Unit 3: Vocabulary

Please study the 15 vocabulary terms below. Then press the Mark Complete button to continue.
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CLI (command line interface)
a text-only link between a computer and its operato
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The technician enjoyed administering the Unix server with the CLI tools.
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compression
a method of packing data in order to save disk storage space or download time
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Zip and mp3 are examples of two common file compression algorithms.
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device driver
software which converts the data from a component or peripheral into data that an operating system can use
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The IT support technician asked the end user if he had recently updated any device drivers.
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file permissions
a set of strict rules for controlling read, write, and execute access to a file or directory
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The company switched from FAT32 to NTFS file system because the former did not support file permissions.
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format
prepare a device to store data, erasing any existing data
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One must format a flash memory drive or a hard disk drive before it can be used to store data.
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GUI (graphical user interface)
an icon based link between a computer and its operato
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Most users prefer an icon-based GUI over a command line option.
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hidden file
a file which does not appear by default in a directory listing; normally for security reasons or to spare confusion in end users
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The administrator was upset when the end user found a way to display and then delete several hidden files.
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kernel
the fundamental part of an operating system responsible for resource management and file access
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The system administrator needed to upgrade the kernel in order to provide native support for Serial ATA drives.
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Linux
an open source version of Unix developed by Linus Torvalds
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Linux was originally developed by Linus Torvalds, who wanted a free Unix-like operating system that ran on standard PC hardware.
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multitasking
concurrent execution of two or more tasks by a processo
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UNIX is the original multitasking environment and was designed from the beginning to share resources over a network.
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OS (operating system)
a GUI or CLI software link between the computer and operator; also provides a framework for productivity software such as an office suite, web browser, or programming languages
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The programmer tested his Java code on many operating systems including: Windows, Linux, and Macintosh.
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sign in
to enter information related to an account name and its password in order to access a computer resource
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The man could not sign in to his Windows computer because he forgot his username and password.
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sign out
to end a session with computer or network resource
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The server was set to automatically sign out users after 10 minutes of inactivity.
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VM (virtual machine)
a software program which mimics the performance of one or more hardware devices in order to run software independently of the actual hardware
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In order to run Java programs in Windows one needs to download an appropriate virtual machine.
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X11 (X Window System)
a software toolkit for UNIX systems underlying numerous GUI window managers including KDE and Gnome
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The man was surprised at how similar in functionality X11 was to Microsoft Windows.
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