The purpose of this page is to assist my husband in learning computer language. I copies most of the information from Net Dictionary. That site is much more comprehensive and I wanted a simple one page summary of just the acronyms. I was also concerned that someday they would move the site and I would lose all their great information.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

A code that assigns a number to each key on the keyboard. ASCII text does not include special formatting features and therefore can be exchanged and read by most computer systems.

BBS (Bulletin Board System)

An open computer system that members can dial into in order to send email, join discussion groups, and download files. Since the 1970s, BBS's have provided an early means for home users to get online. Originally, BBS's were freestanding local systems, but now many provide access to Internet email, telnet, FTP, and other Internet services.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)

A standard used by programmers that allows their programs to interact with the World Wide Web. CGI scripts can be written in many computer languages, but Perl and C are the most common.

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

The main silicon chip that runs a computer's operating system and application software. It performs a computer's essential mathematical functions and controls essential operations. Intel CPUs in PCs were numbered by generation: 286, 386, 486. This numbering scheme was abandoned by Intel with the Pentium CPU, which would be the 586, and the Pentium Pro, which would the 686. Motorola PowerPC CPUs have maintained a consistent numbering convention: 601, 603, 604.

DES (Data Encryption Standard)

A popular, standard encryption scheme.

DNS (Domain Name System)

A database system which looks up host IP addresses based upon domain names. For example if you ask for "www.thisismyhost.com" it will return "123.45.67.89". Copies of the Domain Name System are distributed through the Internet.

DOS (Disk Operating System)

A dated operating system for PCs that features a command line interface.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

A reference document created for particular topic or group that answers to common beginners' questions. It is considered poor Netiquette to ask a question without first reading the FAQ.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

An Internet protocol that enables you to transfer files between computers on the Internet.

GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out)

Usually said in response to complaints that a program didn't "do the right thing" when given bad or flawed input.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

A file format for storing images, commonly used on the web.

GUI (Graphical User Interface)

A set of screen presentations and metaphors that utilize graphic elements such as icons in an attempt to make an operating system easier to use. Unlike UNIX and DOS, which feature a command line interface, the Windows and the Macintosh operating systems present graphical environments for input and output.

HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)

The protocol or tag-based ASCII language used to create pages and transfer files on the World Wide Web. It is used by web browsers to display multimedia documents from servers to individual computers. The documents are plain text ASCII files with special codes.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)

A technology offered by telephone carriers that allows for the rapid transfer of voice and data.

Internet

A worldwide network of networks that all use the TCP/IP communications protocol and share a common address space. First incarnated as the ARPANET in 1969, the Internet has metamorphosed from a military internetwork to an academic research internetwork to the current commercial internetwork. It commonly supports services such as email, the World Wide Web, file transfer, and Internet Relay Chat. The Internet is experiencing tremendous growth in the number of users, hosts, and domain names. It is gradually subsuming other media, such as proprietary computer networks, newspapers, books, television, and the telephone. Also known as "the net", "the information superhighway", and "cyberspace."

IRC (Internet Relay Chat)

A chat network that operates over the Internet. Originally evolved from the UNIX talk program, IRC is similar to the chat systems found on commercial online services.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)

A business that delivers access to the Internet, usually for a monthly fee. PSI, UUNET, and Netcom are examples of established ISPs but there are thousands of smaller ones all around the world. Also any business that provides Internet services such as web sites or web site development, such as GeoCities.

ISOC (Internet Society)

To quote its home page at http://info.isoc.org: "The Internet Society is a non-governmental International organization for global cooperation and coordination for the Internet and its internetworking technologies and applications. The Society's individual and organizational members are bound by a common stake in maintaining the viability and global scaling of the Internet. They comprise the companies, government agencies, and foundations that have created the Internet and its technologies as well as innovative new entrepreneurial organizations contributing to maintain that dynamic."

IP address

A string of four numbers separated by periods (such as 111.22.3.444) used to represent a computer on the Internet. The format of the address is specified by the Internet Protocol in RFC 791. When a PC accesses the Internet through an ISP, it sometimes receives a temporary IP address.

Java

An object oriented programming language created by Sun Microsystems. Java is a device independent language, meaning that programs compiled in Java can be run on any computer. Java programs can be run as a free-standing application or as an applet placed on a web page. Applets written in Java are served from a web site but executed on the client computer. Java applets have a built-in security feature which prevents them from accessing the file system of the client computer. See also applet. Here is the Java version of "Hello World!":

class HelloWorld {
public static void main (String args[]) {
System.out.println("Hello World!");
}
}

JavaScript

A scripting language that allows lines of Java code to be inserted into HTML scripts.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

An image compression standard for still photographs that is commonly used on the web.

LAN (Local Area Network)

A group of computers at a single location (usually an office or home) that are connected by phone lines or coaxial cable.

MUD (Multi-User Dungeon)

An online fantasy role-playing game environment that takes place in telnet sessions. MUDs occur in text mode -- similar to a chat environment -- where the players assume the identities of fictional characters and follow a series of rules which guide the adventure

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)

An extension to Internet email which provides the ability to transfer non-textual data, such as graphics, audio and fax.

NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement)

A contract commonly used by computer companies to protect the confidentiality of unreleased products. Software developers, reporters, and sometimes beta testers are often required to sign these before they are given access to either information about upcoming products or the product itself.

OOP (Object Oriented Programming)

A style of computer programming which entails building of independent pieces of code which interact with each other. For example, JAVA and C++ are object oriented programming languages.

Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language)

A programming language that is powerful, yet unstructured and is especially good for writing quick programs that process text files. Because of these abilities, Perl is a common choice of programmers for writing CGI scripts to automate input and output from web pages. Perl was invented in 1986 by Larry Wall and is available to anyone at no charge.

Here is the Perl version of "Hello World!":
print "Hello World\n";

PING (Packet InterNet Groper)

A connection testing program that sends a self-returning packet to a host and times how long it takes to return.

POP (Point of Presence )

A site that has a collection of telecommunications equipment, usually refers to ISP or telephone company sites.

PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol)

A protocol used by TCP/IP routers and PCs to send packets over dial-up and leased-line connections.

RAM (Random Access Memory)

The working memory of the computer into which application programs can be loaded and executed. It helps to have more of this "working space" installed when running advanced operating systems and applications.

RFC (Request for Comment)

One of a long-established series of informal informational documents and standards that guide the development of the Internet. The most famous is RFC 822, the Internet mail standard drafted by Dave Crocker.

RTF (Rich Text Format)

A format for text documents that includes formatting attributes, such as different fonts and typefaces.

SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol)

A protocol used by TCP/IP routers and PCs to send packets over dial-up and leased-line connections. SLIP has been pretty much replaced by PPP.

SNA (Systems Network Architecture)

A proprietary networking architecture used by IBM and IBM-compatible mainframe computers.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)

A collection of protocols that define the basic workings of the features of the Internet.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

An addressing scheme used by World Wide Web browsers to locate resources on the Internet.

UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy)

UNIX software that allows email and news messages to be exchanged on a store-and-forward basis between remote computers. Before the rise of the Internet, this was the main way that remote UNIX machines were networked. It is no longer in wide use.

VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language)

A scripting language used to define three-dimensional "worlds".

WAIS (Wide Area Information Server)

A system which allows you to search over 400 WAIS databases located throughout the Internet for information.

WAN (Wide Area Network)

A private long distance network that uses leased lines to connect computers or LANs.

WWW (World Wide Web)

A distributed hypertext system invented by Tim Berners-Lee on a NeXT Computer. Currently, one of the most popular services offered on the Internet. Web pages are viewed using browsing software like Netscape Navigator, Sun Microsystems Hot Java, or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Please email any corrections, revisions, changes, additions, deletions, oversights, errors, typos, good ideas, bad ideas, new ideas, links, congratulations, adulations, optimism, pessimism, questions, clues, hints, events, notifications, or stories to Webmaster.
Changes last made on: Monday, April 23, 2007
This page accessed   times since October 7, 1999.