What does GPU mean?
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a computer chip that performs rapid mathematical calculations, primarily for the purpose of rendering images.
In the early days of computing, the central processing unit (CPU) performed these calculations. As more graphics-intensive applications were developed, however, their demands put a strain on the CPU and degraded performance. GPUs came about as a way to offload those tasks from CPUs and free up processing power.
Today, graphics chips are being adapted to share the work of CPUs and train deep neural networks for AI applications. A GPU may be found integrated with a CPU on the same circuit, on a graphics card or in the motherboard of a personal computer or server. NVIDIA, AMD, Intel and ARM are some of the major players in the GPU market.
What does Recursive Loop mean?
A recursive loop is said to have occurred when a function, module or an entity keeps making calls to itself repeatedly, thus forming an almost never-ending loop. Recursive constructs are used in several algorithms like the algorithm used for solving the Tower of Hanoi problem. Most programming languages implement recursion by allowing a function to call itself.
Recursive loops are also known simply as recursion.
What does Visual Basic (VB) mean?
Visual Basic (VB) is a well-known programming language created and developed by Microsoft. VB is characterized by its simple format, which is easy to understand. Beginning programmers often consider VB the starting point in software development.
VB is the visual form of BASIC, an earlier language originally developed by Dartmouth professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz.
VB includes a wide variety of visual tools, which may be used to create advanced applications with an extended GUI. Thus, VB is more than a programming language. It also includes a variety of libraries, which are useful for creating object-oriented programs. Programs usually involve large development teams working on projects simultaneously.
While many developers look down on Visual Basic as an antiquated language, one cannot deny that there is a ton of VB code out there. So while most Microsoft-centric developers would rather use C#, there will be work in VB for a long time given its widespread use in the past.
What does IT Skills Gap mean?
In human resource management, an information technology (IT) skills gap is a mismatch between the technical knowledge an employer needs to meet business objectives and the capabilities of the organization’s employees.
Closing the IT skills gap by aligning the current state of workforce IT knowledge with forecasted future needs is a complicated proposition for C-level executives. Today, employers often struggle to locate and retain qualified tech talent, especially individuals with application development, security and data analysis skills.
Common approaches to closing an IT skills gap include recruitment process outsourcing, social recruiting, off-site training, employee mentor incentives, mentoring services, in-house turnkey training and partnerships with universities.
In many instances, an IT job will remain unfilled for an extended period of time when an employer needs to hire someone who has a very specific set of skills. In recruiting lingo, such candidates are referred to as purple squirrels. Because squirrels in the real world are not often purple, the implication is that finding the perfect job candidate with exactly the right qualifications, education and salary expectations can be a daunting – if not impossible — task.
What does Binary Tree mean?
A binary tree is a tree data structure where each node has up to two child nodes, creating the branches of the tree. The two children are usually called the left and right nodes. Parent nodes are nodes with children, while child nodes may include references to their parents.
A binary tree is made up of at most two nodes, often called the left and right nodes, and a data element. The topmost node of the tree is called the root node, and the left and right pointers direct to smaller subtrees on either side.
Binary trees are used to implement binary search trees and binary heaps. They are also often used for sorting data as in a heap sort.
pfSense is an open-source firewall and router you can manage via web interface. It is a customized distribution of FreeBSD with many related features and a package system for bloat-free expansion without adding potential security vulnerabilities to the base distribution.
DevOps’ish is the website of Chris Short, an expert on open source, DevOps and cloud computing. Weekly posts cover DevOps, Cloud Native, Hybrid Cloud, Open Source, industry news and other items of interest.
The Kubernetes Podcast is a weekly show hosted by Craig Box and Adam Glick. Features the latest news and insightful interviews with Google team members and guests from the Cloud Native community.
Cognito Forms is an advanced online form builder with an intuitive GUI that allows you to seamlessly embed your forms on your website, with email notification of submissions. Offers a great collection of powerful features, including document merging, file uploads, repeating sections, save/resume, conditional logic and integrated payments. Free for individual accounts.
SuperTechman is a blog where sysadmins, network admins and IT managers can find a wealth of computer tutorials, technology reviews and useful tips. Also includes a tech forum.
What does Syntax mean?
In programming, syntax refers to the rules that specify the correct combined sequence of symbols that can be used to form a correctly structured program using a given programming language. Programmers communicate with computers through the correctly structured syntax, semantics and grammar of a programming language.
Programming syntax contains strings similar to words, much like a human language. Correctly formed syntax strings produce syntactically correct sentences within a specified programming language.
Syntax describes how language variables and characters may be combined into strings. Semantics gives meaning to the combined strings, while grammar converts characters into tokens or character strings.
What does Data Mining mean?
Data mining is the process of sorting through large data sets to identify repetitive patterns between variables. An important goal of data mining is to uncover hidden patterns and discover relationships in data that can be used to train machine learning algorithms and make predictions that impact businesses.
Data mining, which is a subset of analytics, uses mathematical algorithms to examine large data sets and uncover previously unidentified sequences and correlations. It differs from other types of statistical analysis in that, rather than testing a previously established hypothesis, data mining slices and dices data in many different ways in an effort to reveal something useful.
For example, association rules can be used to analyze data in a database for frequent if/then patterns. Support and confidence criteria can then be used to rank the most important relationships within the data. (Support is how frequently the items appear in the database, while confidence is the number of times if/then statements are accurate.)
What does Security Debt mean?
Security debt is a type of technical debt that occurs when an organization fails to prioritize information security dependencies at the beginning of a project.
Security debt is developer lingo for “work we owe.” Like monetary debt, security debt must eventually be paid. Just as failure to pay down a financial debt on time will result in additional charges, failure to pay down security debt can result in additional risk — both financial and reputational.
Security debt can be surfaced in several ways, including through:
- User bug reports
- Publicly disclosed flaws
- Fuzz testing
- Pen testing
- Static analysis tools
To reduce security debt, software developers should include security testing early in the the software development life cycle and automate patch management as much as possible.
What does Greedy Algorithm mean?
A greedy algorithm is an algorithmic strategy that makes the best optimal choice at each small stage with the goal of this eventually leading to a globally optimum solution. This means that the algorithm picks the best solution at the moment without regard for consequences. It picks the best immediate output, but does not consider the big picture, hence it is considered greedy.
What does 2FA mean?
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a verification process in which the user provides two different authentication factors to prove their identity. Credentials can be based on knowledge, possession, inherence, location or time.
The goal of 2FA is to create a layered defence and make it more difficult for an unauthorized person to access a target such as a physical location, computing device, network or database. If one factor is compromised or broken, the attacker still has at least one more barrier to breach before successfully breaking into the target.
Two-factor authentication is a type of multifactor authentication (MFA). Technically, it is in use any time two authentication factors are required to gain access to a system or service. However, using two factors from the same category doesn’t constitute 2FA; for example, requiring a password and a shared secret is still considered SFA as they both belong to the same authentication factor type — knowledge.
What does Grace Hopper mean?
Grace Hopper was a pioneering computer scientist who helped create the field of computer programming. Hopper and her team created the first compiler so that programmers could program with English commands. Hopper also heavily influenced the creation and standardization of COBOL, one of the first programming languages that were compatible with different computers.
Grace Hopper is also known as Grace M. Hopper, Grace Murray Hopper or Grace Brewster Murray Hopper.
Grace Hopper first encountered computers while working with the Navy during World War II (WWII). Amazingly, Hopper stayed with the Navy throughout her career while consulting for the private industry on programming and computing matters. Hopper received many awards, including the 1969 Computer Science Man-of-the-Year Award. Hopper was one of the first individuals to grasp the commercial potential of computer programs, and she saw easy to use programming languages as an important bridge towards that goal.
What does Filter Bubble mean?
A filter bubble is an algorithmic bias that skews or limits the information an individual user sees on the internet. The bias is caused by the weighted algorithms that search engines, social media sites and marketers use to personalize user experience (UX).
The goal of personalization is to present the end-user with the most relevant information possible, but it can also cause a distorted view of reality because it prioritizes information the individual has already expressed interest in. Filter bubbles, which affect an individual’s online advertisements, social media newsfeeds and web searches, essentially insulate the person from outside influences and reinforce what the individual already thinks.
The term filter bubble is often credited to Eli Pariser, whose 2011 book urged companies to become more transparent about their filtering practices. The word bubble, in this context, is a synonym for isolation; its context comes from a medical device called the isolator — a plastic bubble that was infamously used to sequester a young patient with immunodeficiencies in the 1970s.
