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Glossary
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access time. The amount of time needed for a storage device to retrieve information.
ACM. Abbreviation of the Association for Computing Machinery, an organization composed of U.S. computer professionals. Founded in 1947, the ACM publishes information relating to computer science, holds seminars, and creates and promotes computer standards.
Active partition. The DOS FDISK command allows you to create up to four partitions on your hard drive. One of the partitions can be designated a "Primary" partition, the others have to be "Extended". A partition must be designated "Active", otherwise the BIOS will ignore that partition, even if it is designated "Primary".
active window. The window on the screen that is currently in use. If two or more windows appear on the screen, the active window usually appears brighter around the edges.
ActiveX controls. Formerly called an OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) control, now refers to a control that is a modular piece of software that performs tasks and computes information, communicates to other programs, modules, and the Internet by using OLE, and can be easily used and reused by any program or programming environment that can "contain" ActiveX controls.
ActiveX. ActiveX is a computing technology composed of several different components, each performing a specialized task with common elements that are programmed similarly.
Active monitor. A node on a Token-Ring network that periodically sends out a signal to check that the network is free of errors. Usually the first computer to come online on a network.
adapter. Also known as an expansion card, this piece of hardware plugs into an expansion slot in your computer and is used to communicate with an external device, such as a hard drive or monitor.
address. A memory location in the computer. Items stored in memory have a memory address.
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The agency responsible for the formation of the forerunner of the Internet.
alias. An alias lets you reference a file that may look as if it's right in front you, but could be anywhere.
aliasing. When referencing multimedia terminology, aliasing is a term used to describe the unpleasant jaggy appearance of unfiltered angled lines. Aliasing is the "beating" effects caused by sampling frequencies being too low to faithfully reproduce and image. There are several types of aliasing that can affect a video image which include temporal aliasing (for example, wagon wheel spokes apparently reversing) and raster scan aliasing (for example, flickering effects on sharp horizontal lines).
analog. A signal with an infinite number of states, rather than just 1's and 0's. Voice, telephone, and television are examples of analog signals.
analog video. A video signal that represents an infinite number of smooth gradations between given video levels. By contrast, a digital video signal assigns a number for each level. The Macintosh video board converts computer-created (or digital) video to an analog signal for output to a monitor.
analog recording. A common form of magnetic recording where the recorded wave-form signal maintains the shape of the original wave-form signal. An example of this is a video tape.
Amiga. A family of personal computers originally produced by Commodore
Business Machines. Amigas are powerful personal computers that have extra
microprocessors to handle graphics and sound generation. The Amiga operating
system has had preemptive multitasking since its inception in 1985, 10
years before this feature found its way into Microsoft Windows
Like older Apple Macintosh computers,
the Amiga line of computers is built around the Motorola 680x0 line of
microprocessors. Although the Amiga operating system is not compatible
with other PC operating systems, such as DOS and Windows, there are emulation
programs that enable an Amiga to run PC, Macintosh, and even UNIX programs.
Faced with financial hardships,
Commodore sold the Amiga to a German company called Escom AG. Escom, in
turn, also went bankrupt. In March, 1997, Gateway 2000 purchased the Amiga
design.
animatic. A limited animation used to work out film or video sequences. It consists of artwork shot on film or videotape and edited to serve as an on screen storyboard. Animatics are often used to plan out film sequences without incurring the expense of the actual shoot.
Anonymous FTP. Anonymous FTP is a privilege granted by the organization that owns the computer to which you are connecting via FTP. When prompted, you would enter the username "anonymous" and then a password. Most sites will ask you to enter your e-mail address as the password. If your login is successful, you can then browse the public directories on the other computer.
ANSI. Acronym for the American National Standards Institute. Founded in 1918, ANSI is a voluntary organization composed of over 1,300 members (including all the large computer companies) that creates standards for the computer industry. For example, ANSI C is a version of the C language that has been approved by the ANSI committee. To a large degree, all ANSI C compilers, regardless of which company produces them, should behave similarly. In addition to programming languages, ANSI sets standards for a wide range of technical areas, from electrical specifications to communications protocols. For example, FDDI, the main set of protocols for sending data over fiber optic cables, is an ANSI standard.
anti-aliasing. Anti-aliasing is the manipulation of the edges of an image, graphic or text, to make them appear smoother to the eye. On close inspection, anti-aliased edges appear blurred, but at normal viewing distance, the apparent smoothing is dramatic. Anti-aliasing is important when working with high quality graphics for television use.
antivirus. A type of software (utility) that scans your system and detects viruses or other harmful software.
APL. A Programming Language (APL). A programming language that is used for mathematical modeling.
Apple Desktop Bus (ADB). This is an interface standard for connecting keyboards, mice, and other input devices to Apple Macintosh computers.
Apple Remote Access (ARA). In 1991, ARA was introduced as "AppleTalk Remote Access." It began as a technology for remotely accessing AppleTalk networks. Installed on a Apple Macintosh, ARA allows users to dial into computers running the ARA server software and give them access to files, printers, and other services via AppleTalk.
AppleScript. AppleScript is a scripting tool that you can use to automate tasks in Mac OS. The primary tool for creating and editing AppleScripts is the Script Editor. An AppleScript application does not require the Script Editor, although AppleScript must be installed on the computer before it will run.
AppleShare. A network operating system developed by Apple to work with Macintosh computers.
AppleTalk. A simple, easy-to-use network architecture used by Apple Macintosh computers and included as part of the Macintosh operating system. It is used to connect Macintosh and IBM PC computers together. Although an inexpensive way to create a network, it tends to be slower than other types of networks.
application. A computer program that is designed to do some specific type of work -- for example, a word processor, spreadsheet, database, game, or other application. An application is different from a utility which performs some type of maintenance (such as formatting a disk).
Archiving. Also called backup. A duplicate copy of an item made for the purpose of protecting the item. The term is also used to refer to the process of duplicating data.
ARPANET. A nationwide computer network created by the Department of Defense to link research institutions and universities together. ARPANET has now merged with several other networks to create the Internet.
ASCII. American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII). A scheme that assigns letters, punctuation marks, and so on to specific numeric values. The standardization of ASCII enabled computers and computer programs to exchange data
Assembly language. An assembly language is a low-level computer language whose instructions correspond directly to the machine language instructions of a specific processor type.
asynchronous. Not synchronized by a mutual timing signal or clock. Compare synchronous.
ATM. Short for Asynchronous Transfer Mode, a network technology based on transferring data in cells or packets of a fixed size. The cell used with ATM is relatively small compared to units used with older technologies. The small, constant cell size allows ATM equipment to transmit video, audio, and computer data over the same network, and assure that no single type of data hogs the lineauthoring system. Software that helps developers design interactive applications, titles, or courseware more easily than with conventional programming language.
AutoArchive. AutoArchive is a feature in Microsoft ,Outlook that moves old mail and other items to a separate personal folder on your computer's hard drive. By default, it will archive items every 14 days, and will prompt you before doing so. It is also set up to delete expired e-mail messages from your Mailbox.
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