<language, database, standard> /S Q L/ An industry-standard
	language for creating, updating and, querying {relational
	database management systems}.

	SQL was developed by {IBM} in the 1970s for use in {System R}.
	It is the {de facto standard} as well as being an {ISO} and
	{ANSI} {standard}.  It is often embedded in general purpose
	programming languages.

	The first SQL standard, in 1986, provided basic language
	constructs for defining and manipulating {tables} of data; a
	revision in 1989 added language extensions for {referential
	integrity} and generalised {integrity} {constraints}.  Another
	revision in 1992 provided facilities for {schema} manipulation
	and {data administration}, as well as substantial enhancements
	for data definition and data manipulation.

	Development is currently underway to enhance SQL into a
	computationally complete language for the definition and
	management of {persistent}, complex objects.  This includes:
	generalisation and specialisation hierarchies, {multiple
	inheritance}, user defined {data types}, {triggers} and
	{assertions}, support for {knowledge based systems},
	{recursive query expressions}, and additional data
	administration tools.  It also includes the specification of
	{abstract data types} (ADTs), object identifiers, {methods},
	{inheritance}, {polymorphism}, {encapsulation}, and all of the
	other facilities normally associated with object data
	management.

	The emerging {SQL3} standard is expected to be complete in
	1998.

	According to Allen G. Taylor, SQL does _not_ stand for
	"Structured Query Language".  That, like "SEQUEL" (and its
	pronunciation /see'kw*l/), was just another unofficial name
	for a precursor of SQL.  However, the IBM SQL Reference manual
	for DB2 and Craig Mullins's "DB2 Developer's Guide" say SQL
	_does_ stand for "Structured Query Language".

	{SQL Standards (http://www.jcc.com/sql_stnd.html)}.

	{An SQL parser
	(ftp://ftp.ora.com/published/oreilly/nutshell/lexyacc/)} is
	described in "Lex & Yacc", by Levine, Mason & Brown published
	by O'Reilly.

	{The 1995 SQL Reunion: People, Projects, and Politics
	(http://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/)}.

	["A Guide to the SQL Standard", C.J. Date, A-W 1987].

	["SQL for Dummies", Allen G. Taylor, IDG Books Worldwide].

	(2005-11-17)

<communications> (DSN) The completely digital version of the
	{PSTN}.

	(1997-07-18)

<World-Wide Web, database, tool> {Allaire Corporation}'s
	commercial {database} application development tool that allows
	{databases} to have a {World-Wide Web} {interface}, so a
	database can be queried and updated using a {web browser}.

	The ColdFusion Server application runs on the {web server} and
	has access to a {database}.  ColdFusion files on the web
	server are {HTML} pages with additional ColdFusion commands to
	{query} or {update} the database, written in {CFML}.  When the
	page is requested by the user, the {web server} passes the
	page to the Cold Fusion application, which executes the {CFML}
	commands, places the results of the {CFML} commands in the
	{HTML} file, and returns the page to the {web server}.  The
	page returned to the {web server} is now an ordinary {HTML}
	file, and it is sent to the user.

	Examples of ColdFusion applications include order entry, event
	registration, catalogue search, directories, calendars, and
	interactive training.  ColdFusion applications are robust
	because all database interactions are encapsulated in a single
	industrial-strength {CGI} script.  The formatting and
	presentation can be modified and revised at any time (as
	opposed to having to edit and recompile {source code}).

	ColdFusion Server can connect with any database that supports
	{ODBC} or {OLE DB} or one that has a native database driver.
	Native database drivers are available for {Oracle} and
	{Sybase} databases.

	ColdFusion is available for {Windows}, {Solaris}, and {HP-UX}.
	A {development environment} for creating ColdFusion files,
	called ColdFusion Studio, is also available for {Windows}.

	Current version: MX(6), as of 2003-07-11.

	The {filename extension} for ColdFusion files is .cfm

	{Home (http://www.coldfusion.com/)}.

	(2003-07-27)

<programming> An individual {object} of a certain {class}.
	While a class is just the type definition, an actual usage of
	a class is called "instance".  Each instance of a class can
	have different values for its {instance variables}, i.e. its
	{state}.

	(1998-03-06)

1. A discrepancy between a computed, observed, or measured
	value or condition and the true, specified, or theoretically
	correct value or condition.

	2. <programming> A mental mistake made by a programmer that
	may result in a program {fault}.

	3. (verb) What a program does when it stops as result of a
	programming error.

	(2000-03-28)

<database, programming> (JDBC) Part of the {Java Development
	Kit} which defines an {application programming interface} for
	{Java} for standard {SQL} access to {databases} from Java
	{programs}.

	{Home
	(http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/docs/guide/jdbc/index.html)}.

	{FAQ (http://www.yoyoweb.com/Javanese/JDBC/FAQ.html)}.

	See also {Open Database Connectivity}.

	(1997-09-04)

1. <operating system> The {Unix} {superuser} account (with
	user name "root" and user ID 0) that overrides file
	permissions.  The term {avatar} is also used.  By extension,
	the privileged system-maintenance login on any {operating
	system}.

	See {root mode}, {go root}, {wheel}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1994-10-27)

	2. <operating system> {root directory}.

	(1996-11-21)

	3. <data> {root node}.

	(1998-11-14)

<library, networking> {Unix} socket library routine to connect
	a socket that has been created on the local hosts to one at a
	specified socket address on the remote host.

	{Unix manual pages}: connect(2), accept(2).

	(1995-03-21)

<standard, database> (ODBC) A {standard} for accessing
	different {database} systems.  There are interfaces for
	{Visual Basic}, {Visual C++}, {SQL} and the ODBC driver pack
	contains drivers for the {Access}, {Paradox}, {dBase}, Text,
	{Excel} and {Btrieve} databases.

	An application can submit statements to ODBC using the ODBC
	flavor of SQL.  ODBC then translates these to whatever flavor
	the database understands.

	ODBC 1.0 was released in September 1992.

	ODBC is based on {Call-Level Interface} and was defined by the
	{SQL Access Group}.  {Microsoft} was one member of the group
	and was the first company to release a commercial product
	based on its work (under {Microsoft Windows}) but ODBC is not
	a Microsoft standard (as many people believe).

	ODBC drivers and development tools are available now for
	{Microsoft Windows}, {Unix}, {OS/2}, and {Macintosh}.

	[On-line document?]

	["Unix Review", Aug 1995].

	(1996-05-27)

1. <tool> A program used primarily to create, manipulate,
	modify, or analyse other programs, such as a compiler or an
	editor or a cross-referencing program.  Opposite: {app},
	{operating system}.

	2. A {Unix} {application program} with a simple, "transparent"
	(typically text-stream) interface designed specifically to be
	used in programmed combination with other tools (see {filter},
	{plumbing}).

	3. <jargon> ({MIT}: general to students there) To work; to
	study (connotes tedium).  The {TMRC} Dictionary defined this
	as "to set one's brain to the grindstone".  See {hack}.

	4. <jargon, person> ({MIT}) A student who studies too much and
	hacks too little.  MIT's student humour magazine rejoices in
	the name "Tool and Die".

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1996-12-12)

<security> The verification of the identity of a person or
	process.  In a communication system, authentication verifies
	that messages really come from their stated source, like the
	signature on a (paper) letter.

	(2001-03-16)

1. A program which provides some service to other ({client})
	programs.  The connection between client and server is
	normally by means of {message passing}, often over a
	{network}, and uses some {protocol} to encode the client's
	requests and the server's responses.  The server may run
	continuously (as a {daemon}), waiting for requests to arrive
	or it may be invoked by some higher level daemon which
	controls a number of specific servers ({inetd} on {Unix}).

	There are many servers associated with the {Internet}, such as
	those for {HTTP}, {Network File System}, {Network Information
	Service} (NIS), {Domain Name System} (DNS), {FTP}, {news},
	{finger}, {Network Time Protocol}.  On Unix, a long list can
	be found in /etc/services or in the {NIS} database "services".
	See {client-server}.

	2. A computer which provides some service for other computers
	connected to it via a network.  The most common example is a
	{file server} which has a local disk and services requests
	from remote clients to read and write files on that disk,
	often using {Sun}'s {Network File System} (NFS) {protocol} or
	{Novell Netware} on {PCs}.  Another common example is a {web
	server}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2003-12-29)

<protocol> {Transmission Control Protocol} over
	{Internet Protocol}.

	The {de facto} {standard} {Ethernet} {protocols} incorporated
	into {4.2BSD} {Unix}.  TCP/IP was developed by {DARPA} for
	{internetworking} and encompasses both {network layer} and
	{transport layer} protocols.  While {TCP} and {IP} specify two
	protocols at specific {protocol layers}, TCP/IP is often used
	to refer to the entire {DoD} {protocol} suite based upon
	these, including {telnet}, {FTP}, {UDP} and {RDP}.

	See also {ICMP}, {SMTP}, {SNMP}.

	(1995-03-17)

A set of formal rules describing how to transmit data,
	especially across a {network}.  Low level protocols define the
	electrical and physical standards to be observed, bit- and
	byte-ordering and the transmission and {error detection and
	correction} of the bit stream.  High level protocols deal with
	the data formatting, including the {syntax} of messages, the
	terminal to computer dialogue, {character sets}, sequencing of
	messages etc.

	Many protocols are defined by {RFCs} or by {OSI}.

	See also {handshaking}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-01-12)

1. <networking> A logical channel or channel endpoint in a
	communications system.  The {Transmission Control Protocol}
	and {User Datagram Protocol} {transport layer} protocols used
	on {Ethernet} use port numbers to distinguish between
	(demultiplex) different logical channels on the same {network
	interface} on a computer.

	Each {application program} has a unique port number associated
	with it, defined in /etc/services or the {Network Information
	Service} "services" database.  Some {protocols}, e.g. {telnet}
	and {HTTP} (which is actually a special form of telnet) have
	default ports specified as above but can use other ports as
	well.

	Some port numbers are defined in {RFC 3232} (which replaces
	RFC 1700).  Ports are now divided into: "Well Known" or
	"Privileged", and "Ephemeral" or "Unprivileged" (comprising
	"Registered", "Dynamic", "Private").

	(2004-12-30)

	2. <operating system, programming> To translate or modify
	{software} to run on a different {platform}, or the results of
	doing so.  The {portability} of the software determines how
	easy it is to port.

	3. <language> An {imperative} language descended from {Zed}
	from {Waterloo Microsystems} (now {Hayes} Canada) ca. 1979.

	["Port Language" document in the Waterloo Port Development
	System].

	(2002-06-19)

1. {firewall code}.

	2. {firewall machine}.

Common term for "computer", usually when considered at the
	hardware level.  The {Turing Machine}, an early example of
	this usage, was however neither hardware nor software, but
	only an idea.

	[Earlier use?]

	(1995-02-15)

1. A language supporting {concurrency} through {message
	passing} to named message queues from {ParaSoft} Corporation

	{(ftp://ftp.parasoft.com/express/docs)}.

	2. Data definition language, meant to become an ISO standard
	for product data representation and exchange.  TC 184/SC4 N83,
	ISO, 1991-05-31.  E-mail: <smith@cme.nist.gov>.

	3. A data modelling language adopted by the {ISO} working
	group on {STEP}.

<networking> Name Daemon.

	<networking> A {Unix} {background} process that converts
	{hostnames} to {Internet addresses} for the {TCP/IP}
	{protocol}.

	{Unix manual page}: named(8).

	See also {DNS}.

	(1995-03-28)

<programming> An unwanted and unintended property of a program
	or piece of hardware, especially one that causes it to
	malfunction.  Antonym of {feature}.  E.g. "There's a bug in
	the editor: it writes things out backward."  The
	identification and removal of bugs in a program is called
	"{debugging}".

	Admiral {Grace Hopper} (an early computing pioneer better
	known for inventing {COBOL}) liked to tell a story in which a
	technician solved a {glitch} in the {Harvard Mark II machine}
	by pulling an actual insect out from between the contacts of
	one of its relays, and she subsequently promulgated {bug} in
	its hackish sense as a joke about the incident (though, as she
	was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened).
	For many years the logbook associated with the incident and
	the actual bug in question (a moth) sat in a display case at
	the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC).  The entire story,
	with a picture of the logbook and the moth taped into it, is
	recorded in the "Annals of the History of Computing", Vol. 3,
	No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 285--286.

	The text of the log entry (from September 9, 1947), reads
	"1545 Relay #70 Panel F (moth) in relay.  First actual case of
	bug being found".  This wording establishes that the term was
	already in use at the time in its current specific sense - and
	Hopper herself reports that the term "bug" was regularly
	applied to problems in radar electronics during WWII.

	Indeed, the use of "bug" to mean an industrial defect was
	already established in Thomas Edison's time, and a more
	specific and rather modern use can be found in an electrical
	handbook from 1896 ("Hawkin's New Catechism of Electricity",
	Theo. Audel & Co.)  which says: "The term "bug" is used to a
	limited extent to designate any fault or trouble in the
	connections or working of electric apparatus."  It further
	notes that the term is "said to have originated in
	{quadruplex} telegraphy and have been transferred to all
	electric apparatus."

	The latter observation may explain a common folk etymology of
	the term; that it came from telephone company usage, in which
	"bugs in a telephone cable" were blamed for noisy lines.
	Though this derivation seems to be mistaken, it may well be a
	distorted memory of a joke first current among *telegraph*
	operators more than a century ago!

	Actually, use of "bug" in the general sense of a disruptive
	event goes back to Shakespeare!  In the first edition of
	Samuel Johnson's dictionary one meaning of "bug" is "A
	frightful object; a walking spectre"; this is traced to
	"bugbear", a Welsh term for a variety of mythological monster
	which (to complete the circle) has recently been reintroduced
	into the popular lexicon through fantasy {role-playing games}.

	In any case, in jargon the word almost never refers to
	insects.  Here is a plausible conversation that never actually
	happened:

	"There is a bug in this ant farm!"

	"What do you mean?  I don't see any ants in it."

	"That's the bug."

	[There has been a widespread myth that the original bug was
	moved to the Smithsonian, and an earlier version of this entry
	so asserted.  A correspondent who thought to check discovered
	that the bug was not there.  While investigating this in late
	1990, your editor discovered that the NSWC still had the bug,
	but had unsuccessfully tried to get the Smithsonian to accept
	it - and that the present curator of their History of
	American Technology Museum didn't know this and agreed that it
	would make a worthwhile exhibit.  It was moved to the
	Smithsonian in mid-1991, but due to space and money
	constraints has not yet been exhibited.  Thus, the process of
	investigating the original-computer-bug bug fixed it in an
	entirely unexpected way, by making the myth true!  - ESR]

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1999-06-29)

<networking, programming> Work performed (or offered) by a
	{server}.  This may mean simply serving simple requests for
	data to be sent or stored (as with {file servers}, {gopher} or
	{http} servers, {e-mail} servers, {finger} servers, {SQL}
	servers, etc.); or it may be more complex work, such as that
	of {irc} servers, print servers, {X Windows} servers, or
	process servers.

	E.g. "Access to the finger {service} is restricted to the
	local {subnet}, for security reasons".

	(1997-09-11)

<chat, tool, networking, messaging> A {Unix} program and
	{protocol} supporting conversation between two or more users
	who may be logged into the same computer or different
	computers on a network.  Variants include {ntalk}, {ytalk},
	and {ports} or {emulators} of these programs for other
	{platforms}.

	{Unix} has the {talk} program and {protocol} and its variants
	{xtalk} and {ytalk} for the {X Window System}; {VMS} has
	{phone}; {Windows for Workgroups} has {chat}.  {ITS} also has
	a talk system.  These split the screen into separate areas for
	each user.

	{Unix}'s {write} command can also be used, though it does not
	attempt to separate input and output on the screen.

	Users of such systems are said to be in {talk mode} which has
	many conventional abbreviations and idioms.  Most of these
	survived into {chat} jargon, but many fell out of common use
	with the migration of {user} prattle from talk-like systems to
	{chat} systems in the early 1990s.  These disused
	talk-specific forms include:

	"BYE?" - are you ready to close the conversation?  This is the
	standard way to end a talk-mode conversation; the other person
	types "BYE" to confirm, or else continues the conversation.

	"JAM"/"MIN" - just a minute

	"O" - "over" (I have stopped talking).  Also "/" as in x/y - x
	over y, or two newlines (the latter being the most common).

	"OO" - "over and out" - end of conversation.

	"\" - Greek {lambda}.

	"R U THERE?" - are you there?

	"SEC" - wait a second.

	"/\/\/" - laughter.  But on a {MUD}, this usually means
	"earthquake fault".

	See also {talk bomb}.

	(1998-01-25)

<software> 1. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually
	as a {quick-and-dirty} remedy to an existing {bug} or
	{misfeature}.  A patch may or may not work, and may or may not
	eventually be incorporated permanently into the program.
	Distinguished from a {diff} or {mod} by the fact that a patch
	is generated by more primitive means than the rest of the
	program; the classical examples are instructions modified by
	using the front panel switches, and changes made directly to
	the binary executable of a program originally written in an
	{HLL}.  Compare {one-line fix}.

	2. To insert a patch into a piece of code.

	3. [in the Unix world] A {diff}.

	4. A set of modifications to binaries to be applied by a
	patching program.  {IBM} systems often receive updates to the
	{operating system} in the form of absolute {hexadecimal}
	patches.  If you have modified your OS, you have to
	disassemble these back to the {source code}.  The patches
	might later be corrected by other patches on top of them
	(patches were said to "grow scar tissue").  The result was
	often a convoluted {patch space} and headaches galore.

	There is a classic story of a {tiger team} penetrating a
	secure military computer that illustrates the danger inherent
	in binary patches (or, indeed, any patches that you can't - or
	don't - inspect and examine before installing).  They couldn't
	find any {trap doors} or any way to penetrate security of
	IBM's OS, so they made a site visit to an IBM office
	(remember, these were official military types who were
	purportedly on official business), swiped some IBM stationery,
	and created a fake patch.  The patch was actually the trapdoor
	they needed.  The patch was distributed at about the right
	time for an IBM patch, had official stationery and all
	accompanying documentation, and was dutifully installed.  The
	installation manager very shortly thereafter learned something
	about proper procedures.

	5. {Larry Wall}'s "patch" utility, which automatically applies
	a patch to a set of {source code} or other text files.  Patch
	accepts input in any of the four forms output by the {Unix}
	{diff} utility.  When the files being patched are not
	identical to those on which the diffs were based, patch uses
	{heuristics} to determine how to proceed.

	Diff and patch are the standard way of producing and applying
	updates under {Unix}.  Both have been ported to other
	{operating systems}.

	{Patch Home (http://www.gnu.org/software/patch/patch.html)}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2005-05-16)

<operating system> See {Microsoft Windows}, {Windows NT}.

	(1997-11-23)

<networking> Hardware and software data communication systems.

	The {OSI} seven layer model attempts to provide a way of
	partitioning any computer network into independent modules
	from the lowest (physical) layer to the highest (application)
	layer.  Many different specifications exist at each of these
	layers.

	Networks are often also classified according to their
	geographical extent: {local area network} (LAN), {metropolitan
	area network} (MAN), {wide area network} (WAN) and also
	according to the {protocols} used.

	See {BITNET}, {Ethernet}, {Internet}, {Novell}, {PSTN},
	{network, the}.

	[Tanenbaum, A., "Computer Networks; 2nd ed.", Prentice Hall,
	Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1989.]

	(1995-03-10)

<mathematics> A function f : A -> B is surjective or onto or a
	surjection if f A = B.  I.e. f can return any value in B.
	This means that its {image} is its {codomain}.

	Only surjections have {right inverses}, f' : B -> A where
	f (f' x) = x since if f were not a surjection there would be
	elements of B for which f' was not defined.

	See also {bijection}, {injection}.

	(1995-05-27)

1. <programming, operating system> A simple item of data that
	identifies a resource.  For example, a {Unix} file handle
	identifies an open file and associated data such as whether it
	was opened for read or write and the current read/write
	position.  On the {Macintosh}, a handle is a pointer to a
	pointer to some dynamically-allocated memory.  The extra level
	of indirection allows on-the-fly {memory compaction} or
	{garbage collection} without invalidating application program
	references to the allocated memory.

	2. <jargon> An alias used intended to conceal a user's true
	identity in an electronic message.  The term is common on
	Citizen's Band and other amateur radio but, in that context
	usually means the user's real name as {FCC} rules forbid
	concealing one's identity.

	Use of grandiose handles is characteristic of {crackers},
	{weenies}, {spods}, and other lower forms of network life;
	true hackers travel on their own reputations.

	Compare {nick}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2004-07-20)

<programming> One of a sequence of copies of a program, each
	incorporating new modifications.  Each version is usually
	identified by a number, commonly of the form X.Y where X is
	the major version number and Y is the release number.
	Typically an increment in X (with Y reset to zero) signifies a
	substantial increase in the function of the program or a
	partial or total re-implementation, whereas Y increases each
	time the progam is changed in any way and re-released.

	Version numbers are useful so that the user can know if the
	program has changed ({bugs} have been fixed or new functions
	added) since he obtained his copy and the programmer can tell
	if a bug report relates to the current version.  It is thus
	always important to state the version when reporting bugs.
	Statements about compatibility between different software
	components should always say which versions they apply to.

	See {change management}.

	(1997-12-07)

<company> The biggest supplier of {operating systems} and
	other software for {IBM PC} compatibles.  Software products
	include {MS-DOS}, {Microsoft Windows}, {Windows NT},
	{Microsoft Access}, {LAN Manager}, {MS Client}, {SQL Server},
	{Open Data Base Connectivity} (ODBC), {MS Mail}, and {SNA
	Server} for Windows NT.

	Microsoft was founded as "Micro-soft" in 1975 by {Bill Gates}
	(now CEO) and his high school pal Paul Allen.  Their first
	product was a version of {BASIC} for the new {Altair} computer
	[which one?].  In 1980, {IBM} chose Microsoft to supply the
	{operating system} for the {IBM PC}.

	On the UK television program "The Net" in May 1994, {Bill
	Gates} said he was betting his company on the {information
	highway}".

	Quarterly sales $1293M, profits $362M (Aug 1994).

	{Home (http://www.microsoft.com/)}.
	{(ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/)}.

	{Interesting Info and Other Microsoft WWW Servers
	(http://www-drg.microsoft.com/devinfo.htm)}.

	{Microsoft Windows Developer Information
	(http://www-drg.microsoft.com/devinfo.htm)}.

	{Microsoft Research Group Information
	(http://www.research.microsoft.com)}.

	{Win_News
	(http://www.microsoft.com/chicago/ms-www/ms-intro.htm)}.
	maintained by the Personal Operating Systems Division to
	distribute information on {Microsoft Windows}, {MS-DOS} and
	{Windows 95}.

	(1998-11-06)

1. <operating system> {device driver}.

	2. <programming> The {main loop} of an event-processing
	program; the code that gets commands and dispatches them for
	execution.

	3. <tool> In the {TeX} world and the computerised typesetting
	world in general, a program that translates some
	device-independent or other common format to something a real
	device can actually understand.

	[{Jargon File}]

1. <networking> A computer connected to a {network}.

	The term {node} includes devices such as routers and printers
	which would not normally be called "hosts".

	2. <communications> A computer to which one connects using a
	{terminal emulator}.

	(1995-02-16)

1. <networking> {e-mail address}.

	2. <networking> {Internet address}.

	3. <networking> {MAC address}.

	4. <storage, programming> An unsigned integer used to select
	one fundamental element of storage, usually known as a {word}
	from a computer's {main memory} or other storage device.  The
	{CPU} outputs addresses on its {address bus} which may be
	connected to an {address decoder}, {cache controller}, {memory
	management unit}, and other devices.

	While from a hardware point of view an address is indeed an
	integer most {strongly typed} programming languages disallow
	mixing integers and addresses, and indeed addresses of
	different data types.  This is a fine example for {syntactic
	salt}: the compiler could work without it but makes writing
	bad programs more difficult.

	(1997-07-01)

<data, data processing, jargon> /day't*/ (Or "raw data")
	Numbers, {characters}, {images}, or other method of recording,
	in a form which can be assessed by a human or (especially)
	input into a {computer}, stored and {processed} there, or
	transmitted on some {digital channel}.  Computers nearly
	always represent data in {binary}.

	Data on its own has no meaning, only when interpreted by some
	kind of {data processing system} does it take on meaning and
	become {information}.

	People or computers can find patterns in data to perceive
	information, and information can be used to enhance
	{knowledge}.  Since knowledge is prerequisite to wisdom, we
	always want more data and information.  But, as modern
	societies verge on {information overload}, we especially need
	better ways to find patterns.

	1234567.89 is data.

	"Your bank balance has jumped 8087% to $1234567.89" is
	information.

	"Nobody owes me that much money" is knowledge.

	"I'd better talk to the bank before I spend it, because of
	what has happened to other people" is wisdom.

	(1999-04-30)

{system administration}

1. [{Usenet}] Read The Manual.  Politer variant of {RTFM}.

	2. Robert T. Morris Jr.

	The perpetrator of the great Internet worm of 1988 (see {Great
	Worm}); villain to many, naive hacker gone wrong to a few.
	Morris claimed that the worm that brought the Internet to its
	knees was a benign experiment that got out of control as the
	result of a coding error.  After the storm of negative
	publicity that followed this blunder, Morris's user name on ITS
	was hacked from RTM to {RTFM}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-03-31)

<computer> 1. A computer; especially in the construction "foo
	box" where foo is some functional qualifier, like "graphics",
	or the name of an {operating system} (thus, "{Unix} box",
	"{MS-DOS} box", etc.)  "We preprocess the data on Unix boxes
	before handing it up to the {mainframe}."  The plural
	"{boxen}" is sometimes seen.

	2. Without qualification in an {IBM} {SNA} site, "box" refers
	specifically to an {IBM} {front-end processor}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1994-11-29)

<networking> (LAN) A data communications network which is
	geographically limited (typically to a 1 km radius) allowing
	easy interconnection of terminals, {microprocessors} and
	computers within adjacent buildings.  {Ethernet} and {FDDI}
	are examples of standard LANs.

	Because the network is known to cover only a small area,
	optimisations can be made in the network signal protocols that
	permit data rates up to 100Mb/s.

	See also {token ring}, {wide area network}, {metropolitan area
	network}..

	{Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.dcom.lans.misc}.

	(1995-03-13)

The process of determining whether or not the products of a
	given phase in the life-cycle fulfil a set of established
	requirements.

<language, programming> (Or "source", or rarely "source
	language") The form in which a computer program is written by
	the programmer.  Source code is written in some formal
	programming language which can be compiled automatically into
	{object code} or {machine code} or executed by an
	{interpreter}.

	(1995-01-05)

<networking> The {Berkeley Unix} mechansim for creating a
	virtual connection between processes.  Sockets interface
	{Unix}'s {standard I/O} with its {network} communication
	facilities.  They can be of two types, stream (bi-directional)
	or {datagram} (fixed length destination-addressed messages).
	The socket library function socket() creates a communications
	end-point or socket and returns a {file descriptor} with which
	to access that socket.  The socket has associated with it a
	socket address, consisting of a {port} number and the local
	host's network address.

	{Unix manual page}: socket(2).

	(1995-01-31)

<jargon> To transfer data from one computer to another.
	Downloading usually refers to transfer from a larger "host"
	system (especially a {server} or {mainframe}) to a smaller
	"client" system, especially a {microcomputer} or specialised
	peripheral, and "{upload}" usually means from small to large.

	Others hold that, technically, download means "receive" and
	upload means "send", irrespective of the size of the systems
	involved.

	Note that in communications between ground and space,
	space-to-earth transmission is always "down" and the reverse
	"up", regardless of size.  So far the in-space machines have
	invariably been smaller; thus the upload/download distinction
	has been reversed from its usual sense.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2003-11-04)