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C

CAD - Computer Aided Design: Designing 2D/3D objects with the support of a computer. See also CIM.
CAE - Computer Aided Engineering: Constructing and testing objects with the help of a computer. See also CIM.
CAM - Computer Aided Manufacturing: Manufacturing objects with the support a computer. See also CIM.
CAP - Computer Aided Publishing: Editing papers, books, etc. with the help of a computer. Newer systems are called DTP.
CAQ - Computer Aided Quality (assurance/management): Quality management / quality assurance with the support a computer. See also CIM.
CC - Compact Cassette: Another name for MCs.
CD - Compact Disc: A digital optical mass storage, introduced in 1982. There are two different sizes, 12 cm and ("single") 8 cm in diameter. Based on this there are three main types for audio (CD-DA), data (CD-ROM) and video (CD-V). Recordable discs are called CD-R, re-writable discs are known as CD-RW. All CD formats could be replaced by DVDs in the near future.

The data format for compact discs is derived from the CD-DA format which is defined in the "Red Book". The other formats are defined in other "colored books" as follows (number of bytes in brackets):

The Red Book: Audio Sector
Audio Sample Bytes (2352)
The Yellow Book: Data Sector Mode 1
Sync (12)	Header (4)	User Data (2048)		EDC (4)	Zero (8)	ECC (276)
The Yellow Book: Data Sector Mode 2
Sync (12)	Header (4)	User Data (2336)
The Green Book: Data Sector Mode 2 - Form 1 (CD-ROM-XA Form 1)
Sync (12)	Header (4)	SubHeader (8)	User Data (2048)		EDC (4)	ECC (276)
The Green Book: Data Sector Mode 2 - Form 2 (CD-ROM-XA Form 2)
Sync (12)	Header (4)	SubHeader (8)	User Data (2324)			EDC (4)

Note: EDC and ECC are data blocks for error correction purposes.

CD32 - Compact Disc - 32 [bits]: This very first 32bit multimedia CD player was developed by Commodore (introduced in 1993) and is based on the Amiga 1200 personal computer. It supports the following formats: CD32, CDTV, CD-DA, CD+G and MPEG videos.
CD-Audio - Compact Disc - Audio: See below at: CD-DA
CD-DA - Compact Disc - Digital Audio: The standard 12 cm audio CD format offers up to 80 minutes of music. It was developed by Philips (1982) and is defined in the so-called "Red Book" for CDs. Very often this format is referred to as "CD".

A CD-DA contains stereo audio samples with 16 bit resolution which are sampled at 44.1 kHz (44,100 samples per second). This results in: 44,100 samples/s * 2 (stereo) * 2 bytes/sample (16 bit) = 176,400 bytes/s. One sector contains samples for 1/75 s (2352 bytes).

There are also special formats: CD+G, CD+MIDI. Maxi-CDs are sometimes marked "CD-MS".
CD-EBG - Compact Disc - Electronic Book G?: This CD-ROM format was designed by Sony (1992). It is based on the 8 cm CD size. The player is of the walkman type. (Short: a flop!)
CD+G - Compact Disc + Graphics: This is a combination of a normal CD-DA with additional graphics information.
CD-I - Compact Disc - Interactive: A CD-ROM format designed by Philips (1992), defined in the "Green Book" for CDs. Philips CD-I multimedia players support CD-DA, CD+G and CD-I discs. (Short: a flop!)
CD+MIDI - Compact Disc + MIDI: This is a combination of a normal CD-DA with additional MIDI data.
CD-MS - Compact Disc - Maxi Single: Another name for Maxi-CD.
CDP - Compact Disc Player: A device that is capable of playing CDs.
CDR - Compact Disc Recorder: A device that is capable of recording on CD-Rs. Most modern devices also work as a CDP.
CD-R - Compact Disc - Recordable: A CD which can be recorded on only once using a CDR. Therefore this is also known as CD-WO or CD-WORM. The format and the properties are defined in the "Orange Book". There are discs with 560 and 660 MB capacity. These discs are mostly colored golden to not confuse them with the normal silver CDs. See also: CD-RW.
CD-ROM - Compact Disc - Read Only Memory: The CD-ROM was introduced in 1985. It is a single-sided, single-layered CD containing up to 650 MByte of data. Most discs are based on the standard file system ISO-9660, developed by Sony & Philips (?).

There are several special formats: CD-EBG, CD-I, CDTV, CD32, PhotoCD...

Since all compact disc drives are based on the CD-DA player, a single-speed CD-ROM drive transfers 150 kB/s (75 sectors/s * 2048 bytes/sector), double-speed means 300 kB/s (the discs rotate at the double speed), quadruple-speed means 600 kB/s and so on. The maximum speed is about 48x.
CD-ROM-XA - Compact Disc - Read Only Memory - eXtended Architecture: A certain format for CD-ROMs, defined in the "Yellow Book" for CDs.
CD-RW - Compact Disc - ReWritable: This is kind of a "CD-RAM" since it is a mass memory similar to a CD-ROM, but can be deleted and rewritten again. Like the CD-ROM and the CD-R it was developed for computer data, but can also be used as a re-writable CD-DA. However, most audio CDPs are not capable of playing them.
CDTV - Commodore Dynamic Total Vision: This first ever multimedia CD player was developed by Commodore (1991) and is based on the Amiga 500 personal computer. The CDTV player supports CDTV, CD-DA, CD+G, CD+MIDI. (Short: a flop!)
CD-V - Compact Disc - Video: An early, analogous format for video on CDs (1980s). Also known as LD. See also: DVD.
CD-WO - Compact Disc - Write Once: A shorter name for CD-WORM.
CD-WORM - Compact Disc - Write Once Read only Memory: A CD-like disc that can be written once and after this works just like a "normal" CD. The more common name for these discs is CD-R. A shorter name is also CD-WO.
CGI - Common Gateway Interface: The quasi-standardized interface between a HTTP server and the local programs it executes.
CIM - Computer Integrated Manufacturing: Manufacturing objects with computers. This integrates the use of computers within several steps like CAD, CAE, CAM and CAQ.
CISC - Complex Instruction Set Computer: A CPU that knows more than 100 instructions. See also: RISC.
COBOL - COmmon Business Oriented Language: A programming language.
CPI - Characters Per Inch: A unit for printer font width.
CPS - Characters Per Second: A unit describing data transfer speed, for example of a printer.
CPU - Central Processing Unit: The "heart" of a computer. Sometimes called MPU.

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