National Teaching and Learning Change ProgrammeInformation and Communication Technology:
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• bcc
  Blind Carbon Copy. In email, to send someone a bcc of an email is to send them a copy of it without the knowledge of the main recipient(s) of the email.
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• benchmark
  A standard set of computer tasks, designed to allow measurements to be made of computer performance. These tasks can be used to compare the performance of different software or hardware, e.g. how long it takes to copy a 1Mb file across a network, how many pages can be printed in one minute, how long it takes to save 1000 database records to disk. Benchmarks may also be used in acceptance testing of a computer system, by specifying performance that must be achieved before the system is considered finished.
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• bespoke system
  A system developed for a specific customer. It might include unusual hardware and will have to be specially programmed. This is expensive to do but may be the only solution to the customers needs, particularly for a large organisation.
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• beta test
  Beta testing is when a version is released to a number of privileged customers in exchange for their constructive comments. This is after the results of the alpha testing have been studied and appropriate changes made. Beta test versions are usually similar to the finally released product.
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• beta version
  This is an unfinished version of software, released for testing and comments by certain customers.
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• binary
  A numbering system using base 2, where numbers are represented by a series of ones and zeros.
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• binary operator
  This is an operator (such as + or -) which operates on two items of data.
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• binary representation
  A numbering system based on two numbers, 0 and 1. This is known as a base 2 system, compared with the base 10 (0 to 9) used by humans. All data in a computer is at the lowest level represented in a binary form.
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• binary search
  A method of searching data which is already stored in some sort of order. To reduce the search time an algorithm selects half of the data to search through and repeats this process until the data is located.
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• binary tree
  A binary tree is a data structure which is made of nodes. Each node has parent node has a maximum of two child nodes.
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• BIOS
  Short for basic input output system. The part of the operating system that handles the input and output of the computer. It enables the operating system to use the particular features of the hardware being used. The name specifically refers to a single part of some operating systems which can be easily altered to allow the same operating system to be used by a variety of hardware designs and manufacturers. If the BIOS is altered, the other parts of these operating systems will not need any alteration.
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• bit
  Contraction of
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• bitmap
  A pattern of bits describing the organisation of data. A graphic screen prepared in a painting or drawing package may be held as a bit map, often called a screen map, each bit relating to the setting of an individual pixel on the screen.
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• bitmapped graphics
  A method of creating images where a picture is held as a bit map - that is, the state of each individual pixel is stored. Text in such a picture would also be stored in the same bit map. Such drawings use a lot of storage space, because even
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• bits per second (bps)
  Unit of measurement of data transfer speed.
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• bitwise operator
  An operator that manipulates data at the level of individual bits.
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• block diagram
  A diagram made up of boxes labelled to represent different hardware and software components and lines showing their interconnections.
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• blog
  Short for web log. It is a personal diary kept on the web, accessible to any user. It is a very quick and simple way for individuals to publish information on the web.
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• Bluetooth
  Bluetooth is a technical industry standard that facilitates communication between wireless devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and handheld computers, and wireless enabled laptop or desktop computers and peripherals.
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• Bluetooth headset
  A wireless headset that uses the Bluetooth protocol.