Appendix Glossary L

In the left margin you will find links to the glossary categorised alphabetically. Some of the pages are quite long and may take a few moments to load if you use a modem. This glossary is always being updated.

Glossary - L

LAN - "Local Area Network" A LAN is a group of computers within the same physical location that are capable of communicating data to one another. A network allows users to share resources such as file storage and print services.

Lag - Sometimes called hang time. A delay or waiting period encountered while a computer processes data or a Web page loads onto a browser.

Landscape - A document with horizontal orientation. In other words, the page is wider than it is tall. Landscape orientation is opposite of Portrait.

Landing Zone - A non-data area on the disk's inner cylinder where the heads can rest when the power is off.

Laptop - This is a compact type of computer that can run on batteries that is entirely portable. And they are quite expensive.

Laser Printer - A special kind of printer that uses a laser beam create the image on paper. They produce really good graphics. And of course, they are more expensive than the traditional dot matrix printer.

Latency - The time during which the read/write heads wait for data to rotate into position after the controller starts looking for a particular data track. If a disk rotates at 3,600 rpm, the maximum latency time is 16.4 milliseconds, and the average latency time is 8.2 milliseconds. Also known as rotational latency.

Launch - 1. to start up a software program. 2. the premiere of a new Website. High profile Websites with generous start-up budgets can turn a launch into a major media event to attract attention to the company.

LBA - Logical Block Addressing, it is a translation method to allow your computer to support larger hard drives. Before you add a large hard drive (over 504 MB), be sure you have support for LBA translation in your system BIOS - the older BIOS don't support cylinders numbering above 1024. LBA does not use standard CHS parameters. For instance, if your drive has say 2000 cylinders and 16 sectors, LBA translation will make your software think your drive has 1000 cylinders, and 32 heads. Recent developments now allow drives as large as 8.4GB - soon to be broken again.

LCD - This means liquid crystal display - applies mostly to laptop computers. They are akin to the desktop computers VGA display.

Leased line - A private telecommunications line that permanently connects two points.

LEDs - Abbreviation of light emitting diode, an electronic device that lights up when electricity is passed through it. LEDs are usually red. They are good for displaying images because they can be relatively small, and they do not burn out. However, they require more power than LCDs.

Left Click - To press the left mouse button. This often initiates a command and can be the equivalent of pressing the Enter key on the keyboard.

Left Justify - To orient text so it conforms to a horizontal margin on the left side of a document.

Legacy - Applications and data, usually running on mainframe computers, that have been in existence for a long time. Often it is difficult to phase out legacy system data because subsequent applications have been written using the legacy material.

Level 1 Cache - (L1) Also known as primary cache, L1 Cache is a small amount of high-speed memory that resides on or very close to the processor. L1 Cache supplies the processor with the most frequently requested data and instructions.

Level 2 Cache - (L2) Also known as secondary cache, L2 Cache is a small amount of high-speed memory close to the CPU and usually on the motherboard. L2 Cache supplies the processor with the most frequently requested data and instructions. Depending on the motherboard, Level 2 cache may be upgraded.

License - An agreement whereby a user, usually for a fee, is granted permission to use copyrighted or proprietary materials such as software. Users of most retail software applications agree to a limited-use licensing arrangement when installing
the program.

Light Pen - A computer input device that acts somewhat like a mouse. A user points a wand or pen at the monitor and the computer responds to commands sensed from the emission of light from the device. Light pens are rare in modern computing due to the popularity of the mouse. Light pens are sometimes used in casinos to mark numbers in computerised Keno games.

Line - 1. a connection device such as a cable, used to link two or more hardware components. 2. an isolated statement within a program. 3. a horizontal or vertical arrangement of words, characters, or images in a document.

Link - An area of a hypertext document which, when selected, will take the user to another document or resource. On the World Wide Web, a link (often underlined) is usually a URL pointing to a file, document, site, image, or another page. The clickable hyperlinks found in web pages are probably the best example. The word "link" can also refer to to the physical connection between two computers or other devices.

Linux - Pronounced lee - nux, a free, UNIX-compatible operating system, developed by Linus Torvalds that runs easily on Personal Computers and Macintosh.

ListBot - A free Microsoft program conveniently placed on a Web page that allows a Website manager to create a client database and communicate directly with customers by sending them email messages with product announcements, newsletters and special offers. ListBot can be used for the initial gathering of customers and direct email marketing.

Listserv - Software that automatically manages a mailing list, receiving posts and follow-ups and sending groups of them out to all subscribers of the list.

Load - This means to move information from the disk into the computer's memory. You have to load a program in order to work with it!

Local Area Network - (LAN) A group of computers linked together in close proximity such as a building, a suite of offices, or even a single room. Due to the limited size of the network, data is usually transferred rapidly. This arrangement is useful in business for the sharing of information.

LocalTalk - Apple Computer's communication hardware and cable system that connects computers and other devices such as printers or file servers in an AppleTalk network. LocalTalk connectors are built in to every Macintosh computer and Apple printer.

Logic Cable - A logic cable is used to carry the data between a storage device (such as a hard drive) and it's controller.

Login/Logging In - "Login" or "Logging in" is the procedure used to get access to your home page account on a computer server. Signing in to edit your Talk City home page requires that you have a Nickname (or "user ID") and a Password. You can let everyone know your Nickname but your password must be kept secret (and is not displayed as you enter it). Having a secret password is like having a key to your house. Keeping your password secret prevents others from modifying your Talk City home page without your permission.

Look Ahead - The technique of buffering data into cache RAM by reading subsequent blocks in advance to anticipate the next request for data. The look ahead technique speeds up disk access of sequential blocks of data.

Loop - A series of basic programming instructions that causes a function to repeat until a specific goal or condition has been reached. Each cycle is called an iteration.

Lowercase - Keyboard characters (letters) that are "small," such as x, y, z, as opposed to the uppercase or CAPITAL letters, X, Y, Z. The term dates back to the early days of printing when the small letter characters were stored in drawers (cases) underneath the capital letters.

Low Level Formatting - The process of creating sectors on the disk surface so that the operating system can access the required areas for generating the file structure.

Low Profile - Describes drives built to the 3.5-inch form factor, which are only 1-inch high. The standard form factor drives are 1.625-inches high.

LX  An abbreviation of the Intel chipset officially named "440LX." This chipset is found on older Pentium II (Slot 1) motherboard designs, utilising a 66 MHz bus. Motherboards based on the LX chipset are not compatible with the Pentium III (and the chipset cannot be upgraded independently of the motherboard).

Lynx - A Web browser that supports text and not graphics. The benefit here is, because Lynx does not have to load graphics it is much faster than the more popular graphical-access browsers.