Dictionary of computer and internet terms

Dictionary of

Computer and

Internet Terms

Tenth Edition

Douglas A. Downing, Ph.D.

School of Business and Economics

Seattle Pacific University

Michael A. Covington, Ph.D.

Artificial Intelligence Center

The University of Georgia

Melody Mauldin Covington

Covington Innovations

Athens, Georgia

Catherine Anne Covington

Covington Innovations

Athens, Georgia

With the assistance of

Sharon Covington

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© Copyright 2009, 2006, 2003, 2000, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1992, 1989,

and 1986 by Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in

any form or by any means without the written permission

of the copyright owner.

All inquiries should be addressed to:

Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.

250 Wireless Boulevard

Hauppauge, NY 11788

www.barronseduc.com

ISBN-13: 978-0-7641-4105-8

ISBN-10: 0-7641-4105-8

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 2008044365

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Downing, Douglas.

Dictionary of computer and Internet terms / Douglas A. Downing,

Michael A. Covington, Melody Mauldin Covington. — 10th ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7641-4105-8

1. Computers—Dictionaries. 2. Internet—Dictionaries. I. Covington,

Michael A., 1957– II. Covington, Melody Mauldin. III. Title.

QA76.15.D667 2009

004.03—dc22 2008044365

PRINTED IN CHINA

987654321

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Douglas Downing teaches economics and quantitative methods at the School of

Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. He is the author of several

books in both Barron’s Easy Way and Business Review series. He is also the author

of Java Programming the Easy Way and Dictionary of Mathematics Terms, published

by Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. He holds the Ph.D. degree in economics from

Yale University.

Michael Covington is Associate Director of the Artificial Intelligence Institute at

the University of Georgia. He is the author of several books and over 250 magazine

articles. He holds the Ph.D. degree in linguistics from Yale University.

Melody Mauldin Covington is a graphic designer living in Athens, Georgia. She

is the author of Dictionary of Desktop Publishing (published by Barron’s).

Catherine Anne Covington is a student at the Lamar Dodd School of Art

(University of Georgia).

Sharon Covington is a student at Emory University.

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CONTENTS

About the Authors.....................................................................ii

To the Reader ...........................................................................iv

Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms.............................1

Numbers ............................................................................1

Greek Letters.....................................................................5

A........................................................................................7

B ......................................................................................38

C ......................................................................................71

D....................................................................................124

E ....................................................................................159

F.....................................................................................185

G ....................................................................................211

H....................................................................................223

I......................................................................................242

J .....................................................................................264

K....................................................................................272

L ....................................................................................276

M ...................................................................................296

N....................................................................................322

O....................................................................................336

P.....................................................................................349

Q....................................................................................389

R ....................................................................................392

S.....................................................................................421

T ....................................................................................468

U....................................................................................498

V....................................................................................510

W ...................................................................................521

X....................................................................................538

Y....................................................................................543

Z ....................................................................................545

Visual Dictionary of Characters and Symbols......................547

Country Codes for Top-Level Domains................................552

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TO THE READER

Computers are no longer just for specialists. Today, computing is not just a

profession and a hobby; it is also a tool used in virtually all human activities.

That’s why we’ve compiled this book of background knowledge. Its pur￾pose is to tell you the things other people think you already know.

We design this book to have a convenient size so it can be easily carried

around. In compiling a book this size, we have had to be selective. The

quickest way to identify a word that you can’t find in a book is probably to

do a web search (see SEARCH ENGINE). Also, some terms are almost always

abbreviated, and in that case you should look for the abbreviation rather

than the full term.

Much has changed since the first edition of this book was published

more than twenty years ago. New terms are being invented every day. We

regularly update the book, and this edition contains new entries on a vari￾ety of topics including Windows Vista and Mac OS X. We’ve also cut out

material that was showing its age.

Terms are marked slang or humorous if they are seldom used in serious

writing. They are marked as jargon if, in our estimation, they are somewhat

pretentious new names for old concepts and are not likely to endure. We

provide occasional Usage notes to explain grammar, spelling, and proper

use of words, such as the exact difference between disc and disk.

Throughout, we use SMALL CAPITALS to mark important words that are

defined elsewhere in this book. By following cross-references, you can

quickly find many entries that pertain to whatever interests you. Here are

some entries you may wish to start with to learn about particular topics:

• Internet culture: CHAT ROOM

• right and wrong: COMPUTER ETHICS

• safe computing: COMPUTER SECURITY

• solving exceptionally difficult problems: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

• productively using computers in business and daily life: APPLICATION

PROGRAM

• listening to music: DIGITAL MUSIC

• taking pictures: DIGITAL CAMERA

• creating web pages: HTML

• writing computer programs: PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE

• software that controls a computer: OPERATING SYSTEM

• how a computer works: COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

• networking and the Internet: INTERNET

• connecting computers wirelessly: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

• electronic components: TRANSISTOR

iv

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Be sure to notice the visual dictionary of symbols at the end of the book.

If you don’t know what ∑ or ≈ or • is called, don’t worry; you can look it

up there.

All four of us want to thank The University of Georgia and Seattle

Pacific University for access to facilities and for accommodating us as we

worked on the project. We also want to thank Robert Downing for help with

1960s data processing terminology; Sharon Covington for help with current

Internet culture; and Brantley Coile of Coraid, Inc., for permission to adapt

material from Coraid’s glossary of networking and data storage.

Many of the words used in this book are registered trademarks. We have

made no attempt to determine or report their legal status. For further infor￾mation about any product name, consult the manufacturer’s literature.

v TO THE READER

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NUMBERS

1-2-3 see LOTUS 1-2-3.

3Com a leading producer of networking hardware, mainly focusing on res￾idential and small to medium businesses. In recent years the company

has sharpened its focus in this area by acquiring U.S. Robotics but sell￾ing off Palm (see PALM). Their web address is www.3com.com.

3D see THREE-DIMENSIONAL GRAPHICS.

4×, 8×, 16× . . . 64× (etc.) describing a CD or DVD drive, able to transfer

data at 4, 8, 16 (etc.) times the speed of normal audio or video. For

example, a 16× CD-R drive can record a full CD, equivalent to about an

hour of audio, in about four minutes.

5.1 a format of SURROUND SOUND with five speakers that transmit the full

audio spectrum and one that transmits only bass. The five full-range

speakers are positioned as front left, center, and right, and rear left and

right. The bass speaker, or SUBWOOFER, is usually placed in front. See

Fig. 253, p. 464. Compare 6.1, 7.1.

6.1 a format of SURROUND SOUND with six full-range speakers in the left

front, center front, right front, left, right, and rear center positions, plus

a SUBWOOFER for additional bass. Compare 5.1.

7-layer model see DATA COMMUNICATION.

7.1 a format of SURROUND SOUND with seven full-range speakers in the left

front, center front, right front, left, right, left rear, and right rear posi￾tions, plus a SUBWOOFER for additional bass. Compare 5.1.

8.3 filename a filename consisting of up to 8 letters or digits, a dot (period),

and up to three more letters or digits, as in DOS and Windows 3.

10/100 (describing a network adapter) capable of operating at 10 or 100

megabits per second. See 10BASE-T; 100BASE-T.

10/100/1000 (describing a network adapter) capable of operating at 10, 100,

and 1000 megabits per second. See 10BASE-T; 100BASE-T; 1000BASE-T.

10base-2 thinwire Ethernet; a type of Ethernet connection using thin coax￾ial cable with BNC T-connectors, a bus topology, and a maximum data

rate of 10 megabits per second. Cable segments can range from 2 feet

(0.6 m) to 607 feet (185 m) in length. See ETHERNET; THINWIRE.

Usage note: In this and similar terms, 10 stands for the data rate in

megabits per second; base means baseband (not modulated on a higher￾frequency carrier); and 2 is the approximate maximum cable length in

hundreds of meters. The hyphen is often left out.

1 10base-2

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10base-5 thickwire Ethernet; a type of Ethernet connection using thick

coaxial cable with special cable-piercing taps, a bus topology, and a

maximum data rate of 10 megabits per second. Cable segments can

range from 8.2 feet (2.5 m) to 1640 feet (500 m) in length. See ETHER￾NET; THICKWIRE.

10base-F fiber-optic Ethernet; a type of Ethernet connection using fiber￾optic cable and a maximum data rate of 10 megabits per second. Cables

can be as long as 1.2 miles (2 km). See ETHERNET; FIBER OPTICS.

10base-T twisted-pair Ethernet using Category 3 or Category 5 cable and

RJ-45 modular connectors, a star topology with hubs, and a maximum

data rate of 10 megabits per second. Each cable can be up to 328 feet

(100 m) long. However, because they are unshielded, these cables are

somewhat subject to electrical noise if placed close to motors or fluo￾rescent lights. See ETHERNET; CROSSOVER CABLE; CATEGORY 5 CABLE.

16-bit program a program that runs on Intel microprocessors using only

the features of the 8088 or 80286, with 16-bit internal registers. Most

DOS applications and many earlier Windows applications are 16-bit pro￾grams. Contrast 32-BIT PROGRAM.

24-bit graphics graphical images that use 24 bits to represent each color,

so that each color is made by mixing red, green, and blue, each of which

is measured on a scale of 0 to 255, and a total of 16,777,216 colors is

available. Often called “millions of colors.”

24 × 7 (or 24/7, 24-7) available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

32-bit program a program that uses the 32-bit internal registers and large

memory capacity of the Intel 386, 486, Pentium, or other compatible micro￾processor; generally faster than a 16-bit program doing the same computa￾tion on the same CPU. Contrast 16-BIT PROGRAM. See also WIN32S.

32-bit Windows Microsoft Windows 95, NT, and their successors for the

Pentium and related processors, as distinct from Windows 1.0–3.1 (apart

from 32-bit add-ons) or Windows CE. See WINDOWS.

35-mm equivalent the focal length of lens, on a 35-mm film camera, that

would cover the same field of view as a particular digital camera and

lens. See CROP FACTOR; FOCAL LENGTH; ZOOM.

47 USC 227 the 1991 U.S. law that banned “junk faxing” (unsolicited

advertising by fax). See JUNK FAX.

100base-F fast fiber-optic Ethernet, like 10base-F but with a maximum

data rate of 100 megabits per second.

100base-T fast twisted-pair Ethernet using Category 5 cable and RJ-45

modular connectors; like 10base-T but with a maximum data rate of 100

megabits per second. Many network cards and hubs are compatible with

10base-5 2

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both 10base-T and 100base-T transmission. Thus, you can convert a

10base-T network to 100base-T component-by-component and switch to

the higher speed when all the components have been modernized.

386 the first Intel microprocessor with 32-bit internal registers and good

support for multitasking and extended memory; able to run Windows 95,

but too slow for most present-day software. See MICROPROCESSOR.

403 FORBIDDEN HTTP error message indicating that the HTTP server is

not permitted to read a file. This usually means that the owner of the web

page has not set the correct permissions on the file. See PERMISSION.

404 NOT FOUND HTTP error message indicating that a web address is

invalid. See DEAD LINK.

419 scam, 4-1-9 scam a form of fraud conducted through e-mail, usually

from Nigeria, where it violates section 4-1-9 of the criminal code, hence

the name.

The perpetrator sends out mass e-mail claiming to be a bank officer

or government official who needs help sneaking some money out of the

country and wants to use someone else’s bank account. In return, the vic￾tim will get thousands or millions of dollars.

What actually happens is that the victim’s bank account is emptied, or

the victim’s information is used for further fraud. Some victims have

even been lured into traveling overseas without proper visas so that they

could be trapped and blackmailed.

The 419 scam is so common that many active Internet users receive

more than one solicitation per day. Newer versions of the scam no longer

mention Nigeria, and many of them claim to offer lottery winnings,

inheritances, or business deals.

See also SPAM; COMPUTER ETHICS.

486 an Intel microprocessor similar to the 386 but faster; predecessor of the

Pentium. See MICROPROCESSOR

TABLE 1

IEEE 802.11 STANDARDS FOR WIRELESS NETWORKING

Specification Popular name Frequency Speed Compatible with

802.11a Wireless-A 5 GHz 54 Mbps Wireless-A

802.11b Wireless-B 2.4 GHz 11 Mbps Wireless-B

802.11g Wireless-G 2.4 GHz 54 Mbps Wireless-B, -G

802.11n Wireless-N 2.4 GHz 100 Mbps Wireless-B, -G, -N

3 486

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802.11 (more fully, IEEE 802.11) a set of specifications for wireless net￾working that give performance similar to 10base-T or 100base-T and

implement Wi-Fi product compatibility standards (Table 1).

Note that the three 2.4-GHz specifications are downward compatible;

that is, a Wireless-B computer will work in a Wireless-G or Wireless-N

network. Of course, in that case, communication takes place at the lower

speed of Wireless-B.

802.16 see WIMAX.

1394, 1394a, 1394b see FIREWIRE.

2000 see YEAR 2000 PROBLEM.

2600 a number used as an identifying code by groups of people who

exchange detailed information about how to break into computers, tam￾per with telephone systems, duplicate credit cards, and the like, whether

for the purpose of preventing or encouraging these acts. There is a mag￾azine (2600: The Hacker Quarterly), a newsgroup (alt.2600), and a

variety of loosely organized local “2600” groups. See HACKER (definition

3); CRACKER; PHREAK.

The number 2600 is from the 2600-Hz control tone formerly used in

telephone systems. The Atari 2600 video game machine is completely

unrelated.

8088 the Intel microprocessor used in the original IBM PC (1981). It has

16-bit registers and an 8-bit external bus. See MICROPROCESSOR.

68000 the series of Motorola microprocessors originally used in the Apple

Macintosh. See MICROPROCESSOR.

80286 the Intel microprocessor used in the IBM PC AT (1984). It is faster

than the 8088 and supports extended memory but does not have 32-bit

registers or the built-in ability to emulate multiple 8088s; for that reason,

multitasking operating systems did not become common until the 386

was introduced. See MICROPROCESSOR.

80386, 80486 unofficial names for the Intel 386 and 486 microprocessors.

See 386, 486, and references there.

802.11 4

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GREEK LETTERS

α (alpha) the opacity of a layer in a graphical image. See ALPHA.

γ (gamma) a measure of the contrast of photographic film or the nonlin￾earity of an electronically obtained image. See GAMMA.

μ (mu) abbreviation for micro- (one-millionth). See METRIC PREFIXES.

μC abbreviation for microcontroller.

μP abbreviation for microprocessor.

π (pi) the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, approxi￾mately 3.14159. See PI.

5 π

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The Greek Alphabet

A α alpha

B β beta

Γ γ gamma

Δ δ delta

Ε ε epsilon ( in some typefaces)

Ζ ζ zeta

Η η eta

 theta ( in some typefaces)

Ι ι iota

Κ κ kappa

Λ λ lambda

Μ μ mu

Ν ν nu

Ξ ξ xi

Ο ο omicron

Π π pi ( in some typefaces)

Ρ ρ rho ( in some typefaces)

Σ σ sigma ( at ends of words)

Τ τ tau

υ upsilon

Φ φ phi (

in some typefaces)

Χ χ chi

Ψ ψ psi

Ω ω omega

THE GREEK ALPHABET 6

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A

A

1. abbreviation used in HTML to indicate an anchor, a link to another

location. For an example, see HTML.

2. (on a digital camera) aperture-priority autoexposure, the mode in

which the user sets the lens opening (f-ratio) and the camera chooses the

exposure time; same as Av. Contrast P, TV, S.

A4 the standard size of typing paper everywhere except the United States,

210 × 297 mm, about 81⁄4 × 113⁄4 inches. American typing paper is

81⁄2 × 11 inches.

A4 is part of an ISO standard for paper sizes (chosen so that A0 paper

(840 × 1189 mm) has an area of 1 square meter and each size can be cut

in half to make the next smaller one. Thus, the area of a sheet of A4 paper

is 1⁄16 m2). For table, see PAPER SIZES (ISO).

FIGURE 1. A4 paper is longer and narrower than letter size

AAC Advanced Audio Coding, an audio compression format newer and

more efficient than MP3, used internally by iTunes and Nintendo Wii. See

www.mpeg.org/MPEG/aac.html.

ABC Atanasoff Berry Computer, a machine developed in 1939 at Iowa

State University by John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry for solving equa￾tion systems. Although it did not allow for stored programs, it was an

important predecessor of the ENIAC and other digital computers.

abort to cancel an action or command.

Abort, Retry, Fail? an error message displayed by DOS and similar oper￾ating systems when a disk is unreadable or some other input or output

operation is physically impossible. An earlier version said, “Abort,

Retry, Ignore?”

abs the function that calculates absolute value in many programming lan￾guages and on scientific calculators. It converts negative numbers to

positive while leaving positive numbers unchanged. For example,

abs(37) = 37; abs(–37) = 37; abs(–2.5) = 2.5; abs(0) = 0.

7 abs

7_4105_DO_CompInternetTerms_A 12/29/08 10:17 AM Page 7

absolute address

1. a fixed location in the computer’s memory. See COMPUTER ARCHITEC￾TURE; OFFSET.

2. in a spreadsheet program, a cell address that refers to a fixed location

that will not change when a formula is copied to another location. In

Excel, absolute addresses are indicated by placing a dollar sign before

the column and row indicator. For example, if the formula 2*$D$7 is

entered into a cell, then $D$7 is an absolute address. If this formula is

copied to another cell, the address $D$7 will not change. Contrast RELA￾TIVE ADDRESS.

3. See ABSOLUTE URL.

absolute URLa URL that contains the full address, identifying the machine,

directory, and file. For example, if a web page contains the link:

<a href=”http://www.census.gov/2010census/about_2010_census/”>

it will find about _2010_census in the directory 2010census at the com￾puter labeled www.census.gov. Contrast RELATIVE URL.

abstract

1. a summary of a document or file. For example, in Java programming,

a JAR FILE contains class files together with an encrypted abstract (sum￾mary) calculated with a kind of hash function. If one of the class files is

tampered with, the hash function calculated from the downloaded files

will not match the hash function in the abstract, so the verifier will not

allow the class to load. See also MANIFEST.

2. not tied to a specific pre-existing example. For example, an abstract

data type is one that does not correspond exactly to anything in the archi￾tecture of the computer; instead, it is declared by the programmer to suit

the purposes of the program.

In object-oriented programming, a class is declared abstract if there

will not be any data or methods specific to that class; instead, it is to be

used as a superclass for other classes that will have specific data. An

abstract class cannot be instantiated, but other classes can extend it.

accelerator a device that makes an operation run faster. For example, a

graphics accelerator is a card that contains built-in circuits for perform￾ing graphics operations, allowing the system to render graphics more

quickly than would be the case if the microprocessor bore the entire load.

accents marks added to letters (as in é è ê ë) to indicate differences of pro￾nunciation; said to have been introduced by Aristophanes of Byzantium

c. 200 B.C. to preserve the pitch accent of ancient Greek, which was

dying out. The only major languages that do not require accents are

English and Latin.

Most computer software treats a letter with an accent as a single char￾acter. More sophisticated systems represent the accent and the letter sep￾arately, so that any accent can be put on any letter. See ANSI.

absolute address 8

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