<World-Wide Web> A {Java} program which can be distributed as
	an attachment in a {World-Wide Web} document and executed by a
	Java-enabled {web browser} such as Sun's {HotJava},
	{Netscape Navigator} version 2.0, or {Internet Explorer}.

	Navigator severely restricts the applet's file system and
	network access in order to prevent accidental or deliberate
	security violations.  Full Java applications, which run
	outside of the browser, do not have these restrictions.

	Web browsers can also be extended with {plug-ins} though these
	differ from applets in that they usually require manual
	installation and are {platform}-specific.  Various other
	languages can now be embedded within {HTML} documents, the
	most common being {JavaScript}.

	Despite Java's aim to be a "write once, run anywhere"
	language, the difficulty of accomodating the variety of
	browsers in use on the Internet has led many to abandon
	client-side processing in favour of {server}-side Java
	programs for which the term {servlet} was coined.

	Merriam Webster "Collegiate Edition" gives a 1990 definition:
	a short application program especially for performing a simple
	specific task.

	(2002-07-12)

<hypertext> A program which allows a person to read
	{hypertext}.  The browser gives some means of viewing the
	contents of {nodes} (or "pages") and of {navigating} from one
	node to another.

	{Netscape Navigator}, {NCSA} {Mosaic}, {Lynx}, and {W3} are
	examples for browsers for the {World-Wide Web}.  They act as
	{clients} to remote {web servers}.

	(1996-05-31)

<hypertext, World-Wide Web, standard> (HTML) A {hypertext}
	document format used on the {World-Wide Web}.  HTML is built
	on top of {SGML}.  "Tags" are embedded in the text.  A tag
	consists of a "<", a "directive" (in lower case), zero or
	more parameters and a ">".  Matched pairs of directives, like
	"<title>" and "</title>" are used to delimit text which is to
	appear in a special place or style.

	Links to other documents are in the form

	 <a href="http://machine.edu/subdir/file.html">foo</a>

	where "<a>" and "</a>" delimit an "anchor", "href" introduces
	a hypertext reference, which is most often a {Uniform Resource
	Locator} (URL) (the string in double quotes in the example
	above).  The link will be represented in the browser by the
	text "foo" (typically shown underlined and in a different
	colour).

	A certain place within an HTML document can be marked with a
	named anchor, e.g.:

	 <a name="baz">

	The "fragment identifier", "baz", can be used in an href by
	appending "#baz" to the document name.

	Other common tags include <p> for a new paragraph, <b>..</b>
	for bold text, <ul> for an unnumbered list, <pre> for
	preformated text, <h1>, <h2> .. <h6> for headings.

	{HTML} supports some standard {SGML} {national characters} and
	other non-{ASCII} characters through special {escape
	sequences}, e.g. "&eacute;" for a lower case 'e' with an acute
	accent.  You can sometimes get away without the terminating
	semicolon but it's bad style.

	Most systems will ignore the case of tags and attributes but
	lower case should be used for compatibility with {XHTML}.

	The {World-Wide Web Consortium} (W3C) is the international
	{standards} body for HTML.

	Latest version: {XHTML} 1.0, as of 2000-09-10.

	{Home (http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/)}.

	{Character escape sequences
	(http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/ISOlat1.html)}.

	See also {weblint}.

	(2006-01-19)

Specific computer hardware, as in the phrase
	"platform-independent".  It may also refer to a specific
	combination of hardware and {operating system} and/or
	{compiler}, as in "this program has been ported to several
	platforms".  It is also used to refer to support software for
	a particular activity, as in "This program provides a platform
	for research into routing protocols".

	(1994-12-07)

1. {application program}.

	2. {function application}.

(Scientific computation) Output from a computation that may
	not be significant but at least indicates that the program is
	running.  Numbers may be used to placate management, grant
	sponsors, etc.  "Making numbers" means running a program
	because output - any output, not necessarily meaningful output
	- is needed as a demonstration of progress.

	See {pretty pictures}, {math-out}, {social science number}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-01-13)

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)

<jargon> /hak'ish/ 1. Said of something that is or involves a
	{hack}.

	2. Of or pertaining to {hackers} or the hacker subculture.

	See also {true-hacker}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-03-08)

1. <mathematics> A {set} containing a certain number of
	objects selected from another set.

	The number of combinations of r objects chosen from a set of n
	is

		n C r = n! / ((n-r)! r!)

	where "n C r" is normally with n and r as subscripts or as n
	above r in parentheses.

	See also {permutation}.

	2. <reduction> In the theory of {combinators}, a combination
	denotes an expression in which {function application} is the
	only operation.

	(1995-04-10)

<World-Wide Web> (CSS) An extension to {HTML} to allow styles,
	e.g. colour, {font}, size to be specified for certain elements
	of a {hypertext} document.  Style information can be included
	in-line in the HTML file or in a separate CSS file (which can
	then be easily shared by multiple HTML files).  Multiple
	levels of CSS can be used to allow selective overriding of
	styles.

	{Home (http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/)}.

	(2000-07-26)

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

	See also {dry run}.

	(1996-05-13)

A language proposed by Cii {Honeywell-Bull} to meet the DoD
	{Ironman} requirements which led to {Ada}.  This language won
	in 1979.

	["On the GREEN Language Submitted to the DoD", E.W. Dijkstra,
	SIGPLAN Notices 13(10):16-21 (Oct 1978)].

	(1994-12-02)

<World-Wide Web> A complete {free}, {open-source} {web
	browser} from the {Mozilla Foundation} and therefore a true
	code descendent of {Netscape Navigator}.  The first non-{beta
	release} was in late 2004.

	{Firefox Home (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox)}.

	(2005-01-26)

<hardware> To press and release a {button} on a {mouse} or
	other {pointing device}.  This generates an {event}, also
	specifying the screen position, which is processed by the
	{window manager} or {application program}.  On a mouse with
	more than one button, the unqualified term usually implies
	pressing the left-most button (with the right index finger),
	other buttons would be qualified, e.g. "{right-click}".
	{Keyboard} modifiers may also be used, e.g. "shift-click",
	meaning to hold down the shift key on the keyboard while
	clicking the mouse button.

	If the mouse moves while the button is pressed then this is a
	{drag}.

	(1995-03-14)

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

	2. <hypertext> {hyperlink}.

	(1997-10-22)

1. <hardware> {monitor}.

	2. <language> A vector of pointers to {activation records}.
	The Nth element points to the activation record containing
	variables declared at {lexical depth} N.  This allows faster
	access to variables from outer {scopes} than the alternative
	of linked activation records (but most variable accesses are
	either local or global or occasionally to the immediately
	enclosing scope).  Displays were used in some {ALGOL}
	implementations.

	(1996-02-22)

<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)

<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)

<programming> The name given in {Smalltalk} and other
	{object-oriented languages} to a procedure or routine
	associated with one or more {classes}.  An {object} of a
	certain class knows how to perform actions, e.g. printing
	itself or creating a new instance of itself, rather than the
	function (e.g. printing) knowing how to handle different types
	of object.

	Different classes may define methods with the same name
	(i.e. methods may be {polymorphic}).  The term "method" is used
	both for a named operation, e.g. "PRINT" and also for the code
	which a specific class provides to perform tha
	t operation.

	Most methods operate on objects that are instances of a
	certain class.  Some object-oriented languages call these
	"object methods" to distinguish then from "{class methods}".

	In {Smalltalk}, a method is defined by giving its name,
	documentation, temporary local variables and a sequence of
	expressions separated by "."s.

	(2000-03-22)

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)

/de'moh/ 1. A demonstration of a product, often of an early
	version or prototype.  A demo is a far more effective way of
	inducing bugs to manifest themselves than any number of {test}
	runs, especially when important people are watching.

	2. {demo version}.

	3. A program written to demonstrate the programmer's coding
	ability and/or the power of the computer it runs on.  Such
	demos are nearly always written in {machine code} and
	traditionally feature scrolling text about the author, his
	friends, his code and anything else he fancies and animated
	graphics.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1994-11-04)

<programming> (Or "remark") Explanatory text embedded in
	program {source} (or less often data) intended to help human
	readers understand it.

	Code completely without comments is often hard to read, but
	too heavily commented code isn't much better, especially if
	the comments are not kept up-to-date with changes to the code.
	Too much commenting may mean that the code is
	over-complicated.  A good rule is to comment everything that
	needs it but write code that doesn't need much of it.

	A particularly irksome form of over-commenting explains
	exactly what each statement does, even when it is obvious to
	any reasonably competant programmer, e.g.

		/* Open the input file */
		infd = open(input_file, O_RDONLY);

	(1998-04-28)

1. <data, programming> One of the items of data in an {array}.

	2. <language, text> One kind of node in an {SGML}, {HTML}, or
	{XML} {document} {tree}.  An SGML element is typically
	represented by a start {tag} ("<p>") and an end tag ("</p>").
	In some SGML implementations, some tags are omissible, as with
	"</p>" in {HTML}.

	The start tag can contain {attributes} ("<p lang="en-UK"
	class='stuff'>"), which are an unordered set of key-value
	bindings for that element.  Both the start tag and end tag for
	an element typically contain the "tag name" (also called the
	"{GI}" or generic identifier) for that element.

	In {XML}, an element is always represented either by an
	explicit start tag and end tag, or by an empty element tag
	("<img src='thing.{png}' alt='a dodad' />").

	Other kinds of SGML node are: a section of character data
	("foo"), a comment ("<!-- bar -->"), a markup declaration
	("<!ENTITY reg CDATA '&#174'>"), or a processing instruction
	("<?xml-stylesheet href="shop-english.xsl" type="text/xsl"
	?>").

	(2001-01-30)

<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)

<chat, games> To flood a {chat room} or {Internet game} with
	text or {macros} in an attempt to annoy the occupants.  This
	can often cause the chat room to be "uninhabitable" due to the
	"noise" created by the scroller.  Compare {spam}.

	(2001-03-27)

1. Not operating.  "The up escalator is down" is considered a
	humorous thing to say, and "The elevator is down" always
	means "The elevator isn't working" and never refers to what
	floor the elevator is on.  With respect to computers, this
	term has passed into the mainstream; the extension to other
	kinds of machine is still hackish.

	2. "go down" To stop functioning; usually said of the
	{system}.  The message from the {console} that every hacker
	hates to hear from the operator is "System going down in 5
	minutes".

	3. "take down", "bring down" To deactivate purposely, usually
	for repair work or {PM}.  "I'm taking the system down to work
	on that bug in the tape drive."  Occasionally one hears the
	word "down" by itself used as a verb in this sense.

	See {crash}; opposite: {up}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1994-12-07)

<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)

1. <chat> {Unix}'s simple {talk} command and {protocol}.
	write has been largely superseded by {talk} and then {irc}.

	An enhancement, {RWP}, has been proposed.

	2. <tool> A simple {text editor} for {Windows}.

	(1998-04-28)

Not working properly (of programs).

See {followup}.

1. See {multithreading}.

	2. See {threaded code}.

	3. {topic thread}.

	[{Jargon File}]

1. <networking> A {bang path} or explicitly routed {Internet
	address}; a node-by-node specification of a link between two
	machines.

	2. <file system> {pathname}.

	3. <operating system>  The list of directories the kernel
	(under {Unix}) or the command interpreter (under {MS-DOS})
	searches for {executables}.  It is stored as part of the
	{environment} in both operating systems.

	Other, similar constructs abound under Unix; the {C}
	{preprocessor}, for example, uses such a search path to locate
	"#include" files.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1996-11-21)

<programming> The first stage of software development which
	defines what the potential users want the system to do.  In
	modern methods these requirements should be testable, and will
	usually be traceable in later development stages.  A common
	feature of nearly all software is that the requirements change
	during its lifetime.

	See {software life-cycle}.

	(1995-11-11)

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

<jargon> /n[y]oo'bee/ (Originally from British public-school
	and military slang variant of "new boy") An inexperienced user
	of {Usenet} or other system.

	This term surfaced in the {newsgroup} {news:talk.bizarre} but
	is now in wide use.  Criteria for being considered a newbie
	vary wildly; a person can be called a newbie in one newsgroup
	while remaining a respected regular in another.  The label
	"newbie" is sometimes applied as a serious insult to a person
	who has been around {Usenet} for a long time but who carefully
	hides all evidence of having a clue.

	See {BIFF}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1998-02-18)

Translating software to run on a different computer and/or
	{operating system}.

	(1995-01-06)

<networking> /root/ The sequence of {hosts}, {routers},
	{bridges}, {gateways}, and other devices that network traffic
	takes, or could take, from its source to its destination.  As
	a verb, to determine the link down which to send a {packet},
	that will minimise its total journey time according to some
	{routeing algorithm}.

	You can find the route from your computer to another using the
	program {traceroute} on {Unix} or tracert on {Microsoft
	Windows}.

	(2001-05-26)

<jargon> {Marketroid} jargon for "{software}", "{hardware}",
	"{protocol}" or something else too technical to name.

	The most flagrant abuse of this word has to be "{Windows NT}"
	(New Technology) - {Microsoft}'s attempt to make the
	incorporation of some ancient concepts into their OS sound
	like real progress.  The irony, and even the meaning, of this
	seems to be utterly lost on Microsoft whose {Windows 2000}
	start-up screen proclaims "Based on NT Technology", (meaning
	yet another version of NT, including some {Windows 95}
	features at last).

	See also: {solution}.

	(2001-06-28)

<language, tool> A {Unix} tool written in {Tcl} and a {script
	language} for automating the operation of {interactive}
	applications such as {telnet}, {FTP}, {passwd}, {fsck},
	{rlogin}, {tip}, etc..  Expect can feed input to other
	programs and perform {pattern matching} on their output.  It
	is also useful for testing these applications.  By adding
	{Tk}, you can also wrap interactive applications in {X11}
	{GUIs}.

	{Home (http://expect.nist.gov/)}.

	["expect: Scripts for Controlling Interactive Tasks", Don
	Libes, Comp Sys 4(2), U Cal Press Journals, Nov 1991].

	(1997-06-09)

1. <networking> {network}.

	2. <networking> {network, the}.

	3. <architecture> {neural network}.

	4. <networking> The {top-level domain} originally for
	networks, although it sees heavy use for {vanity domains} of
	all types.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1999-01-26)

1. <programming> {switch statement}.

	2. <software> {command line option}.

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

	(1999-01-14)

<artificial intelligence, information science> The objects,
	concepts and relationships that are assumed to exist in some
	area of interest.  A collection of {knowledge}, represented
	using some {knowledge representation} language is known as a
	{knowledge base} and a program for extending and/or querying a
	knowledge base is a {knowledge-based system}.

	Knowledge differs from {data} or {information} in that new
	knowledge may be created from existing knowledge using logical
	{inference}.  If information is data plus meaning then
	knowledge is information plus processing.

	A common form of knowledge, e.g. in a {Prolog} program, is a
	collection of {facts} and {rules} about some subject.

	For example, a {knowledge base} about a family might contain
	the facts that John is David's son and Tom is John's son and
	the rule that the son of someone's son is their grandson.
	From this knowledge it could infer the new fact that Tom is
	David's grandson.

	See also {Knowledge Level}.

	(1994-10-19)

<messaging> A model of media distribution were the bits of
	content have to be requested by the user, e.g. normal use of
	{HTTP} on the {World-Wide Web}.

	Opposite: "{push media}".

	(1997-04-10)

<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)

<World-Wide Web, body> (W3C) The main standards body for the
	{World-Wide Web}.  W3C works with the global community to
	establish international {standards} for {client} and {server}
	{protocols} that enable on-line commerce and communications on
	the {Internet}.  It also produces reference software.

	W3C was created by the {Massachusetts Institute of Technology}
	(MIT) on 25 October 1994.  {Netscape Communications
	Corporation} was a founding member.  The Consortium is run by
	{MIT LCS} and {INRIA}, in collaboration with {CERN} where the
	web originated.  W3C is funded by industrial members but its
	products are freely available to all.  The director is Tim
	Berners-Lee who invented the {World-Wide Web} at the Center
	for European Particle Research (CERN).

	{Home (http://www.w3.org/)}.

	(1996-11-03)

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)

The stage in the {software life-cycle} at the end of the
	development process where software is evaluated to ensure that
	it complies with the requirements.

	(1995-02-14)

Said of a program or feature that is considered obsolescent
	and in the process of being phased out, usually in favour of a
	specified replacement.  Deprecated features can,
	unfortunately, linger on for many years.  This term appears
	with distressing frequency in standards documents when the
	committees writing the documents realise that large amounts of
	extant (and presumably happily working) code depend on the
	feature(s) that have passed out of favour.

	See also {dusty deck}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1995-04-19)

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)

<World-Wide Web> The {World-Wide Web} {search engine} that
	indexes the greatest number of web pages - over two billion by
	December 2001 and provides a free service that searches this
	index in less than a second.

	The site's name is apparently derived from "{googol}", but
	note the difference in spelling.

	The "Google" spelling is also used in "The Hitchhikers Guide
	to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, in which one of Deep
	Thought's designers asks, "And are you not," said Fook,
	leaning anxiously foward, "a greater analyst than the
	Googleplex Star Thinker in the Seventh Galaxy of Light and
	Ingenuity which can calculate the trajectory of every single
	dust particle throughout a five-week Dangrabad Beta sand
	blizzard?"

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

	(2001-12-28)

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. 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)

<file system> An element of data storage in a {file system}.

	The history of computing is rich in varied kinds of files and
	{file systems}, whether ornate (e.g., {Macintosh file system}
	for a well-known case) or deficient (e.g., many simple
	pre-1980s file systems don't allow {directories}).

	However, the prototypical file has these characteristics:

	* It is a single sequence of bytes (but consider {Macintosh}
	{resource forks}).

	* It has a finite length, unlike, e.g. a {Unix} {device}.

	* It is stored in a {non-volatile storage} medium (but see
	{ramdrive}).

	* It exists (nominally) in a {directory}.

	* It has a name that it can be referred to by in file
	operations, possibly in combination with its {path}.

	Additionally, a file system may associate other information
	with a file, such as {permission} bits or other {file
	attributes}; timestamps for file creation, last revision, and
	last access; revision numbers (a` la VMS), and other kinds of
	{magic}.

	Compare: {document}.

	(1997-04-08)

1. The {supervisor} program or {operating system} on a
	computer.

	2. The entire computer system, including input/output devices,
	the {supervisor} program or {operating system} and possibly
	other {software}.

	3. Any large program.

	4. Any method or {algorithm}.

	[{Jargon File}]

<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)

<networking> (Note: not capitalised) Any set of networks
	interconnected with {routers}.  The {Internet} is the biggest
	example of an internet.

	(1996-09-17)

<file system> (Or "file mode") The ability to access (read,
	write, execute, traverse, etc.) a {file} or {directory}.
	Depending on the {operating system}, each file may have
	different permissions for different kinds of access and
	different users or groups of users.

	{chmod} ("change mode") is the {UNIX} command to change
	permissions.

	(2000-12-07)

A safe program analysis is one which will not reach invalid
	conclusions about the behaviour of the program.  This may
	involve making safe approximations to properties of parts of
	the program.  A safe approximation is one which gives less
	information.

	For example, strictness analysis aims to answer the question
	"will this function evaluate its argument"?.  The two possible
	results are "definitely" and "don't know".  A safe
	approximation for "definitely" is "don't know".  The two
	possible results correspond to the two sets: "the set of all
	functions which evaluate their argument" and "all functions".
	A set can be safely approximated by another which contains it.

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)

<networking> Any {network} which provides similar services
	within an organisation to those provided by the {Internet}
	outside it but which is not necessarily connected to the
	Internet.  The commonest example is the use by a company of
	one or more {World-Wide Web} servers on an internal {TCP/IP}
	network for distribution of information within the company.

	Since about 1995, intranets have become a major growth area in
	corporate computing due to the availability of cheap or free
	commercial {browser} and {web server} software which allows
	them to provide a simple, uniform {hypertext} interface to
	many kinds of information and {application programs}.

	Some companies give limited access to their intranets to other
	companies or the general public.  This is known as an
	"{extranet}".

	(1997-07-14)

<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)

<jargon> (MIT) A {lose}, usually in software.  Especially used
	for user-visible misbehaviour caused by a bug or {misfeature}.
	This use has become quite widespread outside {MIT}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1994-12-01)

[WPI] 1. Badly written or functionally poor, e.g. a program
	that is very difficult to use because of gratuitously poor
	design decisions.  Opposite: {cuspy}.

	2. Anything that manipulates a shared resource without regard
	for its other users in such a way as to cause a (non-fatal)
	problem.  Examples: programs that change tty modes without
	resetting them on exit, or windowing programs that keep
	forcing themselves to the top of the window stack.  Compare
	{all-elbows}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1994-10-27)

<storage> 1. {magnetic disk}.

	2. {compact disc}.

	3. {optical disk}.

	Note: the american spelling, "disk", is normal for most
	computer disks whereas "compact disc", having come to
	computers via the audio world, is correctly spelled with a
	"c", indeed, this spelling is part of the CD standard.

	(1995-07-30)