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

	(1997-11-23)

<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)

<language, compiler> (JDK) A free {Sun Microsystems} product
	which provides the {environment} required for programming in
	{Java}.  The JDK is available for a variety of {platforms},
	but most notably {Sun Solaris} and {Microsoft Windows}.

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

	[Version?]

	(1997-09-04)

1. {General Purpose Language}.

	2. ["A Sample Management Application Program in a Graphical
	Data-driven Programming language", A.L. Davis et al, Digest of
	Papers, Compcon Spring 81, Feb 1981, pp. 162-167].

	3. {Genken Programming Language}.

	4. {General Public License}.

	[{Jargon File}]

<chat> (Or "chat room", "room", depending on the system in
	question) The basic unit of group discussion in {chat} systems
	like {IRC}.  Once one joins a channel, everything one types is
	read by others on that channel.  Channels can either be named
	with numbers or with strings that begin with a "#" sign and
	can have topic descriptions (which are generally irrelevant to
	the actual subject of discussion).

	Some notable channels are "#initgame", "#hottub" and
	"#report".  At times of international crisis, "#report" has
	hundreds of members, some of whom take turns listening to
	various news services and typing in summaries of the news, or
	in some cases, giving first-hand accounts of the action
	(e.g. Scud missile attacks in Tel Aviv during the Gulf War in
	1991).

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1998-01-25)

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)

<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)

In {object-oriented programming} sending a message to an
	{object} (to invoke a {method}) is equivalent to calling a
	{procedure} in traditional programming languages, except that
	the actual code executed may only be selected at run time
	depending on the {class} of the object.  Thus, in response to
	the message "drawSelf", the method code invoked would be
	different if the target object were a circle or a square.

	(1995-02-16)

<programming, operating system> (Or "application", "app") A
	complete, self-contained program that performs a specific
	function directly for the user.  This is in contrast to system
	software such as the {operating system} {kernel}, {server}
	processes and libraries which exists to support application
	programs.

	Editors for various kinds of documents, {spreadsheets}, and
	text formatters are common examples of applications.  Network
	applications include clients such as those for {FTP},
	{electronic mail}, {telnet} and {WWW}.

	The term is used fairly loosely, for instance, some might say
	that a client and server together form a distributed
	application, others might argue that editors and compilers
	were not applications but tools for building applications.

	One distinction between an application program and the
	operating system is that applications always run in "user
	mode" (or "non-privileged mode"), while operating systems and
	related utilities may run in "supervisor mode" (or "privileged
	mode").

	The term may also be used to distinguish programs which
	communicate via a {graphical user interface} from those which
	are executed from the {command line}.

	(1994-11-28)

1. <unit, text> (Sometimes abbreviated "pt") The unit of
	length used in {typography} to specify text character height,
	{rule} width, and other small measurements.

	There are six slightly different definitions: {Truchet point},
	{Didot point}, {ATA point}, {TeX point}, {Postscript point},
	and {IN point}.

	In Europe, the most commonly used is Didot and in the US, the
	formerly standard ATA point has essentially been replaced by
	the PostScript point due to the demise of traditional
	typesetting systems and rise of desktop computer based systems
	running software such as {QuarkXPress}, {Adobe InDesign} and
	{Adobe Pagemaker}.

	There are 20 {twips} in a point and 12 points in a {pica}
	(known as a "Cicero" in the Didot system).

	{Different point systems
	(http://www.vakcer.com/oberon/dtp/fonts/point.htm)}.

	(2004-12-23)

	2. <hardware> To move a {pointing device} so that the
	on-screen pointer is positioned over a certain object on the
	screen such as a {button} in a {graphical user interface}.  In
	most {window systems} it is then necessary to {click} a
	(physical) button on the pointing device to activate or select
	the object.  In some systems, just pointing to an object is
	known as "mouse-over" {event} which may cause some help text
	(called a "tool tip" in {Windows}) to be displayed.

	(2001-05-21)

<operating system, programming> The process of carrying out
	the {instructions} in a computer program by a computer.

	See also {dry run}.

	(1996-05-13)

<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)

<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. One of a small number of high-speed memory locations in a
	computer's {CPU}.  Registers differ from ordinary
	{random access memory} in several respects:

	There are only a small number of registers (the "register
	set"), typically 32 in a modern processor though some,
	e.g. {SPARC}, have as many as 144.  A register may be directly
	addressed with a few bits.  In contrast, there are usually
	millions of words of main memory (RAM), requiring at least
	twenty bits to specify a memory location.  Main memory
	locations are often specified indirectly, using an {indirect
	addressing} mode where the actual memory address is held in a
	register.

	Registers are fast; typically, two registers can be read and a
	third written -- all in a single cycle.  Memory is slower; a
	single access can require several cycles.

	The limited size and high speed of the register set makes it
	one of the critical resources in most computer architectures.
	{Register allocation}, typically one phase of the {back-end},
	controls the use of registers by a compiled program.

	See also {accumulator}, {FUBAR}, {orthogonal}, {register
	dancing}, {register allocation}, {register spilling}.

	2. An addressable location in a {memory-mapped} peripheral
	device.  E.g. the transmit data register in a {UART}.

1. Not simulated.  Often used as a specific antonym to
	{virtual} in any of its jargon senses.

	2. <mathematics> {real number}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1997-03-12)

<jargon> 1. A good property or behaviour (as of a program).
	Whether it was intended or not is immaterial.

	2. An intended property or behaviour (as of a program).
	Whether it is good or not is immaterial (but if bad, it is
	also a {misfeature}).

	3. A surprising property or behaviour; in particular, one that
	is purposely inconsistent because it works better that way -
	such an inconsistency is therefore a {feature} and not a
	{bug}.  This kind of feature is sometimes called a {miswart}.

	4. A property or behaviour that is gratuitous or unnecessary,
	though perhaps also impressive or cute.  For example, one
	feature of {Common LISP}'s "format" function is the ability to
	print numbers in two different Roman-numeral formats (see
	{bells, whistles, and gongs}).

	5. A property or behaviour that was put in to help someone
	else but that happens to be in your way.

	6. A bug that has been documented.  To call something a
	feature sometimes means the author of the program did not
	consider the particular case, and that the program responded
	in a way that was unexpected but not strictly incorrect.  A
	standard joke is that a bug can be turned into a {feature}
	simply by documenting it (then theoretically no one can
	complain about it because it's in the manual), or even by
	simply declaring it to be good.  "That's not a bug, that's a
	feature!" is a common catch-phrase.  Apparently there is a
	Volkswagen Beetle in San Francisco whose license plate reads
	"FEATURE".

	See also {feetch feetch}, {creeping featurism}, {wart}, {green
	lightning}.

	The relationship among bugs, features, misfeatures, warts and
	miswarts might be clarified by the following hypothetical
	exchange between two hackers on an airliner:

	A: "This seat doesn't recline."

	B: "That's not a bug, that's a feature.  There is an emergency
	exit door built around the window behind you, and the route
	has to be kept clear."

	A: "Oh.  Then it's a misfeature; they should have increased
	the spacing between rows here."

	B: "Yes.  But if they'd increased spacing in only one section
	it would have been a wart - they would've had to make
	nonstandard-length ceiling panels to fit over the displaced
	seats."

	A: "A miswart, actually.  If they increased spacing throughout
	they'd lose several rows and a chunk out of the profit margin.
	So unequal spacing would actually be the Right Thing."

	B: "Indeed."

	"Undocumented feature" is a common euphemism for a {bug}.

	7. An attribute or function of a {class} in {Eiffel}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-10-22)

1. <programming> {switch statement}.

	2. <software> {command line option}.

	3. <networking> {packet switch}, {circuit switch}.

	(1999-01-14)

<digital signal processing> The result of measuring the
	amplitude of an analog signal at a specified time.  In
	{digital signal processing} a sample is a signed or unsigned
	number and the number of samples per second is called the
	{sample rate}.

	(2001-06-06)