Computer & Internet

Internet Terms

Gateway | GIF | Gigabyte | GIGO | GIS | GPS | GPU | GUI

Gateway
A gateway is either hardware or software that acts as a bridge between two networks so that data can be transferred between a number of computers. For example, when you send an e-mail to a friend or when you log in to a Web site, there is a gateway that allows the connection take place. Often, your connection to a Web site will involve many smaller connections to other servers along the way. In these cases, a number of gateways are used.

In a completely unrelated story, Gateway is also the name of a popular direct-order PC manufacturer.
TOP

GIF
The letters "GIF" actually stand for "Graphics Interchange Format," but you don't need to remember that. GIFs are compressed image files that use a compression formula originally developed by CompuServe. (This is why you see the term "CompuServe GIF" in Photoshop, for those of you that care.) GIFs are based on indexed colors, which is a palette of at most 256 colors. This helps greatly reduce their file size. These compressed image files can be quickly transmitted over a network or the Internet, which is why you often see them on Web pages. GIF files are great for small icons and animated images, but they lack the color range to be used for high-quality photos.
TOP

Gigabyte
A gigabyte consists of roughly 1 billion bytes. To be exact, there are 1024 megabytes, or 1,073,741,824 bytes in a gigabyte, but 1 billion is a much easier number to remember. Because of the large size of today's hard disks, storage capacity is usually measured in gigabytes.

Abbreviation: "GB".
TOP

GIGO
Stands for "Garbage In, Garbage Out." It means that if invalid data is entered in a computer program, the resulting output will also be invalid. So if a program asked you to enter a letter of the alphabet and you decided to be funny and enter "3.14159", there's a good chance the results you would get back would be pretty messed up, or "garbage." Because we computer users aren't always smart enough to enter valid data, programmers have to take extensive measures to prevent GIGO errors.
TOP

GIS
Stands for "Geographic Information Systems." This term refers to tools that are used to gather and analyze data about the surface of the earth. The data can be used to create charts, maps, and 3D models of the earth's surface. This includes hills, mountains, trees, buildings, streets, rivers, and pretty much anything else. Sounds fun, but how is it used? Well, organizations such as the police and fire department can use the data to develop emergency routes. The government can use the data to measure the growth and expansion of cities or the depletion of forests. Most importantly, however, GIS can assist with special effects by simulating landscapes and terrain in action movies.
TOP

GPS
Stands for "Global Positioning System." GPS is a satellite navigation system used to determine ground position and velocity (location, speed, and direction). Though it was created and originally used by the U.S. military, GPS is now available to the general public all over the world. GPS navigation systems are currently installed in a number of luxury cars, complete with an LCD map that shows the driver exactly where in the world he is. Advanced car GPS units can actually speak the directions to a certain destination and tell the driver when to turn.
TOP

GPU
Stands for "Graphics Processing Unit." Like the CPU (Central Processing Unit), it is a single-chip processor. However, the GPU is used primarily for computing 3D functions. This includes things such as lighting effects, object transformations, and 3D motion. Because these types of calculations are rather taxing on the CPU, the GPU can help the computer run more efficiently.

The first company to develop the GPU was NVidia, Inc. Its GeForce 256 GPU can process 10 million polygons per second and has over 22 million transistors. Compare that to the 9 million transistors found on the Pentium III chip. Wow -- that's a lot of processing power. There is also a workstation version of the chip called the Quadro, designed for CAD applications. This chip can process over 200 billion operations a second and deliver up to 17 million polygons per second. If only you could think that fast during those darn Calculus tests.
TOP

GUI
Stands for "Graphical User Interface," and is pronounced "gooey." It refers to the graphical interface of a computer that allows users to click and drag objects with a mouse instead of entering text at a command line. Two of the most popular operating systems, Windows and the Mac OS, are GUI-based. The graphical user interface was first introduced to the public by Apple with the Macintosh in 1984. However, the idea was actually taken from an earlier user interface developed by Xerox.

TOP