional fiules called index files.
Indicator lights	Lights on the computer keyboard that indicates the status (on or off) of the toggle keys and the power switch.
Industry analysts	Experts who monitor industry trends, evaluate industry events, and make prediction about what the trends may indicate.
Inference engine	Software that manipulates information in an expert system.
Information analysis tools	Programs or utilities that help people to model problems.
Information and reference software	Computer programs that provide the user with a collection of information and the means to access that information.
Information system	A system that collects and maintains information and provides it to people.
Information systems department	The part of a business or organization responsible for developing and maintaining the computers, data, and programs for an information system.
Information theory	The study of the ways in which information can be represented or encoded.
Information workers	Employees who produce and process information.
Infrared transmission	A transmission technology that uses a frequency range just below the visible light spectrum to transport data.
Inherit	In object-oriented programming, when an object acquires the characteristics and capabilities of a class.
Ink-jet printer	A printer that creates charecters and graphics by spraying ink onto paper.
In-line spell checker	A program that shows the user spelling errors, as the user types.
In-place multimedia technology	An Internet multimedia technology that plays a media element as part of a Web page.
Input	Data entered into a computer system by a person, an enviromental monitoring device,or another computer.
Input device	A tool that gathers input and translates it into a form that the computer can process.
Insertion point	A flashing vertical bar that appears on the screen, indicating where the user can begin entering text.
Installation process	In reference to software, the process by which programs and data are copied to the hard disk of a computer system.
Instruction	Computer code that tells the computer to perform a specific arithmetic, logical, or control operation.
Instruction cycle	The process by which a computer executes a single instruction.
Instruction pointer	The location where the RAM address of an instruction is kept.
Instruction register	A location in memory where the control unit puts an instruction retrieved from RAM.
Instruction set	The list of instructions that a CPU carries out.
Integer	A whole number.
Integrated circuit (IC)	A thin slice of crystal containing microscopic circuit elements such as transistors, wires, capacitors, and resistors; also called chips and microchips.
Integration testing	The testing of the completed units of an application, to ensure that they operate together correctly.
Inter-bloick gap	A spacer between data in a file on magnetic tape.
Internal bay	A location inside the system unit case where devices that do not need to be accessed from outside the case can be installed.
Internal information	Information obtained by organizations from its own resources, such as the accounting department or personnel.
Internal services	Functions run by the operating system without user input, such as allocation of system resources and detection of equipment failure.
Internet	A multinational collection of computer networks and gateways that use TCP/IP protocol.
Internet backbone	The group of major Internet communication links.
Internet communications software	Computer programs that allow a computer to transmit and receive data using the Internet TCP/IP communications protocol.
Internet mail address	An identifier, consisting of a user ID and the user's mail server domain name, that is required to send e-mail over the Internet.
Internet service provider (ISP)	A company that provides Interneet access to businesses, organizations, and individuals.
Internet traffic	The number of bytes transmitted from one Internet to another.
Internetwork or Internet	Two or more connected networks.
InterNIC (Internet Network Information Center)	In North America, the organization that processes requests for IP addresses and domain names.
Interpreted Language	A computer language that uses an interpreter rather than a complier to generate code that the computer can execute.
Interpreter	A program that reads an instruction written in an interpreted language and converts it into a machine lanuage instruction, which the computer executes.
intraframe compression	A technique in which each frame in a video file is shrunk through the use of a standard graphics compression format such as JPEG.
Intranet	A group of connected networks owned by a single company or organization.
Introductory price	A special price offered when a new product becomes available, in prder to intice customers to purchase it.
IP address	A unique identifying number assigned to each computer connected to the Internet.
IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange)	Network communications protocol used by Novell NetWare.
ISAPI (Internet Server Application Program)	A high-performance interface used to interact with Web-based databases.
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)	A type of service that transports data digitally over dial-up or dedicated lines.