<World-Wide Web, project> A {open source} {HTTP} server for
	{Unix}, {Windows NT}, and other {platforms}.  Apache was
	developed in early 1995, based on code and ideas found in the
	most popular HTTP server of the time, {NCSA httpd} 1.3.  It
	has since evolved to rival (and probably surpass) almost any
	other {Unix} based HTTP server in terms of functionality, and
	speed.  Since April 1996 Apache has been the most popular HTTP
	server on the {Internet}, in May 1999 it was running on 57% of
	all web servers.

	It features highly configurable error messages, {DBM}-based
	{authentication} {databases}, and {content negotiation}.

	Latest version: 1.3.9, as of 1999-10-27.

	{Home (http://www.apache.org/httpd.html)}.

	{FAQ (http://www.apache.org/docs/misc/FAQ.html)}.

	(1999-10-27)

<system> The degree to which a system suffers degradation or
	interruption in its service to the customer as a consequence
	of failures of one or more of its parts.

	One of the components of {RAS}.

	(2000-08-13)

<architecture> A {virtual machine} implementation approach,
	used to speed up execution of {byte-code} programs.  To
	execute a program unit such as a {method} or a {function}, the
	virtual machine compiles its bytecodes into (hardware) machine
	code.  The translated code is also placed in a cache, so that
	next time that unit's machine code can be executed
	immediately, without repeating the translation.

	This technique was pioneered by the commercial {Smalltalk}
	implementation currently known as {VisualWorks}, in the early
	1980s.  Currently it is also used by some implementations of
	the {Java Virtual Machine} under the name {JIT} (Just In Time
	compilation).

	[Peter L. Deutsch and Alan Schiffman. "Efficient
	Implementation of the Smalltalk-80 System", 11th Annual
	Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, Jan 1984,
	pp. 297-302].

	(2002-04-15)

1. Working correctly.

	2. Pertaining to {functional programming}.

	3. {higher-order function}.

1. <programming> The prototype for an {object} in an
	{object-oriented language}; analogous to a {derived type} in a
	{procedural language}.  A class may also be considered to be a
	set of objects which share a common structure and behaviour.
	The structure of a class is determined by the {class
	variables} which represent the {state} of an object of that
	class and the behaviour is given by a set of {methods}
	associated with the class.

	Classes are related in a {class hierarchy}.  One class may be
	a specialisation (a "{subclass}") of another (one of its
	"{superclasses}") or it may be composed of other classes or it
	may use other classes in a {client-server} relationship.  A
	class may be an {abstract class} or a {concrete class}.

	See also {signature}.

	2. <programming> See {type class}.

	3. <networking> One of three types of {Internet addresses}
	distinguished by their most significant bits.

	3. <language> A language developed by the {Andrew Project}.
	It was one of the first attempts to add {object-oriented}
	features to {C}.

	(1995-05-01)

After-sale handholding; something many software vendors
	promise but few deliver.  To hackers, most support people are
	useless - because by the time a hacker calls support he or she
	will usually know the software and the relevant manuals better
	than the support people (sadly, this is *not* a joke or
	exaggeration).  A hacker's idea of "support" is a tte--tte
	or exchange of {electronic mail} with the software's designer.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-02-15)

<hardware> The physical, touchable, material parts of a
	computer or other system.  The term is used to distinguish
	these fixed parts of a system from the more changable
	{software} or {data} components which it executes, stores, or
	carries.

	Computer hardware typically consists chiefly of electronic
	devices ({CPU}, {memory}, {display}) with some
	electromechanical parts (keyboard, {printer}, {disk drives},
	{tape drives}, loudspeakers) for input, output, and storage,
	though completely non-electronic (mechanical,
	electromechanical, hydraulic, biological) computers have also
	been conceived of and built.

	See also {firmware}, {wetware}.

	(1997-01-23)

<unit> (b) {binary} digit.

	The unit of information; the amount of information obtained by
	asking a yes-or-no question; a computational quantity that can
	take on one of two values, such as false and true or 0 and 1;
	the smallest unit of storage - sufficient to hold one bit.

	A bit is said to be "set" if its value is true or 1, and
	"reset" or "clear" if its value is false or 0.  One speaks of
	setting and clearing bits.  To {toggle} or "invert" a bit is
	to change it, either from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0.

	The term "bit" first appeared in print in the computer-science
	sense in 1949, and seems to have been coined by the eminent
	statistician, {John Tukey}.  Tukey records that it evolved
	over a lunch table as a handier alternative to "bigit" or
	"binit".

	See also {flag}, {trit}, {mode bit}, {byte}, {word}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2002-01-22)

<software> Instructions for a computer in some programming
	language, often {machine language}.  The word "code" is often
	used to distinguish instructions from {data} (e.g. "The code
	is marked 'read-only'") whereas "{software}" is used in
	contrast with "{hardware}" and may consist of more than just
	code.

	(2000-04-08)

1. <mathematics> {Base} two.  A number representation
	consisting of zeros and ones used by practically all computers
	because of its ease of implementation using digital
	electronics and {Boolean algebra}.

	2. <file format> {binary file}.

	3. <programming> A description of an {operator} which takes
	two {arguments}.  See also {unary}, {ternary}.

	(2005-02-21)

<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)

<World-Wide Web> (Or "website") Any computer on the
	{Internet} running a {World-Wide Web} {server} process.  A
	particular website is usually identified by the {hostname}
	part of a {URL}.  Multiple hostnames may actually map to the
	same computer in which case they are known as "{virtual
	servers}".

	(2005-07-12)

<messaging> 1. {electronic mail}.

	2. The {Berkeley Unix} program for composing and reading
	{electronic mail}.  It normally uses {sendmail} to handle
	delivery.

	{Unix manual page}: mail(1)

	(1997-12-03)

<chat> If I recall/remember correctly.

	(1996-11-28)

<company> (IBM) The best known American computer manufacturer,
	founded by Thomas J. Watson (born 1874-02-17), known as "Big
	Blue" after the colour of its logo.  IBM makes everything from
	{mainframes} to {personal computers} (PCs) and has been
	immensely successful in selling them, chiefly to business.  It
	has often been said that "Nobody has ever been sacked for
	buying IBM".

	The {IBM PC} in its various versions has been so successful
	that unqualified reference to a "PC" almost certainly means a
	PC from IBM, or one of the many brands of {clone} produced by
	other manufacturers to cash in on IBM's original success.

	Alternative expansions of "IBM" such as Inferior But
	Marketable; It's Better Manually; Insidious Black Magic; It's
	Been Malfunctioning; Incontinent Bowel Movement, illustrate
	the considerable antipathy most hackers have long felt toward
	the "industry leader" (see {fear and loathing}).

	Quarterly sales $15351M, profits $689M (Aug 1994).

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

	(1999-04-07)