`
`Over
`8,000
`Entries
`
`with online updates
`available quarterly
`
`CD-ROM
`Included
`
`Microso
`
`ntgrrioN
`
`M crosoft
`
`• Three new appendixes, including Y2K, file
`extensions, and Internet domains
`• Searchable text on CD-ROM
`• Extensive coverage of hardware, software, the
`Internet, and more!
`• Detailed illustrations and diagrams for easy reference
`
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`PUBLISHED BY
`Microsoft Press
`A Division of Microsoft Corporation
`One Microsoft Way
`Redmond, Washington 98052-6399
`Copyright © 1999 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. -- 4th ed.
`p. cm.
`Previous eds. published under title: Microsoft Press computer
`dictionary
`ISBN 0-7356-0615-3
`1. Computers Dictionaries. 2. Microcomputers Dictionaries.
`I. Microsoft Press computer dictionary.
`QA76.15.M538 1999
`004'.03--dc21 99-20168
`CIP
`
`Printed and bound in the United States of America.
`1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 MLML 4 3 2 1 0 9
`Distributed in Canada by ITP Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.
`A OP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
`Microsoft Press books are available through booksellers and distributors worldwide. For further information
`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 mspress.microsoft.com.
`
`Macintosh, Power Macintosh, QuickTime, and TrueType fonts are registered trademarks of Apple Computer,
`Inc. Kodak is a registered trademark of the Eastman Kodak Company. Intel is a registered trademark and Indeo
`is a trademark of Intel Corporation. Active Desktop, Active Directory, ActiveMovie, Active Platform, ActiveX,
`Authenticode, BackOffice, DirectInput, DirectX, Microsoft, Microsoft Press, MS-DOS, MSN, NetMeeting,
`NetShow, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J++, WebTV, WebTV Network, Win32, Win32s, Windows,
`Windows NT, and XENIX are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
`United States and/or other countries. PANTONE is a registered trademark of Pantone, Inc. Other product and
`company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
`
`The example companies, organizations, products, people, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No associa-
`tion with any real company, organization, product, person, or event is intended or should be inferred.
`
`Acquisitions Editor: Christey Bahn
`Project Editor: Kim Fryer
`
`ANCA 3384
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`Advanced Digital Network
`
`agent
`
`Advanced Digital Network n. A dedicated line ser-
`vice capable of transmitting data, video, and other
`digital signals with exceptional reliability, offered as
`a premier service by communications companies.
`Usually Advanced Digital Network refers to speeds
`at or above 56 kilobits per second (Kbps). See also
`dedicated line.
`Advanced Interactive Executive n. See AIX.
`Advanced Mobile Phone Service n. See AMPS.
`Advanced Power Management n. An application
`programming interface developed by Microsoft and
`Intel to monitor and conserve power on a PC-based
`system, particularly a battery-powered laptop com-
`puter, by enabling programs to communicate their
`power requirements so that the system can route
`power away from unused hardware components.
`Acronym: APM. See also application programming
`interface.
`Advanced Program-to-Program Communication n.
`See APPC.
`Advanced Research Projects Agency Network n.
`See AR PANET.
`Advanced RISC n. Short for Advanced Reduced
`Instruction Set Computing. A specification for a
`RISC microchip architecture and system environ-
`ment designed by MIPS Computer Systems to pro-
`vide binary compatibility among software
`applications. See also RISC.
`Advanced RISC Computing Specification n. The
`minimum hardware requirements enabling a RISC-
`based system to comply with the Advanced Comput-
`ing Environment standard. See also Advanced RISC.
`Advanced SCSI Programming Interface n. An inter-
`face specification developed by Adaptec, Inc., for
`sending commands to SCSI host adapters. The inter-
`face provides an abstraction layer that insulates the
`programmer from considerations of the particular
`host adapter used. Acronym: ASPI. See also adapter,
`SCSI.
`Advanced Streaming Format n. An open file format
`specification for streaming multimedia files contain-
`ing text, graphics, sound, video, and animation. ASF
`does not define the format for any media streams
`within the file. Rather, it defines a standardized, ex-
`tensible file "container" that is not dependent on a
`particular operating system or communication proto-
`col, or on a particular method (such as HTML or
`
`MPEG-4) used to compose the data stream in the
`file. An ASF file consists of three objects: a Header
`object containing information about the file itself; a
`Data object containing the media streams; and an
`optional Index object that can help support random
`access to data within the file. The ASF specification
`has been submitted to the ISO (International Stan-
`dards Organization) for consideration. Acronym:
`ASF. See also streaming.
`adventure game n. A role-playing computer game in
`which the player becomes a character in a narrative.
`In order to complete the game, the player must solve
`problems and avoid or overcome attacks and other
`forms of interference from the game's environment
`and other characters. The first adventure game was
`called "Adventure." It was developed in 1976 by Will
`Crowther of Bolt, Baranek & Newman. See also role-
`playing game.
`AE n. Acronym for application entity. In the ISO/OSI
`reference model, one of the two software parties in-
`volved in a communications session. See also ISO/
`OSI reference model.
`AFC n. See Application Foundation Classes.
`AFDW n. See Active Framework for Data Warehous-
`ing.
`AM'S \ä'fips\ n. Acronym for American Federation
`of Information Processing Societies. An organization
`formed in 1961 for the advancement of computing
`and information-related concerns. The U.S. represen-
`tative of the International Federation of Information
`Processing, AFIPS was replaced by the Federation on
`Computing in the United States (FOCUS) in 1990.
`AFK adv. Acronym for away from keyboard. A
`phrase occasionally seen in live chat services on the
`Internet and online information services as an indica-
`tion that one is momentarily unable to answer. See
`also chat' (definition 1).
`AFS n. Acronym for Andrew File System. A distrib-
`uted file system for facilitating accessibility to re-
`mote files in large networks. Owned and maintained
`by Transare Corporation, AFS was originally devel-
`oped as part of the Andrew project at the Information
`Technology Center at Carnegie-Mellon University.
`agent n. 1. A program that performs a background
`task for a user and reports to the user when the task
`is done or some expected event has taken place. 2. A
`program that searches through archives or other re-
`
`positories of inf
`user. Agents of
`Internet and are
`single type of ir
`postings on Use
`agent used on ti
`agent. See also ;
`(ions, a process
`the server. 4. In
`col (SNMP), a I
`See also SNMP.
`AGP n. Acronyir
`high-performant
`high-quality dis
`oped by Intel Ci
`point-to-point c.
`troller and main
`enables AGP-ca
`ible chip sets to
`system memory
`ages more quid
`displayed when
`over the system
`lows for storing
`texture maps in
`need for large a
`itself. AGP runs
`bus—and can si
`533 Mb per sec(
`AI n. See artifici;
`.aiff n. The file e
`the sound forma
`con Graphics (S
`AIFF n. The sou
`and Silicon Gra
`waveform files i
`waveform.
`AIX n. Acronym
`A version of the
`and maintained
`and PCs.
`alarm n. A visua
`alerting the uset
`alert n. 1. In mai
`(graphical user
`that signals an e
`sort. See also al.
`chronous notific
`
`18
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`agent
`
`AGP
`
`aliasing bug
`
`•eam in the
`cts: a Header
`e file itself; a
`ms; and an
`pport random
`7 specification
`ational Stan-
`. Acronym:
`
`nputer game in
`• in a narrative.
`ayer must solve
`cks and other
`s environment
`:ure gaine was
`in 1976 by Will
`in. See also role-
`
`.In the ISO/OSI
`ware parties in-
`See also ISO/
`
`7-lasses.
`Data Warehous-
`
`jean Federation
`;. An organization
`t of computing
`'he U.S. represen-
`n of Information
`the Federation on
`)CUS) in 1990.
`ceyboard. A
`at services on the
`vices as an indica-
`3 to answer. See
`
`ystem. A distrib-
`;essibility to re-
`td and maintained
`; originally devel-
`t at the Information
`ellon University.
`is a background
`iser when the task
`is taken place. 2. A
`:hives or other re-
`
`positories of information on a topic specified by the
`user. Agents of this sort are used most often on the
`Internet and are generally dedicated to searching a
`single type of information repository, such as
`postings on Usenet groups. Spiders are a type of
`agent used on the Internet. Also called intelligent
`agent. See also spider. 3. In client/server applica-
`tions, a process that mediates between the client and
`the server. 4. In Simple Network Management Proto-
`col (SNMP), a program that monitors network traffic.
`See also SNMP.
`AGP n. Acronym for Accelerated Graphics Port. A
`high-performance bus specification designed for fast,
`high-quality display of 3-D and video images. Devel-
`oped by Intel Corporation, AGP uses a dedicated
`point-to-point connection between the graphics con-
`troller and main system memory. This connection
`enables AGP-capable display adapters and compat-
`ible chip sets to transfer video data directly between
`system memory and adapter memory, to display im-
`ages more quickly and smoothly than they can be
`displayed when the information must be transferred
`over the system's primary (PCI) bus. AGP also al-
`lows for storing complex image elements such as
`texture maps in system memory and thus reduces the
`need for large amounts of memory on the adapter
`itself. AGP runs at 66 MHz—twice as fast as the PCI
`bus—and can support data transfer speeds of up to
`533 Mb per second. See also PCI local bus.
`AI n. See artificial intelligence.
`.aiff n. The file extension that identifies audio files in
`the sound format originally used on Apple and Sili-
`con Graphics (SGI) computers.
`AIFF n. The sound format originally used on Apple
`and Silicon Graphics (SOI) computers. AIFF stores
`waveform files in an 8-bit monaural format. See also
`waveform.
`AIX n. Acronym for Advanced Interactive Executive.
`A version of the UNIX operating system developed
`and maintained by IBM for its UNIX workstations
`and PCs.
`alarm n. A visual or auditory signal from a computer
`alerting the user to an error or hamdous situation.
`alert n. 1. In many operating systems with GUIs
`(graphical user interfaces), an audible or visual alarm
`that signals an error or represents a warning of some
`sort. See also alert box. 2. In programming, an asyn-
`chronous notification sent by one thread to another.
`
`19
`
`A
`
`The alert interrupts the recipient thread at defined
`points in its execution and causes it to execute an
`asynchronous procedure call. See also asynchronous
`procedure call, thread (definition 1).
`alert box n. An on-screen box, in a GUI (graphical
`user interface), that is used to deliver a message or
`warning. Compare dialog box.
`ALGOL \argäl, al'g61\ n. Acronym for Algorithmic
`Language. The first structured procedural program-
`ming language, developed in the late 1950s and once
`widely used in Europe.
`algorithm n. A finite sequence of steps for solving a
`logical or mathematical problem or performing a
`task.
`algorithmic language n. A programming language,
`such as Ada, Basic, C, or Pascal, that uses algorithms
`for problem solving.
`Algorithmic Language n. See ALGOL.
`alias n. 1. An alternative label for some object, such
`as a file or data collection. 2. A name used to direct
`e-mail messages to a person or group of people on a
`network. 3. A false signal that results from the digiti-
`zation of an analog audio sample.
`aliasing n. In computer graphics, the jagged appear-
`ance of curves or diagonal lines on a display screen,
`which is caused by low screen resolution. See the
`illustration.
`
`Aliasing. The lower resolution of the image on the right
`reveals the aliasing effect.
`aliasing bug n. A class of subtle programming errors
`that can arise in code that performs dynamic alloca-
`tion. If several pointers address the same chunk of
`storage, the program may free the storage using one
`of the pointers, but then attempt to use another one
`(an alias), which would no longer be pointing to the
`desired data. This bug is avoidable by the use of allo-
`cation strategies that never use more than one copy
`of a pointer to allocated core memory, or by the use
`of higher-level languages, such as LISP, which em-
`ploy a garbage collection feature. Also called stale
`pointer bug. See also alias, dynamic allocation, gar-
`bage collection.
`
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