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Thanks go to CodeCat and Dauth for their help on this already.
In any case, I'll start with some basic terminology.
An instruction is a single command to the computer. Instructions are the core of anything your computer does, virtually, like accessing the internet, or physically, like opening and closing your disc drive. Each task a computer can do is broken up into instructions that the computer executes one at a time.
A process or or program is one single task your computer performs. Each process is made of thousands of instructions. Any action can entail several individual processes. Processes can be started by the user, but many processes also run in the background without being noticed: pressing even one key can trigger several processes to respond, depending on the situation.
Bit
A single binary digit, which can be either 1 or 0. All information in the computer is stored using bits.
Byte
A byte is a unit of measure, consisting of 8 bits. A byte denotes the smallest amount of memory space that a computer can use. Large amounts of bytes are what makes up programs, files and other data, which may be stored in RAM, on a hard drive or be downloaded from the internet. For large amounts of bytes, various terms are used based on the metric system. A kilobyte is 1,024 bytes, a megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes or 1,048,576 bytes, a gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes. The terabyte (1,024 gigabytes or 1,099,511,627,776 bytes) is also coming into general knowledge as the upper limits of hard drive sizes.
File
A collection of data stored on a hard drive, that is used for a specific purpose. They are the very reason you can use a computer in the simple manner that everyone uses them for. Everything stored on the hard drive is a file of some sort. A file may consist of instructions that make your computer do something (which makes it a program), or it may contain information that other programs can use, for example a picture, a document, a sound or a movie.
The processor, also known as the CPU (Central Processing Unit)
The heart and mind of every electronic device, the processor is responsible for executing the instructions of programs. You may have seen pictures of these in a magazine or newspaper, since they tend to be very small. The primary competing brands of processor are AMD and Intel. Loyalty to both brands runs strong. AMD tends to be cheaper, and Intel tends to make more bounds with cutting-edge technology.
The clock speed is roughly the amount of instructions a given part of your computer, such as the processor, can perform in a second. It is measured in hertz (one cycle per second), usually as Megahertz (one million cycles per second) and Gigahertz (one billion cycles per second). Since processors are becoming ever smaller and faster, clock speeds have been rising rapidly, with speeds doubling every two years.
Core
A processor core is a single unit within the processor that can process instructions. Each core of the processor can execute instructions independently, so having several cores makes it possible to run several instructions at once without having to divide the processor's processing power. Most processors used to have just one core (single-core). However, nowadays many processors are sold with two (dual-core) or even four (quad-core). AMD also makes a unique triple-core processor. Experimental or high-end processors used for businesses or scientific research can have far more, with even 80 cores on a single chip being experimented by Intel. At the present time, most processes are designed to run on a single core, but games and other programs are now being designed to make use of more (multi-threading).
Overclocking
The act by which you increase the clock speed of something in your computer, be it your processor, graphics card, or something else. This can be beneficial, but it is also can be dangerous. Especially to a less-experienced user, overclocking can do serious damage. It can overheat parts, lessen their lives, and even short out your system entirely if you're not careful. However, done correctly, overclocking (theoretically) has no limit to its potential.
Hard drive, commonly shortened to HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
The hard drive is where data is stored while not in use. Most hard drives have for awhile used what is essentially their own internal disk drive to store data. However, there is also a new style of hard drive which relies on solid state physics and the emulation of HDDs instead. These are, predictably, called Solid-State Drives.
RAM or Random-Access Memory
This is memory dedicated to the computer's cache, which is used on data being actively used. (Think of the cache as short-term memory as opposed to long-term memory.) It's physically separate from the hard drive, as it operates independently from it. When a computer is given an instruction, data is transferred from the hard drive to the RAM to be used by the processor.
Monitors (This section is a work in progress until I can think of a simple yet accurate description.)
There are 2 main types of monitors on the market today. They are LCD (liquid crystal display) and CRT (Cathode-Ray tube) monitors. CRT monitors are older and less favorable in today's market, as they tend to be smaller and of lower quality. They function similarly to older "tube" televisions in that they use an electron gun to 'excite' the display, which produces the images you see. LCD monitors use tiny liqud crystals arranged in pixels with red, blue, and green sections in each pixel.
(Most definitely a work in progress.)(Help appreciated)
(In all honesty I just started writing this out of sheer boredom.)
Edited by Foxhound, 28 August 2008 - 01:47.
