OVER
`10,000
`ENTRIES
`
`Microsoft
`
`
`
`C_0Ir‘r_1I0llter
`D|ctlonary
`
`
`
`
`° Fully updated with the latest
`technologies, terms, and acronyms
`
`Fifth Editio
`
`- Easy to read, expertly illustrated
`
`- Definitive coverage of hardware,
`software, the Internet, and more!
`
`

`

`
`
`
`Microsoft“
`
`Cpmputer
`Dictionary
`
`Fifth Edition ~
`
`

`

`
`
`PUBLISHED BY
`Microsoft Press
`
`A Division of Microsoft Corporation
`One Microsoft Way
`Redmond, Washington 980526399
`
`Copyright © 2002 by Microsoft Corporation
`
`All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
`or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
`
`Library of Congress Control Number: 2002019714
`
`Microsoft Press books are available through booksellers and distributors worldwide. For further informa-
`tion about international editions, contact your local Microsoft Corporation office or contact Microsoft
`Press International directly at fax (425) 936—7329. Visit our Web site at www.microsoft.com/mspress.
`Send comments to mspinput@micr0s0ft.com.
`
`Active Desktop, Active Directory, ActiveMovie, ActiveStore, ActiveSync, ActiveX, Authenticode,
`BackOffice, BizTalk, ClearType, Direct3D, DirectAnimation, DirectDraw, Directlnput, DirectMusic,
`DirectPlay, DirectShow, DirectSound, DirectX, Entourage, FoxPro, FrontPage, Hotmail, lntelliEye,
`IntelliMouse, IntelliSense, JScript, MapPoint, Microsoft, Microsoft Press, Mobile Explorer, MS-DOS,
`MSN, Music Central, NetMeeting, Outlook, PhotoDraw, PowerPoint, SharePoint, UltimateTV, Visio,
`Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual FoxPro, Visual InterDev, Visual J++, Visual SourceSafe, Visual Studio,
`Win32, Win32s, Windows, Windows Media, Windows NT, Xbox are either registered trademarks or
`trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and
`company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
`
`The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places,
`and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product,
`domain name, e—mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.
`Acquisitions Editor: Alex Blanton
`Project Editor: Sandra Haynes
`
`Body Part No. X08-4l 929
`
`

`

`digital camera
`
`Digital Micromirror Device
`
`digital camera n. A type of camera that stores photo(cid:173)
`graphed images electronically instead of on traditional
`film. A digital camera uses a CCD (charge-coupled
`device) element to capture the image through the lens
`when the operator releases the shutter in the camera; cir(cid:173)
`cuitry within the camera then stores the image captured by
`the CCD in a storage medium such as solid-state memory
`or a hard disk. After the image has been captured, it is
`downloaded by cable to the computer using software sup(cid:173)
`plied with the camera. Once stored in the computer, the
`image can be manipulated and processed much like the
`image from a scanner or related input device. See also
`charge-coupled device, digital photography.
`
`digital cash n. See e-money.
`
`digital certificate n. 1. An assurance that software
`downloaded from the Internet comes from a reputable
`source. A digital certificate provides information about the
`software-such as the identity of the author and the date
`on which the software was registered with a certificate
`authority (CA), as well as a measure of tamper-resistance.
`2. A user identity card or "driver's license" for cyberspace.
`Issued by a certificate authority (CA), a digital certificate
`is an electronic credential that authenticates a user on the
`Internet and intranets. Digital certificates ensure the legiti(cid:173)
`mate online transfer of confidential information, money,
`or other sensitive materials by means of public encryption
`technology. A digital certificate holder has two keys
`(strings of numbers): a private key held only by the user,
`for "signing" outgoing messages and decrypting incoming
`messages; and a public key, for use by anyone, for
`encrypting data to send to a specific user. See also certifi(cid:173)
`cate authority, encryption, private key, public key.
`
`digital communications n. Exchange of communica(cid:173)
`tions in which all information is transmitted in binary(cid:173)
`encoded (digital) form.
`
`digital computer n. A computer in which operations are
`based on two or more discrete states. Binary digital com(cid:173)
`puters are based on two states, logical "on" and "'off," rep(cid:173)
`resented by two voltage levels, arrangements of which are
`used to represent all types of information-numbers, let(cid:173)
`ters, graphics symbols, and program instructions. Within
`such a computer, the states of various circuit components
`change continuously to move, operate on, and save this
`information. Compare analog computer.
`
`Digital Darkroom n. A Macintosh program developed by
`Silicon Beach Software for enhancement of black-and(cid:173)
`white photographs or scanned images.
`
`digital data service n. See DDS.
`
`digital data transmission n. The transfer of information
`encoded as a series of bits rather than as a fluctuating
`(analog) signal in a communications channel.
`
`digital display n. A video display capable of rendering
`only a fixed number of colors or gray shades. Examples of
`digital displays are IBM 's Monochrome Display, Color/
`Graphics Display, and Enhanced Color Display. See also
`CGA, EGA, MDA. Compare analog display.
`
`digital divide n. The gap between those who have the
`opportunity to take advantage of the Internet and related
`information resources, and those who do not. Differences
`in income, education, and comfort levels with technology
`are contributing factors to the separation between those
`with access to technological resources and those without.
`
`digital DNA n. 1. Broadly, a reference to the bits that
`comprise digital information. 2. In the gaming world, a
`technology called "Cyberlife" that mimics biological
`DNA in the creation and development of trainable crea(cid:173)
`tures known as Norns. Like real DNA, digital DNA is
`passed from parent to offspring and determines the artifi(cid:173)
`cial creature's characteristics and adaptability.
`
`digital fingerprinting n. See digital watermark.
`
`digital flat panel port n. An interface designed to allow
`direct connection between a flat panel monitor and a com(cid:173)
`puter without requiring an analog-to-digital conversion.
`Acronym: DFP.
`
`digital home n. See smart home.
`
`digital light processing projector n. See OLP.
`
`digital line n. A communications line that carries infor(cid:173)
`mation only in binary-encoded (digital) form. To mini(cid:173)
`mize distortion and noise interference, a digital line uses
`repeaters to regenerate the signal periodically during
`transmission. See also repeater. Compare analog line.
`
`digital linear tape n. A magnetic storage medium used
`to back up data. Digital linear tape allows for faster trans(cid:173)
`fer of data compared with other tape technologies. Acro(cid:173)
`nym: DLT.
`
`Digital Micromirror Device n. The circuit technology
`behind Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing, used in
`image projectors. A Digital Micromirror Device, or DMD,
`consists of an array of individually addressable, hinged mir(cid:173)
`rors on a chip. Each chip, which is less than 0.002 mm
`wide, rotates in response to a digital signal to reflect light
`
`158
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`

`

`a”,
`
`I'Endkey _
`
`encoding a. 1. See Huffman coding. 2. A method of deal-
`ing with computers with Year 2000 problems that entails
`storing a four—digit year in date fields designed to hold
`only two digits in a program or system. This can be
`accomplished by using the bits associated with the date
`field more efficiently—for example, by converting the
`date field from ASCII to binary or from decimal to hexa-
`decimal, both of which allow storage of larger values.
`
`encrypt vb. To encode (scramble) information in such a
`way that it is unreadable to all but those individuals pos-
`sessing the key to the code. Encrypted information is
`known as cipher text. Also called: encipher,_encode.
`
`encryption n. The process of encoding data to prevent
`unauthorized access, especially during transmission.
`Encryption is usually based on one or more keys, or codes,
`that are essential for decoding, or returning the data to
`readable form. The US. National Bureau of Standards
`
`.
`
`created a complex encryption standard, Data Encryption
`Standard (DES), which is based on a 56-bit variable that
`provides for more than 70 quadrillion unique keys to
`encrypt documents. See also DES.
`
`encryption key It. A sequence of data that is used to
`encrypt other data and that, consequently, must be used for
`the data’s decryption. See alsadecryption, encryption.
`
`end-around carry n. A special type of end—around shift
`operation on a binary value that treats the carry bit as an
`extra bit; that is, the carry bit is moved from one end of the p
`value to the other. See also carry, end—around shift, shift.
`
`end-around shift a. An operation performed on a binary
`value in which a bit is shifted out of one end and into the
`
`other end. For example, a right-end shift on the value
`00101001 yields 10010100. See also shift.
`
`en dash n. A punctuation mark (—) used to show ranges
`of dates and numbers, as in 199092, and in compound
`adjectives where one part is hyphenated or consists of two
`words, as in pre—Civil War. The en dash is named after a
`typographical unit of measure, the en space, which is half '
`the width of an em space. See also em space. Compare em _
`dash, hyphen.
`
`'
`
`End key a. A cursor—control key that moves the cursor to
`a certain position, usually to the end of a line, the end of a
`screen, or the end of a file, depending on the program. See _
`the illustration.
`
`-
`
`liEn'capsuiated PostScript '
`
`. 7
`
`programming, to keep the implementation details of a class
`a separate file whose contents do not need to be known by
`a programmer using that class. See also object-oriented
`programming, TCP/IP.
`
`Encapsulated PostScript n. See EPS.
`
`encapsulated type n. See abstract data type.
`
`encapsulation n. 1. In object—oriented programing, the
`packaging of attributes (properties) and functionality
`(methods or behaviors) to create an object that is essen-
`tially a “black box”—one whose internal structure remains
`private and whose services can be accessed by other
`objects only through messages passed via a clearly defined
`interface (the programming equivalent of a mailbox or tele»
`phone line). Encapsulation ensures that the object provid—
`ing service can prevent other objects from manipulating its
`data or procedures directly, and it enables the object
`requesting service to ignore the details of how that service
`is provided. See also information hiding. 2. In terms of the
`Year 2000 problem, a method of dealing with dates that
`entails shifting either program logic (data encapsulation) or
`input (program encapsulation) backward into the past, to a
`parallel year that allows the system to avoid Year 2000
`complications. Encapsulation thus allows processing to
`take plaCe in a “time warp” created by shifting to an earlier
`time before processing and—for accuracy—shifting output
`forward by the same number of years to reflect the actual
`date. See data encapsulation, program encapsulation.
`
`encipher vb. See encrypt.
`
`encode vb. 1. See encrypt. 2. In programming, to put
`something into code, which frequently involves changing
`the form—~for example, changing a decimal number to
`binary—coded form. Seaalso binary—coded decimal,
`EBCDIC.
`
`encoder n. 1. In general, any hardware or software that
`encodes information—that is, converts the information to
`
`a particular form or format. For example, the Windows
`Media Encoder converts audio and video to a form that
`
`can be streamed to clients over a network. 2. In reference
`
`to MP3 digital audio in particular, technology that con-
`verts a WAV audio file into an MP3 file. An MP3 encoder
`
`compresses a sound file to a much smaller size, about
`-- one-twelfth as large as the original, without a perceptible
`drop in quality. Also called: MP3 encoder. See also MP3,
`WAV. Compare rip, ripper.
`
`