SCUMM/Terminology

archive: A file containing one or more chunks
chunk: The basic component of a SCUMM data file. A chunk is a block of data that starts with a chunk tag; a two or four byte indentifier of the type of data stored in the chunk, and the length of the chunk. The rest of the chunk can be data of any type and may contain child chunks.
container chunk: A chunk that contains child chunks. Usually the child chunks follow a header that may be zero or more bytes long, with no data between them.
leaf chunk: A chunk that does not contain any child chunks.
quad: A four-byte signed value. SCUMM uses both quad LEs (little endian) and quad BEs (big endian).
resource: A chunk that is important to SCUMM in some way. (Resource and chunk are mostly interchangeable. Chunk is used to refer to any RIFF file data block, resource only refers to SCUMM data blocks.)
resource number: See named resource.
named resource: A resource that appears in the SCUMM file's index. Named resources are identified by a tuple of (class, number). The numbers are small integers counting up from zero. Named resources are sometimes referred to as objects, but as these can be easily confused with SCUMM objects it is not recommended.
string: Another name for an array.
word: A two-byte signed value. SCUMM uses both quad LEs (little endian) and quad BEs (big endian).

See also