CD
CD may refer to any of the following:
1. Short for Compact Disc, see the Compact Disc definition for additional information about this term.
2. Short for Change Directory, cd is a command commonly used to change the directory in a command line operating system.
Below is a quick overview of the available options for the CD command. These options may be different for your command line (e.g., MS-DOS vs. Linux) for more detailed information see the cd command page for your command line in the related pages section.
Command | Description |
cd hope | Moves into the hope directory if available in the current directory. This directory name could be substituted for any name. |
cd .. or cd.. | Move back one directory (parent directory). MS-DOS and the Windows command line supports either of these commands. However, Linux requires the space between the cd and the two periods. |
cd\ or cd / | Moves back to the root directory. |
cd ~ | Moves back to the home directory. |
Compact Disk
Abbreviated as CD, a compact disc is a flat, round, optical storage medium invented by James Russell. The first CD was created at a Philips factory in Germany on August 17, 1982. The picture is an example of the bottom of a standard compact disc and is the side the disc player reads. The opposite side of the disc has a label to help indicate what is on the disc.
As we mentioned above, compact discs are used to store data so that may be retrieved or executed at a later date. CDs can store software programs so that you may load them onto your computer. They save files for backup or transfer to another computer, as well as hold music to play in a CD player.
The standard CD is capable of holding 72 minutes of music or 650 MB of data. An 80 minute CD is capable of holding 700 MB of data.
There were several types of storage media released before a CD. However, the most common storage media used before the introduction of the CD was the 3.5" floppy diskette.