Glossary of computing terms
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Reload: On a  web page this term is used to tell the browser to reload the file containing the page shown on the screen. It is used when the page takes longer than normal to load or when it can't be read clearly for some reason. This action is also referred to as reloading the page. Sometimes some of the Descartes windows cannot be seen properly on computers with limited RAM. However, this problem should be solved by reloading the page.

When referring to a program, this term is used to indicate that a newer version is going to be installed.
Applet : In general, this is a small program written in Java which makes up part of the web page.  The Descartes windows are examples of applets.
Download:

To copy a file from a remote server onto a local computer. Descartes' server allows you to download all of its pages.
Browser cache: Cache is the area of the memory where the browser saves pages or parts of pages (images, sounds, videos, applets etc.). This makes reloading these pages quicker, as before downloading them from the server it checks whether or not the files are already located in the local computer.
Load: To load is the action of accessing a file which contains a  web page using the browser which shows the pages on the screen.
Links One of the most important features of web pages is what is called navigating. In other words, there are sensitive areas (text or images) which take you automatically to other pages, and then from these pages to others, and so on. These sensitive areas are known as links as they contain the addresses of these new pages they are linked to and can take you to.

Links can also take you to a different part of the same page, as is the case with  most of the links on this actual page. The can take you to a file that you want to download onto a local computer, as is the case with the Descartes server teaching units and they can also take you to a video which is played on the screen etc.
JAVA :

This is a very popular programming language which is especially used with the Internet. It has been developed by the Sun microsystems company. Descartes is written in JAVA.
JRE (Java Runtime Enviroment)
JVM (Java Virtual Machine)		 These are programs ( browser  plug-ins ) which need installing in the local computer to run the applets. They interpret the Descartes applet instructions, translate them and then carry them out. All versions of Internet Explorer up to the 6.0 version installed the Java interpreter automatically in order to see the applets clearly. However, it is not included in version 6.0 and therefore needs installing separately.
Cache memory: This is a very fast part of the RAM. It is used by certain programs to store frequently used information or information which needs to be read or written quickly. In general, users are not aware of when this part of the memory is being used or not.
RAM:

RAM is an acronym of Random Access Memory. It is an internal computer memory used by programs to store the necessary information to work properly.

Everything that appears on the screen, including this page for example, is stored in the RAM. The programs which are run, such as the browser which is working at the moment, are all found in the RAM. When you close a file or exit a program the space that had been taken up in the RAM now becomes available to be used for another file or program. When the computer is shut down the content of the RAM is lost. 

A computer which has limited RAM tends to work slowly if there are several programs running at the same time and a lot of information and files are open. For Descartes to work effectively you need equipment which has at least 32 Mb of RAM, but preferably 64 Mb.
Browser

Browsers are programs which are used to read Internet pages like those offered by the Descartes server. The program you are using to read this page is a browser. The most popular browsers are Internet Explorer and Netscape.
Plug-in:

This is a program which attaches itself to another existing program in order to offer something new. For example, there are plug-ins, which allow you to listen to music or watch videos. These programs do not work independently as they need another particular program which is already installed in the computer in order to become installed themselves.
Web site :

This is a server centre of information on the Internet which includes hyper-text pages, like this page or the Descartes server pages. The pages which are included in these service centres are known as web pages.
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