<data, data processing, jargon> /day't*/ (Or "raw data")
	Numbers, {characters}, {images}, or other method of recording,
	in a form which can be assessed by a human or (especially)
	input into a {computer}, stored and {processed} there, or
	transmitted on some {digital channel}.  Computers nearly
	always represent data in {binary}.

	Data on its own has no meaning, only when interpreted by some
	kind of {data processing system} does it take on meaning and
	become {information}.

	People or computers can find patterns in data to perceive
	information, and information can be used to enhance
	{knowledge}.  Since knowledge is prerequisite to wisdom, we
	always want more data and information.  But, as modern
	societies verge on {information overload}, we especially need
	better ways to find patterns.

	1234567.89 is data.

	"Your bank balance has jumped 8087% to $1234567.89" is
	information.

	"Nobody owes me that much money" is knowledge.

	"I'd better talk to the bank before I spend it, because of
	what has happened to other people" is wisdom.

	(1999-04-30)

<database> A collection of {records} in a {relational database}.

	(1997-06-04)

1. <database, information science> A user's (or {agent}'s)
	request for information, generally as a formal request to a
	{database} or {search engine}.

	{SQL} is the most common {database query language}.

	2. <character> {question mark}.

	(1997-04-09)

<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)

<messaging> /yoos'net/ or /yooz'net/ (Or "Usenet news", from
	"Users' Network") A distributed {bulletin board} system and
	the people who post and read articles thereon.  Originally
	implemented in 1979 - 1980 by Steve Bellovin, Jim Ellis, Tom
	Truscott, and Steve Daniel at Duke University, and supported
	mainly by {Unix} machines, it swiftly grew to become
	international in scope and, before the advent of the
	{World-Wide Web}, probably the largest decentralised
	information utility in existence.

	Usenet encompasses government agencies, universities, high
	schools, businesses of all sizes, and home computers of all
	descriptions.  In the beginning, not all Usenet hosts were on
	the Internet.  As of early 1993, it hosted over 1200
	{newsgroups} ("groups" for short) and an average of 40
	megabytes (the equivalent of several thousand paper pages) of
	new technical articles, news, discussion, chatter, and
	{flamage} every day.  By November 1999, the number of groups
	had grown to over 37,000.

	To join in you originally needed a {news reader} program but
	there are now several web gateways such as {Deja
	(http://www.deja.com/)}.  Several {web browsers} include news
	readers and {URLs} beginning "news:" refer to Usenet
	newsgroups.

	{Network News Transfer Protocol} is a {protocol} used to
	transfer news articles between a news {server} and a {news
	reader}.  The {uucp} {protocol} was sometimes used to transfer
	articles between servers, though this is probably rare now
	that most sites are on the {Internet}.

	{Stanford University} runs a service to send news articles by
	{electronic mail}.  Send electronic mail to
	<netnews@db.stanford.edu> with "help" in the message body.
	[Still?  URL?]

	{(http://www.openmarket.com/info/internet-index/current-sources.html)}.

	{Notes on news
	(http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/notes/notes.html)} by Lars Magne
	Ingebrigtsen <larsi@ifi.uio.no>.

	[Gene Spafford <spaf@cs.purdue.edu>, "What is Usenet?",
	regular posting to {news:news.announce.newusers}].

	(1999-12-17)

<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)

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)