The true meaning of IT

This article is for all those people who have sat in a meeting listening to IT staff talk about IT and wondering what language they are speaking.

Below are some common terms in IT and their meanings.

Computer Software

Computer software represents the collection of instructions that tell the hardware what to do.

Application Software

Application software refers to individual applications such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat – which can also be called a program.

Off-the-shelf software

A software application that is developed for the general market and is delivered to many customers in identical format.

Custom software

Custom software (sometimes referred to as bespoke software) is an application developed specifically for an organisation. Custom software is generally a one-off application built to specific organisational requirements and is not targeted at the mass market.

Server

A server is primarily a program that runs on a powerful machine, providing a specific service to other machines connected to that particular machine.

Operating System

An operating system is a program designed to run other programs on a computer. The operating system is considered the backbone of the computer. It manages both software and hardware resources. Operating systems are responsible for everything from the control and allocation of memory to the management of files on computer hard drives and control other hardware like printers and scanners. Examples of operating systems include Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X.

Web Applications

Web applications are accessed through a web browser (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox) and are made available through a web server (a computer program that delivers (serves) content, such as web pages, using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http)).

Desktop Application

A desktop application runs on a desktop (computer) or laptop.

Enterprise Application

An enterprise application is generally a software application hosted on an application server which simultaneously provides services to a large number of users, via a network.

Mobile Application

A mobile application is an application that is designed to run on mobile devices such as mobile phones or PDAs.

JAVA

JAVA is a programming language that JAVA software engineers use to create applications on top of the JAVA runtime.

.NET framework

The .NET framework is the Microsoft framework that software engineers use to create applications.

ASP.NET

ASP.NET is the implementation of the .NET framework for web applications.

C#

C# is a programming language provided by the .NET framework that .NET software engineers write code in.

Database

A database is where all the data needed for an application is stored. Data is stored, managed and information is retrieved form the database, an example of a database is SQL Server.

SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server stores data in structured and related format – to be utilised by other programs and to generate reports.

GUI

GUI is an acronym for Graphical User Interface – and refers to the part of an application that users see and interact with.

Business Logic

Business logic is the instruction set (or business rules) that allow the analysis and validation of data for an application; this normally sits between the application program and the database.

Systems Integration

Systems integration is the process of linking together disparate computing systems and software applications physically or functionally.