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`PUBLISHED BY
`Microsoft Press
`A Division of Microsoft Corporation
`One Microsoft Way
`Redmond, Washington 98052-6399
`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 Cataloging-in-Publication Data
`Microsoft Computer Dictionary.--3th ed.
`p. ci.
`ISBN 0-7356-1495-4
`1. Computers--Dictionaries.
`
`2. Microcomputers--Dictionaries.
`
`AQ76,5, M52267
`004'.03--de2.1
`
`2002
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`.
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`.
`
`200219714
`
`Printed and boundin the United States of America.
`23456789 QWE 765432 |
`Distributed in Canada by H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd.
`A CIP catalogue record for this bookis available from the British Library.
`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@microsoft.com.
`,
`,
`Active Desktop, Active Directory, ActiveMovie, ActiveStore, ActiveSync, Activex, Authenticode,
`BackOffice, BizTalk, ClearType, Direct3D, DirectAnimation, DirectDraw, DirectInput, DirectMusic,
`DirectPlay, DirectShow, DirectSound, DirectX, Entourage, FoxPro, FrontPage, Hotmail, IntelliEye,
`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, Visval J4-+, 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 ather 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 reai company, organization, product,
`domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.
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`JAMALceeres
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`aresageseneRDGATTTPERAYEETEMEC
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`Acquisitions Editor: Alex Blanton
`Project Editor: Sandra Haynes
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`Body Part No. X08-41929
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`
`IntelliSense 1. A Microsoft technology used in various
`Microsoft products, including Internet Explorer, Visual
`Basic, Visual Basic C++, and Office that is designed to
`help users perform routine tasks. In Visual Basic, for
`example, information such as the properties and methods —
`of an objectis displayed as the developer types the name
`of the object in the Visual Basic code window.
`intensity Red Green Blue n. See IRGB.
`Interactive adj. Characterized by conversational
`exchange of input and output, as when a user enters a
`question or command and the system immediately
`responds, The interactivity of microcomputers is one of the
`” features that makes them approachable and easy to use.
`interactive fiction n. A type of computer game in which
`the user participates in a story by giving commands to the
`system. The commandsgiven by the user determine, to
`some extent, the events that occur during the story. Typi-
`cally the story involves a goal that must be achieved, and
`the puzzle is to determine the correct sequence of actions
`that will lead to the accomplishmentof that goal. See also
`adventure game.
`:
`interactive graphics n, A form of user interface in
`which the user can change and control graphic displays,
`often with the help of a pointing device such as amouse or
`a joystick. Interactive eraphics interfaces occur in a range
`ofcomputer products, from gamesto computer-aided
`design (CAD) systems.
`interactive processing n. Processing that involves the
`‘more or less continuousparticipation of the user. Such a
`command/response modeis characteristic of microcom-
`puters. Compare batch processing (definition 2).
`interactive program ». A program that exchanges output
`and input with the user, who typically views a display of
`some sort and uses an input device, such as a keyboard,
`mouse, or joystick, to provide responses to the program. A
`computer game is an interactive program. Compare batch
`program,
`
`interactive services n, See BISDN.
`interactive session », A processing session in which the
`user can more orless continuously intervene and control
`the activities of the computer. Compare batch processing
`(definition 2).
`interactive television ». A video technology in which a
`viewer interacts with the television programming. Typical
`uses of interactive television inciude Jntemet access, video
`
`
`
`on demand, and video conferencing. See also video con-
`ferencing.
`:
`interactive TV 1. See iTV.
`interactive video n, The use of computer-controlled .
`video,in the form of a CD-ROM orvideodisc, for interac-
`tive education or entertainment. See also CD-ROM,inter-_
`active, interactive television, videodisc.
`interactive voice response n, A computer that operates
`through the telephone system, in which input commands
`and data are- transmitted to the computer as spoken words
`and numbers or tones and dial pulses generated by a tele-
`phone instrument; and outputinstructions and data are
`received from the computer as prerecorded or synthesized
`speech. For example,a dial-in service that provides airline
`flight schedules when you press certain key codes on your
`telephone is an interactive voice response system. Alsa
`called: IVR.
`Interactive voice system n..Sce interactive voice
`response,
`interapplication communication n. The process of one
`program sending messages to another program. For
`example, some e-mail programs allow users to click on a
`URLwithin the message. After the user clicks on the
`URL,browser software will automatically launch and
`access the URL.
`
`interblock gap nx. See inter-record gap.
`Interchange File Format n. See .iff.
`Interchange Format n. See Rich Text Format.
`interconnect x. 1. See System Area Network. 2. An
`electrical or mechanical connection. Interconnectis the
`physical connection and communication between two
`components in a computer system.
`interface n. 1. The point at which a connection is made
`between two elemenis so that they can work with each
`other or exchange information. 2. Software that enables a
`program to work with the user (the user interface, which
`can be a command-line interface, menu-driven interface,
`ot a graphical user interface), with another program such
`as the operating system, or with the computer’s hardware.
`See also application programming interface, graphical
`user interface. 3. A card, plug, or other device that con-
`nects pieces of hardware with the computer so that infor-
`mation can be moved from place to place. For example,
`standardized interfaces such as RS-232-C standard and
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` ‘tec adap:
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`internal command.:
`
`-- SCSI enable communications between computers and
`printers or disks. See also RS-232-C standard, SCSI.
`interface adapteri. See network adapter.
`
`interface card x. See adapter.
`Interface Definition Language n, Sée IDL.
`interference n. 1. Noise or other external signals that
`affect the performance of a communications channel. 2.
`Electromagnetic signals that can disturb radio ortelevision
`reception. The signals can be generated naturally, as in
`lightning, or by electronic devices, such as computers.
`Interior Gateway Protocol n. A protocol used fordis-
`tributing routing information among routers (gateways)
`in an autonomous network—that is, a network under the
`‘control of one administrative body. The two most often
`used interior gateway protocols are RIP (Routing Infor-
`mation Protocol) and OSPF (Open Shortest Path First).
`Acronym: IGP, See also autonomous system, OSPF, RIP.
`Compare exterior gateway protocol.
`interior Gateway Routing Protocol rn. See IGRP.
`
`interix x, A software application from Microsoft that
`allows businesses to run existing UNIX-based legacy
`applications while adding applications based on the
`Microsoft Windows operating system. Interix serves as a
`single enterprise platform from which to ran UNIX-based,
`Internet-based, and Windows-based applications.
`,
`interlaced adj. Pertaining to a display method on raster-
`scan monitors in which the electron beam refreshes or
`updates ali odd-numbered scan lines in one vertical sweep
`of the screen and all even-numbered scan lines’in the next
`sweep. Compare noninterlaced,
`
`interlaced GIF #. A picture in GIF formatthat is gradually
`displayed in a Web browser, showing increasingly detailed
`versionsof the picture until the entire file has finished
`downloading. Users of slower modems have a perceived
`shorter wait time for the image to appear, and they can
`sometimes get enough information about the image to
`decide whether to proceed with the download or move on.
`Users with faster connections will notice little difference in -
`effect between an interlaced GIF and a noninterlaced GIF
`
`interlace scanning 7. A display technique designed to
`reduce flicker and distortions in television transmissions:
`also used with some raster-scan monitors. In interlace
`scanning the electron beam in the television or monitor
`refreshes alternate sets of scan lines in successive top-to-
`
`all oddlines on the other. Because of the screen phos-
`phor’s ability to maintain an image for a short time before
`fading and the tendency of the human eye to average or
`blend subtle differences in light intensity, the human
`viewer sees a complete display, but the amountof infor-
`mation carried by the display signal and the number of
`lines that must be displayed per sweep are hatved. Inter-
`jaced images ace not as clear as those produced by the pro-
`gressive scanning typical of newer computer monitors.
`Interlace scanning is, however, the standard methodofdis-
`playing analog broadcasttelevision images. Also
`called; interlacing. Compare propressive scanning.
`
`interlacing 7, See interlace scanning.
`
`interleave vb, To arrange the sectors on a hard disk in such
`a way that after one sector is read, the next sectorin
`numeric sequence will arrive at the head when the computer
`is ready to accept it rather than before, which would make
`the computer wait a whole revoiution of the platter for the
`sector to come back. Interleaving is set by the formatutility
`that initializes a disk for use with a given computer. ’
`interleaved memory n. A methodof organizing the
`addresses in RAM memory in order to reduce wait states.
`In interleaved memory, adjacentlocationsare stored in
`different rows of chips so that after accessing a byte, the
`processor does not have to wait an entire memory cycle
`before accessing the next byte. See also access time (defi-
`nition 1), wait state,
`
`Interlock vb. To prevent a device from acting while the
`current operation is in progress.
`intermediate language n. 1. A computer language used
`as an intermediate step between the original source lan-
`guage, usually a high-level language, and the target ian-
`guage, usually machine code. Some high-level compilers
`use assembly language as an intermediate language. See
`also compiler (definition 2), object code. 2. See Microsoft
`tntermediate language.
`
`intermittent adj. Pertaining to something, such as a sig-
`nal or connection, that is not unbroken but occursat peri-
`odic or accasional intervals.
`
`intermittent error x. Anerror that recurs at unpredictable
`times.
`
`internal clock n. See clock/calendar.
`
`
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`internal command x. A routine that is loaded into mem-
`ory along with the operating system andresides there for as
`long as the computer is on. Compare external command.
`
`bottom sweeps, refreshing all even lines on one pass, and
`
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