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)

<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)

<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)

1. {application program}.

	2. {function application}.

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)

<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)

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)

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

	See also {dry run}.

	(1996-05-13)

<jargon> Different systems (e.g., {programs}, {file formats},
	{protocols}, even {programming languages}) that can work
	together or exchange data are said to be compatible.

	See also {backward compatible}, {forward compatible}.

	(1998-01-15)