231
Glossary
5.375 x 8.375 ver 2.3
driver
— See
device driver
.
DVD
— An individual digital versatile (or video) disc. See also
DVD-ROM
.
DVD-ROM (digital versatile [or video] disc read-only memory)
— A very high-capacity storage medium that uses laser optics for
reading data. Each DVD-ROM can hold as much data as several
CD-ROMs. Compare
CD-ROM.
E
emulation —
A technique in which a device or program imitates
another device or program.
enable
— To turn on a computer option. See also
disable
.
executable file
— A computer program that is ready to run.
Application programs and batch files are examples of executable
files. Names of executable files usually end with a .bat or .exe
extension.
extension
— See
file extension
.
external device
— See
device.
F
file
— A collection of related information, saved on disk with a
unique name. A file may be a program, information used by a
program, or a document. See also
document.
file allocation table (FAT)
— The section of a disk that keeps track
of the location of files stored on the disk.
file name
— A set of characters that uniquely identifies a file
within a particular folder. It consists of two parts: the actual name
and the file name extension. See also
file extension
.
file extension
— The three characters following the period
(pronounced “dot”) at the end of a file name. The extension
indicates the type of file. Examples are .exe for program files
and .hlp for help files. See also
file name.
folder
— Also called directory. A container for organizing files
saved to a disk. A folder is symbolized on screen by a graphical
image (icon) of a file folder. A folder can contain files and other
folders.
