Glossary
Since putting definitions of words in any relevant article is both unnecessary clutter and also very redundant, this page is intended to be a catch all for any term that needs further explanation, but there is not enough written about it for its own page. If an entry in the glossary is becoming too complex, consider creating its own page, and linking to it from here. Don't remove it from here until you have confirmed that nothing else links to it.
Security
While security is a very broad concept that has many definitions, in the concept of software, it mainly refers to ensuring someone cannot interact with your devices in a way that you do not want. For example, running software on your computer without permission. Security is most useful when thought of through the lens of threat modelling.
Threat Modelling
Threat modelling is the process of planning out how someone might interact with your device in a way that you do not want, and making a plan to prevent it. For example, if you do not want someone to be able to take your laptop apart and read your files off of your drive, you could encrypt it. It's important to understand what exactly you are concerned about, instead of just trying to "be secure."
Drive
A drive, or sometimes disk, is a device that contains data, for long periods of time. This is different from RAM, which only stores memory temporarily. The main tradeoff being that reading and writing to a drive is much slower than RAM. Drives can come in many forms, such as SSD, HDD, eMMC, etc. The term drive can be a bit confusing though, as drives used to refer to devices with removable media, like CD, Floppy, and even old Hard Disks. In present day though, drives rarely have removable media. The media itself cannot be read or interacted with without the hardware to drive it, which is why it is called a drive.
RAM
Random Access Memory, often just called "memory" is a device that contains data only while it is powered, but can be read from and written to very quickly. It is very important to note that RAM is intended temporary working memory, which is critical for a CPU to function.
CPU
Central Processing Unit is an IC that performs the majority of the processing or "thinking" operations for the computer. CPUs take in instructions, and then refer to a list for what each instruction should do, and then perform that action. For example, if the CPU receives an instruction telling it to copy some data, it will do so! The list of instructions is called the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA).
IC
Integrated Circuit, or sometimes "chip", is an electronic circuit, integrated into a single piece of silicon. The advantages of ICs is that they can operate much faster, use much less electricity for the same operations, and be much more durable than a larger more fragile board with components attached to it.
Circuit
Circuits, specifically electronic circuits, are the most basic concept that defines a computer. Circuits fundamentally are just electricity flowing and being directed through various components so that they can do useful things. Like a circuit starting at a battery, passing through a motor to turn a fan, and then returning to the battery. Computers use circuits to direct electricity to various components so that they can do useful things for us!
SSD
Solid State Drives are drives which have no moving parts. These drives instead of having disks, have flash chips on a board that contain the data. There are a few different types of flash chip, but most commonly NAND is used. SSDs are usually removable from the device, and can be upgraded as needed, though some devices do have their SSD soldered to the motherboard. SSDs are usually either SATA or NVME, with NVME offering faster speeds, but usually at a higher price.
HDD
Hard Disk Drives are drives which contain a spinning metal disk that can be magnetized. Depending on how the disk is magnetized, it stores a corresponding 1 or 0 bit. Very old hard drives, for example for the Centurion computer, had removable disks, or "platters".
NAND
(e)MMC
(Embedded) Multi-Media Card is a standard of flash chip typically used in products like SD cards. Though some cheaper smartphones and laptops do also used them. Compared to SSDs, they are usually much slower, though they are usually faster than HDDs. The main advantage is that they are quite cheap when compared to more expensive SSD storage.
CD
Floppy Disk
Floppy Disks, or sometimes "Floppies", are an older form of storage disk named after their ability to bend. Compared to modern drives, floppies were extremely small, only being able to store a few MB of data.
NVME
Non-Volatile Memory Express
SATA
Bytes
Bytes are the most common way to count data. Bytes are made of 8 bits. Bytes are often abbreviated using the metric system, such as Kilobyte (KB), Megabyte (MB), Gigabyte (GB), etc. Which represent a thousand bytes, a million bytes, and a billion bytes, respectively. ( Need to talk about like Mibibytes )
Bits
Data
Multi-Media
Multi-Media is a term commonly used to describe a type of data storage that can contain any type of data. Older storage media sometimes only allowed for one type of media, though really, this was not very common, and most media was multi-media. CDs and DVDs for example, could be formatted either to contain music, or to contain arbitrary files, making them Multi-Media.
Soldering
Soldering is the process of connecting metal pieces together with a metal that melts at lower temperatures, like lead. Though lead is not used much anymore, as it is toxic, and usually low-temperature alloys are used instead. The main disadvantage of soldering is that it is very difficult for an inexperienced user to remove a soldered component. A soldered SSD for example, would be exceptionally difficult for a typical user to replace, and is generally done to make the device impossible to repair and upgrade.