National Teaching and Learning Change ProgrammeInformation and Communication Technology:
Dictionary

• Home
• Data representation
• General
• Hardware
• Internet/web
• Managing data
• Multimedia
• Networks and communications technology
• Programming
• Security
• Software
• Systems design
• My downloads

Search results

• draft
  Printing in draft mode means printing at a lower quality (and so faster, using less ink) than might be used for a final version of a document.
• 
• draft
  A draft is a early version of a document, still to be finalised.
• 
• drag and drop
  The process of moving a file (or a piece of text, image, etc.) from one place to another. The user clicks on the item to be moved, holds down the mouse button, drags the item to where it needs to be moved, then releases the mouse button.
• 
• drop down menu
  A menu whose title is usually visible, but the options only appear when the title is selected.
• 
• drop shadow
  A special graphics effect which creates the illusion of the object being three-dimensional.
• 
• drum
  Used in laser printers to transfer the toner to the page.
• 
• dubbing
  The act of putting a new soundtrack on a film or adding a soundtrack (e.g. dialogue or music) after the video has been filmed.
• 
• dummy text
  Meaningless text used as a placeholder during the design of a web page. Used to check layout and overall appearance before the real text is inserted.
• 
• dummy variable
  A variable that appears within a program but which is not actually used. This may be because the syntax of the programming language requires a variable but the data contained is not needed.
• 
• duplex
  Refers to the direction of data transmission. It may be in both directions at the same time, called duplex or full duplex; in only one direction at a time, called half duplex; or in one direction only, called simplex.
• 
• dynamic hypertext mark-up language (DHTML)
  An extension of HTML which allows more user interaction within the browser. It also allows the user to read from and write to specific database files. Normally it refers to a combination of Cascading Style Sheets, JavaScript and HTML.
• 
• dynamic memory
  Memory which loses its contents when the power is switched off, e.g. random access memory.
• 
• dynamic variable
  A dynamic variable is one which uses a pointer to locate the data which is held in a different location. The programmer has limited control over how or where the data is stored (unlike in a static variable).