<standard> Standards are necessary for {interworking},
	{portability}, and {reusability}.  They may be {de facto
	standards} for various communities, or officially recognised
	national or international standards.

	{Andrew Tanenbaum}, in his Computer Networks book, once said,
	"The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of
	them to choose from", a reference to the fact that competing
	standards become a source of confusion, division,
	obsolescence, and duplication of effort instead of an
	enhancement to the usefulness of products.

	Some bodies concerned in one way or another with computing
	standards are {IAB} ({RFC} and {STD}), {ISO}, {ANSI}, {DoD},
	{ECMA}, {IEEE}, {IETF}, {OSF}, {W3C}.

	(1999-07-06)

<programming> An {object} adhering to a {component
	architecture}.

	(1997-11-20)

<architecture> (WSDL) An {XML} format for describing network
	{services} as a set of endpoints operating on messages
	containing either "document oriented" or "procedure oriented"
	information.  The operations and messages are described
	abstractly, and then bound to a concrete network protocol and
	message format to define an endpoint.  Related concrete
	endpoints are combined into abstract endpoints
	(services).

	WSDL is typically used with {SOAP} over {HTTP} but it is
	extensible to allow description of endpoints and their
	messages independent of what message formats or network
	protocols.

	[Reference?]

	(2004-06-21)

<operating system> (GUI) The use of pictures rather than just
	words to represent the input and output of a program.  A
	program with a GUI runs under some {windowing system}
	(e.g. The {X Window System}, {MacOS}, {Microsoft Windows},
	{Acorn} {RISC OS}, {NEXTSTEP}).  The program displays certain
	{icons}, {buttons}, {dialogue boxes}, etc. in its {windows} on
	the screen and the user controls it mainly by moving a
	{pointer} on the screen (typically controlled by a {mouse})
	and selecting certain objects by pressing buttons on the mouse
	while the pointer is pointing at them.  This contrasts with a
	{command line interface} where communication is by exchange of
	strings of text.

	Windowing systems started with the first {real}-time graphic
	display systems for computers, namely the {SAGE} Project
	[Dates?] and {Ivan Sutherland}'s {Sketchpad} (1963).  {Douglas
	Engelbart}'s {Augmentation of Human Intellect} project at
	{SRI} in the 1960s developed the {On-Line System}, which
	incorporated a mouse-driven cursor and multiple windows.
	Several people from Engelbart's project went to Xerox PARC in
	the early 1970s, most importantly his senior engineer, {Bill
	English}.  The Xerox PARC team established the {WIMP} concept,
	which appeared commercially in the {Xerox 8010} (Star) system
	in 1981.

	Beginning in 1980(?), led by {Jef Raskin}, the {Macintosh}
	team at {Apple Computer} (which included former members of the
	Xerox PARC group) continued to develop such ideas in the first
	commercially successful product to use a GUI, the Apple
	Macintosh, released in January 1984.  In 2001 Apple introduced
	{Mac OS X}.

	{Microsoft} modeled the first version of {Windows}, released
	in 1985, on Mac OS.  Windows was a GUI for {MS-DOS} that had
	been shipped with {IBM PC} and compatible computers since
	1981.  Apple sued Microsoft over infringement of the
	look-and-feel of the MacOS.  The court case ran for many
	years.

	[Wikipedia].

	(2002-03-25)

1. A person who knows how a complex piece of software or
	hardware works (that is, who {groks} it); especially someone
	who can find and fix bugs quickly in an emergency.  Someone is
	a {hacker} if he or she has general hacking ability, but is a
	wizard with respect to something only if he or she has
	specific detailed knowledge of that thing.  A good hacker
	could become a wizard for something given the time to study
	it.

	2. A person who is permitted to do things forbidden to
	ordinary people; one who has {wheel} privileges on a system.

	3. A Unix expert, especially a Unix systems programmer.  This
	usage is well enough established that "Unix Wizard" is a
	recognised job title at some corporations and to most
	headhunters.

	See {guru}, {lord high fixer}.  See also {deep magic}, {heavy
	wizardry}, {incantation}, {magic}, {mutter}, {rain dance},
	{voodoo programming}, {wave a dead chicken}.

	4. An interactive help utility that guides the user through a
	potentially complex task, such as configuring a {PPP} driver
	to work with a new {modem}.  Wizards are often implemented as
	a sequence of {dialog boxes} which the user can move forward
	and backward through, filling in the details required.  The
	implication is that the expertise of a human wizard in one of
	the above senses is encapsulated in the software wizard,
	allowing the average user to perform expertly.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1998-09-07)

The process of analysis, design, coding and testing software.