Explanation of Terms

I tend to use a lot of technical jargon when writing these blogs. Here's my attempt to explain those terms in more practical, concrete terms.

General Computer Jargon

Processor: The "brain" of the computer. Another good analogy would be that it is like the engine of a car. The amount of cores in the processor would be like a V6 or a V8. The clock speed would then be similar to the horsepower.

RAM: This is short for Random Access Memory. This is kind of like the work-table for the computer when it's running programmes or other processes. Keeping with the car analogy, it's like the road under the car. Naturally you can't drive as well on a bóithrín as on a motorway. The more and faster RAM you have, the better your computer will perform, up to a certain point. In real life, this means that you can have more, and more resource-hungry, programmes open at the same time.

UI:  Short for User Interface. This is how an app looks.

UX: Short for User Experience. This is how an app performs, and how user-friendly it is.

OS: Short for Operating System. This is the software on your computer/mobile device. Examples of this would be Windows, MacOS or Linux on laptops or desktops, and Android, iOS and Windows Phone on phones and tablets.

ROM: Can mean one of two things. It can mean "Read-Only Memory" which is pretty self-explanatory; it's memory that the computer cannot modify, only read.

Light-Bleed: A problem that can occur on LCD screens, where the backlight shows through unevenly. For example, on a screen that is supposed to all be one colour, there will be patches where the colour is lighter, on the edge of the screen.

Android Specific

ROM: In the world of Android tinkering, a custom ROM is a build of Android which has features that are not present in stock firmware. Examples of well-known custom ROMs would include CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android, and OmniROM. Custom ROMs cannot be installed without a custom recovery.

Recovery: This is an operating system which exists outside the one you use most of the time. It is able to make backups of your current firmware, and restore these backups, as well as allow you to install new firmware, and root your device, among other things. TeamWin Recovery (TWRP) and ClockworkMod (CWM) are popular custom recoveries for Android.

Root: This comes from Linux. A root user is the equivalent of a system administrator in Windows. Getting root access in Android allows you to use root apps and make modifications to the firmware.

Windows Specific

Administrator: This is the most important account on the computer, and is able to install and uninstall programmes, among other important duties.

Start Menu: This is the menu where you can find all your programmes in Windows, up to Windows 7.

Start Screen: This is the Start Menu in Windows 8 and 8.1. It is also accessed by clicking the bottom left-hand corner, but instead of a menu it brings up a full screen.

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