Microsoft Press
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`~T
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`I
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`Third Edition
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`PUBLISHED BY
`Microsoft Press
`A Division of Microsoft Corporation
`One Microsoft Way
`Redmond, Washington 98052-6399
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`Copyright © 1997 by Microsoft Corporation
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`All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or tran smitted
`in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
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`Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
`Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary . -- 3rd ed.
`p.
`em.
`ISBN l-57231 -446-X
`l. Computers--Dictionaries . 2. Microcomputers--Dictionaries.
`I. Microsoft Press.
`QA76. l5.M54 1997
`004'.03--dc21
`
`97-15489
`CIP
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`Printed and bound in the United States of America.
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`I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 QMQM 2 I 0 9 8 7
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`Distributed to the book trade in Canada by Macmillan of Canada, a divi sion of Canada Publishing
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`burst rate
`
`bus network
`
`high-sreed data stream, becomes a channel dedi(cid:173)
`c lted to the needs of o ne device until the entire
`transmissio n has been sent. Burst mode is used
`bo th in communicatio ns ~mel between devices in a
`computer system. See alsu hurst 1
`.
`burst rate \ hurst ' rat\ 11 . See burst speed (defini(cid:173)
`tio n 1).
`burst speed \ burst ' sped \ n. 1. The faste t speed
`at which a device can operate without interru p(cid:173)
`tion. Fo r example , various communications de(cid:173)
`vices (as on networks ) can send data in bursts, and
`the speed of such equipment is sometimes mea(cid:173)
`sured :.~ s the hurst speed (the speed of data transfer
`wh ile the burst is being executed ). Also called
`burst rate. 2. The number of characters per second
`that a printer can print o n one line wi thout a car(cid:173)
`riage return or linefeed. Burst speed measures the
`actual speed of printing, w ithout consideration of
`the time taken to advance paper or to move the
`print head back to the left margin. Almost always,
`the speed claimed by the manufacturer is the burst
`speed . By contrast, throughput is the n umber of
`characters per second when o ne or more entire
`pages of text are being printed and is a more prac(cid:173)
`tical measurement of printer speed in rea l-life
`situations.
`bursty \ bur 'ste\ adJ. Transmitting data in spurts,
`o r bursts. rather than in a continuo us stream.
`bus \bus \ n . A set of hardwa re lines (conductors)
`used for data transfer among the com po nents of a
`com puter system. A bus is essenti:.dly a shared
`highway th:H co nnects different parts of the sys(cid:173)
`tem-including
`the microprocessor, disk-drive
`controller, memoty, and input/ output ports-and
`enables them to transfer information. The bus con(cid:173)
`sists of specialized groups of lines that carry differ(cid:173)
`ent types of information . One group of lines
`carries data ; another carries memory addresses
`(locations) where data items are to be found; yet
`another carries contro l signals. Buses are charac(cid:173)
`terized by the number of bits they can transfer at
`a single time, equ ivalent to the number of wires
`within the bus. A computer with a 32-bit address
`bus and a 16-bit data bus, fo r e 'ample , can trans(cid:173)
`fer 16 bits of data at a time from any of z:"l 2 mem(cid:173)
`ory locations. !'vlost microcompu ters contain one
`o r mo re expansion slots into which additional
`boards can be plugged to connect them to the hus.
`
`bus enun1erator \ bus '
`11 . A
`.::>-nOb-m;:;>r-i:i-t;:;>r\
`device driver that ide ntifies devices located on a
`specific b us and assigns a unique identificatio n
`code to each de\·ice . The hus enumerator is
`responsible fo r loading information ;.~bout the
`devices onto the hardware tree. See also bus,
`dev ice drive r, hardware tree.
`bus extender \ bus ' e ks-ten-d.::>r\
`11 . 1. A dev ice
`that expands the capacity of a bus. For example ,
`IBM PC/ AT computers used a bus extender to add
`o nto the earlie r PC bus and allow the use of 16-b it
`expansion boards in add ition to 8-bit boards. See
`also bus. 2. A special board used by e ngineers to
`ra ise an add-on board above the compute r's cabi(cid:173)
`net, making it easier to work on the circu it board .
`business graphics \hiz' n;:;>s grafiks\ rz. See p re(cid:173)
`sentation graphics.
`business information system \biz' n.::>s
`in-f;:;>r-
`ma , sh;:;>n si' stdm \ n . A combination of computers,
`printers, communications equipment, and other
`devices designed to handle data. A completely
`automated business info rmation system receives,
`processes, and sto res data ; transfers information as
`needed; and produces re ports or printouts on
`demand. Acronym: BIS CB'I-S '). See also manage(cid:173)
`ment info rmatio n system.
`business software \ biz'nds
`n . Any
`soff wa r\
`computer app lication d esigned primarily for use in
`business, as opposed to scientific use o r e ntertain(cid:173)
`ment. In addition to the well-known areas of word
`processing, spreadsheets, databases, and commu(cid:173)
`nications, business software for microcompute rs
`also encompasses such applications as account(cid:173)
`ing, payro ll, financial planning, project manage(cid:173)
`ment, decision and suppo rt systems, personnel
`record maintenance, and office man:.~gement.
`bus mouse \bus ' mous\ n. A mo use that attaches
`to the computer's bus through a special card or
`po rt rather than through a serial po rt. See also
`mouse. Compare serial mouse.
`bus network \ bus' net'wdrk \ n. A topology (con(cid:173)
`figuration ) fo r a local area network in which all
`nodes a re connected to a main communications
`line (bus) . On a pus netwo rk, each node mo nitors
`activity o n the line. Messages are detected by all
`no des but are a~cepred only by the node(s) to
`which they are acl.,.dressed . A malfunctioning node
`ceases to communicate but does no t disrupt oper-
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