1. {application program}.

	2. {function application}.

<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)

<product> {Microsoft}'s bundles of {productivity tools}
	including {Microsoft Word}, {Microsoft Excel}, {Microsoft
	Powerpoint}, {Microsoft Outlook}, {Microsoft Access},
	{Microsoft Publisher}, {Microsoft Front Page}, {Microsoft Team
	Manager}, {Microsoft Project}, {Microsoft Schedule+},
	{Microsoft Internet Explorer}, {Small Business Financial
	Manager}, {Automap Streets Plus}.

	Editions of Office include {Microsoft Office Professional
	Edition}, {Microsoft Office Standard Edition}, {Microsoft
	Office Small Business Edition}, {Microsoft Office Developer
	Edition}.  Different editions contain different subsets of the
	above applications.

	Current version, as of 2004-08-30: Office 2003.

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

	(2004-08-30)

<programming> (VBA) {Microsoft}'s common language for
	manipulating components of its {Microsoft Office} suite.  It
	is used as the {macro} language for these applications and is
	the primary means of customising and extending them.  A VBA
	program operates on {objects} representing the application and
	the entities it manipulates, e.g. a {spreadsheet} or a range
	of cells in {Microsoft Excel}.

	[Relationship to {Visual BASIC}?  URL?]

	(1999-09-12)

<operating system> A {binary} file containing a program in
	{machine language} which is ready to be {execute}d (run).

	The term might also be, but generally isn't, applied to
	{scripts} which are interpreted by a {command line
	interpreter}.  Executables are distinguished in {Unix} by
	having the execute permission bits set, at least for the
	owner.  {MS-DOS} uses the {filename extension} ".exe".

	(1997-06-21)

<jargon> A boundary across which two systems communicate.  An
	interface might be a hardware connector used to link to other
	devices, or it might be a convention used to allow
	communication between two software systems.  Often there is
	some intermediate component between the two systems which
	connects their interfaces together.  For example, two {EIA-232}
	interfaces connected via a serial cable.

	See also {graphical user interface}, {Application Program
	Interface}.

	(1996-05-22)

1. {Borland C/C++}.

	2. {Watcom C/C++}.

	3. Either {C} or {C++}.

	(1996-04-06)

<programming> (JNI) A {native} programming interface for
	{Java} that allows Java code running inside a {Java Virtual
	Machine} to interoperate with {applications} and {libraries}
	written in other programming languages such as {C}, {C++} and
	{assembly language}.

	(1997-12-07)

<standard, programming> (CORBA) An {Object Management Group}
	specification which provides a standard messaging interface
	between distributed {objects}.

	The original CORBA specification (1.1) has been revised
	through version 2 (CORBA 2) with the latest specification
	being version 3 (CORBA 3).  In its most basic form CORBA
	consists of the {Interface Definition Language} (IDL) and the
	Dynamic Invocation Interface (DII).

	The IDL definition is complied into a Stub (client) and
	Skeleton (server) component that communicate through an
	{Object Request Broker} (ORB).  When an ORB determines that a
	request is to a remote object, it may execute the request by
	communicating with the remote ORB.

	The Corba IDL can be mapped to a number of languages including
	{C}, {C++}, {Java}, {COBOL}, {Smalltalk}, {Ada}, {Lisp},
	{Python}, and {IDLscript}.  CORBA ORBs are widely available
	for a number of platforms.  The OMG standard for inter-ORB
	communication is {IIOP}, this ensures that all CORBA 2
	compliant ORBS are able to interoperate.

	See also {COSS}, {Component Object Model}, {RMI}.

	{OMG CORBA site (http://www.corba.org/)}.

	(2003-11-21)

1. To prepare to read or write a file.  This usually involves
	checking whether the file already exists and that the user has
	the necessary authorisation to read or write it.  The result
	of a successful open is usually some kind of {capability}
	(e.g. a {Unix} {file descriptor}) - a token that the user
	passes back to the system in order to access the file without
	further checks and finally to close the file.

	2. Abbreviation for "open (or left) parenthesis" - used when
	necessary to eliminate oral ambiguity.  To read aloud the LISP
	form (DEFUN FOO (X) (PLUS X 1)) one might say: "Open defun
	foo, open eks close, open, plus eks one, close close."

	3. Non-proprietary.  An open {standard} is one which can be
	used without payment.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-01-31)

1. <file system> {hard link} or {symbolic link}.

	2. <hypertext> {hyperlink}.

	(1997-10-22)

1. <application> Any specific type of {file} produced or
	edited by a specific {application}; usually capable of being
	printed.  E.g. "Word document", "Photoshop document", etc.

	2. <hypertext> A term used on some systems (e.g. {Intermedia})
	for a {hypertext} {node}.  It is sometimes used for a
	collection of nodes on related topics, possibly stored or
	distributed as one.

	3. <programming> To write {documentation} on a certain piece
	of code.

	(2003-10-25)

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

<software> (Or "option", "flag", "switch", "option switch") An
	argument to a command that modifies its function rather than
	providing data.  Options generally start with "-" in {Unix} or
	"/" in {MS-DOS}.  This is usually followed by a single letter
	or occasionally a digit.

	Some commands require each option to be a separate argument,
	introduced by a new "-" or "/", others allow multiple option
	letters to be concatenated into a single argument with a
	single "-" or "/", e.g. "ls -al".  A few Unix commands
	(e.g. {ar}, {tar}) allow the "-" to be omitted.  Some options
	may or must be followed by a value, e.g. "cc prog.c -o prog",
	sometimes with and sometimes without an intervening space.

	{getopt} and {getopts} are commands for parsing command line
	options.  There is also a {C} library routine called getopt
	for the same purpose.

	(1996-12-11)

1. Resources (in computing usually processing time or storage
	space) consumed for purposes which are incidental to, but
	necessary to, the main one.  Overheads are usually
	quantifiable "costs" of some kind.

	Examples: The overheads in running a business include the cost
	of heating the building.  Keeping a program running all the
	time eliminates the overhead of loading and initialising it
	for each transaction.  Turning a {subroutine} into {inline}
	code eliminates the call and return time overhead for each
	execution but introduces space overheads.

	2. <communications> information, such as control, routing, and
	error checking characters, that is transmitted along with the
	user data.  It also includes information such as network
	status or operational instructions, network routing
	information, and retransmissions of user data received in
	error.

	3. Overhead transparencies or "slides" (usually 8-1/2" x 11")
	that are projected to an audience via an overhead (flatbed)
	projector.

	(1997-09-01)

<programming> (API, or "application programming interface")
	The interface (calling conventions) by which an {application
	program} accesses {operating system} and other services.  An
	API is defined at {source code} level and provides a level of
	{abstraction} between the application and the {kernel} (or
	other privileged utilities) to ensure the {portability} of the
	code.

	An API can also provide an interface between a {high level
	language} and lower level utilities and services which were
	written without consideration for the {calling conventions}
	supported by compiled languages.  In this case, the API's main
	task may be the translation of parameter lists from one format
	to another and the interpretation of {call-by-value} and
	{call-by-reference} arguments in one or both directions.

	(1995-02-15)

1. The art of debugging a blank sheet of paper (or, in these
	days of on-line editing, the art of debugging an empty file).

	2. A pastime similar to banging one's head against a wall, but
	with fewer opportunities for reward.

	3. The most fun you can have with your clothes on (although
	clothes are not mandatory).

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2003-02-12)

<programming> (Or "computer program", "program", "code") The
	instructions executed by a computer, as opposed to the
	physical device on which they run (the "{hardware}").

	The term was coined by the eminent statistician, {John Tukey}.

	Programs stored on {non-volatile storage} built from
	{integrated circuits} (e.g. {ROM} or {PROM}) are usually
	called {firmware}.

	Software can be split into two main types - {system software}
	and application software or {application programs}.  System
	software is any software required to support the production or
	execution of application programs but which is not specific to
	any particular application.  Examples of system software would
	include the {operating system}, {compilers}, editors and
	sorting programs.

	Examples of application programs would include an accounts
	package or a {CAD} program.  Other broad classes of
	application software include {real-time} software, {business
	software}, scientific and engineering software, {embedded
	software}, personal computer software and {artificial
	intelligence} software.

	Software includes both {source code} written by humans and
	executable {machine code} produced by {assemblers} or
	{compilers}.  It does not usually include the data processed
	by programs unless this is in a format such as {multimedia}
	which depends on the use of computers for its presentation.
	This distinction becomes unclear in cases such as {spread
	sheets} which can contain both instructions (formulae and
	{macros}) and data.  There are also various intermediate
	compiled or {semi-compiled}, forms of software such as
	{library} files and {byte-code}.

	Some claim that {documentation} (both paper and electronic) is
	also software.  Others go further and define software to be
	programs plus documentation though this does not correspond
	with common usage.

	The noun "program" describes a single, complete and
	more-or-less self-contained list of instructions, often stored
	in a single {file}, whereas "code" and "software" are
	uncountable nouns describing some number of instructions which
	may constitute one or more programs or part thereof.  Most
	programs, however, rely heavily on various kinds of {operating
	system} software for their execution.  The nounds "code" and
	"software" both refer to the same thing but "code" tends to
	suggest an interest in the implementation details whereas
	"software" is more of a user's term.

	(2002-07-21)