Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary or type the term on which you want to search.

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DAC

see Digital-to-Analog Converter.

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daemon

a Unix program that is continuously running in the background performing specified functions in response to particular prompts.

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daisy-chain

the sequential connection of hardware devices with cables.

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dash

a punctuation mark similar to a hyphen but longer. Dash ( — ) Hyphen ( - )

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data

information. Though the word data represents the plural, in common usage it may indicate either the singular or plural.

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data communication

the delivery of information from one computer to another. For this transfer to take place, the components of the communication must conform to certain conditions. For example, the data you receive via the Internet must be converted to a usable form by your Web browser, usually HTML.

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data compression

the storage of data so that it requires less space than it might otherwise. There are many methods of data compression. For example, rather than write a string of 60 of the same characters, a programmer would write, “the following character is repeated 60 times.” Data compression is especially useful when transmitting graphics via a modem because it allows the image to load more quickly.

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data entry

the process of either an individual or a machine entering information into a computer or database.

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data mining

data mining uses complex algorithms to search large amounts of data and find patterns, correlations, and trends in that data. A data-mining application can create a model that can identify buying habits, shopping trends, credit card purchases as well as perform many non-commercial functions.

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data processing

usually a reference to software that enters, sorts, categorizes and stores information for easy recall.