Common Computer Technology for the Lawyer
By John J. Nagle III
In a recent issue of The Advocate (the monthly publication of The Baltimore County Bar Association), I wrote about the newly formed Taskforce on Technology. One of the Committee's goals is to write a regular column on technological issues which affect our practices. The Committee has debated the question of how technical (or nontechnical) our articles should be. I know that some of you are very knowledgeable about computers and related topics. However, I suspect that the majority of you have an interest in learning more about computers but don't know where to begin. Or, you have traditionally left computer-related matters to others in your practices. Thus, the Committee decided to gear our articles to provide a general overview of various computer and related topics. For example, future articles will deal with CD-ROM technology and on-line services, respectively. This article will review some basic computer terminology, which may be of assistance when you read future columns in The Advocate.
Computer-types love to use acronyms or cryptic words when they speak. I used to think that they spoke that way to remind the rest of us how much more they knew about computers than we ever would. Now that I have learned enough about computers to be a little dangerous, however, I have discovered that talking in "alphabet soup" is a lot easier than trying to remember the unwieldy terms that they have abbreviated. The following list is by no means exhaustive; however, it will provide a fairly good foundation for you to be able to talk "computerese" with the best of them. You'll sound good even if you're not entirely sure what you're talking about. Don't worry. If I could learn this stuff, anyone can!
ASCII Many court reporters currently offer deposition transcripts on a diskette. After the deposition, they typically ask whether you want the text in ASCII (pronounced "Ask-ee") format. ASCII stands for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Simply stated, it is a standard for saving information, usually words and numbers so that most other programs can read it. For example, when you load your ASCII deposition diskette into your computer and call up the file, word processing programs such as WordPerfect or Word will convert the file into their own language so that the text can be read (and even edited).
AUTOEXEC.BAT This is one of most important "system" files on your computer. It is a file which contains a special series of commands that are carried out each time the computer is started. The commands are typically designed to assist the computer in setting up properly so that it can find computer programs (also called applications) which you most often use.
BBS Bulletin Board System. Just like the bulletin board which you have used for years, a BBS is an electronic version which subscribers from all over the country use to post information, ask questions of others, and download information. Your computer requires a modem to access a BBS. Most hardware and software manufacturers offer a BBS to assist their customers with technological support.
BIT A bit is a single unit of computer data. A byte equals eight bits. One byte is the amount of information required to produce a single keyboard character such as a letter or number. KB is short for kilobyte and is a unit of measurement of computer memory equivalent to approximately one thousand (1,024) bytes. A MB (megabyte) equals approximately one million bytes. Lastly, computer manufacturers now offer hard disks with more than one GB (gigabyte) of storage space. A gigabyte is approximately one billion bytes!
BUFFER A buffer is an important factor which affects the speed of your computer. It reads ahead and stores data, allowing it to be accessed very quickly.
CD-ROM Nearly everyone knows what CD stands for because it has become the standard in audio. CD-ROM stands for "compact disk, read only memory". It is a form of data storage which uses laser optics as opposed to magnetics such as tape recording. "Read only memory" means that your computer can only read the information from the disk; it cannot write or record on the disk like you can to a floppy diskette. Read/write CD-ROM drives are not far away; however, they are rare and expensive.
CLOCK SPEED I do not want to get too technical with this. The main thing you need to know is that the faster the clock speed is on a computer, the faster the computer can execute commands. The speed is usually measured in terms of MHz (Megahertz). One MHz is equivalent to one million cycles per second. Thus, a computer with a clock speed of 100 MHz will operate much faster than one which runs at 33 MHz.
CONFIG.SYS This is the counterpart of your Autoexec.bat file and is the other most important systems file. It is also a text file which DOS looks for at the start up of your computer. It tells DOS how to configure hardware such as the mouse, video display, etc. Config.sys also determines your computer's memory usage.
CPU A Central Processing Unit is the metal box which houses your hard drive, floppy disks and compact disk drives. It is what most people refer to as the computer. It is also called the microprocessor, the chip which is the brain of the computer. CPUs have evolved from the original 8086 chip to the soon-to-be unveiled P6 which will shortly replace the Pentium chip.
DEVICE DRIVER Drivers are software that lets your computer communicate with "hardware" devices such as your mouse, printer, video display or audio speakers.
DOS DOS made computers available to the masses. It was developed by a little company in the ‘70's which was bought out by another little company at that time by the name of Microsoft. Basically, it is software that allows a user to type commands which the computer translates so that application programs can be run.
IDE I'm getting a little more technical here. IDE stands for "integrated device electronics". An IDE is an interface for a disk drive which allows controller electronics to reside on the actual drive as opposed to an older technology which required a separate adapter card for the controller electronics. For example, many new CD-ROM drives are advertised as having an IDE interface which allows the CD-ROM to be plugged directly into your computer's hard drive. With older models, you had to purchase an electronic board (card) which fit into an expansion slot inside of the computer.
The INTERNET is a collection of literally thousands of computer networks, on-line services and single-user computers. It was initially developed by our government during the Cold War so that in the event of a nuclear strike, the destruction of one computer network would not disable the entire country. It is not an on-line service and has no real central "hub". At the present time, it is a network devoted mostly to communication and research with more than twenty million users worldwide.
MODEM The word modem is actually an acronym. It stands for modulating/de-modulating. This is a device which lets one computer talk with other computers similarly equipped. Modems are typically described with respect to their maximum "baud" rate or, in other words, the data transfer rate. This is the maximum speed at which data can be transferred from one device to another, commonly measured in bytes per second (BPS).
OPERATING SYSTEMS This is the software that controls your computer system and allows other software programs to run on it. DOS, for example, is a type of operating system. IBM has its own proprietary operating system known as OS/2. Macintosh is a completely separate type of computer platform than the PC (personal computer) and currently uses Operating System 7.
PCMCIA refers to laptops and is short for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. There is a socket on the side of most newer laptops in which you can insert credit card-size modems, LAN connectors, sound cards and other hardware devices.
RAM stands for random-access memory. RAM is a temporary storage area of memory which your computer reads and writes to when it operates various programs/applications. When you shut down your computer, the RAM erases itself. Memory is becoming more and more important as computer power increases and computer applications grow in size. While I'm on the topic of memory, there are different types. EMS is Expanded Memory Specification. This is a part of the computer's memory used by some DOS programs. They require the user to change the computer's memory configuration in order to properly run the program. EMS is not to be confused with XMS which means Extended Memory Specification. This type of memory became available several years ago with the introduction of the 286 chip. All PC's have "conventional memory" which is the first 640K of memory address space on a PC. Extended memory is measured in terms of megabytes; the more memory your computer has, the better your computer applications will run and the happier you will be because you will avoid frustrating system crashes.
RESOLUTION Although most of us break the resolutions we make at the beginning of the new year, resolution in the computer world refers to your monitor. Basically it is the measurement of the sharpness of an image on-screen.
SCSI This acronym is pronounced "scuzzy". It stands for Small Computer System Interface. It is used for connecting computers to peripheral devices, other computers and local area networks (LANs). Peripheral devices are attached to a single SCSI port through a series of connections.
TSR means Terminate-and-Stay Resident. Although this sounds like landlord/tenant law, a TSR program is designed to remain in your computer's memory so that it can be used in any program. When a TSR program is loaded, its activities can be terminated without completely without removing it from memory.
There are literally dozens of other terms which I could go into at this time, however, they are much more specific as opposed to the more general terms explained above. I hope that this brief explanation of terms has provided you with a sufficient basis to allow you to get the most out of future articles.