Letter C
C64              Commodore 64, a popular 8 bit home computer with 6510 processor, VIC-II graphics, 
                 SID chip, 64KB of RAM, BASIC, GEOS.

C128             Commodore 128, an 8 bit computer with 8502 processor, Z80 processor, VIC-II-E graphics,
                 SID sound, 128 KB of RAM which can also run CP/M OS for 'business' applications.

C/C++            High-level programming language for application software. 
                 Originally developed on Unix based systems to write operating 
                 systems and so on.


C#               Microsoft's C sharp object orientated language similar to C++ and
                 Java.

								 
Cache            A small area of memory or disk space for very fast access to data.
                 Modern processors have small Cache RAM to store machine code
                 instructions or data for fast access rather than goto slower main
                 memory.


CCD              Charged Coupled Device. Made up of millions of light sensitive
                 components used in Digital Cameras.

                              
CCFL             Cathode Fluorescent Lights. CCFL is used for backlighting of LCD TV screens.


CD               Compact Disc. Contains audio, video or 640MB of data. Requires CD
                 ROM drive.


CD-R             CD Recordable. Device which can record data or audio onto special
                 gold recordable CDs.

								 
CDROM            CD Read Only Memory. Read only device to read gold or silver compact 
                 discs.

 
CD-RAM           Rewritable CD disks which can hold around 5.2GB of information
                 on rectanglar shaped disks.

                 
CD-RW            CD Read Write. Device which can write, erase and rewrite data
                 onto CD-RW CDs.

								 
Celeron          Low cost pentium type Intel chips for home computers. The modern
                 equivalent is the Intel i3 chip.

CentOS			  Community ENterprise OS linux based on the source code from Red Hat Enterprise.

CGA              Color Graphics Adapter. First colour standard for PCs.


CGI              Common Gateway Interface. Programs used on the web in either C,
                 VBasic or Java for dynamic web content.

								 
Chunky Graphics  Uses one or bytes to describe the colour of a single pixel on the
                 screen. Ideal for 3D graphics and very fast for lots of colours.
                 Most Graphics Cards use this method.

                 
Chip             An electronic component in many computer systems. Contains 
                 thousands or millions of miniature circuits designed to do a 
                 specific task. Usually made of silicon.


Chipset          Chips that govern the motherboards features and controls 
                 access for the main processor to memory, I/O and storage
                 facilities.


Chrome           A Web Browser created by Google. See Google Chrome.

ChromeBook       A low cost computer using Google's ChromeOS (similar to Android for phones).

CICS             Customer Information Control System. A transaction server by IBM that 
                 does interactive processing of customer information by many financial
                 institutions.

								 
CISC             Complex Instruction Set Chip. Type of processors with lots of
                 instructions, some of which can do multiple tasks. The Motorola
                 680x0 and Intel processor series are CISC processors.

Citrix			  Company that specialises in networking and cloud applications.

CLI              Command Line Interface such as Command or CMD on DOS or Windows, 
                 Shell on AmigaOS or Unix (sh, csh, bash etc).

Clock			  A microprocessor has a built in clock (or oscillator) whuch determines
				  the speed/frequency of the processor to regulate the running of
                 machine code and fetching of data from memory. Measured in MHz,GHz.


Cloud            Another name for the internet. 


CMOS             Complementary Metal-Oxide SemiConductor. Battery backed memory 
                 to store basic hardware settings for BIOS.

CMYK             Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Modern colour combinations for devices
                 such as Inkjet printers.
								 
COBOL            COmmon Business Orientated Language is a common programming languages 
                 used on mini or main frames for data manipulation eg databases etc.


Codec            Coder/Decoder for different media formats such as AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, 
                 Realplayer, WMA, WMP and DivX formats.


Coercion         Method used in AmigaOS to determine which frequency to use when different 
                 screen modes are used at the same time.

								 
COM port         Communications or Serial port used for mice and external 
                 modems mainly and peer-to-peer network with another computer.


COM              Component Object Model. A system created by Microsoft in 1993 to enable
                 interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in programs.

								 
Commodore        Commodore Business Machines developed calculators and computers including,
                 the PET, VIC 20, C64, C128 and Amiga.

Compact Flash    A type of solid state memory that is very fast and keeps its
                 contents when power is removed. Widely used with digital cameras.


Compiler         Converts a high-level language to machine code programs. BASIC
                 and C/C++ compilers exist. May include other utilities such as
                 Debug utilties, profilers and optimisers.


Composite        TV signal which can be used in Video or PAL modes only, better
                 than RF type signals but poorer quality than RGB signals.


Computer         An electronic device that stores, recalls and processes information.


Console          A device which allows a Command Line Interface or Shell for
                 entering DOS commands onto a scrollable window. Commands
                 include DIR, COPY, TYPE etc.


Control Panel    Main configuration window for Windows 3.1/9x/NT for control
                 over look and feel  of the Desktop environment.

Cookie			  A small file that contains user session data when using certain web sites.

Core             This can refer to a discreet CPU or processor that occurs on a 
                 multi-processor chip. Examples, include Intel's Core 2, i5 series.

Cortana          The main search program provided with Windows 10. as well as keyboard input, it 
                 can also answer questions with natural speech via microphone.

CP/M             Control Program for Microcomputers. An operating system by Digital Systems that
                 managed early 8/16 bit computers such as Intel 8080/8085 and Zilog Z80 processors.
								 
CPU              Central Processing Unit. The Intel x86 series are CPUs. Also known as a Processor.


Crash            Refers to a situation when the computer fails due to a software failure or some 
                 sort of hardware fault. A Reboot or restart is required to regain control of the computer.


CRT              Cathode Ray Tube. Uses RGB `guns` to produce colour screens
                 on a phospher based screen.

                 
CSS              Cascade Style Sheets. A table of objects and attributes that apply to a web page.


CSV              Comma Seperated Values. Common file format for data storage which is sharable between different applications.								
 
Cursor           A flashing or hightlighted block indicating the text insertion point. Seen on CLI, Text Editors and Word Processors.


Cyrix            Name of manufacturer of x86 compatible processor chips.