Terminology

Leonardo, Vol. 14, No.2, 150. Pergamon Press Ltd" 1981. Printed in Great Britain. TERMINOLOGY The terms defined below were selected from artists' Articles and Notes published in the previous issue of Leonardo, Each definition is followed by an indication of the volume and page of Leonardo on which the term first appears, The terms were not found in the art dictionaries among the dictionaries listed in Leonardo 14,59 (1981) or they are used in a new sense. Some are terms that have been carried over into the field of art from the natural and social sciences, from mathematics and from technology. Numbers in brackets, e.g. [II, 17], refer to the dictionaries mentioned above. The definitions are not presumed to be unassailable. The editors would, therefore, welcome the comments of readers on the definitions presented, 1061. Frilled glass (in materials technology)-Glass particles partially fused together to form a solid porous block. A fritted glass element at the end of a tube is employed, for example, to introduce bubbles into a fish aquarium. ([15] p. 8) 1062. Integrated circuit, Ie, microcircuit (in electronics)-A microelectronic circuit whose components and connectors are made by processing distinct areas of a small piece of a single crystal of semiconductor material, such as silicon. Integrated circuits are used in digital computers and in other applications where small reliable electronic circuits are required. ([15] p. 9; [13, 18]) (cf. Terms 1068: semiconductor; and 1069: silicon) 1063. Microcircuit (in electronics)-(cf. Term 1062: integrated circuit) 1064, PROM (programmable ROM (read-only memory)) (in computer technology)-In a digital computer, a ROM in which a program can be stored and revised by the user. ([I5] p. 9; [13, 14]) (cf. Terms 1065: PROM programmer; and 1067: ROM) 1065, PROM programmer (in computer technology)-An electronic device that through use ofa built-in keyboard orother input device can be made to store a digital computer program in a programmable ROM or a PROM. [13, 14] (cf. Term 1064: PROM) 150 1066. Robot Projector (in visual art)-A box-like device developed by P. K. Hoenich in which moving and changing images of colored light on an opaque inner wall may be viewed. The device is related to his Robot-Painter System, One wall of transparent material serves as a window for viewing. Light from a moving source, such as the Sun, enters the device through one of three variously colored panes on the top and two of its sides and passes to prisms and distorted mirrors before being projected to the opaque wall. ([ 15] p. 38) (cf. Terminology. Leonardo 1, 323 (1968): Robot-Painter) 1067, ROM (read-only memory) (in computer technology)-In a digital computer, a memory unit in which either instructions or data are usually permanently and unalterably stored for use by the machine or for reference by the user. [13,14]; (cf. Terms 1064: PROM; and 1065: PROM programmer) 1068. Semiconductor (in physics)-One of a class of crystalline and noncrystalline materials whose electrical resistance is between that of electrical conductors and of insulators and varies with temperature and with the presence of traces of impurities. Crystalline semiconductors are commonly used in transistors, integrated circuits. photocells and other electronic devices. ([15] p. 9; [3, 13]) (cf. Terms 1062:integrated circuit; and 1069:silicon) 1069, Silicon (in chemistrvt-s-A chemical element that is a nonmetal similar to carbon in its chemical properties. It occurs very widely in nature, for example as an oxide in the case of sand. Silicon is used extensively in metallurgy in the manufacture of alloys, Crystalline silicon is used in many kinds of semiconductor electronic components, [13, 18] 1070. Silicon chip (in electronicsj-s-A small piece of a single crystal of silicon containing a single electronic component or device or an integrated electronic circuit produced on it. [17] (cf. Terms 1062: integrated circuit; and 1069: silicon) ...