A computer programmer, especially one who delights in accessing and manipulating other computers on a network or making changes to existing computer programs.
The type of secondary storage drive incorporated into virtually all computers, named for the multiple rigid platters that serve as the magnetic storage media. See the related article on hard disk drives.
The electronic components that make up a computer system, network, etc. -- as compared to software, the programs and files that bring the network to life.
Occurs if a read/write head in a hard disk drive comes into contact with the disk (which it doesn't do in normal operation) as a result of a mechanical failure or a physical jolt to the device. True head crashes result in damage to the disk and sometimes the head, and usually result in total failure of the drive and permanent loss of at least some data. Crashed drives may be returned to the manufacturer in an attempt to recover undamaged data.
A head crash is just one way (and possibly the worst way) a hard drive can fail. Both dirt in the drive and the corruption of data can also cause failure, neither of which require as drastic measures to retrieve data. Corrupted data might be reparable with a "disk tools" software utility, which does not require the physical removal of the drive.
Some computer users cause themselves undue stress by reporting that their computer or drive has "crashed" when, in reality, their drive has failed in some simpler way, or their computer has suffered a system error and frozen up. For millions of computer users, the latter means the morning is just getting rolling.
A piece of heat-absorbing material that draws heat off a chip or other device. A heat sink is usually made of aluminum or another metal, and often it has ridges or fins to increase the surface area. Sometimes a heat sink will be glued to a chip with heat-conducting glue to increase its efficiency.
Hypertext Markup Language. This is a hypertext document format; basically a simple programming language used to create World Wide Web pages. See HTML tags.
Invisible commands embedded in the source code of a Web page that dictate the formatting (i.e. bold, italic or blinking) that a certain portion of text will exhibit. HTML tags also provide directions to another page or site to which a piece of text is hyperlinked.
Hypertext Transport Protocol. A communications standard that dictates how World Wide Web servers and browsers transfer data over the Internet.
A non-linear way of presenting information in electronic form. HTML is a hypertext formatting language that allows documents to be linked together through "active" words or images. Hypertext is the foundation upon which the World Wide Web was built.
A human's operating system. This is the part of your brain that controls your body's essential functions, like breathing and the beating of your heart.
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