Advanced Memory Management Architecture
(AMPS).A standard for analog cellular phone service used in the United States and other countries. Advanced SCSI Programming Interface
(ASPI).An interface from Adaptec that allows application programs to access SCSI hardware. AFC
Automatic Frequency Control.
AFE
Apple File Exchange.In a Macintosh operating system, the AFE utility program allows the Mac to read and record data files from a floppy disk formatted for use on a PC. AFJ (Chat Expression)
April Fool's Joke. AFK (Chat Expression)
Away From the Keyboard. AFY2KDB
Air Force Year 2000 Database.A centralized database on Year 2000 matters maintained at Scott Air Force Base by INET. AGP
Accelerated Graphics Port.A bus specification from Intel that gives graphics cards faster access to PCI bus, thus greatly speeding up graphics display and texture rendering, especially virtual reality and 3D rendering and display.AGP allows efficient use of frame buffer memory, thereby helping 2D graphics performance as well. alias
1.An abbreviation for an e-mail address that, when keyed in, sends the message to the complete address.2. An alternate label for identifying an object, such as a file or data field.3.A false signal created in the digitization of an analog audio sample.
ALOHA
A transmission system developed at the University of Hawaii using time division multiple access (TDMA) technology.It has been used for satellite and terrestrial radio links.A packet is broadcast when ready, and if a collision occurs it is retransmitted.A variation called Slotted ALOHA sends packets at specific time slots to reduce the number of collisions. AltaVista
A World Wide Web site hosted by Digital with a very fast Web and Usenet search engine, and one of the largest Web indexes.AltaVista can be found on the web at www.altavista.com.
AMD
1.Active Matrix Display.LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, used for computer screens, in which there is a transistor for each pixel, which prevents losing image quality between scans.Contrast with passive matrix display. 2.Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., A U.S.manufacturer of integrated circuits, microprocessors, memory, and other computer products.
Ami Pro
A word processing program developed by Samna Corporation for DOS and Windows.It was later bought by Lotus, and has been replaced by Word Pro.
Amiga
A group of home computers developed by Commodore Business Machines. Amigas have a graphical user interface and are used for games, video processing, multimedia, office applications, and desktop publishing.The German company Escom AG bought Commodore in April 1995.
AMPS
1.Analog Mobile Phone System.Non-digital cellular mobile phones. 2.Advanced Mobile Phone Service (Motorola).
analog
Representing data in continuously variable physical quantities, in contrast to the digital representation of data in discrete units (the binary digits 1 and 0).Analog systems handle information which is represented by continuous change and flow, such as voltage or current.Analog devices have dials and sliding mechanisms.Digital information, in contrast, is either on or off.
analog channel
A voice or video communication channel which carries a signal with varying frequencies.Compare digital channel.
analog computer
A computer that uses analog methods to process data.An analog computer operates with numbers represented by directly measurable quantities (such as temperature changes or voltages) which vary continuously, whereas a digital computer works with signals which are either on or off (binary 0 or 1).All ordinary computers are digital; analog computers are employed for special uses, such as robotics, where an experimental design can be tested in real time.
analog-to-digital converter
(ADC).A device that converts data from analog to digital form.For example, an audio CD is made by converting analog sound signals into digital data.
Analytical Engine
A computing machine conceived in 1830 by Charles Babbage. He received inspiration from his work on the "Difference Engine." The Analytical Engine was never completed, though Babbage worked on it until his death in 1871. It was intended to compute decisions based on prior computations and loops founded on Jacquard's punched cards. Babbage is often credited as being "the father of computers" for his work on the Analytical Engine. AND
One of three logical operations of Boolean logic.The AND operation is true when the combining of two bits (0,1) or two Boolean values (false or true) is such that both inputs are true.See also Boolean algebra, Boolean operators, OR and NOT. ANDF
Architecture Neutral Distributed Format.An intermediate language created by The Open Group to use in developing UNIX software.
ANI
Automatic Number Identification.A service that identifies the telephone number of each incoming telephone call. animated graphic
An animated image produced by means of a series of computer graphic images; for example, a moving cartoon or diagram.Animated graphics add interest to a presentation, and use much less disk space than video images. ANN
Artificial Neural Network.A network of many simple processors that imitates a biological neural network.Neural networks have some ability to "learn" from experience, and are used in applications such as speech recognition, robotics, medical diagnosis, signal processing, and weather forecasting.
anonymous FTP
A way of getting files from FTP sites on the Internet that have files available for public download.To transfer files using anonymous FTP, you must log in as "guest" or "anonymous" and enter your e-mail address as the password.Many of these sites are provided by universities and government agencies.The publicly available files are usually in a directory called "pub", which is isolated from the files used by other users on the system and will not accept uploads from anonymous users.
anonymous FTP
A way of getting files from FTP sites on the Internet that have files available for public download.To transfer files using anonymous FTP, you must log in as "guest" or "anonymous" and enter your e-mail address as the password.Many of these sites are provided by universities and government agencies.The publicly available files are usually in a directory called "pub", which is isolated from the files used by other users on the system and will not accept uploads from anonymous users. ANSI
American National Standards Institute.An organization that develops standards for many things, only some having to do with computers, such as properties of diskettes, programming languages, etc.ANSI is the U.S. ANSI character set
The ANSI (American National Standards Institute) extended character set used with Microsoft Windows.There are 256 characters.The first 128 characters are the standard ASCII character set; the second 128 are special characters such as math symbols and foreign language accents.The second 128 characters differ from the extended ASCII characters used on the PC. ANSI terminal
A display terminal which follows ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard terminal language commands..
antivirus program
A program that detects and removes computer viruses. antivirus software
A program that will detect and remove computer viruses. AOE
Application Operating Environment (AT&T).
AOL
Acronym for America Online www.aol.com.One of the largest providers of online services.AOL offers e-mail, interactive newspapers and magazines, conferencing, software files, computing support, and online classes, in addition to full Internet and World-Wide Web access.AOL announced a merger with Time Warner Inc.in 2000. AOL Instant Messenger
(AIM).The instant messaging program of America Online.
AOL Instant Messenger
(AIM).The instant messaging program of America Online. aol.com
The Internet domain address for America Online.www.aol.com.