1. <operating system, software> The sequence of states of an
	executing {program}.  A process consists of the program {code}
	(which may be shared with other processes which are executing
	the same program), private data, and the state of the
	{processor}, particularly the values in its {registers}.  It
	may have other associated resources such as a {process
	identifier}, open files, {CPU time} limits, {shared memory},
	{child processes}, and {signal handlers}.

	One process may, on some {platforms}, consist of many
	{threads}.  A {multitasking} {operating system} can run
	multiple processes {concurrently} or in {parallel}, and allows
	a process to spawn "child" processes.

	(2001-06-16)

	2. <business> The sequence of activities, people, and systems
	involved in carrying out some business or achieving some
	desired result.  E.g. software development process, project
	management process, configuration management process.

	(2001-06-16)

<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)

<jargon> A {marketroid} term for something he wants to sell
	you without bothering you with the often dizzying distinctions
	between {hardware}, {software}, {services}, {applications},
	{file formats}, companies, brand names and {operating
	systems}.

	"{Flash} is a perfect image-streaming solution."  "What is
	it?"  "Um...  about a thousand dollars."

	See also: {technology}.

	(1998-07-07)

<World-Wide Web, project> A {open source} {HTTP} server for
	{Unix}, {Windows NT}, and other {platforms}.  Apache was
	developed in early 1995, based on code and ideas found in the
	most popular HTTP server of the time, {NCSA httpd} 1.3.  It
	has since evolved to rival (and probably surpass) almost any
	other {Unix} based HTTP server in terms of functionality, and
	speed.  Since April 1996 Apache has been the most popular HTTP
	server on the {Internet}, in May 1999 it was running on 57% of
	all web servers.

	It features highly configurable error messages, {DBM}-based
	{authentication} {databases}, and {content negotiation}.

	Latest version: 1.3.9, as of 1999-10-27.

	{Home (http://www.apache.org/httpd.html)}.

	{FAQ (http://www.apache.org/docs/misc/FAQ.html)}.

	(1999-10-27)

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)

1. <programming, operating system> A simple item of data that
	identifies a resource.  For example, a {Unix} file handle
	identifies an open file and associated data such as whether it
	was opened for read or write and the current read/write
	position.  On the {Macintosh}, a handle is a pointer to a
	pointer to some dynamically-allocated memory.  The extra level
	of indirection allows on-the-fly {memory compaction} or
	{garbage collection} without invalidating application program
	references to the allocated memory.

	2. <jargon> An alias used intended to conceal a user's true
	identity in an electronic message.  The term is common on
	Citizen's Band and other amateur radio but, in that context
	usually means the user's real name as {FCC} rules forbid
	concealing one's identity.

	Use of grandiose handles is characteristic of {crackers},
	{weenies}, {spods}, and other lower forms of network life;
	true hackers travel on their own reputations.

	Compare {nick}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2004-07-20)

<convention, data> A string unique to a time duration of 24
	hours between 2 successive midnights defined by the local time
	zone.  The specific representation of a date will depend on
	which calendar convention is in force; e.g., Gregorian,
	Islamic, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew etc. as well as local
	ordering conventions such as UK: day/month/year, US:
	month/day/year.

	Inputting and outputting dates on computers is greatly
	complicated by these {localisation} issues which is why they
	tend to operate on dates internally in some unified form such
	as seconds past midnight at the start of the first of January
	1970.

	Many software and hardware representations of dates allow only
	two digits for the year, leading to the {year 2000} problem.

	{Unix manual page}: date(1), ctime(3).

	(1997-07-11)

<operating system> /yoo'niks/ (Or "UNIX", in the authors'
	words, "A weak pun on Multics") Plural "Unices".  An
	interactive {time-sharing} {operating system} invented in 1969
	by {Ken Thompson} after {Bell Labs} left the {Multics}
	project, originally so he could play games on his scavenged
	{PDP-7}.  {Dennis Ritchie}, the inventor of {C}, is considered
	a co-author of the system.

	The turning point in Unix's history came when it was
	reimplemented almost entirely in C during 1972 - 1974, making
	it the first {source-portable} OS.  Unix subsequently
	underwent mutations and expansions at the hands of many
	different people, resulting in a uniquely flexible and
	{developer}-friendly environment.

	By 1991, Unix had become the most widely used {multi-user}
	general-purpose operating system in the world.  Many people
	consider this the most important victory yet of hackerdom over
	industry opposition (but see {Unix weenie} and {Unix
	conspiracy} for an opposing point of view).

	Unix is now offered by many manufacturers and is the subject
	of an international standardisation effort [called?].
	Unix-like operating systems include {AIX}, {A/UX}, {BSD},
	{Debian}, {FreeBSD}, {GNU}, {HP-UX}, {Linux}, {NetBSD},
	{NEXTSTEP}, {OpenBSD}, {OPENSTEP}, {OSF}, {POSIX}, {RISCiX},
	{Solaris}, {SunOS}, {System V}, {Ultrix}, {USG Unix}, {Version
	7}, {Xenix}.

	"Unix" or "UNIX"?  Both seem roughly equally popular, perhaps
	with a historical bias toward the latter.  "UNIX" is a
	registered trademark of {The Open Group}, however, since it is
	a name and not an acronym, "Unix" has been adopted in this
	dictionary except where a larger name includes it in upper
	case.  Since the OS is {case-sensitive} and exists in many
	different versions, it is fitting that its name should reflect
	this.

	{The UNIX Reference Desk
	(http://www.geek-girl.com/unix.html)}.

	{Spanish fire extinguisher
	(ftp://linux.mathematik.tu-darmstadt.de/pub/linux/people/okir/unix_flame.gif)}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2001-05-14)

<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)

<mathematics> (Or "whole number") One of the {finite} numbers
	in the infinite set

		..., -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, ...

	An {inductive definition} of an integer is a number that is
	either zero or an integer plus or minus one.  An integer is a
	number with no fractional part.  If written as a {fixed-point}
	number, the part after the decimal (or other base) point will
	be zero.

	A {natural number} is a non-negative integer.

	(2002-04-07)

<electronics> The quantity of {charge} per unit time, measured
	in Amperes (Amps, A).  By historical convention, the sign of
	current is positive for currents flowing from positive to
	negative {potential}, but experience indicates that electrons
	are negatively charged and flow in the opposite direction.

	(1995-10-05)

<convention> British Summer Time.  The name for
	daylight-saving time in the UK {GMT} time zone.

	(2000-03-28)

1. <mathematics> (Or "map", "mapping") If D and C are sets
	(the domain and codomain) then a function f from D to C,
	normally written "f : D -> C" is a subset of D x C such that:

	1. For each d in D there exists some c in C such that (d,c) is
	an element of f.  I.e. the function is defined for every
	element of D.

	2. For each d in D, c1 and c2 in C, if both (d,c1) and (d,c2)
	are elements of f then c1 = c2.  I.e. the function is uniquely
	defined for every element of D.

	See also {image}, {inverse}, {partial function}.

	2. <programming> Computing usage derives from the mathematical
	term but is much less strict.  In programming (except in
	{functional programming}), a function may return different
	values each time it is called with the same argument values
	and may have {side effects}.

	A {procedure} is a function which returns no value but has
	only {side-effects}.  The {C} language, for example, has no
	procedures, only functions.  {ANSI C} even defines a {type},
	{void}, for the result of a function that has no result.

	(1996-09-01)

<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)

A processor's clock or one {cycle} thereof.  The relative
	execution times of instructions on a computer are usually
	measured by number of clock cycles rather than seconds.  One
	good reason for this is that {clock rates} for various models
	of the computer may increase as technology improves, and it is
	usually the relative times one is interested in when
	discussing the {instruction set}.

	(1994-12-16)

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

	(1997-11-23)

<computer> 1. A computer; especially in the construction "foo
	box" where foo is some functional qualifier, like "graphics",
	or the name of an {operating system} (thus, "{Unix} box",
	"{MS-DOS} box", etc.)  "We preprocess the data on Unix boxes
	before handing it up to the {mainframe}."  The plural
	"{boxen}" is sometimes seen.

	2. Without qualification in an {IBM} {SNA} site, "box" refers
	specifically to an {IBM} {front-end processor}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(1994-11-29)

(NTP) A {protocol} built on top of {TCP/IP} that assures
	accurate local timekeeping with reference to radio, atomic or
	other clocks located on the {Internet}.  This protocol is
	capable of synchronizing distributed clocks within
	milliseconds over long time periods.  It is defined in {STD}
	12, {RFC 1119}.

<unit> (b) {binary} digit.

	The unit of information; the amount of information obtained by
	asking a yes-or-no question; a computational quantity that can
	take on one of two values, such as false and true or 0 and 1;
	the smallest unit of storage - sufficient to hold one bit.

	A bit is said to be "set" if its value is true or 1, and
	"reset" or "clear" if its value is false or 0.  One speaks of
	setting and clearing bits.  To {toggle} or "invert" a bit is
	to change it, either from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0.

	The term "bit" first appeared in print in the computer-science
	sense in 1949, and seems to have been coined by the eminent
	statistician, {John Tukey}.  Tukey records that it evolved
	over a lunch table as a handier alternative to "bigit" or
	"binit".

	See also {flag}, {trit}, {mode bit}, {byte}, {word}.

	[{Jargon File}]

	(2002-01-22)

<programming> A geopolitical place or area, especially in the
	context of configuring an {operating system} or {application
	program} with its {character sets}, date and time formats,
	currency formats etc.

	Locales are significant for {internationalisation} and
	{localisation}.

	(1999-06-09)