American National Standards Institute http://www.ansi.org>.An organization that develops standards for many things, only some having to do with computers, such as properties of diskettes http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=1308>, programming languages, etc.ANSI is the U.S. ANSI character set

The ANSI (American National Standards Institute) http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=88> extended character set used with Microsoft .There are 256 characters.The first 128 characters are the standard ASCII http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=104> 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 http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=5340>. 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) http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup1576>.

AOL

Acronym for America Online >www.aol.com< .One of the largest providers of online services.AOL offers e-mail http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=558>, interactive newspapers and magazines, conferencing, software http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=8265> 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 http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=90>.www.aol.com .

APA

1.Adaptive Packet Assembly 2.Application Portability Architecture.DEC portable applications software. API

Application Program Interface.An interface between the operating system http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=3495> and application programs, which includes the way the application programs communicate with the operating system, and the services the operating system makes available to the programs.For example, an API may make it possible for programs that run under it to open windows and display message boxes.

APL

A Programming Language.A programming http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=5360> language for notating mathematical algorithms , developed by Ken Iverson at Harvard University.

Apollo Computer, Inc.

A maker of high-performance workstations, and a pioneer in workstation http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=5866> networking .It became a division of HP http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=2159> in 1989.

app

Abbreviation for application program http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=1490>. Apple Computer, Inc.

One of the largest personal computer manufacturers, located in Cupertino, California.The company was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, in a garage.The Apple II, released in 1977, became very popular for educational use.VisiCalc, the first computer spreadsheet, was designed for the Apple II.Another computer in the Apple line was the Lisa, introduced in 1983.In 1984, Apple released the first Macintosh http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=2950> computers.

Apple Macintosh

A family of 32-bit personal computers introduced by Apple in 1984; the first widely used computers with a graphical user interface http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=2131>, a mouse , and windows .Rather than typing in commands, users open software and copy or delete files by clicking on icons on the screen that look like file folders, a trash can, and other things one would find in a real office.Macs quickly became popular because of their user-friendly interface.In 1994, PowerMacs, which use a PowerPC CPU http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=32>, became available.

AppleScript

An object-oriented shell language and command-line interface for Macintosh , beginning with System 7 Pro.

application

A program that helps the user accomplish a specific task; for example, a word processing program, a spreadsheet http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=4799> program, or an FTP client.Application programs should be distinguished from system programs, which control the computer and run those application programs, and utilities, which are small assistance programs.

application program

A program that helps the user accomplish a specific task; for example, a word processing program, a spreadsheet http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=4799> program, or an FTP client.Application programs should be distinguished from system programs http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=4903>, which control the computer and run the application programs, and utilities, which are small assistance programs.

application server

Software operating among browser http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=802>-based computers, back-end http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=1395> databases , and business applications.Server applications assist in translating HTML http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=2177> commands so that databases can interpret them.

ARCMac

A Macintosh utility for decompressing files that have the .arc extension.Usually these are from older operating systems .

ARCNET

(Attached Resource Computer Network).A local area network (LAN) http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=3049> introduced in 1968 by Datapoint Corporation.It can connect up to 255 nodes in a star topology, using twisted pair or coaxial cable .ARCNET is a data link protocol and uses the token passing access method.

ARPA

Advanced Research Projects Agency.An agency of the U.S.Department of Defense that developed technology for the military.ARPANET http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=99>, which was one of its projects, grew into the Internet .

array

An ordered arrangement of data elements in one or more dimensions: a list, a table , or a multidimensional arrangement of items.A vector is a one-dimensional array; a matrix http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=8278> is a two-dimensional array.Multidimensional arrays are used to store tables of data, especially in scientific simulation and mathematical processing.Data items in an array are distinguished by subscripts .

arrow keys

The keys on the keyboard that have arrows on them: up arrow, right arrow, left arrow, down arrow.They are used to move the cursor in the indicated directions, and have other uses in combination with other keys.

ARTT

Asynchronous Remote Takeover Terminal.

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange.A code in which each alphanumeric character is represented as a number from 0 to 127, translated into a 7-bit binary http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=794> code for the computer.ASCII is used by most microcomputers and printers, and because of this, text-only files can be transferred easily between different kinds of computers.ASCII code also includes characters to indicate backspace, carriage return, etc., but does not include accents and special letters not used in English.

Extended ASCII has additional characters (128-255).

ASCII characters

American Standard Code for Information Interchange characters.ASCII is a 7-bit binary http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=794> code for 128 characters, which include alphanumeric characters, punctuation marks, and control codes such as the end of line character.ASCII is the built-in character set in most minicomputers and all personal computers.Together with the original 128 characters, 128 more characters can be added for an extended set of 256 characters.

The second 128 characters are usually foreign language accents, math or graphics symbols, and other special symbols, but are not the same on all computers; DOS http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=219> and Windows have different standard sets, and the Macintosh http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=2950> allows users to define the second 128 characters.Other character sets include extended ASCII, ANSI http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=88>, EBCDIC http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=238>, and Unicode . ASIC

Application-Specific Integrated Circuit.A customized microchip http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=7697> which is designed for a specific application ASL

Age, Sex, Location.This term is used to ask someone his or her age, gender, and place of residence.Most often it is the first thing someone will ask when you enter a chat room..

ASM:

Association for Systems Management.An international organization which holds conferences for specialists in information systems management.

ASMO:

Formerly MO7 (Magneto-Optic7) technology, Advanced Storage Magneto Optical is a rewritable optical disk http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/ secondarydefinition.php?lookup=3497> technology that holds 7GB on a 12 cm disk..

ASMP:

ASymetric MultiProcessing.

ASPI:

Advanced SCSI Programming Interface.An interface from SCSI http://www.adaptec.com>.

ASPI:

Advanced SCSI Programming Interface.An interface from SCSI http://www.adaptec.com>.