Earlier Topics Revisited

Now that you are more familiar with some of the terminology and functions related to computers, let's go back and elaborate on some earlier topics:

• Bits and bytes: these are the building blocks of software, such as programs, applications, and operating systems.
• Interface, input, and output: things like keyboards, mouses, and computer screens are interfaces.  So are operating systems (connect hardware to software) and (new term) GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces), which translate text commands into pictures.  GUIs are responsible for clickable buttons, file icons, and menus.
• Keyboard: by now, you know how to type capital and lowercase letters, numbers, symbols, and accents using keyboard modifier keys.
• Program and application: you know about programs such as web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) and word processors (Microsoft Word).  You also know that programs are contained in windows, and you know how to close, minimize, and maximize windows.
• The Internet: connects computers so they can exchange files.  The most common way to access the Internet is through a web browser, where you can see files (web sites) residing on other computers.
• Menus: the File menu has options for opening new files and saving or closing current ones, while the Edit menu has options for editing the text or some other aspect inside of the current file.
• Media: different kinds of files that are usually meant for entertainment (consider the term "the media industry"), commonly video, picture, and music files.
• Files and Extensions: different kinds of files are represented by different endings to their names: .doc, .txt, .jpg, .mp3, etc.

Hopefully this list connects some of the terms discussed earlier and provides a broader picture of the way computers work.

Next Up: Upload and Download

Media

Media is any sort of information that can be read, watched, or heard by people.  Common non-electronic media include books, newspapers, voices, musical instruments.  Digital media refers to media that is represented as a computer file (in bits and bytes).  Media in this sense is different from media in the sense that writing and television are media for delivering information, although the line becomes blurred with the common reference to hard drives as "storage media," so-called because they are a medium that stores information.  However, we are not talking about that sort of media, but rather the media that can be stored on a hard drive.

Examples
Common digital media include music files (mp3's), video files, e-books, email, and digital photographs.

Tomorrow: Files and Extensions