List of computing and IT abbreviations
Encyclopedia
This is a list of computing and IT acronyms and abbreviations.

0–9

  • /.
    Slashdot
    Slashdot is a technology-related news website owned by Geeknet, Inc. The site, which bills itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", features user-submitted and ‑evaluated current affairs news stories about science- and technology-related topics. Each story has a comments section...

    —Slashdot
  • 1GL
    First-generation programming language
    A first-generation programming language is a machine-level programming language.Originally, no translator was used to compile or assemble the first-generation language. The first-generation programming instructions were entered through the front panel switches of the computer system....

    —First-Generation Programming Language
  • 1NF—First Normal Form
  • 10B2
    10BASE2
    10BASE2 is a variant of Ethernet that uses thin coaxial cable , terminated with BNC connectors...

    —10BASE-2
  • 10B5
    10BASE5
    10BASE5 was the original commercially available variant of Ethernet.For its physical layer it used cable similar to RG-8/U coaxial cable but with extra braided shielding. This is a stiff, diameter cable with an impedance of 50 ohms , a solid center conductor, a foam insulating filler, a shielding...

    —10BASE-5
  • 10B-F—10BASE-F
  • 10B-FB
    10BASE-FB
    The 10BASE-FB is a network segment used to bridge network hubs. Due to the synchronous operation of 10BASE-FB, delays normally associated with Ethernet repeaters are reduced, thus allowing segment distances to be extended without compromising the collision detection mechanism. The maximum...

    —10BASE-FB
  • 10B-FL
    10BASE-FL
    10BASE-FL is the most commonly used 10BASE-F specification of Ethernet over optical fiber. It replaces the original fiber-optic inter-repeater link specification, but retains compatibility with FOIRL-based equipment...

    —10BASE-FL
  • 10B-FP—10BASE-FP
  • 10B-T
    10BASE-T
    Ethernet over twisted pair technologies use twisted-pair cables for the physical layer of an Ethernet computer network. Other Ethernet cable standards employ coaxial cable or optical fiber. Early versions developed in the 1980s included StarLAN followed by 10BASE-T. By the 1990s, fast, inexpensive...

    —10BASE-T
  • 100B-FX—100BASE-FX
  • 100B-T—100BASE-T
  • 100B-TX—100BASE-TX
  • 100BVG
    100BaseVG
    100BaseVG is a 100 Mbit/s Ethernet standard specified to run over four pairs of category 3 UTP wires . It is also called 100VG-AnyLAN because it was defined to carry both Ethernet and token ring frame types....

    —100BASE-VG
  • 286
    Intel 80286
    The Intel 80286 , introduced on 1 February 1982, was a 16-bit x86 microprocessor with 134,000 transistors. Like its contemporary simpler cousin, the 80186, it could correctly execute most software written for the earlier Intel 8086 and 8088...

    —Intel 80286 processor
  • 2B1Q
    2B1Q
    Two-binary, one-quaternary is a physical layer encoding used for Integrated Services Digital Network Basic Rate Interface implementations...

    —2 Binary 1 Quaternary
  • 2GL
    Second-generation programming language
    Second-generation programming language is a generational way to categorise assembly languages. The term was coined to provide a distinction from higher level third-generation programming languages such as COBOL and earlier machine code languages. Second-generation programming languages have the...

    —Second-Generation Programming Language
  • 2NF—Second Normal Form
  • 3GL
    Third-generation programming language
    A third-generation programming language is a refinement of a second-generation programming language. The second generation of programming languages brought logical structure to software. The third generation brought refinements to make the languages more programmer-friendly...

    —Third-Generation Programming Language
  • 3NF—Third Normal Form
  • 386
    Intel 80386
    The Intel 80386, also known as the i386, or just 386, was a 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were used as the central processing unit of many workstations and high-end personal computers of the time...

    —Intel 80386 processor
  • 486—Intel 80486 processor
  • 4B5BLF
    4B5B
    In telecommunication, 4B5B is a form of data communications Block Coding. 4B5B maps groups of four bits onto groups of 5 bits, with a minimum density of 1 bits in the output. When NRZI-encoded, the 1 bits provide necessary clock transitions for the receiver. For example, a run of 4 bits such as...

    —4 Byte 5 Byte Local Fiber
  • 4GL
    Fourth-generation programming language
    A fourth-generation programming language is a programming language or programming environment designed with a specific purpose in mind, such as the development of commercial business software. In the history of computer science, the 4GL followed the 3GL in an upward trend toward higher...

    —Fourth-Generation Programming Language
  • 4NF—Fourth Normal Form
  • 5GL
    Fifth-generation programming language
    A fifth-generation programming language is a programming language based around solving problems using constraints given to the program, rather than using an algorithm written by a programmer...

    —Fifth-Generation Programming Language
  • 5NF—Fifth Normal Form
  • 6NF—Sixth Normal Form
  • 8B10BLF
    8B/10B encoding
    In telecommunications, 8b/10b is a line code that maps 8-bit symbols to 10-bit symbols to achieve DC-balance and bounded disparity, and yet provide enough state changes to allow reasonable clock recovery. This means that the difference between the count of 1s and 0s in a string of at least 20 bits...

    —8 Byte 10 Byte Local Fiber


A

  • AAT
    Access time
    Access time is the time delay or latency between a request to an electronic system, and the access being completed or the requested data returned....

    —Average Access Time
  • AA
    Anti-aliasing
    In digital signal processing, spatial anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing the distortion artifacts known as aliasing when representing a high-resolution image at a lower resolution...

    —Anti-Aliasing
  • AAA
    AAA protocol
    In computer security, AAA commonly stands for authentication, authorization and accounting.- Authentication :Authentication refers to the process where an entity's identity is authenticated, typically by providing evidence that it holds a specific digital identity such as an identifier and the...

    —Authentication Authorization, Accounting
  • AABB
    Minimum bounding box
    The minimum or smallest bounding or enclosing box for a point set in N dimensions is the box with the smallest measure within which all the points lie...

    —Axis Aligned Bounding Box
  • AAC
    Advanced Audio Coding
    Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....

    —Advanced Audio Coding
  • AAL—ATM Adaptation Layer
  • AALC—ATM Adaptation Layer Connection
  • AARP
    AppleTalk
    AppleTalk is a proprietary suite of protocols developed by Apple Inc. for networking computers. It was included in the original Macintosh released in 1984, but is now unsupported as of the release of Mac OS X v10.6 in 2009 in favor of TCP/IP networking...

    —AppleTalk Address Resolution Protocol
  • ABCL
    Actor-Based Concurrent Language
    Actor-Based Concurrent Language is a family of programming languages, developed in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s.-ABCL/1:ABCL/1 is a prototype-based concurrent programming language for the ABCL MIMD system, created in 1986 by Akinori Yonezawa, of the Department of Information Science at the...

    —Actor-Based Concurrent Language
  • ABI
    Application binary interface
    In computer software, an application binary interface describes the low-level interface between an application program and the operating system or another application.- Description :...

    —Application Binary Interface
  • ABM
    Asynchronous Balanced Mode
    Asynchronous Balanced Mode is a communication mode of HDLC and derivative protocols, supporting peer-oriented point-to-point communications between two nodes, where either node can initiate transmission....

    —Asynchronous Balanced Mode
  • ABR—Area Border Router
  • ABR
    Automatic baud rate detection
    Automatic baud rate detection refers to the process by which a receiving device determines the speed, code level, and stop bits of incoming data by examining the first character, usually a preselected sign-on character...

    —Auto Baud-Rate detection
  • ABR
    Available Bit Rate
    Available Bit Rate is a service used in ATM networks when source and destination don't need to be synchronized. ABR does not guarantee against delay or data loss. ABR mechanisms allow the network to allocate the available bandwidth fairly over the present ABR sources...

    —Available Bitrate
  • ABR
    Average bitrate
    Average bitrate refers to the average amount of data transferredper unit of time, usually measured per second. This is commonly referred to for digital music or video. An MP3 file, for example, that has an average bit rate of 128 kbit/s transfers, on average, 128,000 bits every second...

    —Average Bitrate
  • AC
    Acoustic coupler
    In telecommunications, the term acoustic coupler has the following meanings:# An interface device for coupling electrical signals by acoustical means—usually into and out of a telephone instrument....

    —Acoustic Coupler
  • AC
    Alternating current
    In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....

    —Alternating Current
  • ACD
    Automatic call distributor
    In telephony, an Automatic Call Distributor , also known as Automated Call Distribution, is a device or system that distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals that agents use. It is often part of a computer telephony integration system.Routing incoming calls is the task of the ACD...

    —Automatic Call Distributor
  • ACE
    Advanced Computing Environment
    The Advanced Computing Environment was defined by an industry consortium in the early 1990s to be the next generation commodity computing platform, the successor to personal computers based on Intel's 32-bit instruction set architecture...

    —Advanced Computing Environment
  • ACF NCP
    ACF NCP
    ACF NCP stands for Advanced Communication Function - Network Control Program. It is the program that controls network communications in a standard SNA.DLSW+ isan IP transport solution for SNA/NetBIOS between peering routers...

    —Advanced Communications Function—Network Control Program
  • ACID
    ACID
    In computer science, ACID is a set of properties that guarantee database transactions are processed reliably. In the context of databases, a single logical operation on the data is called a transaction...

    —Atomicity Consistency Isolation Durability
  • ACK
    Acknowledge character
    In telecommunications, an acknowledge character is a transmission control character transmitted by the receiving station as an acknowledgement, i.e...

    —ACKnowledgement
  • ACK
    Amsterdam Compiler Kit
    The Amsterdam Compiler Kit is a fast, lightweight and retargetable compiler suite and toolchain written by Andrew Tanenbaum and Ceriel Jacobs, and is MINIX's native toolchain. The ACK was originally closed-source software , but in April 2003 it was released under an open source BSD license...

    —Amsterdam Compiler Kit
  • ACL
    Access control list
    An access control list , with respect to a computer file system, is a list of permissions attached to an object. An ACL specifies which users or system processes are granted access to objects, as well as what operations are allowed on given objects. Each entry in a typical ACL specifies a subject...

    —Access Control List
  • ACL—Active Current Loop
  • ACM
    Association for Computing Machinery
    The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...

    —Association for Computing Machinery
  • ACME—Automated Classification of Medical Entities
  • ACP—Airline Control Program
  • ACPI
    Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
    In computing, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface specification provides an open standard for device configuration and power management by the operating system....

    —Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
  • ACR
    Allowed cell rate
    The allowed cell rate is the rate in cells per second at which a source device may send data in ATM networks. It is bounded by the minimum cell rate and the peak cell rate....

    —Allowed Cell Rate
  • ACR
    Attenuation to crosstalk ratio
    Attenuation-to-crosstalk ratio, ACR, is the most important result when testing a link because it represents the overall performance of the cable. ACR is a mathematical formula that calculates the ratio of attenuation to near-end crosstalk for each combination of cable pairs...

    —Attenuation to Crosstalk Ratio
  • AD
    Active Directory
    Active Directory is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems. Server computers on which Active Directory is running are called domain controllers....

    —Active Directory
  • AD
    Administrative domain
    -Definition:An administrative domain is a service provider holding a security repository permitting to easily authenticate and authorize clients with credentials.This particularly applies to computer network security....

    —Administrative Domain
  • ADC
    Analog-to-digital converter
    An analog-to-digital converter is a device that converts a continuous quantity to a discrete time digital representation. An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement...

    —Analog-to-Digital Converter
  • ADC
    Apple Display Connector
    The Apple Display Connector is a proprietary modification of the DVI connector that combines analog and digital video signals, USB, and power all in one cable...

    —Apple Display Connector
  • ADB
    Apple Desktop Bus
    Apple Desktop Bus is an obsolete bit-serial computer bus connecting low-speed devices to computers. Used primarily on the Macintosh platform, ADB equipment is still available but not supported by most Apple hardware manufactured since 1999....

    —Apple Desktop Bus
  • ADCCP
    Advanced Data Communication Control Procedures
    In telecommunication, Advanced Data Communication Control Procedures is a bit-oriented data link layer protocol used to provide point-to-point and point-to-multipoint transmission of data frames that contain error control information. It places data on a network and ensures proper delivery to a...

    —Advanced Data Communications Control Procedures
  • ADO
    ActiveX Data Objects
    Microsoft's ActiveX Data Objects is a set of Component Object Model objects for accessing data sources. A part of MDAC, it provides a middleware layer between programming languages and OLE DB...

    —ActiveX Data Objects
  • ADSL
    Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
    Asymmetric digital subscriber line is a type of digital subscriber line technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. It does this by utilizing frequencies that are not used by a voice...

    —Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
  • ADT
    Abstract data type
    In computing, an abstract data type is a mathematical model for a certain class of data structures that have similar behavior; or for certain data types of one or more programming languages that have similar semantics...

    —Abstract Data Type
  • AE
    Equalization
    Equalization, is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal. The most well known use of equalization is in sound recording and reproduction but there are many other applications in electronics and telecommunications. The circuit or equipment used...

    —Adaptive Equalizer
  • AES
    Advanced Encryption Standard
    Advanced Encryption Standard is a specification for the encryption of electronic data. It has been adopted by the U.S. government and is now used worldwide. It supersedes DES...

    —Advanced Encryption Standard
  • AF
    Anisotropic filtering
    In 3D computer graphics, anisotropic filtering is a method of enhancing the image quality of textures on surfaces that are at oblique viewing angles with respect to the camera where the projection of the texture appears to be non-orthogonal In 3D computer graphics, anisotropic filtering...

    —Anisotropic Filtering
  • AFP
    Apple Filing Protocol
    The Apple Filing Protocol is a network protocol that offers file services for Mac OS X and original Mac OS. In Mac OS X, AFP is one of several file services supported including Server Message Block , Network File System , File Transfer Protocol , and WebDAV...

    —Apple Filing Protocol
  • AGP
    Accelerated Graphics Port
    The Accelerated Graphics Port is a high-speed point-to-point channel for attaching a video card to a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer graphics. Since 2004 AGP has been progressively phased out in favor of PCI Express...

    —Accelerated Graphics Port
  • AH—Active Hub
  • AI
    Artificial intelligence
    Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

    —Artificial Intelligence
  • AIX—Advanced Interactive eXecutive
  • Ajax
    Ajax (programming)
    Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...

    —Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
  • AL
    Hyperlink
    In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...

    —Active Link
  • AL—Access List
  • ALAC—Apple Lossless Audio Codec
  • ALGOL
    ALGOL
    ALGOL is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in the mid 1950s which greatly influenced many other languages and became the de facto way algorithms were described in textbooks and academic works for almost the next 30 years...

    —Algorithmic Language
  • ALSA—Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
  • ALU
    Arithmetic logic unit
    In computing, an arithmetic logic unit is a digital circuit that performs arithmetic and logical operations.The ALU is a fundamental building block of the central processing unit of a computer, and even the simplest microprocessors contain one for purposes such as maintaining timers...

    —Arithmetic and Logical Unit
  • AM
    Active-matrix liquid crystal display
    An active matrix liquid crystal display is a type of flat panel display, currently the overwhelming choice of notebook computer manufacturers, due to low weight, very good image quality, wide color gamut and response time...

    —Active Matrix
  • AM
    Access method
    An access method is a function of a mainframe operating system that enables access to data on disk, tape or other external devices. They were introduced in 1963 in IBM OS/360 operating system...

    —Access Method
  • AM
    Active monitor
    An active monitor is the device in a token ring that performs network-management duties, such as keeping track of tokens and weeding out frames that would otherwise circulate indefinitely. The device that has the highest MAC address in the token ring is automatically selected as the active monitor....

    —Active Monitor
  • AM
    I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
    "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is a postapocalyptic science fiction short story by Harlan Ellison. It was first published in the March 1967 issue of IF: Worlds of Science Fiction. It won a Hugo Award in 1968. The name was also used for a short story collection of Ellison's work, featuring...

    —Allied Mastercomputer
  • AM
    Amplitude modulation
    Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...

    —Amplitude Modulation
  • AMD
    Advanced Micro Devices
    Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...

    —Advanced Micro Devices
  • AMQP
    Advanced Message Queuing Protocol
    The Advanced Message Queuing Protocol is an open standard application layer protocol for message-oriented middleware. The defining features of AMQP are message orientation, queuing, routing , reliability and security.AMQP mandates the behaviour of the messaging provider and client to the extent...

    —Advanced Message Queuing Protocol
  • AMR
    Audio/modem riser
    The audio/modem riser, also known as an AMR slot, is a riser expansion slot found on the motherboards of some Pentium III, Pentium 4, Duron, and Athlon personal computers...

    —Audio Modem Riser
  • ANN
    Artificial neural network
    An artificial neural network , usually called neural network , is a mathematical model or computational model that is inspired by the structure and/or functional aspects of biological neural networks. A neural network consists of an interconnected group of artificial neurons, and it processes...

    —Artificial Neural Network
  • ANSI
    American National Standards Institute
    The American National Standards Institute is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organization also coordinates U.S. standards with international...

    —American National Standards Institute
  • ANT
    Apache Ant
    Apache Ant is a software tool for automating software build processes. It is similar to Make but is implemented using the Java language, requires the Java platform, and is best suited to building Java projects....

    —Another Neat Tool
  • AoE
    ATA over Ethernet
    ATA over Ethernet is a network protocol developed by the Brantley Coile Company, designed for simple, high-performance access of SATA storage devices over Ethernet networks. It is used to build storage area networks with low-cost, standard technologies.- Protocol description :AoE runs on layer 2...

    —ATA over Ethernet
  • AOP
    Aspect-oriented programming
    In computing, aspect-oriented programming is a programming paradigm which aims to increase modularity by allowing the separation of cross-cutting concerns...

    —Aspect-Oriented Programming
  • APCI
    Application layer
    The Internet protocol suite and the Open Systems Interconnection model of computer networking each specify a group of protocols and methods identified by the name application layer....

    —Application-Layer Protocol Control Information
  • API
    Application programming interface
    An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...

    —Application Programming Interface
  • APIC
    Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller
    In computing, an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller is a more complex Programmable Interrupt Controller than Intel's original types such as the 8259A...

    —Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller
  • APIPA—Automatic Private IP Addressing
  • APL—A Programming Language
  • APR
    Apache Portable Runtime
    The Apache Portable Runtime is a supporting library for the Apache web server. It provides a set of APIs that map to the underlying operating system . Where the OS doesn't support a particular function, APR will provide an emulation...

    —Apache Portable Runtime
  • ARC
    Adaptive Replacement Cache
    Adaptive Replacement Cache is a page replacement algorithm withbetter performance than LRU developed at the IBM Almaden Research Center. This is accomplished by keeping track of both Frequently Used and Recently Used pages plus a recent eviction history for both...

    —Adaptive Replacement Cache
  • ARC
    Advanced RISC Computing
    Advanced RISC Computing is a specification promulgated by a defunct consortium of computer manufacturers , setting forth a standard MIPS RISC-based computer hardware and firmware environment....

    —Advanced RISC Computing
  • ARIN
    American Registry for Internet Numbers
    The American Registry for Internet Numbers is the Regional Internet Registry for Canada, many Caribbean and North Atlantic islands, and the United States. ARIN manages the distribution of Internet number resources, including IPv4 and IPv6 address space and AS numbers. ARIN opened its doors for...

    —American Registry for Internet Numbers
  • ARM
    ARM Holdings
    ARM Holdings plc is a British multinational semiconductor and software company headquartered in Cambridge. Its largest business is in processors, although it also designs, licenses and sells software development tools under the RealView and KEIL brands, systems and platforms, system-on-a-chip...

    —Advanced RISC Machines
  • AROS
    AROS Research Operating System
    AROS Research Operating System is a free and open source multi media centric implementation of the AmigaOS 3.1 APIs. Designed to be portable and flexible, ports are currently available for x86-based and PowerPC-based PCs in native and hosted flavors, with other architectures in development...

    —AROS Research Operating System
  • ARP
    Address Resolution Protocol
    Address Resolution Protocol is a telecommunications protocol used for resolution of network layer addresses into link layer addresses, a critical function in multiple-access networks. ARP was defined by RFC 826 in 1982. It is Internet Standard STD 37...

    —Address Resolution Protocol
  • ARPA
    .arpa
    The domain name arpa is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is used exclusively for technical infrastructure purposes...

    —Address and Routing Parameter Area
  • ARPA—Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • ARPANET
    ARPANET
    The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...

    —Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
  • AS
    Network access server
    A Network Access Server is a single point of access to a remote resource.-Overview:Concentrates dial-in and dial-out user communications. An access server may have a mixture of analog and digital interfaces and support hundreds of simultaneous users.Communications processor that connects...

    —Access Server
  • ASCII
    ASCII
    The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...

    —American Standard Code for Information Interchange
  • ASG
    Abstract semantic graph
    In computer science, an abstract semantic graph is a data structure used in representing or deriving the semantics of an expression in a formal language...

    —Abstract Semantic Graph
  • ASIC
    Application-specific integrated circuit
    An application-specific integrated circuit is an integrated circuit customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use. For example, a chip designed solely to run a cell phone is an ASIC...

    —Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
  • ASIMO
    ASIMO
    is a humanoid robot created by Honda. Introduced in 2000, ASIMO, which is an acronym for "Advanced Step in Innovative MObility", was created to be a helper to people. With aspirations of helping people who lack full mobility, ASIMO is used to encourage young people to study science and mathematics...

    –Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility
  • ASLR
    Address space layout randomization
    Address space layout randomization is a computer security method which involves randomly arranging the positions of key data areas, usually including the base of the executable and position of libraries, heap, and stack, in a process's address space.- Benefits :Address space randomization hinders...

    –Address Space Layout Randomization
  • ASM
    Algorithmic State Machine
    The Algorithmic State Machine method is a method for designing finite state machines. It is used to represent diagrams of digital integrated circuits. The ASM diagram is like a state diagram but less formal and thus easier to understand...

    —Algorithmic State Machine
  • ASMP
    Asymmetric multiprocessing
    Asymmetric multiprocessing, or AMP, was a software stopgap for handling multiple CPUs before symmetric multiprocessing, or SMP, was available.Multiprocessing is the use of more than one CPU in a computer system...

    —Asymmetric Multiprocessing
  • ASN.1
    Abstract Syntax Notation One
    Data generated at various sources of observation need to be transmitted to one or more locations that process it to generate useful results. For example, voluminous signal data collected by a radio telescope from outer space. The system recording the data and the system processing it later may be...

    —Abstract Syntax Notation 1
  • ASP
    Active Server Pages
    Active Server Pages , also known as Classic ASP or ASP Classic, was Microsoft's first server-side script engine for dynamically-generated Web pages. Initially released as an add-on to Internet Information Services via the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack Active Server Pages (ASP), also known as Classic...

    —Active Server Pages
  • ASP
    Application service provider
    An application service provider is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network. Software offered using an ASP model is also sometimes called On-demand software or software as a service ....

    —Application Service Provider
  • ASR
    Signal (computing)
    A signal is a limited form of inter-process communication used in Unix, Unix-like, and other POSIX-compliant operating systems. Essentially it is an asynchronous notification sent to a process in order to notify it of an event that occurred. When a signal is sent to a process, the operating system...

    —Asynchronous Signal Routine
  • AST
    Abstract syntax tree
    In computer science, an abstract syntax tree , or just syntax tree, is a tree representation of the abstract syntactic structure of source code written in a programming language. Each node of the tree denotes a construct occurring in the source code. The syntax is 'abstract' in the sense that it...

    —Abstract Syntax Tree
  • ASSP—Application-Specific Standard Product
  • AT
    IBM Personal Computer/AT
    The IBM Personal Computer AT, more commonly known as the IBM AT and also sometimes called the PC AT or PC/AT, was IBM's second-generation PC, designed around the 6 MHz Intel 80286 microprocessor and released in 1984 as machine type 5170...

    —Advanced Technology
  • AT
    Access time
    Access time is the time delay or latency between a request to an electronic system, and the access being completed or the requested data returned....

    —Access Time
  • AT
    Active terminator
    An active terminator is a type of single ended SCSI terminator with a built-in voltage regulator to compensate for variations in terminator power....

    —Active Terminator
  • ATA—Advanced Technology Attachment
  • ATAG—Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines
  • ATAPI
    AT Attachment
    Parallel ATA , originally ATA, is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, floppy drives, and optical disc drives in computers. The standard is maintained by X3/INCITS committee...

    —Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface
  • ATM
    Asynchronous Transfer Mode
    Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...

    —Asynchronous Transfer Mode
  • AVC
    H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
    H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC is a standard for video compression, and is currently one of the most commonly used formats for the recording, compression, and distribution of high definition video...

    —Advanced Video Coding
  • AVI
    Audio Video Interleave
    Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...

    —Audio Video Interleaved
  • AWK—Aho Weinberger Kernighan
  • AWT
    Abstract Window Toolkit
    The Abstract Window Toolkit is Java's original platform-independent windowing, graphics, and user-interface widget toolkit. The AWT is now part of the Java Foundation Classes — the standard API for providing a graphical user interface for a Java program.AWT is also the GUI toolkit for a...

    —Abstract Window Toolkit


B

  • B2B
    Business-to-business
    Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...

    —Business-to-Business
  • B2C—Business-to-Consumer
  • BAL—Basic Assembly Language
  • Bash—Bourne-again shell
  • BASIC
    BASIC
    BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....

    —Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
  • BBP
    Baseband Processor
    A baseband processor is a device in a smartphone that manages all the radio functions . This may not include wi-fi and/or bluetooth...

    —Baseband Processor
  • BBS
    Bulletin board system
    A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...

    —Bulletin Board System
  • BCD
    Binary-coded decimal
    In computing and electronic systems, binary-coded decimal is a digital encoding method for numbers using decimal notation, with each decimal digit represented by its own binary sequence. In BCD, a numeral is usually represented by four bits which, in general, represent the decimal range 0 through 9...

    —Binary Coded Decimal
  • BCNF—Boyce–Codd normal form
  • BEEP
    BEEP
    In computer networking, BEEP is a framework for creating network application protocols. It includes an application protocol kernel for connection-oriented asynchronous interactions, and can be used both for binary and text messages within the context of a single application user identity.BEEP is...

    —Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol
  • BER
    Bit error ratio
    In digital transmission, the number of bit errors is the number of received bits of a data stream over a communication channel that have been altered due to noise, interference, distortion or bit synchronization errors....

    —Bit Error Rate
  • BFD—Binary File Descriptor
  • BFS
    Breadth-first search
    In graph theory, breadth-first search is a graph search algorithm that begins at the root node and explores all the neighboring nodes...

    —Breadth-First Search
  • BGP
    Border Gateway Protocol
    The Border Gateway Protocol is the protocol backing the core routing decisions on the Internet. It maintains a table of IP networks or 'prefixes' which designate network reachability among autonomous systems . It is described as a path vector protocol...

    —Border Gateway Protocol
  • BiDi
    Bi-directional text
    Bi-directional text is text containing text in both text directionalities, both right-to-left and left-to-right . It generally involves text containing different types of alphabets, but may also refer to boustrophedon, which is changing text directionality in each row.Some writing systems of the...

    —Bi-Directional
  • bin
    Binary file
    A binary file is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, computer document files containing formatted text...

    —binary
  • BINAC
    BINAC
    BINAC, the Binary Automatic Computer, was an early electronic computer designed for Northrop Aircraft Company by the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation in 1949. Eckert and Mauchly, though they had started the design of EDVAC at the University of Pennsylvania, chose to leave and start EMCC, the...

    —Binary Automatic Computer
  • BIND
    BIND
    BIND , or named , is the most widely used DNS software on the Internet.On Unix-like operating systems it is the de facto standard.Originally written by four graduate students at the Computer Systems Research Group at the University of California, Berkeley , the name originates as an acronym from...

    —Berkeley Internet Name Domain
  • BIOS
    BIOS
    In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....

    —Basic Input Output System
  • BJT
    Bipolar junction transistor
    |- align = "center"| || PNP|- align = "center"| || NPNA bipolar transistor is a three-terminal electronic device constructed of doped semiconductor material and may be used in amplifying or switching applications. Bipolar transistors are so named because their operation involves both electrons...

    —Bipolar Junction Transistor
  • bit
    Bit
    A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...

    —binary digit
  • Blob
    Binary large object
    A blob is a collection of binary data stored as a single entity in a database management system. Blobs are typically images, audio or other multimedia objects, though sometimes binary executable code is stored as a blob...

    —Binary large object
  • Blog
    Blog
    A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

    —Web Log
  • BMP
    Mapping of Unicode characters
    Unicode’s Universal Character Set has a potential capacity to support over 1 million characters. Each UCS character is mapped to a code point which is an integer between 0 and 1,114,111 used to represent each character within the internal logic of text processing software .As of Unicode 5.2.0,...

    —Basic Multilingual Plane
  • BNC
    BNC connector
    The BNC connector ' is a common type of RF connector used for coaxial cable. It is used with radio, television, and other radio-frequency electronic equipment, test instruments, video signals, and was once a popular computer network connector. BNC connectors are made to match the characteristic...

    —Bayonet Neill-Concelman
  • BOINC
    Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
    The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing is an open source middleware system for volunteer and grid computing. It was originally developed to support the SETI@home project before it became useful as a platform for other distributed applications in areas as diverse as mathematics,...

    —Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
  • BOM
    Byte Order Mark
    The byte order mark is a Unicode character used to signal the endianness of a text file or stream. Its code point is U+FEFF. BOM use is optional, and, if used, should appear at the start of the text stream...

    —Byte Order Mark
  • BOOTP—Bootstrap Protocol
  • BPDU—Bridge Protocol Data Unit
  • BPEL
    Business Process Execution Language
    Business Process Execution Language , short for Web Services Business Process Execution Language is an OASIS standard executable language for specifying actions within business processes with web services...

    —Business Process Execution Language
  • BPL
    Power line communication
    Power line communication or power line carrier , also known as power line digital subscriber line , mains communication, power line telecom , power line networking , or broadband over power lines are systems for carrying data on a conductor also used for electric power transmission.A wide range...

    —Broadband over Power Lines
  • bps
    Bit rate
    In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....

    —bits per second
  • BRR
    Business Readiness Rating
    Business Readiness Rating is a proposed rating system for use by open source software community. It is hoped that the system will address testing and reliability requirements important in the enterprise environment, sharing and reducing the perceived TCO of open source software.The system is...

    —Business Readiness Rating
  • BSA
    Business Software Alliance
    The Business Software Alliance is a trade group established in 1988 and representing a number of the world's largest software makers and is a member of the International Intellectual Property Alliance...

    —Business Software Alliance
  • BSB—Backside Bus
  • BSD
    Berkeley Software Distribution
    Berkeley Software Distribution is a Unix operating system derivative developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group of the University of California, Berkeley, from 1977 to 1995...

    —Berkeley Software Distribution
  • BSoD
    Blue Screen of Death
    To forse a BSOD Open regedit.exe,Then search: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\i8042prt\ParametersThen make a new DWORD called "CrashOnCtrlScroll" And set the value to 1....

    —Blue Screen of Death
  • BSS
    .bss
    In computer programming, the name .bss or bss is used by many compilers and linkers for a part of the data segment containing statically-allocated variables represented solely by zero-valued bits initially...

    —Block Started by Symbol
  • BT—BitTorrent
  • BT
    Bluetooth
    Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...

    —Bluetooth
  • BTAM
    Basic telecommunications access method
    Basic Telecommunications Access Method was a low-level programming interface specified by IBM for use on the IBM System/360 for sending and receiving data through telecommunication lines...

    —Basic Telecommunications Access Method
  • BW
    Bandwidth (computing)
    In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...

    —Bandwidth


C

  • CA
    Certificate authority
    In cryptography, a certificate authority, or certification authority, is an entity that issues digital certificates. The digital certificate certifies the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate...

    —Certificate Authority
  • CAD
    Computer-aided design
    Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...

    —Computer-Aided Design
  • CAE
    Computer-aided engineering
    Computer-aided engineering is the broad usage of computer software to aid in engineering tasks. It includes computer-aided design , computer-aided analysis , computer-integrated manufacturing , computer-aided manufacturing , material requirements planning , and computer-aided planning .- Overview...

    —Computer-Aided Engineering
  • CAID
    Computer-aided industrial design
    Computer-aided industrial design is a subset of computer-aided design that includes software that directly helps in product development....

    —Computer-Aided Industrial Design
  • CAI
    E-learning
    E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process...

    —Computer-Aided Instruction
  • CAM
    Computer-aided manufacturing
    Computer-aided manufacturing is the use of computer software to control machine tools and related machinery in the manufacturing of workpieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most common; CAM may also refer to the use of a computer to assist in all operations of a...

    —Computer-Aided Manufacturing
  • CAPTCHA
    CAPTCHA
    A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing as an attempt to ensure that the response is generated by a person. The process usually involves one computer asking a user to complete a simple test which the computer is able to generate and grade...

    —Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart
  • CAT
    Computer-assisted translation
    Computer-assisted translation, computer-aided translation, or CAT is a form of translation wherein a human translator translates texts using computer software designed to support and facilitate the translation process....

     – Computer-Aided Translation
  • CAQ
    Computer-aided quality
    Computer-aided quality assurance is the engineering application of computers and computer controlled machines for the definition and inspection of the quality of products.This includes:*Measuring equipment management*Goods inward inspection...

    —Computer-Aided Quality Assurance
  • CASE
    Computer-aided software engineering
    Computer-aided software engineering is the scientific application of a set of tools and methods to a software system which is meant to result in high-quality, defect-free, and maintainable software products...

    —Computer-Aided Software Engineering
  • cc
    GNU Compiler Collection
    The GNU Compiler Collection is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages. GCC is a key component of the GNU toolchain...

    —C Compiler
  • CD
    Compact Disc
    The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

    —Compact Disc
  • CDE
    Common Desktop Environment
    The Common Desktop Environment is a desktop environment for Unix and OpenVMS, based on the Motif widget toolkit.- Corporate history :...

    —Common Desktop Environment
  • CDMA
    Code division multiple access
    Code division multiple access is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. It should not be confused with the mobile phone standards called cdmaOne, CDMA2000 and WCDMA , which are often referred to as simply CDMA, and use CDMA as an underlying channel access...

    —Code Division Multiple Access
  • CDN
    Content Delivery Network
    A content delivery network or content distribution network is a system of computers containing copies of data placed at various nodes of a network....

    —Content Delivery Network
  • CDP
    Continuous data protection
    Continuous data protection , also called continuous backup or real-time backup, refers to backup of computer data by automatically saving a copy of every change made to that data, essentially capturing every version of the data that the user saves...

    —Continuous Data Protection
  • CD-R
    CD-R
    A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....

    —CD-Recordable
  • CD-ROM
    CD-ROM
    A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....

    —CD Read-Only Memory
  • CD-RW
    CD-RW
    A CD-RW is a rewritable optical disc. It was introduced in 1997, and was known as "CD-Writable" during development. It was preceded by the CD-MO, which was never commercially released....

    —CD-Rewritable
  • CDSA—Common Data Security Architecture
  • CERT—Computer Emergency Response Team
  • CES
    Consumer Electronics Show
    The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...

    —Consumer Electronics Show
  • CF
    CompactFlash
    CompactFlash is a mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices. Most CompactFlash devices contain flash memory in a standardized enclosure. The format was first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994...

    —Compact Flash
  • CFD
    Computational fluid dynamics
    Computational fluid dynamics, usually abbreviated as CFD, is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods and algorithms to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the interaction of liquids and gases with...

    —Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • CFG
    Context-free grammar
    In formal language theory, a context-free grammar is a formal grammar in which every production rule is of the formwhere V is a single nonterminal symbol, and w is a string of terminals and/or nonterminals ....

    —Context-Free Grammar
  • CFG
    Control flow graph
    A control flow graph in computer science is a representation, using graph notation, of all paths that might be traversed through a program during its execution.- Overview :...

    —Control Flow Graph
  • CG
    Computer graphics
    Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....

    —Computer Graphics
  • CGA
    Color Graphics Adapter
    The Color Graphics Adapter , originally also called the Color/Graphics Adapter or IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter, introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card, and the first color computer display standard for the IBM PC....

    —Color Graphics Array
  • CGI
    Common Gateway Interface
    The Common Gateway Interface is a standard method for web servers software to delegate the generation of web pages to executable files...

    —Common Gateway Interface
  • CGI
    Computer-generated imagery
    Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

    —Computer-Generated Imagery
  • CGT
    Graph theory
    In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of graphs, mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects from a certain collection. A "graph" in this context refers to a collection of vertices or 'nodes' and a collection of edges that connect pairs of...

    —Computational Graph Theory
  • CHAP
    Challenge-handshake authentication protocol
    In computing, the Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol authenticates a user or network host to an authenticating entity. That entity may be, for example, an Internet service provider. CHAP is specified in RFC 1994....

    —Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol
  • CHS
    Cylinder-head-sector
    Cylinder-head-sector, also known as CHS, was an early method for giving addresses to each physical block of data on a hard disk drive. In the case of floppy drives, for which the same exact diskette medium can be truly low-level formatted to different capacities, this is still true.Though CHS...

    —Cylinder-Head-Sector
  • CIDR
    Classless Inter-Domain Routing
    Classless Inter-Domain Routing is a method for allocating IP addresses and routing Internet Protocol packets. The Internet Engineering Task Force introduced CIDR in 1993 to replace the previous addressing architecture of classful network design in the Internet...

    —Classless Inter-Domain Routing
  • CIFS
    Server Message Block
    In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...

    —Common Internet Filesystem
  • CIM
    Common Information Model (computing)
    The Common Information Model is an open standard that defines how managed elements in an IT environment are represented as a common set of objects and relationships between them...

    —Common Information Model
  • CISC
    Complex instruction set computer
    A complex instruction set computer , is a computer where single instructions can execute several low-level operations and/or are capable of multi-step operations or addressing modes within single instructions...

    —Complex Instruction Set Computer
  • CJK—Chinese, Japanese, and Korean
  • CJKV—Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese
  • CLI
    Command-line interface
    A command-line interface is a mechanism for interacting with a computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform specific tasks...

    —Command Line Interface
  • CLR
    Common Language Runtime
    The Common Language Runtime is the virtual machine component of Microsoft's .NET framework and is responsible for managing the execution of .NET programs. In a process known as just-in-time compilation, the CLR compiles the intermediate language code known as CIL into the machine instructions...

    —Common Language Runtime
  • CM
    Configuration management
    Configuration management is a field of management that focuses on establishing and maintaining consistency of a system or product's performance and its functional and physical attributes with its requirements, design, and operational information throughout its life.For information assurance, CM...

    —Configuration Management
  • CM
    Content management
    Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content...

    —Content Management
  • CMMI
    Capability Maturity Model Integration
    Capability Maturity Model Integration is a process improvement approach whose goal is to help organizations improve their performance. CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization...

    —Capability Maturity Model Integration
  • CMOS
    CMOS
    Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...

    —Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor
  • CMS
    Content management system
    A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...

    —Content Management System
  • CN
    Active Directory
    Active Directory is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems. Server computers on which Active Directory is running are called domain controllers....

    —Canonical Name
  • CN
    Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
    The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol network...

    —Common Name
  • CNC—Computer Numerical Control
  • CNR
    Communications and Networking Riser
    Communications and Networking Riser is a slot found on certain PC motherboards and used for specialized networking, audio, and telephony equipment. A motherboard manufacturer can choose to provide audio, networking, or modem functionality in any combination on a CNR card...

    —Communications and Networking Riser
  • COBOL
    COBOL
    COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....

    —Common Business-Oriented Language
  • COM
    Component Object Model
    Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...

    —Component Object Model
  • CORBA
    Common Object Request Broker Architecture
    The Common Object Request Broker Architecture is a standard defined by the Object Management Group that enables software components written in multiple computer languages and running on multiple computers to work together .- Overview:CORBA enables separate pieces of software written in different...

    —Common Object Request Broker Architecture
  • COTS
    Commercial off-the-shelf
    In the United States, Commercially available Off-The-Shelf is a Federal Acquisition Regulation term defining a nondevelopmental item of supply that is both commercial and sold in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace, and that can be procured or utilized under government contract...

    —Commercial Off-The-Shelf
  • CPA
    Cell (microprocessor)
    Cell is a microprocessor architecture jointly developed by Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment, Toshiba, and IBM, an alliance known as "STI". The architectural design and first implementation were carried out at the STI Design Center in Austin, Texas over a four-year period beginning March 2001 on a...

    —Cell Processor Architecture
  • CPA—Converged Packet Access
  • CPAN
    CPAN
    CPAN, the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network, is an archive of nearly 100,000 modules of software written in Perl, as well as documentation for it. It has a presence on the World Wide Web at and is mirrored worldwide at more than 200 locations...

    —Comprehensive Perl Archive Network
  • CP/M
    CP/M
    CP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...

    —Control Program/Monitor
  • CPRI
    Common Public Radio Interface
    The Common Public Radio Interface standard defines the interface of base stations between the Radio Equipment Controllers in the standard, to local or remote radio units, known as Radio Equipment ....

    —Common Public Radio Interface
  • CPS—characters per second
  • CPU
    Central processing unit
    The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

    —Central Processing Unit
  • CR
    Carriage return
    Carriage return, often shortened to return, refers to a control character or mechanism used to start a new line of text.Originally, the term "carriage return" referred to a mechanism or lever on a typewriter...

    —Carriage Return
  • CRAN
    R (programming language)
    R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. The R language is widely used among statisticians for developing statistical software, and R is widely used for statistical software development and data analysis....

    —Comprehensive R Archive Network
  • CRC
    Cyclic redundancy check
    A cyclic redundancy check is an error-detecting code commonly used in digital networks and storage devices to detect accidental changes to raw data...

    —Cyclic Redundancy Check
  • CRLF
    Newline
    In computing, a newline, also known as a line break or end-of-line marker, is a special character or sequence of characters signifying the end of a line of text. The name comes from the fact that the next character after the newline will appear on a new line—that is, on the next line below the...

    —Carriage Return Line Feed
  • CRM
    Customer relationship management
    Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...

    —Customer Relationship Management
  • CRS
    Computer reservations system
    A computer reservations system is a computerized system used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions related to air travel. Originally designed and operated by airlines, CRSes were later extended for the use of travel agencies...

    —Computer Reservations System
  • CRT
    Cathode ray tube
    The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...

    —Cathode Ray Tube
  • CRUD—Create, Read, Update and Delete
  • CS
    AT Attachment
    Parallel ATA , originally ATA, is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, floppy drives, and optical disc drives in computers. The standard is maintained by X3/INCITS committee...

    —Cable Select
  • CS
    Computer science
    Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

    —Computer Science
  • CSE—Computer Science and Engineering
  • CSI
    Common System Interface
    The Intel QuickPath Interconnect is a point-to-point processor interconnect developed by Intel which replaces the Front Side Bus in Xeon, Itanium, and certain desktop platforms. It was designed to compete with HyperTransport. Intel first delivered it in November 2008 on the Intel Core i7-9xx...

    —Common System Interface
  • CSP
    Communicating sequential processes
    In computer science, Communicating Sequential Processes is a formal language for describing patterns of interaction in concurrent systems. It is a member of the family of mathematical theories of concurrency known as process algebras, or process calculi...

    —Communicating Sequential Processes
  • CSRF
    Cross-site request forgery
    Cross-site request forgery, also known as a one-click attack or session riding and abbreviated as CSRF or XSRF, is a type of malicious exploit of a website whereby unauthorized commands are transmitted from a user that the website trusts...

    —Cross-Site Request Forgery
  • CSS
    Cascading Style Sheets
    Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language...

    —Cascading Style Sheets
  • CSS
    Content Scramble System
    Content Scramble System is a Digital Rights Management and encryption system employed on almost all commercially produced DVD-Video discs. CSS utilizes a proprietary 40-bit stream cipher algorithm...

    —Content-Scrambling System
  • CSS—Closed Source Software
  • CSS
    Cross-site scripting
    Cross-site scripting is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in Web applications that enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed by other users. A cross-site scripting vulnerability may be used by attackers to bypass access controls such as the same...

    —Cross-Site Scripting
  • CSV
    Comma-separated values
    A comma-separated values file stores tabular data in plain-text form. As a result, such a file is easily human-readable ....

    —Comma-Separated Values
  • CT—Computerized Tomography
  • CTAN
    CTAN
    CTAN is an acronym for the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network.It is the authoritative place where TeX related material and software can be found for download...

    —Comprehensive TeX Archive Network
  • CTCP
    Client-To-Client Protocol
    Client-To-Client Protocol is a special type of communication between Internet Relay Chat clients.CTCP is a common protocol implemented by most major IRC clients in use today. CTCP extends the original IRC protocol by allowing users to query other clients or channels, this causes all the clients...

    —Client-To-Client Protocol
  • CTI
    Computer telephony integration
    Computer telephony integration, also called computer–telephone integration or CTI, is a common name for any technology that allows interactions on a telephone and a computer to be integrated or coordinated...

    —Computer Telephony Integration
  • CTL—Computational Tree Logic
  • CTM
    Close to Metal
    Close To Metal is the name of a beta version of a low-level programming interface developed by ATI , aimed at enabling GPGPU computing...

    —Close To Metal
  • CTS—Clear To Send
  • CTSS—Compatible Time-Sharing System
  • CUA—Common User Access
  • CVS
    Concurrent Versions System
    The Concurrent Versions System , also known as the Concurrent Versioning System, is a client-server free software revision control system in the field of software development. Version control system software keeps track of all work and all changes in a set of files, and allows several developers ...

    —Concurrent Versioning System


D

  • DAC
    Digital-to-analog converter
    In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter is a device that converts a digital code to an analog signal . An analog-to-digital converter performs the reverse operation...

    —Digital-To-Analog Converter
  • DAC
    Discretionary access control
    In computer security, discretionary access control is a kind of access control defined by the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria "as a means of restricting access to objects based on the identity of subjects and/or groups to which they belong...

    —Discretionary Access Control
  • DAO
    Data Access Objects
    Jet Data Access Objects is a deprecated general programming interface for database access on Microsoft Windows systems. It is unrelated to the data access object design pattern used in object-oriented software design.- History :...

    —Data Access Objects
  • DAO
    Optical disc recording modes
    In optical disc authoring, there are multiple modes for recording, including Disc-At-Once, Track-At-Once, and Session-At-Once.-CD Disc-At-Once:...

    —Disk-At-Once
  • DAP
    Directory Access Protocol
    Directory Access Protocol is a computer networking standard promulgated by ITU-T and ISO in 1988 for accessing an X.500 directory service. DAP was intended to be used by client computer systems, but was not popular as there were few implementations of the full OSI protocol stack for desktop...

    —Directory Access Protocol
  • DARPA—Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • DAT
    Digital Audio Tape
    Digital Audio Tape is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a compact audio cassette, using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm. As...

    —Digital Audio Tape
  • DB
    Database
    A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...

    —Database
  • DBA
    Database administrator
    A database administrator is a person responsible for the design, implementation, maintenance and repair of an organization's database. They are also known by the titles Database Coordinator or Database Programmer, and is closely related to the Database Analyst, Database Modeller, Programmer...

    —Database Administrator
  • DBCS
    DBCS
    A double-byte character set is a character set that represents each character with 2 bytes. The DBCS supports national languages that contain a large number of unique characters or symbols...

    —Double Byte Character Set
  • DBMS
    Database management system
    A database management system is a software package with computer programs that control the creation, maintenance, and use of a database. It allows organizations to conveniently develop databases for various applications by database administrators and other specialists. A database is an integrated...

    —Database Management System
  • DCC
    Direct Client-to-Client
    Direct Client-to-Client is an IRC-related sub-protocol enabling peers to interconnect using an IRC server for handshaking in order to exchange files or perform non-relayed chats. Once established, a typical DCC session runs independently from the IRC server. Originally designed to be used with...

    —Direct Client-to-Client
  • DCCP
    Datagram Congestion Control Protocol
    The Datagram Congestion Control Protocol is a message-oriented Transport Layer protocol. DCCP implements reliable connection setup, teardown, Explicit Congestion Notification , congestion control, and feature negotiation. DCCP was published as RFC 4340, a proposed standard, by the IETF in March,...

    —Datagram Congestion Control Protocol
  • DCCA
    DCC Alliance
    The DCC Alliance was an industry association designed to promote a common subset of the Debian GNU/Linux operating system that multiple companies within the consortium could distribute.-History:...

    —Debian Common Core Alliance
  • DCL
    Data Control Language
    A data control language is a syntax similar to a computer programming language used to control access to data stored in a database. In particular, it is a component of Structured Query Language .Examples of DCL commands include:...

    —Data Control Language
  • DCMI
    Dublin Core
    The Dublin Core metadata terms are a set of vocabulary terms which can be used to describe resources for the purposes of discovery. The terms can be used to describe a full range of web resources: video, images, web pages etc and physical resources such as books and objects like artworks...

    —Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
  • DCOM
    Distributed component object model
    Distributed Component Object Model is a proprietary Microsoft technology for communication among software components distributed across networked computers. DCOM, which originally was called "Network OLE", extends Microsoft's COM, and provides the communication substrate under Microsoft's COM+...

    —Distributed Component Object Model
  • DD
    Double density
    Double density, often shortened DD, is a capacity designation on magnetic storage, usually floppy disks. It describes the use of an encoding of information, which can encode on average twice as many bits per time unit compared to single density...

    —Double Density
  • DDE
    Dynamic Data Exchange
    Dynamic Data Exchange is a technology for interprocess communication under Microsoft Windows or OS/2.- Overview :Dynamic Data Exchange was first introduced in 1987 with the release of Windows 2.0 as a method of interprocess communication so that one program can communicate with or control another...

    —Dynamic Data Exchange
  • DDL
    Data Definition Language
    A data definition language or data description language is a syntax similar to a computer programming language for defining data structures, especially database schemas.-History:...

    —Data Definition Language
  • DDoS—Distributed Denial of Service
  • DDR
    DDR SDRAM
    Double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory is a class of memory integrated circuits used in computers. DDR SDRAM has been superseded by DDR2 SDRAM and DDR3 SDRAM, neither of which are either forward or backward compatible with DDR SDRAM, meaning that DDR2 or DDR3 memory modules...

    —Double Data Rate
  • DEC
    Digital Equipment Corporation
    Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...

    —Digital Equipment Corporation
  • DES
    Data Encryption Standard
    The Data Encryption Standard is a block cipher that uses shared secret encryption. It was selected by the National Bureau of Standards as an official Federal Information Processing Standard for the United States in 1976 and which has subsequently enjoyed widespread use internationally. It is...

    —Data Encryption Standard
  • dev—development
  • DFA—Deterministic Finite Automaton
  • DFD
    Data flow diagram
    A data flow diagram is a graphical representation of the "flow" of data through an information system, modelling its process aspects. Often they are a preliminary step used to create an overview of the system which can later be elaborated...

    —Data Flow Diagram
  • DFS
    Depth-first search
    Depth-first search is an algorithm for traversing or searching a tree, tree structure, or graph. One starts at the root and explores as far as possible along each branch before backtracking....

    —Depth-First Search
  • DFS
    Distributed file system
    Network file system may refer to:* A distributed file system, which is accessed over a computer network* Network File System , a specific brand of distributed file system...

    —Distributed File System
  • DGD—Dworkin's Game Driver
  • DHCP
    Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
    The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a network configuration protocol for hosts on Internet Protocol networks. Computers that are connected to IP networks must be configured before they can communicate with other hosts. The most essential information needed is an IP address, and a default...

    —Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
  • DHTML
    Dynamic HTML
    Dynamic HTML, or DHTML, is an umbrella term for a collection of technologies used together to create interactive and animated web sites by using a combination of a static markup language , a client-side scripting language , a presentation definition language , and the Document Object Model.DHTML...

    —Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language
  • DIF
    Data Integrity Field
    DIF stands for Data Integrity Field. The purpose of this field is to provide End-to-End data protection in Computer/Enterprise data storage methodology....

    —Data Integrity Field
  • DIMM
    DIMM
    A DIMM or dual in-line memory module, comprises a series of dynamic random-access memory integrated circuits. These modules are mounted on a printed circuit board and designed for use in personal computers, workstations and servers...

    —Dual Inline Memory Module
  • DIN
    Deutsches Institut für Normung
    is the German national organization for standardization and is that country's ISO member body. DIN is a Registered German Association headquartered in Berlin...

    —Deutsches Institut für Normung
  • DIP
    Dual in-line package
    In microelectronics, a dual in-line package is an electronic device package with a rectangular housing and two parallel rows of electrical connecting pins. The package may be through-hole mounted to a printed circuit board or inserted in a socket.A DIP is usually referred to as a DIPn, where n is...

    —Dual In-line Package
  • DIVX—Digital Video Express
  • DKIM
    DomainKeys Identified Mail
    DomainKeys Identified Mail is a method for associating a domain name to an email message, thereby allowing a person, role, or organization to claim some responsibility for the message. The association is set up by means of a digital signature which can be validated by recipients...

    —Domain Keys Identified Mail
  • DL—Download
  • DLL
    Dynamic-link library
    Dynamic-link library , or DLL, is Microsoft's implementation of the shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems...

    —Dynamic Link Library
  • DLNA
    Digital Living Network Alliance
    The Digital Living Network Alliance is a non-profit collaborative trade organization established by Sony in June 2003, and has more than 250 member companies in the mobile, consumer electronics, PC, and service provider industries...

    —Digital Living Network Alliance
  • DLP—Digital Light Processing
  • DMA
    Direct memory access
    Direct memory access is a feature of modern computers that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory independently of the central processing unit ....

    —Direct Memory Access
  • DMCA
    Digital Millennium Copyright Act
    The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...

    —Digital Millennium Copyright Act
  • DMI
    Direct Media Interface
    The Direct Media Interface is the link between an Intel northbridge and an Intel southbridge on a computer motherboard. It was first used between the 9xx chipsets and the ICH6, released in 2004. Previous chipsets had used the Hub Interface to perform the same function. Server chipsets use a...

    —Direct Media Interface
  • DML
    Data Manipulation Language
    A data manipulation language is a family of syntax elements similar to a computer programming language used for inserting, deleting and updating data in a database...

    —Data Manipulation Language
  • DML
    Definitive Media Library
    Within the context of the ITIL framework, the Definitive Media Library is a secure repository in which an organisation's definitive, authorised versions of media Configuration Items are stored and protected...

    —Definitive Media Library
  • DMR
    Dennis Ritchie
    Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie , was an American computer scientist who "helped shape the digital era." He created the C programming language and, with long-time colleague Ken Thompson, the UNIX operating system...

    —Dennis M. Ritchie
  • DN
    Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
    The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol network...

    —Distinguished Name
  • DND
    Drag-and-drop
    In computer graphical user interfaces, drag-and-drop is the action of selecting a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object...

    —Drag-and-Drop
  • DNS
    Domain name system
    The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...

    —Domain Name System
  • DOCSIS
    DOCSIS
    Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification is an international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of high-speed data transfer to an existing cable TV system...

    —Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification
  • DOM
    Document Object Model
    The Document Object Model is a cross-platform and language-independent convention for representing and interacting with objects in HTML, XHTML and XML documents. Aspects of the DOM may be addressed and manipulated within the syntax of the programming language in use...

    —Document Object Model
  • DoS
    Denial-of-service attack
    A denial-of-service attack or distributed denial-of-service attack is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users...

    —Denial of Service
  • DOS
    DOS
    DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...

    —Disk Operating System
  • DP
    Dot pitch
    Dot pitch is a specification for a computer display, computer printer, image scanner, or other pixel-based device that describes the distance, for example, between dots of the same color on the inside of a display screen...

    —Dot Pitch
  • DPC
    Deferred Procedure Call
    A Deferred Procedure Call is a Microsoft Windows operating system mechanism which allows high-priority tasks to defer required but lower-priority tasks for later execution...

    —Deferred Procedure Call
  • DPI
    Deep packet inspection
    Deep Packet Inspection is a form of computer network packet filtering that examines the data part of a packet as it passes an inspection point, searching for protocol non-compliance, viruses, spam, intrusions or predefined criteria to decide if the packet can...

    —Deep Packet Inspection
  • DPI
    Dots per inch
    Dots per inch is a measure of spatial printing or video dot density, in particular the number of individual dots that can be placed in a line within the span of 1 inch . The DPI value tends to correlate with image resolution, but is related only indirectly.- DPI measurement in monitor...

    —Dots Per Inch
  • DPMI
    DOS Protected Mode Interface
    In computing, the DOS Protected Mode Interface is a specification introduced in 1989 which allows a DOS program to run in protected mode, giving access to many features of the processor not available in real mode...

    —DOS Protected Mode Interface
  • DPMS
    VESA Display Power Management Signaling
    VESA Display Power Management Signaling is a standard from the VESA consortium for managing the power supply of video monitors for computers through the graphics card e.g.; shut off the monitor after the computer has been unused for some time , to save power.- History :DPMS 1.0 was issued by VESA...

    —Display Power Management Signaling
  • DRAM
    Dynamic random access memory
    Dynamic random-access memory is a type of random-access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. The capacitor can be either charged or discharged; these two states are taken to represent the two values of a bit, conventionally called 0 and 1...

    —Dynamic Random Access Memory
  • DR-DOS
    DR-DOS
    DR-DOS is an MS-DOS-compatible operating system for IBM PC-compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from Concurrent PC DOS 6.0, which was an advanced successor of CP/M-86...

    —Digital Research - Disk Operating System
  • DRI
    Direct Rendering Infrastructure
    In computing, the Direct Rendering Infrastructure is an interface and a free software implementation used in the X Window System to securely allow user applications to access the video hardware without requiring data to be passed through the X server. Its primary application is to provide...

    —Direct Rendering Infrastructure
  • DRM
    Digital rights management
    Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...

    —Digital Rights Management
  • DRM
    Direct Rendering Manager
    The Direct Rendering Manager is a component of the Direct Rendering Infrastructure, a system to provide efficient video acceleration on Unix-like operating systems, e.g...

    —Direct Rendering Manager
  • DSDL
    Document Schema Definition Languages
    Document Schema Definition Languages is a framework within which multiple validation tasks of different types can be applied to an XML document in order to achieve more complete validation results than just the application of a single technology....

    —Document Schema Definition Languages
  • DSDM
    Dynamic Systems Development Method
    Dynamic systems development method is an agile project delivery framework, primarily used as a software development method. DSDM was originally based upon the rapid application development method. In 2007 DSDM became a generic approach to project management and solution delivery...

    —Dynamic Systems Development Method
  • DSL
    Digital Subscriber Line
    Digital subscriber line is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL originally stood for digital subscriber loop. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line ,...

    —Digital Subscriber Line
  • DSL—Domain-Specific Language
  • DSLAM
    Digital subscriber line access multiplexer
    A digital subscriber line access multiplexer is a network device, located in the telephone exchanges of the telecommunications operators. It connects multiple customer digital subscriber line interfaces to a high-speed digital communications channel using multiplexing techniques...

    —Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer
  • DSN
    Database Source Name
    In computing, a data source name are data structures used to describe a connection to a data source...

    —Database Source Name
  • DSN
    Data set (IBM mainframe)
    data set , dataset , is a computer file having a record organization. The term pertains to the IBM mainframe operating system line, starting with OS/360, and is still used by its successors, including the current z/OS. Those systems historically preferred this term over a file...

    —Data Set Name
  • DSP
    Digital signal processor
    A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...

    —Digital Signal Processor
  • DSSSL
    Document Style Semantics and Specification Language
    Document Style Semantics and Specification Language is a computer language for specifying stylesheets for SGML documents, based on a subset of the Scheme programming language. It is specified by the standard ISO/IEC 10179:1996...

    —Document Style Semantics and Specification Language
  • DTD
    Document Type Definition
    Document Type Definition is a set of markup declarations that define a document type for SGML-family markup languages...

    —Document Type Definition
  • DTE
    Data terminal equipment
    Data Terminal Equipment is an end instrument that converts user information into signals or reconverts received signals. These can also be called tail circuits. A DTE device communicates with the data circuit-terminating equipment...

    —Data Terminal Equipment
  • DTP
    Desktop publishing
    Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...

    —Desktop Publishing
  • DTR
    RS-232
    In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...

    —Data Terminal Ready
  • DVD
    DVD
    A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

    —Digital Versatile Disc
  • DVD
    DVD
    A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

    —Digital Video Disc
  • DVD-R
    DVD-R
    DVD-R is a DVD recordable format. A DVD-R typically has a storage capacity of 4.71 GB. Pioneer has also developed an 8.5 GB dual layer version, DVD-R DL, which appeared on the market in 2005....

    —DVD-Recordable
  • DVD-ROM—DVD-Read Only Memory
  • DVD-RW
    DVD-RW
    A DVD-RW disc is a rewritable optical disc with equal storage capacity to a DVD-R, typically 4.7 GB. The format was developed by Pioneer in November 1999 and has been approved by the DVD Forum. The smaller Mini DVD-RW holds 1.46 GB, with a diameter of 8 cm.The primary advantage of DVD-RW over...

    —DVD-Rewritable
  • DVI
    Digital Visual Interface
    The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors...

    —Digital Visual Interface
  • DVR
    Digital video recorder
    A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...

    —Digital Video Recorder


E

  • EAI
    Enterprise application integration
    Enterprise Application Integration is defined as the use of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.- Overview :...

    —Enterprise Application Integration
  • EAP
    Extensible Authentication Protocol
    Extensible Authentication Protocol, or EAP, is an authentication framework frequently used in wireless networks and Point-to-Point connections. It is defined in RFC 3748, which made RFC 2284 obsolete, and was updated by RFC 5247....

    —Extensible Authentication Protocol
  • EBCDIC—Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
  • EBML
    Extensible Binary Meta Language
    Extensible Binary Meta Language is a generalized file format for any kind of data, aiming to be a binary equivalent to XML. It provides a basic framework for storing data in XML-like tags...

    —Extensible Binary Meta Language
  • ECC
    Elliptic curve cryptography
    Elliptic curve cryptography is an approach to public-key cryptography based on the algebraic structure of elliptic curves over finite fields. The use of elliptic curves in cryptography was suggested independently by Neal Koblitz and Victor S...

    —Elliptic Curve Cryptography
  • ECMA
    Ecma International
    Ecma International is an international, private non-profit standards organization for information and communication systems. It acquired its name in 1994, when the European Computer Manufacturers Association changed its name to reflect the organization's global reach and activities...

    —European Computer Manufacturers Association
  • ECN
    Explicit Congestion Notification
    Explicit Congestion Notification is an extension to the Internet Protocol and to the Transmission Control Protocol and is defined in RFC 3168 . ECN allows end-to-end notification of network congestion without dropping packets. ECN is an optional feature that is only used when both endpoints...

    —Explicit Congestion Notification
  • ECOS
    ECos
    eCos is an open source, royalty-free, real-time operating system intended for embedded systems and applications which need only one process with multiple threads. It is designed to be customizable to precise application requirements of run-time performance and hardware needs...

    —Embedded Configurable Operating System
  • ECRS
    Expense and Cost Recovery System (ECRS)
    Expense and Cost Recovery Systems An Expense and Cost Recovery System is a specialized subset of “Extract – Transform – Load” functioning as a powerful and flexible set of applications, including programs, scripts and databases designed to improve the cash flow of businesses and organizations by...

    —Expense and Cost Recovery System
  • EDA
    Electronic design automation
    Electronic design automation is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as printed circuit boards and integrated circuits...

    —Electronic Design Automation
  • EDI
    Electronic Data Interchange
    Electronic data interchange is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e...

    —Electronic Data Interchange
  • EDO
    Dynamic random access memory
    Dynamic random-access memory is a type of random-access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. The capacitor can be either charged or discharged; these two states are taken to represent the two values of a bit, conventionally called 0 and 1...

    —Extended Data Out
  • EDSAC—Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator
  • EDVAC
    EDVAC
    EDVAC was one of the earliest electronic computers. Unlike its predecessor the ENIAC, it was binary rather than decimal, and was a stored program computer....

    —Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer
  • EEPROM
    EEPROM
    EEPROM stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory and is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices to store small amounts of data that must be saved when power is removed, e.g., calibration...

    —Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
  • EFF
    Electronic Frontier Foundation
    The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...

    —Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • EFI
    Extensible Firmware Interface
    The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware...

    —Extensible Firmware Interface
  • EFM
    Eight-to-Fourteen Modulation
    Eight-to-fourteen modulation is a data encoding technique – formally, a channel code – used by compact discs and pre-Hi-MD MiniDiscs. EFMPlus is a related code, used in DVDs and SACDs. EFM and EFMPlus were both invented by Kees A...

    —Eight-to-Fourteen Modulation
  • EGA
    Enhanced Graphics Adapter
    The Enhanced Graphics Adapter is the IBM PC computer display standard specification which is between CGA and VGA in terms of color and space resolution. Introduced in October 1984 by IBM shortly after its new PC/AT, EGA produces a display of 16 simultaneous colors from a palette of 64 at a...

    —Enhanced Graphics Array
  • EGP
    Exterior Gateway Protocol
    The Exterior Gateway Protocol is a now obsolete routing protocol for the Internet originally specified in 1982 by Eric C. Rosen of Bolt, Beranek and Newman, and David L. Mills. It was first described in RFC 827 and formally specified in RFC 904...

    —Exterior Gateway Protocol
  • eID
    Electronic identity card
    The electronic identity card or EIC is a government-issued document for online and offline identification. Belgium, Italy as well as other countries are currently issuing EICs which will replace conventional identity cards in most European countries in the future...

    —electronic ID card
  • EIDE
    Eide
    Eide is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the region of Nordmøre. It is located on the Romsdal peninsula, along the Kornstadfjord and the Kvernesfjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Eide...

    —Enhanced IDE
  • EIGRP
    Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
    Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol - is a Cisco proprietary routing protocol loosely based on their original IGRP. EIGRP is an advanced distance-vector routing protocol, with optimizations to minimize both the routing instability incurred after topology changes, as well as the use of...

    —Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
  • EISA
    Extended Industry Standard Architecture
    The Extended Industry Standard Architecture is a bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers...

    —Extended Industry Standard Architecture
  • ELF
    Extremely low frequency
    Extremely low frequency is a term used to describe radiation frequencies from 3 to 300 Hz. In atmosphere science, an alternative definition is usually given, from 3 Hz to 3 kHz...

    —Extremely Low Frequency
  • ELF
    Executable and Linkable Format
    In computing, the Executable and Linkable Format is a common standard file format for executables, object code, shared libraries, and core dumps. First published in the System V Application Binary Interface specification, and later in the Tool Interface Standard, it was quickly accepted among...

    —Executable and Linkable Format
  • ELM
    Elm (e-mail client)
    Elm, is a text-based email client commonly found on Unix systems. It became popular as one of the first email clients to use a text user interface, and as a utility with freely-available source code. The name elm originated from the phrase ELectronic Mail.Dave Taylor developed elm while working...

    —ELectronic Mail
  • EMACS
    Emacs
    Emacs is a class of text editors, usually characterized by their extensibility. GNU Emacs has over 1,000 commands. It also allows the user to combine these commands into macros to automate work.Development began in the mid-1970s and continues actively...

    —Editor MACroS
  • EMS
    Expanded memory
    In DOS memory management, expanded memory is a system of bank switching introduced April 24, 1985 that provided additional memory to DOS programs beyond the limit of conventional memory. Expanded memory uses parts of the address space normally dedicated to communication with peripherals for program...

    —Expanded Memory Specification
  • ENIAC
    ENIAC
    ENIAC was the first general-purpose electronic computer. It was a Turing-complete digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems....

    —Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer
  • EOF
    End-of-file
    In computing, end of file is a condition in a computer operating system where no more data can be read from a data source...

    —End of File
  • EOL—End of Life
  • EOL
    Newline
    In computing, a newline, also known as a line break or end-of-line marker, is a special character or sequence of characters signifying the end of a line of text. The name comes from the fact that the next character after the newline will appear on a new line—that is, on the next line below the...

    —End of Line
  • EOM
    End of Message
    End of message or EOM signifies the end of a message, often an e-mail. The subject of an e-mail may contain such an abbreviation to signify that all content is in the subject line so that the message itself does not need to be opened...

    —End Of Message
  • EPIC
    Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing
    Explicitly parallel instruction computing is a term coined in 1997 by the HP–Intel alliance to describe a computing paradigm that researchers had been investigating since the early 1980s. This paradigm is also called Independence architectures...

    —Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing
  • EPROM
    EPROM
    An EPROM , or erasable programmable read only memory, is a type of memory chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. In other words, it is non-volatile. It is an array of floating-gate transistors individually programmed by an electronic device that supplies higher voltages...

    —Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
  • ERP
    Enterprise resource planning
    Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...

    —Enterprise Resource Planning
  • ESCON
    ESCON
    ESCON is a data connection created by IBM, and is commonly used to connect their mainframe computers to peripheral devices such as disk storage and tape drives. ESCON is an optical fiber, half-duplex, serial interface. It originally operated at a rate of 10 Mbyte/s, which was later increased to...

    —Enterprise Systems Connection
  • ESD
    Electrostatic discharge
    Electrostatic discharge is a serious issue in solid state electronics, such as integrated circuits. Integrated circuits are made from semiconductor materials such as silicon and insulating materials such as silicon dioxide...

    —Electrostatic Discharge
  • ETL
    Extract, transform, load
    Extract, transform and load is a process in database usage and especially in data warehousing that involves:* Extracting data from outside sources* Transforming it to fit operational needs...

    —Extract, Transform, Load
  • ESR
    Eric S. Raymond
    Eric Steven Raymond , often referred to as ESR, is an American computer programmer, author and open source software advocate. After the 1997 publication of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Raymond was for a number of years frequently quoted as an unofficial spokesman for the open source movement...

    —Eric Steven Raymond
  • EUC
    Extended Unix Code
    Extended Unix Code is a multibyte character encoding system used primarily for Japanese, Korean, and simplified Chinese.The structure of EUC is based on the ISO-2022 standard, which specifies a way to represent character sets containing a maximum of 94 characters, or 8836 characters, or 830584 ...

    —Extended Unix Code
  • EULA—End User License Agreement
  • EXT
    Extended file system
    The extended file system or ext was implemented in April 1992 as the first file system created specifically for the Linux operating system. It has metadata structure inspired by the traditional Unix File System and was designed by Rémy Card to overcome certain limitations of the Minix file...

    —EXTended file system


F

  • FAP—FORTRAN Assembly Program
  • FASM
    FASM
    FASM in computing is an assembler. It supports programming in Intel-style assembly language on the IA-32 and x86-64 computer architectures. It claims high speed, size optimizations, operating system portability, and macro abilities. It is a low-level assembler and intentionally uses very few...

    —Flat ASseMbler
  • FAT
    File Allocation Table
    File Allocation Table is a computer file system architecture now widely used on many computer systems and most memory cards, such as those used with digital cameras. FAT file systems are commonly found on floppy disks, flash memory cards, digital cameras, and many other portable devices because of...

    —File Allocation Table
  • FAQ
    FAQ
    Frequently asked questions are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be commonly asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. "FAQ" is usually pronounced as an initialism rather than an acronym, but an acronym form does exist. Since the acronym FAQ originated in textual...

    —Frequently Asked Questions
  • FBDIMM
    Fully Buffered DIMM
    Fully Buffered DIMM is a memory technology which can be used to increase reliability and density of memory systems. Conventionally, data lines from the memory controller have to be connected to data lines in every DRAM module. As memory width, as well as access speed, increases, the signal...

    —Fully Buffered Dual Inline Memory Module
  • FC-AL—Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop
  • FCB
    File control block
    A File Control Block is a file system structure in which the state of an open file is maintained.The FCB originates from CP/M and is also present in most variants of DOS...

    —File Control Block
  • FCS
    Frame Check Sequence
    A frame check sequence refers to the extra checksum characters added to a frame in a communication protocol for error detection and correction. Frames are used to send upper-layer data and ultimately the user application data from a source to a destination. The data package includes the message...

    —Frame Check Sequence
  • FDC
    Floppy disk controller
    A floppy disk controller is a special-purpose chip and associated disk controller circuitry that directs and controls reading from and writing to a computer's floppy disk drive . This article contains concepts common to FDCs based on the NEC µPD765 and Intel 8072A or 82072A and their descendants,...

    —Floppy Disk Controller
  • FDS
    Fedora Directory Server
    The 389 Directory Server is an LDAP server developed by Red Hat, as part of Red Hat's community-supported Fedora Project. 389 Directory Server is identical to the Red Hat Directory Server, just rebranded...

    —Fedora Directory Server
  • FDD—Floppy Disk Drive
  • FDDI
    Fiber distributed data interface
    Fiber Distributed Data Interface provides a 100 Mbit/s optical standard for data transmission in a local area network that can extend in range up to . Although FDDI logical topology is a ring-based token network, it does not use the IEEE 802.5 token ring protocol as its basis; instead, its...

    —Fiber Distributed Data Interface
  • FDMA
    Frequency-division multiple access
    Frequency Division Multiple Access or FDMA is a channel access method used in multiple-access protocols as a channelization protocol. FDMA gives users an individual allocation of one or several frequency bands, or channels. It is particularly commonplace in satellite communication. FDMA, like...

    —Frequency-Division Multiple Access
  • FEC
    Forward error correction
    In telecommunication, information theory, and coding theory, forward error correction or channel coding is a technique used for controlling errors in data transmission over unreliable or noisy communication channels....

    —Forward Error Correction
  • FEMB
    S-LINK
    S-LINK, for simple link interface, is a high-performance data acquisition standard developed at CERN for collecting information from particle accelerators and other sources. Unlike similar systems, S-LINK is based on the idea that data will be collected and stored by computers at both ends of the...

    —Front-End Motherboard
  • FET
    Field-effect transistor
    The field-effect transistor is a transistor that relies on an electric field to control the shape and hence the conductivity of a channel of one type of charge carrier in a semiconductor material. FETs are sometimes called unipolar transistors to contrast their single-carrier-type operation with...

    —Field Effect Transistor
  • FHS
    Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
    The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard defines the main directories and their contents in Linux operating systems. For the most part, it is a formalization and extension of the traditional BSD filesystem hierarchy....

    —Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
  • FICON
    FICON
    FICON is the IBM proprietary name for the ANSI FC-SB-3 Single-Byte Command Code Sets-3 Mapping Protocol for Fibre Channel protocol. It is a FC layer 4 protocol used to map both IBM’s antecedent channel-to-control-unit cabling infrastructure and protocol onto standard FC services and infrastructure...

    —FIber CONnectivity
  • FIFO—First In First Out
  • FIPS
    FIPS 140
    The 140 series of Federal Information Processing Standards are U.S. government computer security standards that specify requirements for cryptography modules...

    —Federal Information Processing Standards
  • FL—Function Level
  • FLAC—Free Lossless Audio Codec
  • FLOPS
    FLOPS
    In computing, FLOPS is a measure of a computer's performance, especially in fields of scientific calculations that make heavy use of floating-point calculations, similar to the older, simpler, instructions per second...

    —FLoating-Point Operations Per Second
  • FLOSS
    Free and open source software
    Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...

    —Free/Libre/Open Source Software
  • FOLDOC
    Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
    The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing is an online, searchable, encyclopedic dictionary of computing subjects. It was founded in 1985 by Denis Howe and is hosted by Imperial College London...

    —Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
  • FOSDEM
    FOSDEM
    FOSDEM is a non-commercial volunteer organized European event centered around free and open source software development. It is aimed at developers and anyone interested in the free and open source software movement...

    —Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting
  • FOSI—Formatted Output Specification Instance
  • FOSS
    Free and open source software
    Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...

    —Free and Open Source Software
  • FP
    FP (programming language)
    FP is a programming language created by John Backus to support the function-level programming paradigm...

    —Function Programming
  • FPGA
    Field-programmable gate array
    A field-programmable gate array is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by the customer or designer after manufacturing—hence "field-programmable"...

    —Field Programmable Gate Array
  • FPS
    Floating Point Systems
    Floating Point Systems Inc. was a Beaverton, Oregon vendor of minisupercomputers. The company was founded in 1970 by former Tektronix engineer Norm Winningstad....

    —Floating Point Systems
  • FPU—Floating Point Unit
  • FRU
    Field Replaceable Unit
    This article is primarily about FRUs in computers.A field replaceable unit is a circuit board, part or assembly that can be quickly and easily removed from a personal computer or other piece of electronic equipment, and replaced by the user or a technician without having to send the entire product...

    —Field Replaceable Unit
  • FS
    File system
    A file system is a means to organize data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available space on the device which contain it. A file system organizes data in an efficient manner and is tuned to the...

    —File System
  • FSB—Front Side Bus
  • FSF
    Free Software Foundation
    The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...

    —Free Software Foundation
  • FSM—Finite State Machine
  • FTTC—Fiber To The Curb
  • FTTH—Fiber To The Home
  • FTTP—Fiber To The Premises
  • FTP
    File Transfer Protocol
    File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...

    —File Transfer Protocol
  • FQDN—Fully Qualified Domain Name
  • FUD
    Fear, uncertainty and doubt
    Fear, uncertainty and doubt, frequently abbreviated as FUD, is a tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics and propaganda....

    —Fear Uncertainty Doubt
  • FWS
    Whitespace (computer science)
    In computer science, whitespace is any single character or series of characters that represents horizontal or vertical space in typography. When rendered, a whitespace character does not correspond to a visual mark, but typically does occupy an area on a page...

    —Folding White Space
  • FXP
    File eXchange Protocol
    File eXchange Protocol and is a method of data transfer which uses FTP to transfer data from one remote server to another without routing this data through the client's connection. Conventional FTP involves a single server and a single client; all data transmission is done between these two...

    —File eXchange Protocol


G

  • G11N
    Globalization
    Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...

    —Globalization
  • Gas
    GNU Assembler
    The GNU Assembler, commonly known as GAS , is the assembler used by the GNU Project. It is the default back-end of GCC. It is used to assemble the GNU operating system and the Linux kernel, and various other software. It is a part of the GNU Binutils package.GAS' executable is named after as, a...

    —GNU Assembler
  • Gb
    Gigabit
    The gigabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix giga is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 109 , and therefore...

    —Gigabit
  • GB
    Gigabyte
    The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...

    —Gigabyte
  • GCC
    GNU Compiler Collection
    The GNU Compiler Collection is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages. GCC is a key component of the GNU toolchain...

    —GNU Compiler Collection
  • GCJ—GNU Compiler for Java
  • GCR
    Group Code Recording
    In computer science, group code recording refers to several distinct but related encoding methods for magnetic media. The first, used in 6250 cpi magnetic tape, is an error-correcting code combined with a run length limited encoding scheme...

    —Group Code Recording
  • GDB
    GNU Debugger
    The GNU Debugger, usually called just GDB and named gdb as an executable file, is the standard debugger for the GNU software system. It is a portable debugger that runs on many Unix-like systems and works for many programming languages, including Ada, C, C++, Objective-C, Free Pascal, Fortran, Java...

    —GNU Debugger
  • GDI
    Graphics Device Interface
    The Graphics Device Interface is a Microsoft Windows application programming interface and core operating system component responsible for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices such as monitors and printers....

    —Graphics Device Interface
  • GFDL
    GNU Free Documentation License
    The GNU Free Documentation License is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and...

    —GNU Free Documentation License
  • GIF—Graphics Interchange Format
  • GIGO
    Garbage In, Garbage Out
    Garbage in, garbage out is a phrase in the field of computer science or information and communication technology. It is used primarily to call attention to the fact that computers will unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data and produce nonsensical output...

    —Garbage In, Garbage Out
  • GIMP
    GIMP
    GIMP is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.In addition to detailed image retouching and...

    —GNU Image Manipulation Program
  • GIMPS
    Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search
    The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search is a collaborative project of volunteers who use freely available computer software to search for Mersenne prime numbers. The project was founded by George Woltman, who also wrote the software Prime95 and MPrime for the project...

    —Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search
  • GIS
    Geographic Information System
    A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...

    —Geographic Information System
  • GLUT
    OpenGL Utility Toolkit
    The OpenGL Utility Toolkit is a library of utilities for OpenGL programs, which primarily perform system-level I/O with the host operating system. Functions performed include window definition, window control, and monitoring of keyboard and mouse input...

    —OpenGL Utility Toolkit
  • GML
    Geography Markup Language
    The Geography Markup Language is the XML grammar defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium to express geographical features. GML serves as a modeling language for geographic systems as well as an open interchange format for geographic transactions on the Internet...

    —Geography Markup Language
  • GNOME
    GNOME
    GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...

    —GNU Network Object Model Environment
  • GNU
    GNU
    GNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...

    —GNU's Not Unix
  • GOMS
    GOMS
    GOMS is a kind of specialized human information processor model for human computer interaction observation. Developed in 1983 by Stuart Card, Thomas P. Moran and Allen Newell, it was explained in their book The Psychology of Human Computer Interaction...

    —Goals, Operators, Methods, and Selection rules
  • GPASM
    GPUTILS
    GPUTILS is a GPL-licensed set of tools for the PIC microcontroller, comprising an assembler, disassembler, linker, and object file viewer. It is available for various flavors of Unix, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.-History:...

    —GNU PIC ASseMbler
  • GPG
    GNU Privacy Guard
    GNU Privacy Guard is a GPL Licensed alternative to the PGP suite of cryptographic software. GnuPG is compliant with RFC 4880, which is the current IETF standards track specification of OpenPGP...

    —GNU Privacy Guard
  • GPGPU
    GPGPU
    General-purpose computing on graphics processing units is the technique of using a GPU, which typically handles computation only for computer graphics, to perform computation in applications traditionally handled by the CPU...

    —General-Purpose Computing on Graphics Processing Units
  • GPIB—General-Purpose Instrumentation Bus
  • GPL
    GNU General Public License
    The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

    —General Public License
  • GPL—General-Purpose Language
  • GPRS
    General Packet Radio Service
    General packet radio service is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication system's global system for mobile communications . GPRS was originally standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode...

    —General Packet Radio Service
  • GPT
    GUID Partition Table
    In computer hardware, GUID Partition Table is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical hard disk. Although it forms a part of the Extensible Firmware Interface standard , it is also used on some BIOS systems because of the limitations of MBR partition tables, which restrict...

    —GUID Partition Table
  • GPU
    Graphics processing unit
    A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...

    —Graphics Processing Unit
  • GRUB
    GNU GRUB
    GNU GRUB is a boot loader package from the GNU Project. GRUB is the reference implementation of the Multiboot Specification, which provides a user the choice to boot one of multiple operating systems installed on a computer or select a specific kernel configuration available on a particular...

    —Grand Unified Boot-Loader
  • GSM—Global System for Mobile Communications
  • GTK+
    GTK+
    GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...

    —GIMP Toolkit
  • GUI
    Graphical user interface
    In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...

    —Graphical User Interface
  • GUID
    Globally Unique Identifier
    A globally unique identifier is a unique reference number used as an identifier in computer software. The term GUID also is used for Microsoft's implementation of the Universally unique identifier standard....

    —Globally Unique IDentifier
  • GWT
    Google Web Toolkit
    Google Web Toolkit is an open source set of tools that allows web developers to create and maintain complex JavaScript front-end applications in Java. Other than a few native libraries, everything is Java source that can be built on any supported platform with the included GWT Ant build files...

    —Google Web Toolkit


H

  • HAL—Hardware Abstraction Layer
  • HBA
    Host adapter
    In computer hardware, a host controller, host adapter, or host bus adapter connects a host system to other network and storage devices...

    —Host Bus Adapter
  • HCI
    Human–computer interaction
    Human–computer Interaction is the study, planning, and design of the interaction between people and computers. It is often regarded as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design and several other fields of study...

    —Human Computer Interaction
  • HD
    High density storage media
    High-density storage for data storage devices like floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, or HDDs refers to the amount of information they manage.The first storage media, paper media and punched cards, were inefficient, slow, and bulky. These then gave the way to magnetic storage; core memory, drums and,...

    —High Density
  • HDD—Hard Disk Drive
  • HCL
    Hardware Compatibility List
    A hardware compatibility list is a list of computer hardware that is compatible with a particular operating system or device management software. In today's world, there is a vast amount of computer hardware in circulation, and many operating systems too...

    —Hardware Compatibility List
  • HD DVD
    HD DVD
    HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...

    —High Definition DVD
  • HDL
    Hardware description language
    In electronics, a hardware description language or HDL is any language from a class of computer languages, specification languages, or modeling languages for formal description and design of electronic circuits, and most-commonly, digital logic...

    —Hardware Description Language
  • HDMI
    HDMI
    HDMI is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA...

    —High-Definition Multimedia Interface
  • HF
    High frequency
    High frequency radio frequencies are between 3 and 30 MHz. Also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decameters . Frequencies immediately below HF are denoted Medium-frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Very high frequency...

    —High Frequency
  • HHD
    Hybrid drive
    A Hybrid Drive, Hybrid Hard Drive , or Hybrid Hard Disk Drive is a type of large-buffer computer hard disk drive. It is different from standard hard drives in that it integrates a cache using non-volatile memory or even a small solid-state drive...

    —Hybrid Hard Drive
  • HID
    Human interface device
    A human interface device or HID is a type of computer device that interacts directly with, and most often takes input from, humans and may deliver output to humans. The term "HID" most commonly refers to the USB-HID specification. The term was coined by Mike Van Flandern of Microsoft when he...

    —Human Interface Device
  • HIG
    Human Interface Guidelines
    Human interface guidelines are software development documents which offer application developers a set of recommendations. Their aim is to improve the experience for the users by making application interfaces more intuitive, learnable, and consistent. Most guides limit themselves to defining a...

    —Human Interface Guidelines
  • HIRD
    GNU Hurd
    GNU Hurd is a free software Unix-like replacement for the Unix kernel, released under the GNU General Public License. It has been under development since 1990 by the GNU Project of the Free Software Foundation...

    —Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth
  • HLASM—High Level ASseMbler
  • HMA—High Memory Area
  • HP
    Hewlett-Packard
    Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...

    —Hewlett-Packard
  • HPC
    High-performance computing
    High-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...

    —High-Performance Computing
  • HPFS—High Performance File System
  • HTC
    High-throughput computing
    High-throughput computing is a computer science term to describe the use of many computing resources over long periods of time to accomplish a computational task.-Challenges:...

    —High-Throughput Computing
  • HSM
    Hierarchical storage management
    Hierarchical storage management is a data storage technique which automatically moves data between high-cost and low-cost storage media. HSM systems exist because high-speed storage devices, such as hard disk drive arrays, are more expensive than slower devices, such as optical discs and magnetic...

    —Hierarchical Storage Management
  • HT
    Hyper-threading
    Hyper-threading is Intel's term for its simultaneous multithreading implementation in its Atom, Intel Core i3/i5/i7, Itanium, Pentium 4 and Xeon CPUs....

    —Hyper Threading
  • HTM
    Hierarchical Temporal Memory
    Hierarchical temporal memory is a machine learning model developed by Jeff Hawkins and Dileep George of Numenta, Inc. that models some of the structural and algorithmic properties of the neocortex. HTM is a biomimetic model based on the memory-prediction theory of brain function described by Jeff...

    —Hierarchical Temporal Memory
  • HTML
    HTML
    HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

    —Hypertext Markup Language
  • HTTP
    Hypertext Transfer Protocol
    The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a networking protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web....

    —Hypertext Transfer Protocol
  • HTTPd
    Daemon (computer software)
    In Unix and other multitasking computer operating systems, a daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process, rather than being under the direct control of an interactive user...

    —Hypertext Transport Protocol Daemon
  • HTX
    HyperTransport
    HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...

    —HyperTransport eXpansion
  • HURD
    GNU Hurd
    GNU Hurd is a free software Unix-like replacement for the Unix kernel, released under the GNU General Public License. It has been under development since 1990 by the GNU Project of the Free Software Foundation...

    —Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons
  • HVD
    Holographic Versatile Disc
    The Holographic Versatile Disc is an optical disc technology developed between April 2004 and mid-2008 that can store up to several terabytes of data on an optical disc the same size as a CD, DVD or Blu-ray disc. It employs a technique known as collinear holography, whereby a green and red laser...

    —Holographic Versatile Disc
  • Hz
    Hertz
    The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....

    —Hertz


I

  • I2C—Inter-Integrated Circuit
  • I18N
    Internationalization and localization
    In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...

    —Internationalization
  • IANA
    Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
    The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the entity that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System , media types, and other Internet Protocol-related symbols and numbers...

    —Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
  • iBCS
    Application binary interface
    In computer software, an application binary interface describes the low-level interface between an application program and the operating system or another application.- Description :...

    —Intel Binary Compatibility Standard
  • IBM
    IBM
    International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

    —International Business Machines
  • IC
    Integrated circuit
    An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...

    —Integrated Circuit
  • ICANN
    ICANN
    The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...

    —Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
  • ICE
    In-circuit emulator
    An in-circuit emulator is a hardware device used to debug the software of an embedded system. It was historically in the form of bond-out processor which has many internal signals brought out for the purpose of debugging...

    —In-Circuit Emulator
  • ICE
    Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics
    Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics is a term used in cyberpunk literature to refer to security programs which protect computerized data from being accessed by hackers.-Origin of term:...

    —Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics
  • ICMP
    Internet Control Message Protocol
    The Internet Control Message Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be...

    —Internet Control Message Protocol
  • ICP
    Internet Cache Protocol
    The Internet Cache Protocol is a protocol used for coordinating web caches. Its purpose is to find out the most appropriate location to retrieve a requested object from in the situation where multiple caches are in use at a single site...

    —Internet Cache Protocol
  • ICT
    Information technology
    Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

    —Information and Communication Technology
  • IDE
    Integrated development environment
    An integrated development environment is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development...

    —Integrated Development Environment
  • IDE—Integrated Drive Electronics
  • IDF
    Intermediate distribution frame
    Intermediate distribution frame : In a central office or customer premises, a frame that cross-connects the user cable media to individual user line circuits and may serve as a distribution point for multipair cables from the main distribution frame or combined distribution frame to individual...

    —Intermediate Distribution Frame
  • IDL
    Interface description language
    An interface description language , or IDL for short, is a specification language used to describe a software component's interface...

    —Interface Definition Language
  • IDS—Intrusion Detection System
  • IE
    Internet Explorer
    Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...

    —Internet Explorer
  • IEC
    International Electrotechnical Commission
    The International Electrotechnical Commission is a non-profit, non-governmental international standards organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies – collectively known as "electrotechnology"...

    —International Electrotechnical Commission
  • IEEE
    Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
    The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...

    —Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  • IETF
    Internet Engineering Task Force
    The Internet Engineering Task Force develops and promotes Internet standards, cooperating closely with the W3C and ISO/IEC standards bodies and dealing in particular with standards of the TCP/IP and Internet protocol suite...

    —Internet Engineering Task Force
  • IFL
    Integrated Facility for Linux
    The Integrated Facility for Linux is an IBM mainframe processor dedicated to running the Linux operating system, with or without z/VM. IFLs are one of three types of IBM mainframe processors expressly designed to reduce software costs...

    —Integrated Facility for Linux
  • IGMP
    Internet Group Management Protocol
    The Internet Group Management Protocol is a communications protocol used by hosts and adjacent routers on IP networks to establish multicast group memberships....

    —Internet Group Management Protocol
  • IGRP
    Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
    Interior Gateway Routing Protocol is a distance vector interior routing protocol invented by Cisco. It is used by routers to exchange routing data within an autonomous system....

    —Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
  • IHV
    Independent hardware vendor
    An independent hardware vendor is a business term for companies specializing in making or selling computer hardware, usually for niche markets.-See also:*Independent software vendor*Software company...

    —Independent Hardware Vendor
  • IIOP—Internet Inter-Orb Protocol
  • IIS
    Internet Information Services
    Internet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...

    —Internet Information Services
  • IL
    Intermediate language
    In computer science, an intermediate language is the language of an abstract machine designed to aid in the analysis of computer programs. The term comes from their use in compilers, where a compiler first translates the source code of a program into a form more suitable for code-improving...

    —Intermediate Language
  • IM
    Instant messaging
    Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...

    —Instant Messaging
  • IMAP
    Internet Message Access Protocol
    Internet message access protocol is one of the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval, the other being the Post Office Protocol...

    —Internet Message Access Protocol
  • IME
    Input method editor
    An input method is an operating system component or program that allows any data, such as keyboard strokes or mouse movements, to be received as input. In this way users can enter characters and symbols not found on their input devices...

    —Input Method Editor
  • INFOSEC
    Information security
    Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....

    —Information Systems Security
  • I/O
    Input/output
    In computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an information processing system , and the outside world, possibly a human, or another information processing system. Inputs are the signals or data received by the system, and outputs are the signals or data sent from it...

    —Input/Output
  • IP
    Intellectual property
    Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...

    —Intellectual Property
  • IP
    Internet Protocol
    The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...

    —Internet Protocol
  • IPC
    Inter-process communication
    In computing, Inter-process communication is a set of methods for the exchange of data among multiple threads in one or more processes. Processes may be running on one or more computers connected by a network. IPC methods are divided into methods for message passing, synchronization, shared...

    —Inter-Process Communication
  • IPL—Initial Program Load
  • IPO
    Interprocedural optimization
    Interprocedural optimization is a collection of compiler techniques used in computer programming to improve performance in programs containing many frequently used functions of small or medium length...

    —Inter Procedural Optimization
  • IPP
    Internet Printing Protocol
    In computing, the Internet Printing Protocol provides a standard network protocol for remote printing as well as for managing print jobs, media size, resolution, and so forth....

    —Internet Printing Protocol
  • IPS—Intrusion Prevention System
  • IPsec
    IPsec
    Internet Protocol Security is a protocol suite for securing Internet Protocol communications by authenticating and encrypting each IP packet of a communication session...

    —Internet Protocol security
  • IPTV
    IPTV
    Internet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...

    —Internet Protocol Television
  • IPX—Internetwork Packet Exchange
  • IRC
    Internet Relay Chat
    Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...

    —Internet Relay Chat
  • IrDA
    Infrared Data Association
    The Infrared Data Association defines physical specifications communications protocol standards for the short-range exchange of data over infrared light, for uses such as personal area networks ....

    —Infrared Data Association
  • IRP
    I/O request packet
    I/O request packets are kernel mode structures that are used by Windows Driver Model and Windows NT device drivers to communicate with each other and with the operating system. They are data structures that describe I/O requests, and can be equally well thought of as "I/O request descriptors" or...

    —I/O Request Packet
  • IRQ
    Interrupt request
    The computing phrase "interrupt request" is used to refer to either the act of interrupting the bus lines used to signal an interrupt, or the interrupt input lines on a Programmable Interrupt Controller...

    —Interrupt Request
  • IS
    Information systems
    Information Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...

    —Information Systems
  • ISA
    Industry Standard Architecture
    Industry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...

    —Industry Standard Architecture
  • ISA
    Instruction set
    An instruction set, or instruction set architecture , is the part of the computer architecture related to programming, including the native data types, instructions, registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt and exception handling, and external I/O...

    —Instruction Set Architecture
  • ISAM
    ISAM
    ISAM stands for Indexed Sequential Access Method, a method for indexing data for fast retrieval. ISAM was originally developed by IBM for mainframe computers...

    —Indexed Sequential Access Method
  • ISC
    Internet Storm Center
    The Internet Storm Center is a program of the SANS Technology Institute, a branch of the SANS Institute which monitors the level of malicious activity on the Internet, particularly with regards to large-scale infrastructure events....

    —Internet Storm Center
  • iSCSI
    ISCSI
    In computing, iSCSI , is an abbreviation of Internet Small Computer System Interface, an Internet Protocol -based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage...

    —Internet Small Computer System Interface
  • ISDN
    Integrated Services Digital Network
    Integrated Services Digital Network is a set of communications standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the public switched telephone network...

    —Integrated Services Digital Network
  • ISO
    International Organization for Standardization
    The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...

    —International Organization for Standardization
  • iSNS—Internet Storage Name Service
  • ISP
    Internet service provider
    An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...

    —Internet Service Provider
  • ISPF
    ISPF
    In computing, Interactive System Productivity Facility is a software product for the z/OS operating system that runs on IBM mainframes...

    —Interactive System Productivity Facility
  • ISR
    Interrupt handler
    An interrupt handler, also known as an interrupt service routine , is a callback subroutine in microcontroller firmware, operating system or device driver whose execution is triggered by the reception of an interrupt...

    —Interrupt Service Routine
  • ISV
    Independent software vendor
    Independent software vendor is a business term for companies specializing in making or selling software, designed for mass marketing or for niche markets...

    —Independent Software Vendor
  • IT
    Information technology
    Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

    —Information Technology
  • ITL
    Interval temporal logic
    Interval temporal logic is a temporal logic for representing both propositional and first-order logical reasoning about periods of time that is capable of handling both sequential and parallel composition...

    —Interval Temporal Logic
  • ITU
    International Telecommunication Union
    The International Telecommunication Union is the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for information and communication technologies...

    —International Telecommunication Union
  • IVRS
    Interactive voice response
    Interactive voice response is a technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of voice and DTMF keypad inputs....

    -Interactive Voice Response System


J

  • J2EE
    Java Platform, Enterprise Edition
    Java Platform, Enterprise Edition or Java EE is widely used platform for server programming in the Java programming language. The Java platform differs from the Java Standard Edition Platform in that it adds libraries which provide functionality to deploy fault-tolerant, distributed, multi-tier...

    —Java 2 Enterprise Edition
  • J2ME
    Java Platform, Micro Edition
    Java Platform, Micro Edition, or Java ME, is a Java platform designed for embedded systems . Target devices range from industrial controls to mobile phones and set-top boxes...

    —Java 2 Micro Edition
  • J2SE
    Java Platform, Standard Edition
    Java Platform, Standard Edition or Java SE is a widely used platform for programming in the Java language. It is the Java Platform used to deploy portable applications for general use...

    —Java 2 Standard Edition
  • JAXB
    Java Architecture for XML Binding
    Java Architecture for XML Binding allows Java developers to map Java classes to XML representations. JAXB provides two main features: the ability to marshal Java objects into XML and the inverse, i.e. to unmarshal XML back into Java objects...

    —Java Architecture for XML Binding
  • JAX-RPC—Java XML for Remote Procedure Calls
  • JAXP
    Java API for XML Processing
    The Java API for XML Processing, or JAXP , is one of the Java XML programming APIs. It provides the capability of validating and parsing XML documents...

    —Java API for XML Processing
  • JBOD—Just a Bunch of Disks
  • JCE
    Java Cryptography Extension
    The Java Cryptography Extension is an officially released Standard Extension to the Java Platform. JCE provides a framework and implementation for encryption, key generation and key agreement, and Message Authentication Code algorithms...

    Java Cryptography Extension
  • JCL
    Job Control Language
    Job Control Language is a scripting language used on IBM mainframe operating systems to instruct the system on how to run a batch job or start a subsystem....

    —Job Control Language
  • JCP
    Java Community Process
    The Java Community Process or JCP, established in 1998, is a formalized process that allows interested parties to get involved in the definition of future versions and features of the Java platform....

    —Java Community Process
  • JDBC
    Java Database Connectivity
    Java DataBase Connectivity, commonly referred to as JDBC, is an API for the Java programming language that defines how a client may access a database. It provides methods for querying and updating data in a database. JDBC is oriented towards relational databases...

    —Java Database Connectivity
  • JDK
    Java Development Kit
    The Java Development Kit is an Oracle Corporation product aimed at Java developers. Since the introduction of Java, it has been by far the most widely used Java SDK. On 17 November 2006, Sun announced that it would be released under the GNU General Public License , thus making it free software...

    —Java Development Kit
  • JES
    Job Entry Subsystem 2/3
    IBM's MVS and z/OS operating systems use a job entry subsystem to receive jobs into the operating system, schedule them for processing by MVS or z/OS, and to control their output processing.There are three job entry subsystems; Master, JES2 and JES3...

    —Job Entry Subsystem
  • JDS
    Java Desktop System
    OpenSolaris Desktop, formerly Java Desktop System , is a desktop environment now developed by Oracle Corporation available for Solaris, and formerly Linux....

    —Java Desktop System
  • JFC
    Java Foundation Classes
    The Java Foundation Classes are a graphical framework for building portable Java-based graphical user interfaces . JFC consists of the Abstract Window Toolkit , Swing and Java 2D. Together, they provide a consistent user interface for Java programs, regardless whether the underlying user interface...

    —Java Foundation Classes
  • JFET
    JFET
    The junction gate field-effect transistor is the simplest type of field-effect transistor. It can be used as an electronically-controlled switch or as a voltage-controlled resistance. Electric charge flows through a semiconducting channel between "source" and "drain" terminals...

    —Junction Field-Effect Transistor
  • JFS—IBM Journaling File System
  • JINI
    Jini
    Jini , also called Apache River, is a network architecture for the construction of distributed systems in the form of modular co-operating services.Originally developed by Sun, Jini was released under an open source license...

    —Jini Is Not Initials
  • JIT
    Just-in-time compilation
    In computing, just-in-time compilation , also known as dynamic translation, is a method to improve the runtime performance of computer programs. Historically, computer programs had two modes of runtime operation, either interpreted or static compilation...

    —Just-In-Time
  • JMX
    Java Management Extensions
    Java Management Extensions is a Java technology that supplies tools for managing and monitoring applications, system objects, devices and service oriented networks. Those resources are represented by objects called MBeans...

    —Java Management Extensions
  • JMS
    Java Message Service
    The Java Message Service API is a Java Message Oriented Middleware API for sending messages between two or more clients. JMS is a part of the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition, and is defined by a specification developed under the Java Community Process as JSR 914...

    —Java Message Service
  • JNDI
    Java Naming and Directory Interface
    The Java Naming and Directory Interface is a Java API for a directory service that allows Java software clients to discover and look up data and objects via a name. Like all Java APIs that interface with host systems, JNDI is independent of the underlying implementation...

    —Java Naming and Directory Interface
  • JNI
    Java Native Interface
    The Java Native Interface is a programming framework that enables Java code running in a Java Virtual Machine to call and to be called by native applications and libraries written in other languages such as C, C++ and assembly.-Purpose and features:JNI enables one to write native methods to...

    —Java Native Interface
  • JNZ
    Instruction set
    An instruction set, or instruction set architecture , is the part of the computer architecture related to programming, including the native data types, instructions, registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt and exception handling, and external I/O...

    —Jump non-zero
  • JPEG
    JPEG
    In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....

    —Joint Photographic Experts Group
  • JRE—Java Runtime Environment
  • JS
    JavaScript
    JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....

    —JavaScript
  • JSON
    JSON
    JSON , or JavaScript Object Notation, is a lightweight text-based open standard designed for human-readable data interchange. It is derived from the JavaScript scripting language for representing simple data structures and associative arrays, called objects...

    —JavaScript Object Notation
  • JSP
    Jackson Structured Programming
    Jackson Structured Programming or JSP is a method for structured programming based on correspondences between data stream structure and program structure...

    —Jackson Structured Programming
  • JSP
    JavaServer Pages
    JavaServer Pages is a Java technology that helps software developers serve dynamically generated web pages based on HTML, XML, or other document types...

    —JavaServer Pages
  • JTAG—Joint Test Action Group
  • JUG
    Java User Group
    A Java User Group is a community of users of the Java programming language. Most JUGs are geographically bound, such as the PhillyJUG , JUGChennai , JUGCNoida and the DFJUG ....

    —Java Users Group
  • JVM
    Java Virtual Machine
    A Java virtual machine is a virtual machine capable of executing Java bytecode. It is the code execution component of the Java software platform. Sun Microsystems stated that there are over 4.5 billion JVM-enabled devices.-Overview:...

    —Java Virtual Machine
  • jwz
    Jamie Zawinski
    Jamie Zawinski , commonly known as jwz, is a former professional American computer programmer responsible for significant contributions to the free software projects Mozilla and XEmacs, and early versions of the Netscape Navigator web browser...

    —Jamie Zawinski


K

  • K&R
    The C Programming Language (book)
    The C Programming Language is a well-known programming book written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, the latter of whom originally designed and implemented the language, as well as co-designed the Unix operating system with which development of the language was closely intertwined...

    —Kernighan and Ritchie
  • KB
    Keyboard (computing)
    In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...

    —Keyboard
  • Kb
    Kilobit
    The kilobit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix kilo is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 103 , and therefore,...

    —Kilobit
  • KB
    Kilobyte
    The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...

    —Kilobyte
  • KB
    Knowledge base
    A knowledge base is a special kind of database for knowledge management. A Knowledge Base provides a means for information to be collected, organised, shared, searched and utilised.-Types:...

    —Knowledge Base
  • KDE
    KDE
    KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...

    —K Desktop Environment
  • kHz—Kilohertz
  • KM
    KM programming language
    KM, the Knowledge Machine, is a frame-based language used for knowledge representation work.It has first-order logic semantics, and includes machinery for reasoning, including selection by description, unification, classification, and reasoning about actions...

    —Knowledge Machine
  • KRL—Knowledge Representation Language
  • KVM
    KVM switch
    A KVM switch is a hardware device that allows a user to control multiple computers from a single keyboard, video monitor and mouse. Although multiple computers are connected to the KVM, typically a smaller number of computers can be controlled at any given time...

    —Keyboard, Video, Mouse


L

  • L10N
    Internationalization and localization
    In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...

    —Localization
  • L2TP—Layer two Tunneling Protocol
  • LAMP
    LAMP (software bundle)
    LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, referring to the first letters of Linux , Apache HTTP Server, MySQL and PHP , principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.The GNU project is advocating people to use the term "GLAMP" since what is known as...

    —Linux Apache MySQL Perl
  • LAMP
    LAMP (software bundle)
    LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, referring to the first letters of Linux , Apache HTTP Server, MySQL and PHP , principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.The GNU project is advocating people to use the term "GLAMP" since what is known as...

    —Linux Apache MySQL PHP
  • LAMP
    LAMP (software bundle)
    LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, referring to the first letters of Linux , Apache HTTP Server, MySQL and PHP , principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.The GNU project is advocating people to use the term "GLAMP" since what is known as...

    —Linux Apache MySQL Python
  • LAN
    Local area network
    A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...

    —Local Area Network
  • LBA
    Logical block addressing
    Logical block addressing is a common scheme used for specifying the location of blocks of data stored on computer storage devices, generally secondary storage systems such as hard disks....

    —Logical Block Addressing
  • LCD
    Liquid crystal display
    A liquid crystal display is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals . LCs do not emit light directly....

    —Liquid Crystal Display
  • LCOS
    Liquid crystal on silicon
    Liquid crystal on silicon is a "micro-projection" or "micro-display" technology typically applied in projection televisions. It is a reflective technology similar to DLP projectors; however, it uses liquid crystals instead of individual mirrors. By way of comparison, LCD projectors use...

    —Liquid Crystal On Silicon
  • LDAP
    Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
    The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol network...

    —Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
  • LE
    Logical volume management
    In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM provides a method of allocating space on mass-storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes...

    —Logical Extents
  • LED
    Light-emitting diode
    A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...

    —Light-Emitting Diode
  • LF—Line Feed
  • LF
    Low frequency
    Low frequency or low freq or LF refers to radio frequencies in the range of 30 kHz–300 kHz. In Europe, and parts of Northern Africa and of Asia, part of the LF spectrum is used for AM broadcasting as the longwave band. In the western hemisphere, its main use is for aircraft beacon,...

    —Low Frequency
  • LFS
    Linux From Scratch
    Linux From Scratch is a type of a Linux installation and the name of a book written by Gerard Beekmans among others. The book gives readers instructions on how to build a Linux system from source...

    —Linux From Scratch
  • LGPL
    GNU Lesser General Public License
    The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...

    —Lesser General Public License
  • LIB—LIBrary
  • LIF
    Low insertion force
    thumb|300px|right|LIF-connector of a 1.8" [[hard disk drive]]Low-insertion-force sockets are integrated circuit sockets that are designed so the force required to insert or remove a package is low....

    —Low Insertion Force
  • LIFO—Last In First Out
  • LILO
    LILO (boot loader)
    LILO is a generic boot loader for Linux.-Overview:LILO does not depend on a specific file system, and can boot an operating system from floppy disks and hard disks. One of up to sixteen different images can be selected at boot time. Various parameters, such as the root device, can be set...

    —Linux Loader
  • LISP—LISt Processing
  • LKML
    Linux kernel mailing list
    The Linux kernel mailing list is the main electronic mailing list for Linux kernel development, where the majority of the announcements, discussions, debates, and flame wars over the kernel take place. Many other mailing lists exist to discuss the different subsystems and ports of the Linux...

    —Linux Kernel Mailing List
  • LM
    LAN Manager
    LAN Manager was a Network Operating System available from multiple vendors and developed by Microsoft in cooperation with 3Com Corporation. It was designed to succeed 3Com's 3+Share network server software which ran atop a heavily modified version of MS-DOS.-Development history:LAN Manager was...

    —Lan Manager
  • LOC
    Source lines of code
    Source lines of code is a software metric used to measure the size of a software program by counting the number of lines in the text of the program's source code...

    —Lines of Code
  • LPC—Lars Pensjö C
  • LPI
    Linux Professional Institute
    The Linux Professional Institute Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides vendor-independent professional certification for Linux system administrators and programmers....

    —Linux Professional Institute
  • LPT
    LPT
    LPT is the original, and still common, name of the parallel port interface on IBM PC-compatible computers. It was designed to operate a text printer that used IBM's 8-bit extended ASCII character set. The name derives from the fact that "line printer" was a common generic term at the time for any...

    Line Print Terminal
  • LSB
    Least significant bit
    In computing, the least significant bit is the bit position in a binary integer giving the units value, that is, determining whether the number is even or odd. The lsb is sometimes referred to as the right-most bit, due to the convention in positional notation of writing less significant digits...

    —Least Significant Bit
  • LSB
    Linux Standard Base
    The Linux Standard Base is a joint project by several Linux distributions under the organizational structure of the Linux Foundation to standardize the software system structure, including the filesystem hierarchy, used with Linux operating system...

    —Linux Standard Base
  • LSI—Large-Scale Integration
  • LTL
    Linear temporal logic
    In logic, Linear temporal logic is a modal temporal logic with modalities referring to time. In LTL, one can encode formulae about the future of paths such as that a condition will eventually be true, that a condition will be true until another fact becomes true, etc. It is a fragment of the more...

    —Linear Temporal Logic
  • LTR
    Bi-directional text
    Bi-directional text is text containing text in both text directionalities, both right-to-left and left-to-right . It generally involves text containing different types of alphabets, but may also refer to boustrophedon, which is changing text directionality in each row.Some writing systems of the...

    —Left-to-Right
  • LUG
    Linux User Group
    A Linux User Group or Linux Users' Group or GNU/Linux User Group is a private, generally non-profit or not-for-profit organization that provides support and/or education for Linux users, particularly for inexperienced users...

    —Linux User Group
  • LUN—Logical Unit Number
  • LV
    Logical volume management
    In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM provides a method of allocating space on mass-storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes...

    —Logical Volume
  • LVD—Low Voltage Differential
  • LVM
    Logical volume management
    In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM provides a method of allocating space on mass-storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes...

    —Logical Volume Management
  • LZW—Lempel-Ziv-Welch


M

  • MAC
    Mandatory access control
    In computer security, mandatory access control refers to a type of access control by which the operating system constrains the ability of a subject or initiator to access or generally perform some sort of operation on an object or target...

    —Mandatory Access Control
  • MAC
    Media Access Control
    The media access control data communication protocol sub-layer, also known as the medium access control, is a sublayer of the data link layer specified in the seven-layer OSI model , and in the four-layer TCP/IP model...

    —Media Access Control
  • MAN
    Metropolitan area network
    A metropolitan area network is a computer network that usually spans a city or a large campus. A MAN usually interconnects a number of local area networks using a high-capacity backbone technology, such as fiber-optical links, and provides up-link services to wide area networks and the...

    —Metropolitan Area Network
  • MANET
    Mobile ad hoc network
    A mobile ad-hoc network is a self-configuring infrastructureless network of mobile devices connected by wireless links. ad hoc is Latin and means "for this purpose"....

    —Mobile Ad-Hoc Network
  • MAPI
    Messaging Application Programming Interface
    Messaging Application Programming Interface is a messaging architecture and a Component Object Model based API for Microsoft Windows. MAPI allows client programmes to become messaging-enabled, -aware, or -based by calling MAPI subsystem routines that interface with certain messaging servers...

    —Messaging Application Programming Interface
  • Mb
    Megabit
    The megabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix mega is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 106 , and therefore...

    —Megabit
  • MB
    Megabyte
    The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...

    —Megabyte
  • MBCS—Multi Byte Character Set
  • MBR
    Master boot record
    A master boot record is a type of boot sector popularized by the IBM Personal Computer. It consists of a sequence of 512 bytes located at the first sector of a data storage device such as a hard disk...

    —Master Boot Record
  • MCA
    Micro Channel architecture
    Micro Channel Architecture was a proprietary 16- or 32-bit parallel computer bus introduced by IBM in 1987 which was used on PS/2 and other computers through the mid 1990s.- Background :...

    —Micro Channel Architecture
  • MCA
    Microsoft Certified Professional
    Microsoft Certified Professional is a program of Professional certifications awarded by Microsoft. Individual certifications are awarded upon passing of one or more exams. The MCP program itself is designed for both IT Professionals and developers. Beneath the MCP program is a variety of more...

    —Microsoft Certified Architect
  • MCAD—Microsoft Certified Application Developer
  • MCAS—Microsoft Certified Application Specialist
  • MCDBA—Microsoft Certified DataBase Administrator
  • MCDST—Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician
  • MCITP
    Microsoft Certified Professional
    Microsoft Certified Professional is a program of Professional certifications awarded by Microsoft. Individual certifications are awarded upon passing of one or more exams. The MCP program itself is designed for both IT Professionals and developers. Beneath the MCP program is a variety of more...

    —Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional
  • MCM
    Microsoft Certified Professional
    Microsoft Certified Professional is a program of Professional certifications awarded by Microsoft. Individual certifications are awarded upon passing of one or more exams. The MCP program itself is designed for both IT Professionals and developers. Beneath the MCP program is a variety of more...

    —Microsoft Certified Master
  • MCP
    Microsoft Certified Professional
    Microsoft Certified Professional is a program of Professional certifications awarded by Microsoft. Individual certifications are awarded upon passing of one or more exams. The MCP program itself is designed for both IT Professionals and developers. Beneath the MCP program is a variety of more...

    —Microsoft Certified Professional
  • MCPD
    Microsoft Certified Professional
    Microsoft Certified Professional is a program of Professional certifications awarded by Microsoft. Individual certifications are awarded upon passing of one or more exams. The MCP program itself is designed for both IT Professionals and developers. Beneath the MCP program is a variety of more...

    —Microsoft Certified Professional Developer
  • MCSA—Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator
  • MCSD—Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
  • MCSE—Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
  • MCT—Microsoft Certified Trainer
  • MCTS
    Microsoft Certified Professional
    Microsoft Certified Professional is a program of Professional certifications awarded by Microsoft. Individual certifications are awarded upon passing of one or more exams. The MCP program itself is designed for both IT Professionals and developers. Beneath the MCP program is a variety of more...

    —Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist
  • MDA
    Mail delivery agent
    A mail delivery agent or message delivery agent is a computer software component that is responsible for the delivery of e-mail messages to a local recipient's mailbox...

    —Mail Delivery Agent
  • MDA
    Model-driven architecture
    Model-driven architecture is a software design approach for the development of software systems. It provides a set of guidelines for the structuring of specifications, which are expressed as models. Model-driven architecture is a kind of domain engineering, and supports model-driven engineering of...

    —Model-Driven Architecture
  • MDA—Monochrome Display Adapter
  • MDF
    Main distribution frame
    In telephony, a main distribution frame is a signal distribution frame for connecting equipment to cables and subscriber carrier equipment . The MDF is a termination point within the local telephone exchange where exchange equipment and terminations of local loops are connected by jumper wires...

    —Main Distribution Frame
  • MDI
    Multiple document interface
    Graphical computer applications with a multiple document interface are those whose windows reside under a single parent window , as opposed to all windows being separate from each other . Such systems often allow child windows to embed other windows inside them as well, creating complex nested...

    —Multiple Document Interface
  • ME
    Windows Me
    Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....

    —[Windows] Millennium Edition
  • MF
    Medium frequency
    Medium frequency refers to radio frequencies in the range of 300 kHz to 3 MHz. Part of this band is the medium wave AM broadcast band. The MF band is also known as the hectometer band or hectometer wave as the wavelengths range from ten down to one hectometers...

    —Medium Frequency
  • MFC
    Microsoft Foundation Class Library
    The Microsoft Foundation Class Library is a library that wraps portions of the Windows API in C++ classes, including functionality that enables them to use a default application framework...

    —Microsoft Foundation Classes
  • MFM
    Modified Frequency Modulation
    Modified Frequency Modulation, commonly MFM, is a line coding scheme used to encode the actual data-bits on most floppy disk formats, hardware examples include Amiga, most CP/M machines as well as IBM PC compatibles. Early hard disk drives also used this coding.MFM is a modification to the original...

    —Modified Frequency Modulation
  • MGCP—Media Gateway Control Protocol
  • MHz—Megahertz
  • MIB
    Management information base
    A management information base is a virtual database used for managing the entities in a communications network. Most often associated with the Simple Network Management Protocol , the term is also used more generically in contexts such as in OSI/ISO Network management model...

    —Management Information Base
  • MICR
    Magnetic ink character recognition
    Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, or MICR, is a character recognition technology used primarily by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of cheques and makes up the routing number and account number at the bottom of a check. The technology allows computers to read information off...

    —Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
  • MIDI
    Musical Instrument Digital Interface
    MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...

    —Musical Instrument Digital Interface
  • MIMD
    MIMD
    In computing, MIMD is a technique employed to achieve parallelism. Machines using MIMD have a number of processors that function asynchronously and independently. At any time, different processors may be executing different instructions on different pieces of data...

    —Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data
  • MIMO
    MIMO
    In radio, multiple-input and multiple-output, or MIMO , is the use of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver to improve communication performance. It is one of several forms of smart antenna technology...

    —Multiple-Input Multiple-Output
  • MINIX
    Minix
    MINIX is a Unix-like computer operating system based on a microkernel architecture created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum for educational purposes; MINIX also inspired the creation of the Linux kernel....

    —MIni-uNIX
  • MIPS—Million Instructions Per Second
  • MIPS
    MIPS architecture
    MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit...

    —Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages
  • MIS
    Management information system
    A management information system provides information needed to manage organizations efficiently and effectively. Management information systems involve three primary resources: people, technology, and information. Management information systems are distinct from other information systems in that...

    —Management Information Systems
  • MISD
    MISD
    In computing, MISD is a type of parallel computing architecture where many functional units perform different operations on the same data. Pipeline architectures belong to this type, though a purist might say that the data is different after processing by each stage in the pipeline...

    —Multiple Instruction, Single Data
  • MIT
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

    —Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • MIME
    MIME
    Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions is an Internet standard that extends the format of email to support:* Text in character sets other than ASCII* Non-text attachments* Message bodies with multiple parts...

    —Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
  • MMDS
    Mortality Medical Data System
    The Mortality Medical Data System is used to automate the entry, classification, and retrieval of cause-of-death information reported on death certificates throughout the United States and in many other countries...

    —Mortality Medical Data System
  • MMI—Man Machine Interface.
  • MMIO
    Memory-mapped I/O
    Memory-mapped I/O and port I/O are two complementary methods of performing input/output between the CPU and peripheral devices in a computer...

    —Memory-Mapped I/O
  • MMORPG
    Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
    Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

    —Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
  • MMU
    Memory management unit
    A memory management unit , sometimes called paged memory management unit , is a computer hardware component responsible for handling accesses to memory requested by the CPU...

    —Memory Management Unit
  • MMX—Multi-Media Extensions
  • MNG—Multiple-image Network Graphics
  • MoBo
    Motherboard
    In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...

    —Motherboard
  • MOM
    Message-oriented middleware
    Message-oriented middleware is software or hardware infrastructure supporting sending and receiving messages between distributed systems. MOM allows application modules to be distributed over heterogeneous platforms and reduces the complexity of developing applications that span multiple...

    —Message-Oriented Middleware
  • MOO
    MOO
    A MOO is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time.The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses...

    —MUD Object Oriented
  • MOS—Microsoft Office Specialist
  • MOSFET
    MOSFET
    The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor is a transistor used for amplifying or switching electronic signals. The basic principle of this kind of transistor was first patented by Julius Edgar Lilienfeld in 1925...

    —Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor
  • MOTD—Message Of The Day
  • MOUS
    Microsoft Certified Professional
    Microsoft Certified Professional is a program of Professional certifications awarded by Microsoft. Individual certifications are awarded upon passing of one or more exams. The MCP program itself is designed for both IT Professionals and developers. Beneath the MCP program is a variety of more...

    —Microsoft Office User Specialist
  • MPAA
    Motion Picture Association of America
    The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...

    —Motion Picture Association of America
  • MPEG
    Moving Picture Experts Group
    The Moving Picture Experts Group is a working group of experts that was formed by ISO and IEC to set standards for audio and video compression and transmission. It was established in 1988 by the initiative of Hiroshi Yasuda and Leonardo Chiariglione, who has been from the beginning the Chairman...

    —Motion Pictures Experts Group
  • MPL
    Mozilla Public License
    The Mozilla Public License is a free and open source software license. Version 1.0 was developed by Mitchell Baker when she worked as a lawyer at Netscape Communications Corporation and version 1.1 at the Mozilla Foundation...

    —Mozilla Public License
  • MPLS
    Multiprotocol Label Switching
    Multiprotocol Label Switching is a mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks that directs data from one network node to the next based on short path labels rather than long network addresses, avoiding complex lookups in a routing table. The labels identify virtual links between...

    —Multiprotocol Label Switching
  • MPU
    Microprocessor
    A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...

    —Microprocessor Unit
  • MS
    USB flash drive
    A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...

    —Memory Stick
  • MS
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

    —Microsoft
  • MSB
    Most significant bit
    In computing, the most significant bit is the bit position in a binary number having the greatest value...

    —Most Significant Bit
  • MS-DOS
    MS-DOS
    MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...

    —Microsoft DOS
  • MT
    Machine translation
    Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...

    —Machine Translation
  • MTA—Mail Transfer Agent
  • MTA
    Microsoft Certified Professional
    Microsoft Certified Professional is a program of Professional certifications awarded by Microsoft. Individual certifications are awarded upon passing of one or more exams. The MCP program itself is designed for both IT Professionals and developers. Beneath the MCP program is a variety of more...

    —Microsoft Technology Associate
  • MTBF—Mean Time Between Failures
  • MTU
    Maximum transmission unit
    In computer networking, the maximum transmission unit of a communications protocol of a layer is the size of the largest protocol data unit that the layer can pass onwards. MTU parameters usually appear in association with a communications interface...

    —Maximum Transmission Unit
  • MSA
    Mail submission agent
    A mail submission agent is a computer program or software agent that receives electronic mail messages from a mail user agent and cooperates with a mail transfer agent for delivery of the mail...

    —Mail Submission Agent
  • MSDN
    Microsoft Developer Network
    The Microsoft Developer Network is the portion of Microsoft responsible for managing the firm's relationship with developers and testers: hardware developers interested in the operating system , developers standing on the various OS platforms, developers using the API and scripting languages of...

    —Microsoft Developer Network
  • MSI—Medium-Scale Integration
  • MSI
    Message Signaled Interrupts
    Message Signaled Interrupts, in PCI 2.2and later in PCI Express, are an alternative way of generating an interrupt. Traditionally, a device has an interrupt pin which it asserts when it wants to interrupt the host CPU. While PCI Express does not have separate interrupt pins, it has special...

    —Message Signaled Interrupt
  • MSI
    Windows Installer
    The Windows Installer is a software component used for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software on modern Microsoft Windows systems...

    —Microsoft Installer
  • MUA—Mail User Agent
  • MUD
    MUD
    A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...

    —Multi-User Dungeon
  • MVC—Model-View-Controller
  • MVP
    Microsoft Most Valuable Professional
    The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional is the highest award given by Microsoft to those it considers "the best and brightest from technology communities around the world" who "actively share their ... technical expertise with the community and with Microsoft"...

    —Most Valuable Professional
  • MVS
    MVS
    Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, was the most commonly used operating system on the System/370 and System/390 IBM mainframe computers...

    —Multiple Virtual Storage
  • MX
    MX record
    A mail exchanger record is a type of resource record in the Domain Name System that specifies a mail server responsible for accepting email messages on behalf of a recipient's domain, and a preference value used to prioritize mail delivery if multiple mail servers are available...

    —Mail exchange
  • MXF—Material Exchange Format


N

  • NACK
    Negative-acknowledge character
    * In telecommunications, a negative-acknowledge character is a transmission control character sent by a station as a negative response to the station with which the connection has been set up....

    —Negative ACKnowledgement
  • NAK
    Negative-acknowledge character
    * In telecommunications, a negative-acknowledge character is a transmission control character sent by a station as a negative response to the station with which the connection has been set up....

    —Negative AcKnowledge Character
  • NaN
    NaN
    In computing, NaN is a value of the numeric data type representing an undefined or unrepresentable value, especially in floating-point calculations...

    —Not a Number
  • NAS
    Network-attached storage
    Network-attached storage is file-level computer data storage connected to a computer network providing data access to heterogeneous clients. NAS not only operates as a file server, but is specialized for this task either by its hardware, software, or configuration of those elements...

    —Network-Attached Storage
  • NASM—Netwide ASseMbler
  • NAT
    Network address translation
    In computer networking, network address translation is the process of modifying IP address information in IP packet headers while in transit across a traffic routing device....

    —Network Address Translation
  • NCP
    NetWare Core Protocol
    The NetWare Core Protocol is a network protocol used in some products from Novell, Inc. It is usually associated with the NetWare operating system, but parts of it have been implemented on other platforms such as Linux, Windows NT and various flavors of Unix.It is used to access file, print,...

    —NetWare Core Protocol
  • NCQ
    Native Command Queuing
    Native Command Queuing is a technology designed to increase performance of SATA hard disks under certain conditions by allowing the individual hard disk to internally optimize the order in which received read and write commands are executed...

    —Native Command Queuing
  • NCSA
    National Center for Supercomputing Applications
    The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is an American state-federal partnership to develop and deploy national-scale cyberinfrastructure that advances science and engineering. NCSA operates as a unit of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but it provides high-performance...

    —National Center for Supercomputing Applications
  • NDPS
    Novell Embedded Systems Technology
    Novell Embedded Systems Technology, or NEST, was a series of APIs, data formats and network protocol stacks written in a highly portable fashion intended to be used in embedded systems. The idea was to allow various small devices to access Novell NetWare services, provide such services, or use...

    —Novell Distributed Print Services
  • NDS—Novell Directory Services
  • NEP
    Network Equipment Provider
    Network Equipment Providers are companies that provide communication solutions to Service Providers like fixed or mobile operators as well as to Enterprise customers. If you place a call on your mobile phone, surf the internet, join a conference call or watch a video on demand through IPTV – it...

    —Network Equipment Provider
  • NetBIOS
    NetBIOS
    NetBIOS is an acronym for Network Basic Input/Output System. It provides services related to the session layer of the OSI model allowing applications on separate computers to communicate over a local area network. As strictly an API, NetBIOS is not a networking protocol...

    —Network Basic Input/Output System
  • NEXT—Near-End CrossTalk
  • NFA
    Nondeterministic finite state machine
    In the automata theory, a nondeterministic finite state machine or nondeterministic finite automaton is a finite state machine where from each state and a given input symbol the automaton may jump into several possible next states...

    —Nondeterministic Finite Automaton
  • NFS—Network File System
  • NGL—aNGeL
  • NGSCB
    Next-Generation Secure Computing Base
    The Next-Generation Secure Computing Base , formerly known as Palladium, is a software architecture designed by Microsoft which is expected to implement parts of the controversial "Trusted Computing" concept on future versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. NGSCB is part of...

    —Next-Generation Secure Computing Base
  • NI
    National Instruments
    National Instruments Corporation, or NI , is an American company with over 5,000 employees and direct operations in 41 countries. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it is a producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software...

    —National Instruments
  • NIC—Network Interface Controller
  • NIM—No Internal Message
  • NIO
    New I/O
    New I/O, usually called NIO, is a collection of Java programming language APIs that offer features for intensive I/O operations. It was introduced with the J2SE 1.4 release of Java by Sun Microsystems to complement an existing standard I/O. NIO was developed under the Java Community Process as JSR...

    —New I/O
  • NIST
    National Institute of Standards and Technology
    The National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...

    —National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • NLP
    Natural language processing
    Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....

    —Natural Language Processing
  • NLS
    Internationalization and localization
    In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...

    —Native Language Support
  • NP
    NP (complexity)
    In computational complexity theory, NP is one of the most fundamental complexity classes.The abbreviation NP refers to "nondeterministic polynomial time."...

    —Nondeterministic Polynomial time
  • NPL
    Netscape Public License
    The Netscape Public License is a free software license, the license under which Netscape Communications Corporation originally released Mozilla....

    —Netscape Public License
  • NPU—Network Processing Unit
  • NS
    Netscape
    Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...

    —Netscape
  • NSA
    National Security Agency
    The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...

    —National Security Agency
  • NSPR
    Netscape Portable Runtime
    In computing, the Netscape portable runtime, or NSPR, a platform abstraction library, makes all operating systems it supports appear the same to Mozilla-style web-browsers. NSPR provides platform independence for non-GUI operating system facilities...

    —Netscape Portable Runtime
  • NMI
    Non-Maskable interrupt
    A non-maskable interrupt is a computer processor interrupt that cannot be ignored by standard interrupt masking techniques in the system. It is typically used to signal attention for non-recoverable hardware errors...

    —Non-Maskable Interrupt
  • NNTP
    Network News Transfer Protocol
    The Network News Transfer Protocol is an Internet application protocol used for transporting Usenet news articles between news servers and for reading and posting articles by end user client applications...

    —Network News Transfer Protocol
  • NOC
    Network Operations Center
    A network operations center is one or more locations from which control is exercised over a computer, television broadcast, or telecommunications network....

    —Network Operations Center
  • NOP
    NOP
    In computer science, NOP or NOOP is an assembly language instruction, sequence of programming language statements, or computer protocol command that effectively does nothing at all....

    —No OPeration
  • NOS
    Network operating system
    A networking operating system , also referred to as the Dialoguer, is the software that runs on a server and enables the server to manage data, users, groups, security, applications, and other networking functions...

    —Network Operating System
  • NPTL
    Native POSIX Thread Library
    The Native POSIX Thread Library is a software feature that enables the Linux kernel to run programs written to use POSIX Threads efficiently.-History:...

    —Native POSIX Thread Library
  • NSS
    Novell Storage Services
    Novell Storage Services is a file system used by the Novell NetWare operating system. Recently support of NSS was introduced to SUSE Linux via low-level network NCPFS protocol...

    —Novell Storage Service
  • NSS
    Network Security Services
    In computing, Network Security Services comprises a set of libraries designed to support cross-platform development of security-enabled client and server applications. NSS provides a complete open-source implementation of crypto libraries supporting SSL and S/MIME...

    —Network Security Services
  • NSS
    Name Service Switch
    The Name Service Switch is a facility in Unix-like operating systems that provides a variety of sources for common configuration databases and name resolution mechanisms...

    —Name Service Switch
  • NT
    Windows NT
    Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...

    —New Technology
  • NTFS
    NTFS
    NTFS is the standard file system of Windows NT, including its later versions Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7....

    —NT Filesystem
  • NTLM
    NTLM
    In a Windows network, NTLM is a suite of Microsoft security protocols that provides authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users....

    —NT Lan Manager
  • NTP
    Network Time Protocol
    The Network Time Protocol is a protocol and software implementation for synchronizing the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. Originally designed by David L...

    —Network Time Protocol
  • NUMA
    Non-Uniform Memory Access
    Non-Uniform Memory Access is a computer memory design used in Multiprocessing, where the memory access time depends on the memory location relative to a processor...

    —Non-Uniform Memory Access
  • NURBS—Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline
  • NVR
    Network Video Recorder
    A network video recorder is a software program that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other mass storage device. NVRs are similar to DVRs but with several distinct differences. NVRs take video input over a network, as opposed to directly...

    —Network Video Recorder
  • NVRAM—Non-Volatile Random Access Memory


O

  • OASIS
    OASIS (organization)
    The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards is a global consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business and web service standards...

    —Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
  • OAT
    Operational Acceptance Testing
    Operational acceptance testing is a type of software testing, used mainly in software support and software maintenance projects. This type of testing focuses on the operational readiness of the system to be supported, or which is to become the production environment. Hence, it is also known as...

    —Operational Acceptance Testing
  • OBSAI
    OBSAI
    OBSAI, which stands for "Open Base Station Architecture Initiative", is an initiative created by Hyundai, LGE, Nokia, Samsung and ZTE in September 2002 with the aim of creating an open market for cellular base stations...

    —Open Base Station Architecture Initiative
  • ODBC
    Open Database Connectivity
    In computing, ODBC is a standard C interface for accessing database management systems . The designers of ODBC aimed to make it independent of database systems and operating systems...

    —Open DataBase Connectivity
  • OEM
    Original Equipment Manufacturer
    An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...

    —Original Equipment Manufacturer
  • OES
    Novell Open Enterprise Server
    Novell Open Enterprise Server is the successor product to Novell, Inc.'s NetWare operating system, based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server . Originally released in March 2005, the current release is OES 2 SP3...

    —Open Enterprise Server
  • OFTC
    Open and Free Technology Community
    The Open and Free Technology Community is an IRC network that provides collaboration services to members of the free software community in any part of the world. OFTC is an associated project of Software in the Public Interest, a non-profit organization which was founded to help organizations...

    —Open and Free Technology Community
  • OLAP—Online Analytical Processing
  • OLE
    Object Linking and Embedding
    Object Linking and Embedding is a technology developed by Microsoft that allows embedding and linking to documents and other objects. For developers, it brought OLE Control eXtension , a way to develop and use custom user interface elements...

    —Object Linking and Embedding
  • OLED
    Organic light-emitting diode
    An OLED is a light-emitting diode in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compounds which emit light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor material is situated between two electrodes...

    —Organic Light Emitting Diode
  • OLPC—One Laptop per Child
  • OLTP
    Online transaction processing
    Online transaction processing, or OLTP, refers to a class of systems that facilitate and manage transaction-oriented applications, typically for data entry and retrieval transaction processing...

    —Online Transaction Processing
  • OMF
    Relocatable Object Module Format
    The Relocatable Object Module Format is an object file format used primarily for software intended to run on Intel 80x86 microprocessors. It was originally developed by Intel under the name Object Module Format, and is perhaps best known to DOS users as a .OBJ file...

    —Object Module Format
  • OMG
    Object Management Group
    Object Management Group is a consortium, originally aimed at setting standards for distributed object-oriented systems, and is now focused on modeling and model-based standards.- Overview :...

    —Object Management Group
  • OO
    Object-oriented programming
    Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...

    —Object-Oriented
  • OO
    OpenOffice.org
    OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...

    —OpenOffice
  • OOE
    Out-of-order execution
    In computer engineering, out-of-order execution is a paradigm used in most high-performance microprocessors to make use of instruction cycles that would otherwise be wasted by a certain type of costly delay...

    —Out-of-Order Execution
  • OOM
    Out of memory
    Out of memory is a state of computer operation where no additional memory can be allocated for use by programs or the operating system. Such a system will be unable to load any additional programs and since many programs may load additional data into memory during execution, these will cease to...

    —Out Of Memory
  • OOo
    OpenOffice.org
    OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...

    —OpenOffice.org
  • OoOE
    Out-of-order execution
    In computer engineering, out-of-order execution is a paradigm used in most high-performance microprocessors to make use of instruction cycles that would otherwise be wasted by a certain type of costly delay...

    —Out-of-Order Execution
  • OOP
    Object-oriented programming
    Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...

    —Object-Oriented Programming
  • OOTB
    Out of the box
    Out of the box is the term used to denote items, functionalities, or features that do not require any additional installation. In addition to being used for tangible products, the phrase is often used in a less literal sense for software, which may not be distributed in an actual box but offer...

    —Out of the box
  • OPML
    OPML
    OPML is an XML format for outlines...

    —Outline Processor Markup Language
  • ORB
    Object request broker
    In distributed computing, an object request broker is a piece of middleware software that allows programmers to make program calls from one computer to another via a network...

    —Object Request Broker
  • ORM
    Object-relational mapping
    Object-relational mapping in computer software is a programming technique for converting data between incompatible type systems in object-oriented programming languages. This creates, in effect, a "virtual object database" that can be used from within the programming language...

    —Oject-Relational Mapping
  • OS
    Open source
    The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

    —Open Source
  • OS
    Operating system
    An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

    —Operating System
  • OSCON
    O'Reilly Open Source Convention
    The O'Reilly Open Source Convention is an annual convention for the discussion of free and open source software. It is organized by the publisher O'Reilly Media and is held each summer in the United States.-Notable events:...

    —O'Reilly Open Source CONvention
  • OSDN—Open Source Developer Network
  • OSI
    Open Source Initiative
    The Open Source Initiative is an organization dedicated to promoting open source software.The organization was founded in February 1998, by Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, prompted by Netscape Communications Corporation publishing the source code for its flagship Netscape Communicator product...

    —Open Source Initiative
  • OSI
    Open Systems Interconnection
    Open Systems Interconnection is an effort to standardize networking that was started in 1977 by the International Organization for Standardization , along with the ITU-T.-History:...

    —Open Systems Interconnection
  • OSPF
    Open Shortest Path First
    Open Shortest Path First is an adaptive routing protocol for Internet Protocol networks. It uses a link state routing algorithm and falls into the group of interior routing protocols, operating within a single autonomous system . It is defined as OSPF Version 2 in RFC 2328 for IPv4...

    —Open Shortest Path First
  • OSS
    Open Sound System
    The Open Sound System is an interface for making and capturing sound in Unix or Unix-like operating systems. It is based on standard Unix devices...

    —Open Sound System
  • OSS—Open-Source Software
  • OSS
    Operations support system
    Operations support systems are computer systems used by telecommunications service providers. The term OSS most frequently describes "network systems" dealing with the telecom network itself, supporting processes such as maintaining network inventory, provisioning services, configuring network...

    —Operations Support System
  • OSTG—Open Source Technology Group
  • OUI
    Organizationally Unique Identifier
    An Organizationally Unique Identifier is a 24-bit number that is purchased from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Incorporated Registration Authority...

    —Organizationally Unique Identifier


P

  • P2P
    Peer-to-peer
    Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...

    —Peer-To-Peer
  • PAC
    Programmable automation controller
    A programmable automation controller ' is a compact controller that combines the features and capabilities of a PC-based control system with that of a typical programmable logic controller . PACs are most often used in industrial settings for process control, data acquisition, remote equipment...

    —Programmable Automation Controller
  • PAN
    Personal area network
    A personal area network is a computer network used for communication among computer devices, including telephones and personal digital assistants, in proximity to an individual's body. The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach of a PAN is typically a few meters...

    —Personal Area Network
  • PAP
    Password authentication protocol
    A password authentication protocol is an authentication protocol that uses a password.PAP is used by Point to Point Protocol to validate users before allowing them access to server resources. Almost all network operating system remote servers support PAP.PAP transmits unencrypted ASCII passwords...

    —Password Authentication Protocol
  • PARC—Palo Alto Research Center
  • PATA—Parallel ATA
  • PC
    Personal computer
    A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...

    —Personal Computer
  • PCB
    Printed circuit board
    A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...

    —Printed Circuit Board
  • PCB
    Process control block
    Process Control Block is a data structure in the operating system kernel containing the information needed to manage a particular process...

    —Process Control Block
  • PC DOS—Personal Computer Disk Operating System
  • PCI
    Peripheral Component Interconnect
    Conventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...

    —Peripheral Component Interconnect
  • PCIe
    PCI Express
    PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...

    —PCI Express
  • PCL
    Printer Command Language
    Printer Command Language, more commonly referred to as PCL, is a page description language developed by Hewlett-Packard as a printer protocol and has become a de facto industry standard. Originally developed for early inkjet printers in 1984, PCL has been released in varying levels for thermal,...

    —Printer Command Language
  • PCMCIA—Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
  • PCM
    Pulse-code modulation
    Pulse-code modulation is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form for digital audio in computers and various Blu-ray, Compact Disc and DVD formats, as well as other uses such as digital telephone systems...

    —Pulse-Code Modulation
  • PCRE—Perl Compatible Regular Expressions
  • PD
    Public domain
    Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

    —Public Domain
  • PDA
    Personal digital assistant
    A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...

    —Personal Digital Assistant
  • PDF
    Portable Document Format
    Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....

    —Portable Document Format
  • PDP
    Programmed Data Processor
    Programmed Data Processor was the name of a series of minicomputers made by Digital Equipment Corporation. The name 'PDP' intentionally avoided the use of the term 'computer' because, at the time of the first PDPs, computers had a reputation of being large, complicated, and expensive machines, and...

    —Programmed Data Processor
  • PE
    Logical volume management
    In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM provides a method of allocating space on mass-storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes...

    —Physical Extents
  • PERL
    Perl
    Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...

    —Practical Extraction and Reporting Language
  • PGA
    Pin grid array
    A pin grid array, often abbreviated PGA, is a type of integrated circuit packaging. In a PGA, the package is square or roughly square, and the pins are arranged in a regular array on the underside of the package...

    —Pin Grid Array
  • PGO
    Profile-guided optimization
    Profile-guided optimization is a compiler optimization technique in computer programming to improve program runtime performance. In contrast to traditional optimization techniques that solely use the source code, PGO uses the results of test runs of the instrumented program to optimize the final...

    —Profile-Guided Optimization
  • PGP
    Pretty Good Privacy
    Pretty Good Privacy is a data encryption and decryption computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is often used for signing, encrypting and decrypting texts, E-mails, files, directories and whole disk partitions to increase the security...

    —Pretty Good Privacy
  • PHP
    PHP
    PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

    —PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
  • PIC
    PIC microcontroller
    PIC is a family of Harvard architecture microcontrollers made by Microchip Technology, derived from the PIC1650 originally developed by General Instrument's Microelectronics Division...

    —Peripheral Interface Controller
  • PIC
    Programmable Interrupt Controller
    In computing, a programmable interrupt controller is a device that is used to combine several sources of interrupt onto one or more CPU lines, while allowing priority levels to be assigned to its interrupt outputs. When the device has multiple interrupt outputs to assert, it will assert them in...

    —Programmable Interrupt Controller
  • PID
    PID controller
    A proportional–integral–derivative controller is a generic control loop feedback mechanism widely used in industrial control systems – a PID is the most commonly used feedback controller. A PID controller calculates an "error" value as the difference between a measured process variable and a...

    —Proportional-Integral-Derivative
  • PID
    Process identifier
    In computing, the process identifier is a number used by most operating system kernels to uniquely identify a process...

    —Process ID
  • PIM
    Personal information manager
    A personal information manager is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. The acronym PIM is now, more commonly, used in reference to Personal information management as a field of study...

    —Personal Information Manager
  • PINE
    Pine (e-mail client)
    Pine is a freeware, text-based email client developed at the University of Washington. The first version of this client was written in 1989. Source code was available for only the Unix version under a license written by the University of Washington...

    —Program for Internet News and Email
  • PIO
    Programmed input/output
    Programmed input/output is a method of transferring data between the CPU and a peripheral such as a network adapter or an ATA storage device....

    —Programmed Input/Output
  • PKCS
    PKCS
    In cryptography, PKCS refers to a group of public-key cryptography standards devised and published by RSA Security.RSA Data Security Inc was assigned the licensing rights for the patent on the RSA asymmetric key algorithm and acquired the licensing rights to several other key patents as well...

    —Public Key Cryptography Standards
  • PKI
    Public key infrastructure
    Public Key Infrastructure is a set of hardware, software, people, policies, and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store, and revoke digital certificates. In cryptography, a PKI is an arrangement that binds public keys with respective user identities by means of a certificate...

    —Public Key Infrastructure
  • PLC
    Power line communication
    Power line communication or power line carrier , also known as power line digital subscriber line , mains communication, power line telecom , power line networking , or broadband over power lines are systems for carrying data on a conductor also used for electric power transmission.A wide range...

    —Power Line Communication
  • PLC
    Programmable logic controller
    A programmable logic controller or programmable controller is a digital computer used for automation of electromechanical processes, such as control of machinery on factory assembly lines, amusement rides, or light fixtures. PLCs are used in many industries and machines...

    —Programmable Logic Controller
  • PLD
    Programmable logic device
    A programmable logic device or PLD is an electronic component used to build reconfigurable digital circuits. Unlike a logic gate, which has a fixed function, a PLD has an undefined function at the time of manufacture...

    —Programmable Logic Device
  • PL/I
    PL/I
    PL/I is a procedural, imperative computer programming language designed for scientific, engineering, business and systems programming applications...

    —Programming Language One
  • PL/M
    PL/M
    The PL/M programming languageis a high-level language developed byGary Kildall in 1972 for Intel for its microprocessors....

    —Programming Language for Microcomputers
  • PL/P
    PL/P
    The PL/P programming language is a medium-level language developed by Prime Computer to serve as their second primary operating system programming language after Fortran IV....

    —Programming Language for Prime
  • PLT
    Power line communication
    Power line communication or power line carrier , also known as power line digital subscriber line , mains communication, power line telecom , power line networking , or broadband over power lines are systems for carrying data on a conductor also used for electric power transmission.A wide range...

    —Power Line Telecoms
  • PMM
    Power-on self-test
    Power-On Self-Test refers to routines run immediately after power is applied, by nearly all electronic devices. Perhaps the most widely-known usage pertains to computing devices...

    —POST Memory Manager
  • PNG—Portable Network Graphics
  • PnP—Plug-and-Play
  • PoE
    Power over Ethernet
    Power over Ethernet or PoE technology describes a system to pass electrical power safely, along with data, on Ethernet cabling. The IEEE standard for PoE requires category 5 cable or higher for high power levels, but can operate with category 3 cable for low power levels...

    —Power over Ethernet
  • POID
    Persistent Object Identifier
    In database design, a Persistent Object Identifier is a unique identifier of a record on a table, used as the primary key. Important characteristics of a POID are that it does not carry business information and are not generally exported or otherwise made visible to data users; as such a POID has...

    —Persistent Object Identifier
  • POP
    Point of presence
    A point of presence is an artificial demarcation point or interface point between communications entities. It may include a meet-me-room.In the US, this term became important during the court-ordered breakup of the Bell Telephone system...

    —Point of Presence
  • POP3
    Post Office Protocol
    In computing, the Post Office Protocol is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern...

    —Post Office Protocol v3
  • POSIX
    POSIX
    POSIX , an acronym for "Portable Operating System Interface", is a family of standards specified by the IEEE for maintaining compatibility between operating systems...

    —Portable Operating System Interface
  • POST
    Power-on self-test
    Power-On Self-Test refers to routines run immediately after power is applied, by nearly all electronic devices. Perhaps the most widely-known usage pertains to computing devices...

    —Power-On Self Test
  • PPC
    PowerPC
    PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...

    —PowerPC
  • PPI
    Pixels per inch
    Pixels per inch or pixel density is a measurement of the resolution of devices in various contexts; typically computer displays, image scanners, and digital camera image sensors....

    —Pixels Per Inch
  • PPP
    Point-to-Point Protocol
    In networking, the Point-to-Point Protocol is a data link protocol commonly used in establishing a direct connection between two networking nodes...

    —Point-to-Point Protocol
  • PPPoA
    Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM
    The Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM is a network protocol for encapsulating PPP frames in AAL5. It is used mainly with DOCSIS and DSL carriers....

    —PPP over ATM
  • PPPoE
    Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
    The Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet is a network protocol for encapsulating Point-to-Point Protocol frames inside Ethernet frames. It is used mainly with DSL services where individual users connect to the DSL modem over Ethernet and in plain Metro Ethernet networks...

    —PPP over Ethernet
  • PPTP
    Point-to-point tunneling protocol
    The Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol is a method for implementing virtual private networks. PPTP uses a control channel over TCP and a GRE tunnel operating to encapsulate PPP packets....

    —Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
  • PS
    PostScript
    PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. It is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. Adobe PostScript 3 is also the worldwide printing and imaging...

    —PostScript
  • PSA—Professional Services Automation
  • PS/2
    IBM Personal System/2
    The Personal System/2 or PS/2 was IBM's third generation of personal computers. The PS/2 line, released to the public in 1987, was created by IBM in an attempt to recapture control of the PC market by introducing an advanced proprietary architecture...

    —Personal System/2
  • PSU
    Power supply
    A power supply is a device that supplies electrical energy to one or more electric loads. The term is most commonly applied to devices that convert one form of electrical energy to another, though it may also refer to devices that convert another form of energy to electrical energy...

    —Power Supply Unit
  • PSVI
    PSVI
    PSVI is an acronym for Post-Schema-Validation Infoset, a term used in XML parsing. It is the extended infoset after the XML instance has been validated against the attached schema document and extends the XML infoset after validation. Briefly, an XML schema assigns an identifiable type to each...

    —Post-Schema-Validation Infoset
  • PTS-DOS
    PTS-DOS
    PTS-DOS is a disk operating system, a DOS clone, developed in Russia by PhysTechSoft.- History and versions :PhysTechSoft was formed in 1991 in Moscow, Russia by graduates and members of MIPT, informally known as PhysTech. At the end of 1993, PhysTechSoft released the first commercially available...

    —PhysTechSoft - Disk Operating System
  • PV
    Logical volume management
    In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM provides a method of allocating space on mass-storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes...

    —Physical Volume
  • PVG
    Logical volume management
    In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM provides a method of allocating space on mass-storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes...

    —Physical Volume Group
  • PVR—Personal Video Recorder
  • PXE
    Preboot Execution Environment
    The Preboot eXecution Environment is an environment to boot computers using a network interface independently of data storage devices or installed operating systems.PXE was introduced as part of the Wired for Management framework by Intel and is described in the specification The Preboot...

    —Preboot Execution Environment
  • PXI—PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation


Q

  • QDR—Quad Data Rate
  • QA
    Quality control
    Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...

    —Quality Assurance
  • QFP—Quad Flat Package
  • QoS
    Quality of service
    The quality of service refers to several related aspects of telephony and computer networks that allow the transport of traffic with special requirements...

    —Quality of Service
  • QOTD
    QOTD
    The Quote Of The Day service was a method used by mainframe sysadmins to broadcast a daily quote on request by a user. It was formally codified both for prior purposes as well as for testing and measurement purposes in Internet protocol RFC 865....

    —Quote of the Day
  • Qt
    Qt (toolkit)
    Qt is a cross-platform application framework that is widely used for developing application software with a graphical user interface , and also used for developing non-GUI programs such as command-line tools and consoles for servers...

    —Quasar Toolkit
  • QTAM—Queued Teleprocessing Access Method


R

  • RACF—Resource Access Control Facility
  • RAD
    Rapid application development
    Rapid application development is a software development methodology that uses minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The "planning" of software developed using RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself...

    —Rapid Application Development
  • RADIUS
    RADIUS
    Remote Authentication Dial In User Service is a networking protocol that provides centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting management for computers to connect and use a network service...

    —Remote Authentication Dial In User Service
  • RAID
    RAID
    RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit...

    —Redundant Array of Independent Disks
  • RAID
    RAID
    RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit...

    —Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
  • RAIT
    RAID
    RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit...

    —Redundant Array of Inexpensive Tapes
  • RAM
    Random-access memory
    Random access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time. Strictly speaking, modern types of DRAM are therefore not random access, as data is read in...

    —Random Access Memory
  • RARP
    Reverse Address Resolution Protocol
    The Reverse Address Resolution Protocol is an obsolete computer networking protocol used by a host computer to request its Internet Protocol address from an administrative host, when it has available its Link Layer or hardware address, such as a MAC address.RARP is described in Internet...

    —Reverse Address Resolution Protocol
  • RAS
    Reliability, Availability and Serviceability
    reliability, availability, and serviceability are computer hardware engineering terms. It originated from IBM to advertise the robustness of their mainframe computers. The concept is often known by the acronym RAS....

    —Reliability, Availability and Serviceability
  • RAS
    Remote Access Service
    Remote Access Services refers to any combination of hardware and software to enable the remote access tools or information that typically reside on a network of IT devices. A RAS server is a specialized computer which aggregates multiple communication channels together...

    —Remote Access Service
  • RRAS
    Routing and Remote Access Service
    Routing and Remote Access Service is a Microsoft API and server software make it possible to create applications to administer the routing and remote access service capabilities of the operating system, to function as a network router, and developers can also use RRAS to implement routing protocols...

     Routing and Remote Access Service
  • RC
    DVD region code
    DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

    —Region Code
  • RC—Release Candidate
  • RC
    Run Commands
    The term rc stands for the phrase "run commands". It is used for any file that contains startup information for a command. It is believed to have originated somewhere in 1965 from a runcom facility from the MIT Compatible Time-Sharing System system....

    —Run Commands
  • RCS
    Revision Control System
    The Revision Control System is a software implementation of revision control that automates the storing, retrieval, logging, identification, and merging of revisions. RCS is useful for text that is revised frequently, for example programs, documentation, procedural graphics, papers, and form...

    —Revision Control System
  • RDBMS
    Relational database management system
    A relational database management system is a database management system that is based on the relational model as introduced by E. F. Codd. Most popular databases currently in use are based on the relational database model....

    —Relational DataBase Management System
  • RDF
    Resource Description Framework
    The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...

    —Resource Description Framework
  • RDM—Relational Data Model
  • RDOS
    RDOS
    RDOS was a real-time operating system released in 1972 for the popular Data General Nova and Eclipse minicomputers...

    —Real-time Disk Operating System
  • RDS
    Remote Data Services
    Remote Data Services is a Microsoft technology used in conjunction with ActiveX Data Objects that allowed the retrieval of a set of data from a database server, which the client then altered in some way and then sent back to the server for further processing...

    —Remote Data Services
  • REFAL
    Refal
    Refal "is a functional programming language oriented toward symbol manipulation", including "string processing, translation, [and] artificial intelligence". It is one of the oldest members of this family, first conceived in 1966 as a theoretical tool with the first implementation appearing in 1968...

    —REcursive Functions Algorithmic Language
  • REST
    Representational State Transfer
    Representational state transfer is a style of software architecture for distributed hypermedia systems such as the World Wide Web. The term representational state transfer was introduced and defined in 2000 by Roy Fielding in his doctoral dissertation...

    —Representational State Transfer
  • regex
    Regular expression
    In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...

    —Regular Expression
  • regexp
    Regular expression
    In computing, a regular expression provides a concise and flexible means for "matching" strings of text, such as particular characters, words, or patterns of characters. Abbreviations for "regular expression" include "regex" and "regexp"...

    —Regular Expression
  • RF
    Radio frequency
    Radio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals...

    —Radio Frequency
  • RFC
    Request for Comments
    In computer network engineering, a Request for Comments is a memorandum published by the Internet Engineering Task Force describing methods, behaviors, research, or innovations applicable to the working of the Internet and Internet-connected systems.Through the Internet Society, engineers and...

    —Request For Comments
  • RFI—Radio Frequency Interference
  • RFID—Radio Frequency Identification
  • RGB
    RGB color model
    The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green, and blue light is added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors...

    —Red, Green, Blue
  • RGBA—Red, Green, Blue, Alpha
  • RHL
    Red Hat Linux
    Red Hat Linux, assembled by the company Red Hat, was a popular Linux based operating system until its discontinuation in 2004.Red Hat Linux 1.0 was released on November 3, 1994...

    —Red Hat Linux
  • RHEL
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux-based operating system developed by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86, x86-64, Itanium, PowerPC and IBM System z, and desktop versions for x86 and x86-64...

    —Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • RIA
    Rich Internet application
    A Rich Internet Application is a Web application that has many of the characteristics of desktop application software, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser, via a browser plug-in, independent sandboxes, extensive use of JavaScript, or virtual machines...

    —Rich Internet Application
  • RIAA
    Recording Industry Association of America
    The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

    —Recording Industry Association of America
  • RIP
    Raster image processor
    A raster image processor is a component used in a printing system which produces a raster image also known as a bitmap. The bitmap is then sent to a printing device for output. The input may be a page description in a high-level page description language such as PostScript, Portable Document...

    —Raster Image Processor
  • RIP
    Routing Information Protocol
    The Routing Information Protocol is a distance-vector routing protocol, which employs the hop count as a routing metric. RIP prevents routing loops by implementing a limit on the number of hops allowed in a path from the source to a destination. The maximum number of hops allowed for RIP is 15....

    —Routing Information Protocol
  • RIR
    Regional Internet registry
    A regional Internet registry is an organization that manages the allocation and registration of Internet number resources within a particular region of the world...

    —Regional Internet registry
  • RISC
    Reduced instruction set computer
    Reduced instruction set computing, or RISC , is a CPU design strategy based on the insight that simplified instructions can provide higher performance if this simplicity enables much faster execution of each instruction. A computer based on this strategy is a reduced instruction set computer...

    —Reduced Instruction Set Computer
  • RISC OS
    RISC OS
    RISC OS is a computer operating system originally developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England for their range of desktop computers, based on their own ARM architecture. First released in 1987, under the name Arthur, the subsequent iteration was renamed as in 1988...

    —Reduced Instruction Set Computer Operating System
  • RJE
    Remote Job Entry
    Remote job entry is the term used to describe the process of sending jobs to Mainframe computers from remote workstations, and by extension the process of receiving output from mainframe jobs at a remote workstation....

    —Remote Job Entry
  • RLE
    Run-length encoding
    Run-length encoding is a very simple form of data compression in which runs of data are stored as a single data value and count, rather than as the original run...

    —Run-Length Encoding
  • RLL—Run-Length Limited
  • RMI
    Java remote method invocation
    The Java Remote Method Invocation Application Programming Interface , or Java RMI, is a Java application programming interface that performs the object-oriented equivalent of remote procedure calls ....

    —Remote Method Invocation
  • RMS
    Richard Stallman
    Richard Matthew Stallman , often shortened to rms,"'Richard Stallman' is just my mundane name; you can call me 'rms'"|last= Stallman|first= Richard|date= N.D.|work=Richard Stallman's homepage...

    —Richard Matthew Stallman
  • ROM
    Read-only memory
    Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...

    —Read Only Memory
  • ROMB
    S-LINK
    S-LINK, for simple link interface, is a high-performance data acquisition standard developed at CERN for collecting information from particle accelerators and other sources. Unlike similar systems, S-LINK is based on the idea that data will be collected and stored by computers at both ends of the...

    —Read-Out Motherboard
  • ROM-DOS—Read Only Memory - Disk Operating System
  • RPC
    Remote procedure call
    In computer science, a remote procedure call is an inter-process communication that allows a computer program to cause a subroutine or procedure to execute in another address space without the programmer explicitly coding the details for this remote interaction...

    —Remote Procedure Call
  • RPG—Report Program Generator
  • RPM
    RPM Package Manager
    RPM Package Manager is a package management system. The name RPM variously refers to the .rpm file format, files in this format, software packaged in such files, and the package manager itself...

    —RPM Package Manager
  • RSA—Rivest Shamir Adleman
  • RSI
    Repetitive strain injury
    Repetitive strain injury is an injury of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems that may be caused by...

    —Repetitive Strain Injury
  • RSS
    Radio Service Software
    Radio Service Software is a software package used to program commercial Motorola two-way radios and cellular telephones. An update of RSS is CPS, a Windows-based version of the package used for some of Motorola's newer radio models.-Licensing:...

    —Radio Service Software
  • RSS
    RSS
    -Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...

    —Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication
  • RTAI
    RTAI
    RTAI stands for Real-Time Application Interface. It is a real-time extension for the Linux kernel - which lets you write applications with strict timing constraints for Linux...

    —Real-Time Application Interface
  • RTC
    Real-time clock
    A real-time clock is a computer clock that keeps track of the current time. Although the term often refers to the devices in personal computers, servers and embedded systems, RTCs are present in almost any electronic device which needs to keep accurate time.-Terminology:The term is used to avoid...

    —Real-Time Clock
  • RTE—Real-Time Enterprise
  • RTEMS
    RTEMS
    RTEMS is a free open source real-time operating system designed for embedded systems....

    —Real-Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems
  • RTL
    Bi-directional text
    Bi-directional text is text containing text in both text directionalities, both right-to-left and left-to-right . It generally involves text containing different types of alphabets, but may also refer to boustrophedon, which is changing text directionality in each row.Some writing systems of the...

    —Right-to-Left
  • RTOS
    Real-time operating system
    A real-time operating system is an operating system intended to serve real-time application requests.A key characteristic of a RTOS is the level of its consistency concerning the amount of time it takes to accept and complete an application's task; the variability is jitter...

    —Real-Time Operating System
  • RTP
    Real-time Transport Protocol
    The Real-time Transport Protocol defines a standardized packet format for delivering audio and video over IP networks. RTP is used extensively in communication and entertainment systems that involve streaming media, such as telephony, video teleconference applications, television services and...

    —Real-time Transport Protocol
  • RTS—Ready To Send
  • RTSP
    Real Time Streaming Protocol
    The Real Time Streaming Protocol is a network control protocol designed for use in entertainment and communications systems to control streaming media servers. The protocol is used for establishing and controlling media sessions between end points...

    —Real Time Streaming Protocol


S

  • SaaS
    Software as a Service
    Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...

    —Software as a Service
  • SAN
    Storage area network
    A storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...

    —Storage Area Network
  • SATA
    Serial ATA
    Serial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...

    —Serial ATA
  • SAX
    Simple API for XML
    SAX is an event-based sequential access parser API developed by the XML-DEV mailing list for XML documents. SAX provides a mechanism for reading data from an XML document that is an alternative to that provided by the Document Object Model...

    —Simple API for XML
  • SBOD—Spinning Beachball of Death
  • SBP-2
    Serial Bus Protocol 2
    Serial Bus Protocol 2 standard is a transport protocol within Serial Bus, IEEE Std 1394-1995 , developed by T10....

    —Serial Bus Protocol 2
  • sbin—superuser binary
  • SBU—Standard Build Unit
  • SCADA
    SCADA
    SCADA generally refers to industrial control systems : computer systems that monitor and control industrial, infrastructure, or facility-based processes, as described below:...

    —Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition
  • SCID
    Source Code in Database
    A Source Code in Database IDE is an IDE such as IBM VisualAge Java where code is pre-parsed and stored in a database. This allows many productivity-enhancing shortcuts which were otherwise not possible....

    —Source Code in Database
  • SCM
    Software configuration management
    In software engineering, software configuration management is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software. Configuration management practices include revision control and the establishment of baselines....

    —Software Configuration Management
  • SCM
    Revision control
    Revision control, also known as version control and source control , is the management of changes to documents, programs, and other information stored as computer files. It is most commonly used in software development, where a team of people may change the same files...

    —Source Code Management
  • SCP
    Secure copy
    Secure Copy or SCP is a means of securely transferring computer files between a local and a remote host or between two remote hosts. It is based on the Secure Shell protocol....

    —Secure Copy
  • SCPI—Standard Commands for Programmable Instrumentation
  • SCSI
    SCSI
    Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...

    —Small Computer System Interface
  • SCTP
    Stream Control Transmission Protocol
    In computer networking, the Stream Control Transmission Protocol is a Transport Layer protocol, serving in a similar role to the popular protocols Transmission Control Protocol and User Datagram Protocol...

    —Stream Control Transmission Protocol
  • SD
    Secure Digital
    Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...

    —Secure Digital
  • SDDL
    Security descriptor
    Security descriptors are data structures of security information for securable Windows objects, that is objects that can be identified by a unique name...

    —Security Descriptor Definition Language
  • SDI
    Single document interface
    In graphical user interfaces, a single document interface or SDI is a method of organizing graphical user interface applications into individual windows that the operating system's window manager handles separately. Each window contains its own menu or tool bar, and does not have a "background"...

    —Single Document Interface
  • SDIO
    Secure Digital
    Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...

    —Secure Digital Input Output
  • SDK
    Software development kit
    A software development kit is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.It may be something as simple...

    —Software Development Kit
  • SDL
    Simple DirectMedia Layer
    Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....

    —Simple DirectMedia Layer
  • SDN—Service Delivery Network
  • SDP
    Session Description Protocol
    The Session Description Protocol is a format for describing streaming media initialization parameters. The IETF published the original specification as an IETF Proposed Standard in April 1998, and subsequently published a revised specification as an IETF Proposed Standard as RFC 4566 in July...

    —Session Description Protocol
  • SDR
    Software-defined radio
    A software-defined radio system, or SDR, is a radio communication system where components that have been typically implemented in hardware are instead implemented by means of software on a personal computer or embedded computing devices...

    —Software-Defined Radio
  • SDRAM
    Synchronous dynamic random access memory
    Synchronous dynamic random access memory is dynamic random access memory that is synchronized with the system bus. Classic DRAM has an asynchronous interface, which means that it responds as quickly as possible to changes in control inputs...

    —Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
  • SDSL
    Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line
    Symmetric digital subscriber line can have two meanings:* In the wider sense it is a collection of Internet access technologies based on DSL that offer symmetric bandwidth upstream and downstream...

    —Symmetric DSL
  • SE
    Single-ended signalling
    Single-ended signaling is the simplest and most commonly used method of transmitting electrical signals over wires. One wire carries a varying voltage that represents the signal, while the other wire is connected to a reference voltage, usually ground....

    —Single Ended
  • SEAL—Semantics-directed Environment Adaptation Language
  • SEI
    Software Engineering Institute
    The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. SEI also has offices in Arlington, Virginia, and Frankfurt, Germany. The SEI operates...

    —Software Engineering Institute
  • SEO
    Search engine optimization
    Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...

    —Search Engine Optimization
  • SFTP—Secure FTP
  • SFTP
    Simple File Transfer Protocol
    Simple File Transfer Protocol, as defined by RFC 913, was proposed as an file transfer protocol with a level of complexity intermediate between TFTP and FTP....

    —Simple File Transfer Protocol
  • SFTP
    SSH file transfer protocol
    In computing, the SSH File Transfer Protocol is a network protocol that provides file access, file transfer, and file management functionality over any reliable data stream...

    —SSH File Transfer Protocol
  • SGI
    Silicon Graphics
    Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...

    —Silicon Graphics, Incorporated
  • SGML
    Standard Generalized Markup Language
    The Standard Generalized Markup Language is an ISO-standard technology for defining generalized markup languages for documents...

    —Standard Generalized Markup Language
  • SHA
    Secure Hash Algorithm
    The Secure Hash Algorithm is one of a number of cryptographic hash functions published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as a U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard :...

    —Secure Hash Algorithm
  • SHDSL—Single-pair High-speed Digital Subscriber Line
  • SIGCAT
    SIGCAT
    SIGCAT was a Special Interest Group founded in 1986 by Jerry McFaul. It became the world's largest CD-ROM users' group, with over 11,000 members in 75 countries...

    —Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications and Technology
  • SIGGRAPH
    SIGGRAPH
    SIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...

    —Special Interest Group on Graphics
  • SIMD
    SIMD
    Single instruction, multiple data , is a class of parallel computers in Flynn's taxonomy. It describes computers with multiple processing elements that perform the same operation on multiple data simultaneously...

    —Single Instruction, Multiple Data
  • SIMM
    SIMM
    A SIMM, or single in-line memory module, is a type of memory module containing random access memory used in computers from the early 1980s to the late 1990s. It differs from a dual in-line memory module , the most predominant form of memory module today, in that the contacts on a SIMM are redundant...

    —Single Inline Memory Module
  • SIP
    Session Initiation Protocol
    The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...

    —Session Initiation Protocol
  • SIP
    Mapping of Unicode characters
    Unicode’s Universal Character Set has a potential capacity to support over 1 million characters. Each UCS character is mapped to a code point which is an integer between 0 and 1,114,111 used to represent each character within the internal logic of text processing software .As of Unicode 5.2.0,...

    —Supplementary Ideographic Plane
  • SISD
    SISD
    In computing, SISD is a term referring to a computer architecture in which a single processor, a uniprocessor, executes a single instruction stream, to operate on data stored in a single memory. This corresponds to the von Neumann architecture.SISD is one of the four main classifications as...

    —Single Instruction, Single Data
  • SISO - Single-Input and Single-Output
  • SLED
    SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
    SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop , formerly introduced as Novell Linux Desktop, is a Linux distribution supplied by Novell and targeted at the business market. It is targeted for desktops. New major versions are released at an interval of 24–36 months, while minor versions are released every 9–12...

    —SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
  • SLES
    SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
    SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is a Linux distribution supplied by SUSE and targeted at the business market. It is targeted for servers, mainframes, and workstations but can be installed on desktop computers for testing as well. New major versions are released at an interval of 3-4 years, while...

    —SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
  • SLI
    Scalable Link Interface
    Scalable Link Interface is a brand name for a multi-GPU solution developed by NVIDIA for linking two or more video cards together to produce a single output...

    —Scalable Link Interface
  • SLIP
    Serial Line Internet Protocol
    The Serial Line Internet Protocol is an encapsulation of the Internet Protocol designed to work over serial ports and modem connections. It is documented in RFC 1055...

    —Serial Line Internet Protocol
  • SLM—Service Level Management
  • SLOC
    Source lines of code
    Source lines of code is a software metric used to measure the size of a software program by counting the number of lines in the text of the program's source code...

    —Source Lines of Code
  • SPMD
    SPMD
    In computing, SPMD is a technique employed to achieve parallelism; it is a subcategory of MIMD. Tasks are split up and run simultaneously on multiple processors with different input in order to obtain results faster. SPMD is the most common style of parallel programming...

    —Single Program, Multiple Data
  • SMA
    SMA connector
    SMA connectors are coaxial RF connectors developed in the 1960s as a minimal connector interface for coaxial cable with a screw type coupling mechanism. The connector has a 50 Ω impedance. It offers excellent electrical performance from DC to 18 GHz.-Connector design:The SMA connector consists of...

    —SubMiniature version A
  • SMB
    Server Message Block
    In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...

    —Server Message Block
  • SMBIOS—System Management BIOS
  • SMIL
    Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
    SMIL , the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, is a W3C recommended XML markup language for describing multimedia presentations. It defines markup for timing, layout, animations, visual transitions, and media embedding, among other things...

    —Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
  • S/MIME
    S/MIME
    S/MIME is a standard for public key encryption and signing of MIME data. S/MIME is on an IETF standards track and defined in a number of documents, most importantly RFCs. S/MIME was originally developed by RSA Data Security Inc...

    —Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
  • SMP
    Mapping of Unicode characters
    Unicode’s Universal Character Set has a potential capacity to support over 1 million characters. Each UCS character is mapped to a code point which is an integer between 0 and 1,114,111 used to represent each character within the internal logic of text processing software .As of Unicode 5.2.0,...

    —Supplementary Multilingual Plane
  • SMP
    Symmetric multiprocessing
    In computing, symmetric multiprocessing involves a multiprocessor computer hardware architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single shared main memory and are controlled by a single OS instance. Most common multiprocessor systems today use an SMP architecture...

    —Symmetric Multi-Processing
  • SMS
    SMS
    SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...

    —Short Message Service
  • SMS—System Management Server
  • SMT
    Simultaneous multithreading
    Simultaneous multithreading, often abbreviated as SMT, is a technique for improving the overall efficiency of superscalar CPUs with hardware multithreading...

    —Simultaneous Multithreading
  • SMTP
    Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
    Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is an Internet standard for electronic mail transmission across Internet Protocol networks. SMTP was first defined by RFC 821 , and last updated by RFC 5321 which includes the extended SMTP additions, and is the protocol in widespread use today...

    —Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
  • SNA—Systems Network Architecture
  • SNMP
    Simple Network Management Protocol
    Simple Network Management Protocol is an "Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks. Devices that typically support SNMP include routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem racks, and more." It is used mostly in network management systems to monitor...

    —Simple Network Management Protocol
  • SNTP—Simple Network Time Protocol
  • SOA
    Service-oriented architecture
    In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...

    —Service-Oriented Architecture
  • SOE
    Standard Operating Environment
    A Standard Operating Environment is an IT industry term used to describe a standard implementation of an operating system and its associated software...

    —Standard Operating Environment
  • SOAP
    SOAP
    SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks...

    —Simple Object Access Protocol
  • SoC
    System-on-a-chip
    A system on a chip or system on chip is an integrated circuit that integrates all components of a computer or other electronic system into a single chip. It may contain digital, analog, mixed-signal, and often radio-frequency functions—all on a single chip substrate...

    —System-on-a-Chip
  • SO-DIMM
    SO-DIMM
    A SO-DIMM, or small outline dual in-line memory module, is a type of computer memory built using integrated circuits.SO-DIMMs are a smaller alternative to a DIMM, being roughly half the size of regular DIMMs...

    —Small Outline DIMM
  • SOHO
    Small office/home office
    Small office/home office, or SOHO, refers to the category of business or cottage industry which involves from 1 to 10 workers. SOHO can also stand for single office/home office....

    —Small Office/Home Office
  • SOI
    Silicon on insulator
    Silicon on insulator technology refers to the use of a layered silicon-insulator-silicon substrate in place of conventional silicon substrates in semiconductor manufacturing, especially microelectronics, to reduce parasitic device capacitance and thereby improving performance...

    —Silicon On Insulator
  • SP
    Service pack
    A service pack is a collection of updates, fixes or enhancements to a software program delivered in the form of a single installable package. Many companies, such as Microsoft or Autodesk, typically release a service pack when the number of individual patches to a given program reaches a certain ...

    —Service Pack
  • SPA—Single Page Application
  • SPF
    Sender Policy Framework
    Sender Policy Framework is an email validation system designed to prevent email spam by detecting email spoofing, a common vulnerability, by verifying sender IP addresses. SPF allows administrators to specify which hosts are allowed to send mail from a given domain by creating a specific SPF...

    —Sender Policy Framework
  • SPI
    Serial Peripheral Interface Bus
    The Serial Peripheral Interface Bus or SPI bus is a synchronous serial data link standard named by Motorola that operates in full duplex mode. Devices communicate in master/slave mode where the master device initiates the data frame. Multiple slave devices are allowed with individual slave select ...

    —Serial Peripheral Interface
  • SPI—Stateful Packet Inspection
  • SPARC
    SPARC
    SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987....

    —Scalable Processor Architecture
  • SQL
    SQL
    SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....

    —Structured Query Language
  • SRAM
    Static random access memory
    Static random-access memory is a type of semiconductor memory where the word static indicates that, unlike dynamic RAM , it does not need to be periodically refreshed, as SRAM uses bistable latching circuitry to store each bit...

    —Static Random Access Memory
  • SSD
    V-Model (software development)
    The V-model represents a software development process which may be considered an extension of the waterfall model. Instead of moving down in a linear way, the process steps are bent upwards after the coding phase, to form the typical V shape...

    —Software Specification Document
  • SSD
    Solid-state drive
    A solid-state drive , sometimes called a solid-state disk or electronic disk, is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data with the intention of providing access in the same manner of a traditional block i/o hard disk drive...

    —Solid-State Drive
  • SSE
    Streaming SIMD Extensions
    In computing, Streaming SIMD Extensions is a SIMD instruction set extension to the x86 architecture, designed by Intel and introduced in 1999 in their Pentium III series processors as a reply to AMD's 3DNow! . SSE contains 70 new instructions, most of which work on single precision floating point...

    —Streaming SIMD Extensions
  • SSH
    Secure Shell
    Secure Shell is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client...

    —Secure Shell
  • SSI
    Server Side Includes
    Server Side Includes is a simple interpreted server-side scripting language used almost exclusively for the Web.The most frequent use of SSI is to include the contents of one or more files into a web page on a web server...

    —Server Side Includes
  • SSI
    Single-system image
    In distributed computing, a single system image cluster is a cluster of machines that appears to be one single system. The concept is often considered synonymous with that of a distributed operating system, but a single image may be presented for more limited purposes, just job scheduling for...

    —Single-System Image
  • SSI—Small-Scale Integration
  • SSID
    Service set (802.11 network)
    A service set is all the devices associated with a local or enterprise IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network .-Service set identifier :...

    —Service Set Identifier
  • SSL—Secure Socket Layer
  • SSP
    Mapping of Unicode characters
    Unicode’s Universal Character Set has a potential capacity to support over 1 million characters. Each UCS character is mapped to a code point which is an integer between 0 and 1,114,111 used to represent each character within the internal logic of text processing software .As of Unicode 5.2.0,...

    —Supplementary Special-purpose Plane
  • SSSE
    Streaming SIMD Extensions
    In computing, Streaming SIMD Extensions is a SIMD instruction set extension to the x86 architecture, designed by Intel and introduced in 1999 in their Pentium III series processors as a reply to AMD's 3DNow! . SSE contains 70 new instructions, most of which work on single precision floating point...

    —Supplementary Streaming SIMD Extensions
  • su
    Su (Unix)
    The su command, also referred to as super user substitute user, spoof user, set user or switch user, allows a computer operator to change the current user account associated with the running virtual console....

    —superuser
  • SUS
    Single UNIX Specification
    The Single UNIX Specification is the collective name of a family of standards for computer operating systems to qualify for the name "Unix"...

    —Single UNIX Specification
  • SUSE
    SUSE Linux distributions
    SUSE Linux is a computer operating system. It is built on top of the open source Linux kernel and is distributed with system and application software from other open source projects. SUSE Linux is of German origin and mainly developed in Europe. The first version appeared in early 1994, making...

    —Software und System-Entwicklung
  • SVC
    Scalable Video Coding
    Scalable Video Coding is the name for the Annex G extension of the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video compression standard. SVC standardizes the encoding of a high-quality video bitstream that also contains one or more subset bitstreams. A subset video bitstream is derived by dropping packets from the...

    —Scalable Video Coding
  • SVG
    Scalable Vector Graphics
    Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...

    —Scalable Vector Graphics
  • SVGA
    Super Video Graphics Array
    Super Video Graphics Array or Ultra Video Graphics Array, almost always abbreviated to Super VGA, Ultra VGA or just SVGA or UVGA is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards....

    —Super Video Graphics Array
  • SVD—Structured VLSI Design
  • SWF
    Adobe Flash
    Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...

    —Shock Wave Flash
  • SWT
    Standard Widget Toolkit
    The Standard Widget Toolkit is a graphical widget toolkit for use with the Java platform. It was originally developed by IBM and is now maintained by the Eclipse Foundation in tandem with the Eclipse IDE...

    —Standard Widget Toolkit
  • Sysop
    SysOp
    A sysop is an administrator of a multi-user computer system, such as a bulletin board system or an online service virtual community. It may also be used to refer to administrators of other Internet-based network services....

    —System operator


T

  • TAO
    Optical disc recording modes
    In optical disc authoring, there are multiple modes for recording, including Disc-At-Once, Track-At-Once, and Session-At-Once.-CD Disc-At-Once:...

    —Track-At-Once
  • TASM
    Turbo Assembler
    Turbo Assembler is an assembler package developed by Borland which runs on and produces code for 16- or 32-bit x86 MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows. It can be used with Borland's high-level language compilers, such as Turbo Pascal, Turbo Basic and Turbo C. The Turbo Assembler package is bundled with...

    —Turbo ASseMbler
  • TB
    Terabyte
    The terabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix tera means 1012 in the International System of Units , and therefore 1 terabyte is , or 1 trillion bytes, or 1000 gigabytes. 1 terabyte in binary prefixes is 0.9095 tebibytes, or 931.32 gibibytes...

    —TeraByte
  • Tcl
    Tcl
    Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own...

    —Tool Command Language
  • TCP
    Transmission Control Protocol
    The Transmission Control Protocol is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. TCP is one of the two original components of the suite, complementing the Internet Protocol , and therefore the entire suite is commonly referred to as TCP/IP...

    —Transmission Control Protocol
  • TCP/IP
    Internet protocol suite
    The Internet protocol suite is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar networks. It is commonly known as TCP/IP from its most important protocols: Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol , which were the first networking protocols defined in this...

    —Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
  • TCU
    Telecommunication Control Unit
    A Telecommunication Control Unit was device present in the now outdated mainframes of the past that were attached to a multiplexer channel. TCUs freed mainframes from handling the data coming in and out of RS-232 ports. The TCU would support multiple terminals, sometimes hundreds...

    —Telecommunication Control Unit
  • TDMA
    Time division multiple access
    Time division multiple access is a channel access method for shared medium networks. It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using its own time slot. This...

    —Time Division Multiple Access
  • TFT
    Thin-film transistor
    A thin-film transistor is a special kind of field-effect transistor made by depositing thin films of a semiconductor active layer as well as the dielectric layer and metallic contacts over a supporting substrate. A common substrate is glass, since the primary application of TFTs is in liquid...

    —Thin Film Transistor
  • TI
    Texas Instruments
    Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...

    —Texas Instruments
  • TLA
    Three-letter acronym
    A three-letter acronym, three-letter abbreviation, or TLA is an abbreviation, specifically an acronym, alphabetism, or initialism, consisting of three letters...

    —Three-Letter Acronym
  • TLD
    Top-level domain
    A top-level domain is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a...

    —Top-Level Domain
  • TLS
    Thread-local storage
    Thread-local storage is a computer programming method that uses static or global memory local to a thread.This is sometimes needed because normally all threads in a process share the same address space, which is sometimes undesirable...

    —Thread-Local Storage
  • TLS
    Transport Layer Security
    Transport Layer Security and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer , are cryptographic protocols that provide communication security over the Internet...

    —Transport Layer Security
  • tmp—temporary
  • TNC
    Terminal node controller
    A terminal node controller is a device used by amateur radio operators to participate in AX.25 packet radio networks. It is similar in function to the Packet Assembler/Disassemblers used on X.25 networks, with the addition of a modem to convert baseband digital signals to audio tones.The TNC was...

    —Terminal Node Controller
  • TNC—Threaded Neill-Concelman connector
  • TPF
    Transaction Processing Facility
    TPF is an IBM real-time operating system for mainframes descended from the IBM System/360 family, including zSeries and System z9. The name is an initialism for Transaction Processing Facility....

    —Transaction Processing Facility
  • TROFF
    TRON command
    TRON is a debugging command in the BASIC programming language. It is an abbreviation of TRace ON. It is used primarily for debugging line-numbered BASIC GOTO and GOSUB statements. In text-mode environments such as the TRS-80 or DOS, it would print the current line number which was being executed,...

    —Trace Off
  • TRON
    TRON command
    TRON is a debugging command in the BASIC programming language. It is an abbreviation of TRace ON. It is used primarily for debugging line-numbered BASIC GOTO and GOSUB statements. In text-mode environments such as the TRS-80 or DOS, it would print the current line number which was being executed,...

    —Trace On
  • TRON
    TRON Project
    TRON is an open real-time operating system kernel design, and is an acronym for "The Real-time Operating system Nucleus". The project was started by Prof. Dr. Ken Sakamura of the University of Tokyo in 1984...

    —The Real-time Operating system Nucleus
  • TRS-DOS
    TRS-DOS
    TRS-DOS was the operating system for the Tandy TRS-80 line of 8-bit Zilog Z80 microcomputers that were sold through Radio Shack through the late 1970s and early 1980s. Tandy's manuals recommended that it be pronounced triss-doss...

    —Tandy Radio Shack - Disk Operating System
  • TSO
    Time Sharing Option
    In computing, Time Sharing Option is an interactive time-sharing environment for IBM mainframe operating systems, including OS/360 MVT, OS/VS2 , MVS, OS/390, and z/OS.- Overview :TSO fulfills a similar purpose to Unix login sessions...

    —Time Sharing Option
  • TSP
    Travelling salesman problem
    The travelling salesman problem is an NP-hard problem in combinatorial optimization studied in operations research and theoretical computer science. Given a list of cities and their pairwise distances, the task is to find the shortest possible tour that visits each city exactly once...

    —Traveling Salesman Problem
  • TSR
    Terminate and Stay Resident
    Terminate and Stay Resident is a computer system call in DOS computer operating systems that returns control to the system as if the program has quit, but keeps the program in memory...

    —Terminate and Stay Resident
  • TTA
    TTA (codec)
    True Audio is a free software, real-time lossless audio codec, based on adaptive prognostic filters.Also, .tta is the generic extension to filenames of audio files created by True Audio codec.- Codec overview :...

    —True Tap Audio
  • TTF
    TrueType
    TrueType is an outline font standard originally developed by Apple Computer in the late 1980s as a competitor to Adobe's Type 1 fonts used in PostScript...

    —TrueType Font
  • TTL—Transistor-Transistor Logic
  • TTL
    Time to live
    Time to live is a mechanism that limits the lifespan of data in a computer or network. TTL may be implemented as a counter or timestamp attached to or embedded in the data. Once the prescribed event count or timespan has elapsed, data is discarded. In computer networking, TTL prevents a data...

    —Time To Live
  • TTS
    Speech synthesis
    Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...

    —Text-to-Speech
  • TTY
    Computer terminal
    A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system...

    —Teletype
  • TUCOWS
    Tucows
    Tucows was formed in Flint, Michigan, USA in 1993. It incorporated in Pennsylvania and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

    —The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software
  • TUG—TeX Users Group
  • TWAIN
    TWAIN
    TWAIN is a standard software protocol and applications programming interface that regulates communication between software applications and imaging devices such as scanners and digital cameras....

    —Technology Without An Interesting Name


U

  • UAAG—User Agent Accessibility Guidelines
  • UAC
    User Account Control
    User Account Control is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2...

    —User Account Control
  • UART
    Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter
    A universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter, abbreviated UART , is a type of "asynchronous receiver/transmitter", a piece of computer hardware that translates data between parallel and serial forms. UARTs are commonly used in conjunction with communication standards such as EIA RS-232, RS-422 or...

    —Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
  • UAT—User Acceptance Testing
  • UCS
    Universal Character Set
    The Universal Character Set , defined by the International Standard ISO/IEC 10646, Information technology — Universal multiple-octet coded character set , is a standard set of characters upon which many character encodings are based...

    —Universal Character Set
  • UDDI
    Universal Description Discovery and Integration
    Universal Description, Discovery and Integration is a platform-independent, Extensible Markup Language -based registry for businesses worldwide to list themselves on the Internet and a mechanism to register and locate web service applications...

    —Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration
  • UDMA
    UDMA
    For the main article about the controller, see Parallel ATAThe Ultra DMA interface was the fastest method used to transfer data between the computer and an ATA device until Serial ATA....

    —Ultra DMA
  • UDP
    User Datagram Protocol
    The User Datagram Protocol is one of the core members of the Internet Protocol Suite, the set of network protocols used for the Internet. With UDP, computer applications can send messages, in this case referred to as datagrams, to other hosts on an Internet Protocol network without requiring...

    —User Datagram Protocol
  • UEFI
    UEFI
    The Unified EFI Forum or UEFI Forum is an alliance between several leading technology companies to modernize the booting process...

    —Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
  • UHF
    Ultra high frequency
    Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...

    —Ultra High Frequency
  • UI
    User interface
    The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...

    —User Interface
  • UL—Upload
  • ULA
    Gate array
    A gate array or uncommitted logic array is an approach to the design and manufacture of application-specific integrated circuits...

    —Uncommitted Logic Array
  • UMA
    Upper Memory Area
    In DOS memory management, the upper memory area refers to memory between the addresses of 640 KB and 1024 KB in an IBM PC or compatible. IBM reserved the uppermost 384 KB of the 8088 CPU's 1024 KB address space for ROM, RAM on peripherals, and memory-mapped input/output...

    —Upper Memory Area
  • UMB
    Upper Memory Area
    In DOS memory management, the upper memory area refers to memory between the addresses of 640 KB and 1024 KB in an IBM PC or compatible. IBM reserved the uppermost 384 KB of the 8088 CPU's 1024 KB address space for ROM, RAM on peripherals, and memory-mapped input/output...

    —Upper Memory Block
  • UML
    Unified Modeling Language
    Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...

    —Unified Modeling Language
  • UML
    User-mode Linux
    User-mode Linux enables multiple virtual Linux systems to run as an application within a normal Linux system...

    —User-Mode Linux
  • UMPC
    Ultra-Mobile PC
    An ultra-mobile PC is a small form factor version of a pen computer, a class of laptop whose specifications were launched by Microsoft and Intel in spring 2006. Sony had already made a first attempt in this direction in 2004 with its Vaio U series, which was however only sold in Asia...

    —Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer
  • UNC—Universal Naming Convention
  • UPS
    Uninterruptible power supply
    An uninterruptible power supply, also uninterruptible power source, UPS or battery/flywheel backup, is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source, typically mains power, fails...

    —Uninterruptible Power Supply
  • URI
    Uniform Resource Identifier
    In computing, a uniform resource identifier is a string of characters used to identify a name or a resource on the Internet. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the resource over a network using specific protocols...

    —Uniform Resource Identifier
  • URL
    Uniform Resource Locator
    In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....

    —Uniform Resource Locator
  • URN
    Uniform Resource Name
    A uniform resource name is a uniform resource identifier that uses the urn scheme and does not imply availability of the identified resource. Both URNs and URLs are URIs, and a particular URI may be a name and a locator at the same time.The functional requirements for uniform resource names are...

    —Uniform Resource Name
  • USB
    Universal Serial Bus
    USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

    —Universal Serial Bus
  • usr—user
  • USR
    U.S. Robotics
    USRobotics Corporation is a company that makes computer modems and related products. It sold high-speed modems in the 1980s, and had a reputation for high quality and compatibility. With the reduced usage of voiceband modems in North America in the early 21st century, USR is now one of the few...

    —U.S. Robotics
  • UTC
    Coordinated Universal Time
    Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...

    —Coordinated Universal Time
  • UTF
    Unicode
    Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...

    —Unicode Transformation Format
  • UTP—Unshielded Twisted Pair
  • UUCP
    UUCP
    UUCP is an abbreviation for Unix-to-Unix Copy. The term generally refers to a suite of computer programs and protocols allowing remote execution of commands and transfer of files, email and netnews between computers. Specifically, a command named uucp is one of the programs in the suite; it...

    —Unix to Unix Copy
  • UUID
    Universally Unique Identifier
    A universally unique identifier is an identifier standard used in software construction, standardized by the Open Software Foundation as part of the Distributed Computing Environment ....

    —Universally Unique Identifier
  • UUN—Universal User Name
  • UVC
    Universal Virtual Computer
    UVC-based preservation is a viable strategy to ensure digital preservation on a technical level.A Universal Virtual Computer is a virtual machine specially designed for preservation of digital objects such as held by libraries, archives and institutions alike. The method is based on emulation but...

    —Universal Virtual Computer
  • UX
    User experience design
    User experience design is a subset of the field of experience design that pertains to the creation of the architecture and interaction models that affect user experience of a device or system...

    —User Experience


V

  • var
    Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
    The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard defines the main directories and their contents in Linux operating systems. For the most part, it is a formalization and extension of the traditional BSD filesystem hierarchy....

    —variable
  • VAX
    VAX
    VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...

    —Virtual Address eXtension
  • VCPI
    DOS Protected Mode Interface
    In computing, the DOS Protected Mode Interface is a specification introduced in 1989 which allows a DOS program to run in protected mode, giving access to many features of the processor not available in real mode...

    —Virtual Control Program Interface
  • VR
    Virtual reality
    Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...

    —Virtual Reality
  • VRML
    VRML
    VRML is a standard file format for representing 3-dimensional interactive vector graphics, designed particularly with the World Wide Web in mind...

    —Virtual Reality Modeling Language
  • VB
    Visual Basic
    Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...

    —Visual Basic
  • VBA
    Visual Basic for Applications
    Visual Basic for Applications is an implementation of Microsoft's event-driven programming language Visual Basic 6 and its associated integrated development environment , which are built into most Microsoft Office applications...

    —Visual Basic for Applications
  • VBS
    VBScript
    VBScript is an Active Scripting language developed by Microsoft that is modeled on Visual Basic. It is designed as a “lightweight” language with a fast interpreter for use in a wide variety of Microsoft environments...

    —Visual Basic Script
  • VDSL—Very High Bitrate Digital Subscriber Line
  • VESA
    VESA
    VESA is an international standards body for computer graphics founded in 1989 by NEC Home Electronics and eight other video display adapter manufacturers.VESA's initial goal was to produce a standard for 800×600 SVGA resolution video displays...

    —Video Electronics Standards Association
  • VFAT
    File Allocation Table
    File Allocation Table is a computer file system architecture now widely used on many computer systems and most memory cards, such as those used with digital cameras. FAT file systems are commonly found on floppy disks, flash memory cards, digital cameras, and many other portable devices because of...

    —Virtual FAT
  • VFS
    Virtual file system
    A virtual file system or virtual filesystem switch is an abstraction layer on top of a more concrete file system. The purpose of a VFS is to allow client applications to access different types of concrete file systems in a uniform way...

    —Virtual File System
  • VG
    Logical volume management
    In computer storage, logical volume management or LVM provides a method of allocating space on mass-storage devices that is more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes...

    —Volume Group
  • VGA
    Video Graphics Array
    Video Graphics Array refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, but through its widespread adoption has also come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector or the 640×480 resolution...

    —Video Graphics Array
  • VHF
    Very high frequency
    Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...

    —Very High Frequency
  • VLAN
    Virtual LAN
    A virtual local area network, virtual LAN or VLAN, is a group of hosts with a common set of requirements that communicate as if they were attached to the same broadcast domain, regardless of their physical location...

    —Virtual Local Area Network
  • VLSM—Variable Length Subnet Mask
  • VLB
    VESA Local Bus
    The VESA Local Bus was mostly used in personal computers. VESA Local Bus worked alongside the ISA bus; it acted as a high-speed conduit for memory-mapped I/O and DMA, while the ISA bus handled interrupts and port-mapped I/O.-Historical overview:In the early 1990s, the I/O bandwidth of...

    —Vesa Local Bus
  • VLF
    Very low frequency
    225px|thumb|right|A VLF receiving antenna at [[Palmer Station]], Antarctica, operated by Stanford UniversityVery low frequency or VLF refers to radio frequencies in the range of 3 kHz to 30 kHz. Since there is not much bandwidth in this band of the radio spectrum, only the very simplest signals...

    —Very Low Frequency
  • VLIW
    Very long instruction word
    Very long instruction word or VLIW refers to a CPU architecture designed to take advantage of instruction level parallelism . A processor that executes every instruction one after the other may use processor resources inefficiently, potentially leading to poor performance...

    —Very Long Instruction Word
  • VLSI
    Very-large-scale integration
    Very-large-scale integration is the process of creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistors into a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when complex semiconductor and communication technologies were being developed. The microprocessor is a VLSI device.The first semiconductor...

    —Very-Large-Scale Integration
  • VM
    Virtual machine
    A virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system". Modern virtual machines are implemented with either software emulation or hardware virtualization or both together.-VM Definitions:A virtual machine is a software...

    —Virtual Machine
  • VM
    Virtual memory
    In computing, virtual memory is a memory management technique developed for multitasking kernels. This technique virtualizes a computer architecture's various forms of computer data storage , allowing a program to be designed as though there is only one kind of memory, "virtual" memory, which...

    —Virtual Memory
  • VNC—Virtual Network Computing
  • VOD
    Video on demand
    Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...

    —Video On Demand
  • VoIP—Voice over Internet Protocol
  • VPN
    Virtual private network
    A virtual private network is a network that uses primarily public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or traveling users access to a central organizational network....

    —Virtual Private Network
  • VPU
    Graphics processing unit
    A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...

    —Visual Processing Unit
  • VSAM
    Virtual storage access method
    Virtual storage access method an IBM disk file storage access method, first used in the OS/VS1, OS/VS2 Release 1 and Release 2 operating systems, later used throughout the Multiple Virtual Storage architecture and now in z/OS...

    —Virtual Storage Access Method
  • VSAT
    Very small aperture terminal
    A very-small-aperture terminal , is a two-way satellite ground station or a stabilized maritime Vsat antenna with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Data rates typically range from 56 kbps up to 4 Mbps...

    —Very Small Aperture Terminal
  • VT
    VT100
    The VT100 is a video terminal that was made by Digital Equipment Corporation . Its detailed attributes became the de facto standard for terminal emulators.-History:...

    —Video Terminal?
  • VTAM—Virtual Telecommunications Access Method


W

  • W3C
    World Wide Web Consortium
    The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...

    —World Wide Web Consortium
  • WAFS
    Wide area file services
    Wide area file services products allow remote office users to access and share files globally at LAN speeds over the WAN. Distributed enterprises that deploy WAFS solutions are able to consolidate storage to corporate datacenters, eliminating the need to back up and manage data that previously...

    —Wide Area File Services
  • WAI
    Web Accessibility Initiative
    The World Wide Web Consortium 's Web Accessibility Initiative is an effort to improve the accessibility of the World Wide Web for people with disabilities...

    —Web Accessibility Initiative
  • WAIS
    Wide area information server
    Wide Area Information Servers or WAIS is a client–server text searching system that uses the ANSI Standard Z39.50 Information Retrieval Service Definition and Protocol Specifications for Library Applications" to search index databases on remote computers...

    —Wide Area Information Server
  • WAN
    Wide area network
    A wide area network is a telecommunication network that covers a broad area . Business and government entities utilize WANs to relay data among employees, clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical locations...

    —Wide Area Network
  • WAP
    Wireless access point
    In computer networking, a wireless access point is a device that allows wireless devices to connect to a wired network using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or related standards...

    —Wireless Access Point
  • WAP
    Wireless Application Protocol
    Wireless Application Protocol is a technical standard for accessing information over a mobile wireless network.A WAP browser is a web browser for mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol.Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer...

    —Wireless Application Protocol
  • WASM
    Open Watcom Assembler
    Open Watcom Assembler or WASM is an x86 assembler produced by Watcom and included as part of the Watcom C/C++ compiler. Further development is being done on the 32- and 64-bit JWASM project, which more closely matches the syntax of Microsoft's assembler....

    —Watcom ASseMbler
  • WBEM
    Web-Based Enterprise Management
    Web-Based Enterprise Management is a set of systems management technologies developed to unify the management of distributed computing environments. WBEM is based on Internet standards and Distributed Management Task Force open standards: Common Information Model infrastructure and schema,...

    —Web-Based Enterprise Management
  • WCAG
    Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
    Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are part of a series of Web accessibility guidelines published by the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative. They consist of a set of guidelines for making content accessible, primarily for disabled users, but also for all user agents, including highly limited...

    —Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
  • WCF
    Windows Communication Foundation
    The Windows Communication Foundation , previously known as "Indigo", is an application programming interface in the .NET Framework for building connected, service-oriented applications.-The architectures:...

    —Windows Communication Foundation
  • WDM
    Wavelength-division multiplexing
    In fiber-optic communications, wavelength-division multiplexing is a technology which multiplexes a number of optical carrier signals onto a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths of laser light...

    —Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
  • WebDAV
    WebDAV
    Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...

    —WWW Distributed Authoring and Versioning
  • WEP
    Wired Equivalent Privacy
    Wired Equivalent Privacy is a weak security algorithm for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Introduced as part of the original 802.11 standard ratified in September 1999, its intention was to provide data confidentiality comparable to that of a traditional wired network...

    —Wired Equivalent Privacy
  • WFI
    Interrupt
    In computing, an interrupt is an asynchronous signal indicating the need for attention or a synchronous event in software indicating the need for a change in execution....

    —Wait For Interrupt
  • Wi-Fi
    Wi-Fi
    Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...

    —Wireless Fidelity
  • WiMAX
    WiMAX
    WiMAX is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas. The 2005 WiMAX revision provided bit rates up to 40 Mbit/s with the 2011 update up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations...

    —Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
  • WinFS
    WinFS
    WinFS is the code name for a cancelled data storage and management system project based on relational databases, developed by Microsoft and first demonstrated in 2003 as an advanced storage subsystem for the Microsoft Windows operating system, designed for persistence and management of...

    —Windows Future Storage
  • WINS—Windows Internet Name Service
  • WLAN
    Wireless LAN
    A wireless local area network links two or more devices using some wireless distribution method , and usually providing a connection through an access point to the wider internet. This gives users the mobility to move around within a local coverage area and still be connected to the network...

    —Wireless Local Area Network
  • WMA
    Windows Media Audio
    Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...

    —Windows Media Audio
  • WMV
    Windows Media Video
    'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...

    —Windows Media Video
  • WOL
    Wake-on-LAN
    Wake-on-LAN is an Ethernet computer networking standard that allows a computer to be turned on or woken up by a network message....

    —Wake-on-LAN
  • WOM
    Wake-on-ring
    Wake-on-Ring , sometimes referred to as Wake-on-Modem , is a specification that allows supported computers and devices to "wake up" or turn on from a sleeping, hibernating or "soft off" state Wake-on-Ring (WOR), sometimes referred to as Wake-on-Modem (WOM), is a specification that allows supported...

    —Wake-on-Modem
  • WOR
    Wake-on-ring
    Wake-on-Ring , sometimes referred to as Wake-on-Modem , is a specification that allows supported computers and devices to "wake up" or turn on from a sleeping, hibernating or "soft off" state Wake-on-Ring (WOR), sometimes referred to as Wake-on-Modem (WOM), is a specification that allows supported...

    —Wake-on-Ring
  • WPA
    Wi-Fi Protected Access
    Wi-Fi Protected Access and Wi-Fi Protected Access II are two security protocols and security certification programs developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks...

    —Wi-Fi Protected Access
  • WPAN
    Personal area network
    A personal area network is a computer network used for communication among computer devices, including telephones and personal digital assistants, in proximity to an individual's body. The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach of a PAN is typically a few meters...

    —Wireless Personal Area Network
  • WPF
    Windows Presentation Foundation
    Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...

    —Windows Presentation Foundation
  • WSDL
    Web Services Description Language
    The Web Services Description Language is an XML-based language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a Web service. A WSDL description of a web service provides a machine-readable description of how the service can be called, what parameters it expects and what data structures...

    —Web Services Description Language
  • WSFL—Web Services Flow Language
  • WUSB
    Wireless USB
    Wireless USB is a short-range, high-bandwidth wireless radio communication protocol created by the . Wireless USB is sometimes abbreviated as "WUSB", although the USB Implementers Forum discourages this practice and instead prefers to call the technology "Certified Wireless USB" to distinguish it...

    —Wireless Universal Serial Bus
  • WWAN—Wireless Wide Area Network
  • WWID
    World Wide Name
    A World Wide Name or World Wide Identifier is a unique identifier which identifies a particular Fibre Channel, Advanced Technology Attachment or Serial Attached SCSI target...

    —World Wide Identifier
  • WWN
    World Wide Name
    A World Wide Name or World Wide Identifier is a unique identifier which identifies a particular Fibre Channel, Advanced Technology Attachment or Serial Attached SCSI target...

    —World Wide Name
  • WWW
    World Wide Web
    The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...

    —World Wide Web
  • WYSIWYG
    WYSIWYG
    WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. The term is used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed onscreen during editing appears in a form closely corresponding to its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product...

    —What You See Is What You Get
  • WZC
    Wireless Zero Configuration
    Wireless Zero Configuration , also known as Wireless Auto Configuration, or WLAN AutoConfig is a wireless connection management utility included with Microsoft Windows XP and later operating systems as a service that dynamically selects a wireless network to connect to based on a user's preferences...

    —Wireless Zero Configuration


X

  • XAG—XML Accessibility Guidelines
  • XAML—eXtensible Application Markup Language
  • XDM—X Window Display Manager
  • XDMCP—X Display Manager Control Protocol
  • XCBL
    XCBL
    xCBL is a collection of XML specifications for use in e-business. It was created by Commerce One Inc. and is maintained by Perfect Commerce.- History :xCBL was originally called Common Business Library...

    —XML Common Business Library
  • XHTML
    XHTML
    XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....

    —eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language
  • XILP
    Xilp (Unix software)
    Xilp is an interactive ListProcessor client for X Window System. Xilp is an X11/Motif client application that provides a graphical user interface to manage ListProcessor servers...

    —X Interactive ListProc
  • XML
    XML
    Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....

    —eXtensible Markup Language
  • XMMS
    XMMS
    The X Multimedia System is a free audio player for Unix-like systems.-History:XMMS was originally written as X11Amp by Peter and Mikael Alm in November 1997. The player was made to resemble Winamp, which was first released in May that year. As such, XMMS has supported Winamp 2 "classic" skins...

    —X Multimedia System
  • XMPP
    Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
    Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...

    —eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
  • XMS
    Extended memory
    In DOS memory management, extended memory refers to memory above the first megabyte of address space in an IBM PC or compatible with an 80286 or later processor. The term is mainly used under the DOS and Windows operating systems...

    —Extended Memory Specification
  • XNS—Xerox Network Systems
  • XP
    Cross-platform
    In computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms...

    —Cross-Platform
  • XP
    Extreme Programming
    Extreme programming is a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements...

    —Extreme Programming
  • XPCOM
    XPCOM
    XPCOM is a cross-platform component model from Mozilla. It is similar to Microsoft COM and CORBA. It has multiple language bindings and IDL descriptions so programmers can plug their custom functionality into the framework and connect it with other components.-The model:XPCOM is one of the main...

    —Cross Platform Component Object Model
  • XPI
    XPInstall
    XPInstall is a technology used by the Mozilla Application Suite, SeaMonkey, Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird and other XUL-based applications for installing Mozilla extensions that add functionality to the main application....

    —XPInstall
  • XPIDL
    Interface description language
    An interface description language , or IDL for short, is a specification language used to describe a software component's interface...

    —Cross-Platform IDL
  • XSD—XML Schema Definition
  • XSL
    Extensible Stylesheet Language
    In computing, the term Extensible Stylesheet Language is used to refer to a family oflanguages used to transform and render XML documents....

    —eXtensible Stylesheet Language
  • XSL-FO
    XSL Formatting Objects
    XSL Formatting Objects, or XSL-FO, is a markup language for XML document formatting which is most often used to generate PDFs. XSL-FO is part of XSL , a set of W3C technologies designed for the transformation and formatting of XML data. The other parts of XSL are XSLT and XPath...

    —eXtensible Stylesheet Language Formatting Objects
  • XSLT
    XSL Transformations
    XSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...

    —eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations
  • XSS
    Cross-site scripting
    Cross-site scripting is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in Web applications that enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed by other users. A cross-site scripting vulnerability may be used by attackers to bypass access controls such as the same...

    —Cross-Site Scripting
  • XTF
    EXtensible Tag Framework
    eXtensible Tag Framework is a framework for implementing new XML elements for Mozilla. The framework allows Mozilla to support a new XML dialect without modifying the Gecko rendering engine. In fact, support of XForms can now be added via the installation of Mozilla extension .-External links:*...

    —eXtensible Tag Framework
  • XTF
    EXtended Triton Format
    eXtended Triton Format is a Triton Imaging, Inc. file format for recording various types of hydrographic survey data, including sidescan sonar, shallow seismic and multibeam bathymetry, as well as associated position and attitude information. XTF is the most commonly used format for this type of...

    —eXtended Triton Format
  • XUL
    XUL
    In computer programming, XUL , the XML User Interface Language, is an XML user interface markup language developed by the Mozilla project. XUL operates in Mozilla cross-platform applications such as Firefox...

    —XML User Interface Language
  • XVGA-Extended Video Graphics Adapter


Y

  • Y2K
    Year 2000 problem
    The Year 2000 problem was a problem for both digital and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from the practice of abbreviating a four-digit year to two digits.In computer programs, the practice of representing the year with two...

    —Year Two Thousand
  • YAAF
    YAAF
    YAAF stands for Yet Another Application Framework, a C++ framework or library which is designed to facilitate creating cross-platform applications which can be compiled and run under Microsoft Windows, Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X under Carbon, and X Window on Linux....

    —Yet Another Application Framework
  • YACC
    Yacc
    The computer program yacc is a parser generator developed by Stephen C. Johnson at AT&T for the Unix operating system. The name is an acronym for "Yet Another Compiler Compiler." It generates a parser based on an analytic grammar written in a notation similar to BNF.Yacc used to be available as...

    —Yet Another Compiler Compiler
  • YAML
    YAML
    YAML is a human-readable data serialization format that takes concepts from programming languages such as C, Perl, and Python, and ideas from XML and the data format of electronic mail . YAML was first proposed by Clark Evans in 2001, who designed it together with Ingy döt Net and Oren Ben-Kiki...

    —YAML Ain't Markup Language
  • YaST—Yet another Setup Tool

See also

  • Acronym and initialism
    Acronym and initialism
    Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters or parts of words . There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms , nor on written usage...

  • Internet slang
    Internet slang
    Internet slang is a type of slang that Internet users have popularized, and in many cases, have coined. Such terms often originate with the purpose of saving keystrokes. Many people use the same abbreviations in texting and instant messaging, and social networking websites...

  • List of file formats
  • Professional certification
    Professional certification
    Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK