{Software Developers Kit} (or "Software Development Kit").

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

	(1997-11-23)

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}]

<hardware> A {SCSI} device that executes a command from a
	{SCSI initiator} to perform some task.  Typically the target
	is a SCSI peripheral device but the {host adapter} can also be
	a target.

	(1999-02-10)

<character> The space character, {ASCII} 32.

	See {octal forty}.

<programming, operating system> A {variable} that is bound in
	the current environment.  When evaluating an expression in
	some environment, the evaluation of a variable consists of
	looking up its name in the environment and substituting its
	value.

	Most programming languages have some concept of an environment
	but in {Unix} {shell scripts} it has a specific meaning
	slightly different from other contexts.  In shell scripts,
	environment variables are one kind of {shell variable}.  They
	differ from {local variables} and {command line arguments} in
	that they are inheritted by a {child process}.  Examples are
	the PATH variable that tells the shell the {file system}
	{paths} to search to find command {executables} and the TZ
	variable which contains the local time zone.  The variable
	called "SHELL" specifies the type of shell being used.

	These variables are used by commands or {shell scripts} to
	discover things about the environment they are operating in.
	Environment variables can be changed or created by the {user}
	or a program.

	To see a list of environment variables type "setenv" at the
	{csh} or {tcsh} {prompt} or "set" at the {sh}, {bash}, {jsh}
	or {ksh} prompt.

	In other programming languages, e.g. {functional programming}
	languages, the environment is extended with new bindings when
	a {function}'s {parameters} are bound to its {actual
	arguments} or when new variables are declared.  In a
	{block-structured} {procedural} language, the environment
	usually consists of a {linked list} of {activation records}.

	(1999-01-26)

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, compiler> To load and initialise the
	{operating system} on a computer.  Normally abbreviated to
	"{boot}".  From the curious expression "to pull oneself up by
	one's bootstraps", one of the legendary feats of Baron von
	Munchhausen.  The {bootstrap loader} is the program that runs
	on the computer before any (normal) program can run.  Derived
	terms include {reboot}, {cold boot}, {warm boot}, {soft boot}
	and {hard boot}.

	The term also applies to the use of a {compiler} to compile
	itself.  The usual process is to write an {interpreter} for a
	language, L, in some other existing language.  The compiler is
	then written in L and the interpreter is used to run it.  This
	produces an {executable} for compiling programs in L from the
	source of the compiler in L.  This technique is often used to
	verify the correctness of a compiler.  It was first used in
	the {LISP} community.

	See also {My Favourite Toy Language}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2005-04-12)

<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)

<language> (JRE) The part of the {Java Development Kit}
	required to run Java programs.  The JRE consists of the {Java
	Virtual Machine}, the {Java} platform core {classes} and
	supporting files.  It does not include the compiler, debugger
	or other tools present in the JDK.  The JRE is the smallest
	set of executables and files that constitute the standard Java
	platform.

	(1998-11-30)

<abuse, operating system> /mi:'kroh-sloth" win"dohz/ (Or
	"Windoze", /win'dohz/) A derogatory term for {Microsoft
	Windows} which is so limited by bug-for-bug compatibility with
	{mess-dos} that it is agonisingly slow on anything less than a
	fast {486}.  Also called just "Windoze", with the implication
	that you can fall asleep waiting for it to do anything; the
	latter term is extremely common on {Usenet}.

	Compare {X}, {sun-stools}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1996-10-08)

<storage> A {byte}, {word} or other small unit of storage
	space in a computer's {main memory} that is identified by its
	starting {address} (and size).

	(1999-04-19)

<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)

<file system> A node in a hierarchical {file system} which
	contains zero or more other nodes - generally, {files} or
	other directories.

	Compare {folder}.

	(1997-04-10)

<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)