EECS 1520 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Binary File, Filename Extension, Word Processor

• School: York University
• Department: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Course: EECS 1520
• Professor: John Hofbauer

Document Summary

Main memory where active programs and data are held while in use; volatile, data lost if electric power turned off. Secondary memory nonvolatile, data maintained even if power is off; used as permanent storage for data. Includes: hard drives found in computer"s main box, portable discs that can be moved between computers. Tape drives used for archival purposes. File named collection of related data. File system logical view that an operating system provides so that users can manage information as a collection of files. Directories a named group of files; also called folder. Text file bytes of data are organized as characters from ascii or unicode character sets. Coding systems (coded characters) assigns numbers to each character/key/symbol. Unicode - 16-digits, can accommodate other languages. Binary file contains data in specific format, requiring interpretation/ associated software. All data on computer stored as binary digits. Source file program written in high-level language stored as text file.