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Amiga Format 79
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af079a.adf
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Supp_Storage.lha
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Computers
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Computer Acronyms
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1995-10-25
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A
TERM MEANING
ABI Application Binary Interface
ACIA asynchronous communications interface
adapter
ACM Association for Computing Machinery
AEC Architecture, Engineering,
Construction
AFP AppleTalk Filing Protocol
AFS Andrew File System
AGA Advanced Graphics Architecture
(Amiga chip set found in the A1200
and A4000)
Al artificial intelligence
AIX Advanced Interactive eXecutive (IBM's
version of Unix)
ANSI American National Standards Institute
AOCE Apple Open Collaborative Environment
API application programming interface
APL A Programming Language
APPC Advanced Program-to-Program
Communications (IBM)
APPN Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking
(IBM)
APSE Ada Programming Support Environment
ARA AppleTalk Remote Access
ARM Advanced RISC machine; asynchronous
response mode
ASCII American Standard Code for
Information Interchange
ASIC application-specific integrated circuit
ASMP asymmetric multiprocessing
ASPI advanced SCSI programming interface
ATM asynchronous transfer mode; Adobe
Type Manager
ATP AppleTalk Transaction Protocol
AUI attachment unit interface
A/UX Apple's version of Unix
AVI Audio Video Interleave (Microsoft)
B
TERM MEANING
BASIC Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code
BBLT bus block transfer
BBS bulletin board system
BCD binary-coded decimal
BDOS basic disk operating system
BIOS basic input/output system
BISDN Broadband ISDN
BITBLT bit block transfer
BLMC buried logic macrocell
BLOb binary large object
BNC A connector for coaxial cables.
Bps bytes per second
bps bits per second
BSD Berkeley Software Distribution: A
version of Unix that was developed at
the University of California at
Berkeley.
C
TERM MEANING
CACP Central Arbitration Control Point
CAD computer-aided design
CADD computer-aided design and drafting
CAE computer-aided engineering
CAI computer-aided instruction
CAM computer-aided manufacturing;
common access method
CAMMU cache/memory management unit
CAS column-address strobe;
Communications Applications
Specification
CASE computer-aided software engineering
CATV community antenna television (cable
TV)
CBIOS compatibility BIOS
CBLT character block transfer
CCITT Comité Consultatif Internationale de
Telegraphique et Telephonique, or
Consultative Committee on
International Telegraphy and
Telephony.
CCD charge-coupled device
CDE Common Desktop Environment (COSE)
CD-I compact disc-interactive
CDMA code division multiple access
CDPD cellular digital packet data
CD-R compact disc-recordable
CD-ROM compact-disc read-only memory
CEMM Compaq Expanded Memory Manager
CGA Color Graphics Adapter
CISC complex instruction-set computer
CLI call level interface; command-line
interpreter
CMC Common Messaging Calls (XAPIA)
CMOS complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor
COM Common Object Model (Microsoft)
CORBA Common Object Request Broker
Architecture (OMG)
COSE Common Open Software Environment
CRC cyclic redundancy check
CSMA/CD carrier sense multiple access/collision
detection
CUA Common User Access
D
TERM MEANING
DA Desk Accessory (Apple); destination
address
DAC digital-to-analog converter
DAT digital audiotape
DBMS database management system
DDBMS distributed DBMS
DCE data communications equipment;
data circuit-terminating equipment;
Distributed Computing Environment
(OSF)
DCL Digital Command Language (DEC)
DDE Dynamic Data Exchange
DDL document description language;
data description language
DES Data Encryption Standard
DFS Distributed File System
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DIF Data Interchange Format
DIME Dual Independent Map Encoding
DLL dynamic link library
DMA direct memory access
DMI Desktop Management Interface (DMTF)
DMTF Desktop Management Task Force
DNS Domain Name System
DOE Distributed Objects Everywhere (Sun)
dpi dots per inch : A measure of screen
and printer resolution.
DPMI DOS Protected Mode Interface
DRAM dynamic RAM
DS/DD double-sided, double-density
DSOM Distributed System Object Model (IBM)
DSP digital signal processor
DSS decision support;
Digital Signature Standard
DTE data terminal equipment
DTMF dual-tone multi-frequency
DVI Digital Video Interactive
E
TERM MEANING
ECC error-correction code
ECL emitter-coupled logic
ECM error-correction mode
ECMA European Computer Manufacturers'
Association
ECS Enhanced Chip Set (Amiga)
EDI Electronic Data Interchange
EEMS Enhanced Expanded Memory
Specification
EEPROM electrically erasable programmable
ROM
EGA Enhanced Graphics Adapter
EIS executive information system
EISA Extended Industry Standard
Architecture
EMS Expanded Memory Specification
ENS Enterprise Memory Services (Banyan
Vines)
EPLD electrically programmable logic device
EPROM erasable programmable ROM
EPS Encapsulated PostScript
ER entity relationship
ERLL enhanced run length limited
ESDI enhanced small device interface
F
TERM MEANING
FAT file allocation table
FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface
FDHD floppy disk high-density
FDM frequency-division multiplexing
FDx full-duplex
FFS Fast File-System (Amiga)
FIFO first in, first out
FLOPS floating-point operations per second
4GL fourth-generation language
FPD full-page display
FPGA field programmable gate array
FPI floating-point interface
FPU floating-point unit
FTP file transfer protocol
G
TERM MEANING
GAL generic array logic
GB gigabyte; approximately one billion
bytes
GDDM Graphical Data Display Manager
GDI Graphical Device Interface
GEM Graphics Environment Manager
GFLOPS gigaFLOPS; billion floating-point
operations per second
GIF Graphics Interchange Format
GIS geographic information system
GPF general protection fault
GPI Graphics Programming Interface
GPIB general-purpose interface bus
GPSS General Purpose Simulation System
GPU graphics processing unit
GUI graphical user interface
H
TERM MEANING
HAL hardware abstraction layer
HDLC high-level data-link control
HDTV high-definition television
HDx half duplex
HFS Hierarchical File System (Apple)
HIPPI High Performance Parallel Interface
HLLAPI High-Level Language Application
Programming Interface
HMMU hardware memory management unit
HOB high-order byte
HPFS High Performance File System: (OS/2)
HPGL Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language
HP-IB Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus
HPPI High Performance Peripheral Interface
HP/UX Hewlett-Packard's version of Unix
HSM hierarchical storage management
HSYNC horizontal synchronization
HTML Hypertext Markup Language
HTTP Hypertext Transport Protocol;
also Hypertext Transfer Protocol
I
TERM MEANING
IAC Interapplication Communication
(Apple)
ICE in-circuit emulator
IDA Intelligent Drive Array
IDAPI Independent Database API (Borland)
IDE Integrated Drive Electronics
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IFF Interchange File Format
IGES Initial Graphics Exchange Specification
IMAP Interactive Mail Access Protocol
INT interrupt
IP Internet Protocol; also Internetwork
Protocol
IPC interprocess communications
IPX/SPX Internet Packet Exchange/Sequenced
Packet Exchange
IR instruction register
IRC interrupt request controller
IRQ interrupt request
ISA Industry Standard Architecture
ISAM indexed sequential-access method
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
ISO International Standards Organisation
ISR interrupt service routine
ISV independent software vendor
IT information technology
ITSEC Information Technology Security
Evaluation Criteria (European)
IXC interexchange carrier; also called IEC
J
TERM MEANING
JIS Japan Industrial Standard
JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group
K
TERM MEANING
KB kilobyte; 1024 bytes.
KBps kilobytes per second
Kbps kilobits per second
L
TERM MEANING
LAN local-area network
LATA Local Access and Transport Area
LDT local descriptor table
LIFO last in, first out
LIPS logical instructions per second
Lisp list processing
LLC logical link control
LOB low-order byte
LSB least-significant bit (or byte)
LSD least-significant digit
LSI large-scale integration
LZW Lempel-Ziv-Welch
M
TERM MEANING
MAC media access control
MAN metropolitan-area network
MAP Manufacturing Automation Protocol
MAPI Messaging API (Microsoft)
MASM Macro Assembler (Microsoft)
MB megabyte; approximately one million
bytes
Mb megabit; approximately on million bits
MCA Micro Channel architecture (IBM)
MCGA Multicolor Graphics Array
MCI media control interface
MDA Monochrome Display Adapter
MDI Multiple Document Interface
MDS Macintosh Development System;
Microprocessor Development System
MFC Microsoft Foundation Classes
MFLOPS megaFLOPS; million floating-point
operations per second
MFM modified frequency modulation
MFS Macintosh File System
MHS Message Handling Service
MIDI musical instrument digital interface
MIMD multiple instruction, multiple data
MIME Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
MIPS million instructions per second
MIS management information system
MMU memory management unit
MNP Microcom Networking Protocol
MPC Multimedia PC
MPEG Moving Pictures Experts Group
MPU microprocessor unit
MPW Macintosh Programmer's Workshop
MRCI Microsoft Real-Time Compression
Interface
ms millisecond; one thousandth of a
second
MSB most significant bit (or byte)
MSI medium-scale integration
MTBF mean time between failures
MVS Multiple Virtual Storage (IBM)
N
TERM MEANING
NAPLPS Northern American Presentation-Level
Protocol Syntax
NAU network access unit;
network addressable unit
NCSC National Computer Security Center
NDIS Network Driver Interface Specification
NDP numeric data processor
NDS NetWare Directory Service (Novell)
NetBIOS Network Basic Input/Output System
NetBEUI NetBios Extended User Interface
NFS Network File System (Sun)
NIC network interface card
NIS Network Information Service; formerly
Yellow Pages (Sun)
NIST National Institute of Standards and
Technology
NIU network interface unit
NLM NetWare loadable module
NMI nonmaskable interrupt
NNTP Network News Transport Protocol
NOS network operating system
ns nanosecond; one-billionth of a second
NTSC National Television Standards
Committee
O
TERM MEANING
OCR optical character recognition
OCS Old Chip Set (Amiga)
OCX OLE Control
ODAPI Open Database API
ODBC Open Database Connectivity
(Microsoft)
ODBMS Object DBMS; Object-oriented DBMS;
also called OODBMS
ODI Open Data-Link Interface
ODMA Open Document Management API
ODMG Object Database Management Group
OEM original-equipment manufacturer
OFS Old File-System (Amiga)
OLE Object Linking and Embedding
OLTP on-line transaction processing
OMG Object Management Group
ONC Open Network Computing (Sun)
OOFS object-oriented file system
OOP object-oriented programming
OOPL object-oriented programming language
OPROM optical programmable ROM
ORB Object Request Broker
OS operating system
OSF Open Software Foundation
OSI Open Systems Interconnection
OSPF Open Shortest Path First
OS/2 Operating System /2 (IBM)
OWL Object Windows Library (Borland)
P
TERM MEANING
PABX private automatic branch exchange
(now synonymous with PBX)
PAL phase alternate line;
programmable array logic;
Paradox Application Language
(Borland)
PBX private branch exchange
PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect
PCL printer control language
(Hewlett-Packard)
PCM pulse code modulation
PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association
PDA personal digital assistant
PDES Product Data Exchange Specification
PDL page-description language;
Program Design Language (Ada)
PDN public data network
PDO Portable Distributed Objects (Next)
PEEL programmable electronically erasable
logic
PEM Privacy Enhanced Mail
PERT Program Evaluation and Review
Technique
PGA pin grid array;
programmable gate array
PGL Professional Graphics Language
PHIGS Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive
Graphics Standard
PIA peripheral interface adapter
PIF program information file
PIM personal information manager
PIN positive intrinsic negative;
personal identification number
PLA programmable logic array
PLC programmable logic controller
PLD programmable logic device
PLE programmable logic element
PL/1 Programming Language/1
PMMU paged memory management unit
POP point-of-presence;
Post Office Protocol (POP 1,2, and 3)
POS Programmable Option Select
POSE Picture-Oriented Software
Engineering
POST power-on self test
POTS plain old telephone service
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
PRML partial-response maximum likelihood
PROM programmable read-only memory
Q
TERM MEANING
QEMM Quarterdeck Expanded Memory
Manager
QIC Quarter Inch Cartridge
R
TERM MEANING
RAID redundant arrays of inexpensive disks
RAM random-access memory
RAMDAC random-access memory digital-to-
analog converter
RAS row-address strobe
RDBMS relational database management
system
RFS Remote File System (AT&T)
RGB red-green-blue
RIP raster-image processor;
Routing Information Protocol;
Remote Imaging Protocol
RISC reduced-instruction-set computer
RLE run length encoding
RLL run length limited
RMW read, modify, write
ROM read-only memory
RPC remote procedure call
RSA Rivest-Shamir-Adleman
RTF Rich Text Format
RTN recursive transition network
RTV real-time video
S
TERM MEANING
SAA Systems Application Architecture
(IBM)
SANE Standard Apple Numeric Environment
SASI Shugart Associates system interface
SCSI small computer system interface
SDK Software Development Kit
SDLC synchronous data-link control
SGML Standard Generalised Markup Language
SHTTP Secure HTTP
SIMD single instruction, multiple data
SIMM single in-line memory module
SIP single in-line package
SIPP single in-line pin package
SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol
SMB Server Message Block
SMP symmetric multiprocessing
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SMPTE Society of Motion Picture & Television
Engineers
SNA Systems Network Architecture (IBM)
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
SOM System Object Model (IBM)
SPI Service Provider Interface
SQL Structured Query Language
SRAM static RAM
SSA Serial Storage Architecture
SSI small-scale integration
SS/SD single-sided, single density
SVGA SuperVGA
T
TERM MEANING
TalAE Taligent Application Environment
TASM Turbo Assembler (Borland)
Tcl Tool control language
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/
Internet Protocol
TCSEC Trusted Computer Systems Evaluation
Criteria (Orange Book)
TB terabyte; approximately one trillion
bytes.
TFTP Trivial File Transfer Protocol
TIFF Tagged Image File Format
TIGA Texas Instruments Graphics
Architecture
TOP Technical Office Protocol
TRAM transputer module
TSR terminate-and-stay resident
TTL transistor-transistor logic
TWAIN interface standard for imaging
peripherals; also toolkit without an
important name
U
TERM MEANING
UART universal asynchronous receiver/
transmitter
UAE unrecoverable applications error
UDP User Datagram Protocol
UPS uninterruptible power supply
URL Uniform Resource Locator
USART universal synchronous/asynchronous
receiver/transmitter
UUCP Unix-to-Unix copy
V
TERM MEANING
VAN value-added network
VAP value-added process
VAR value-added reseller
VBL vertical blanking interrupt
VBX Visual Basic Control
VCPI Virtual Control Program Interface
VERONICA
Very Easy Rodent-Oriented Netwide
Index to Computerized Archives
VESA Video Electronics Standards
Association
VFS Virtual File System
VGA Video Graphics Array
VIDC video controller
VIM Vendor-Independent Messaging
VIS Video Information System
VLIW very long instruction word
VLSI very large-scale integration
VME Virtual Machine Environment
VMS Virtual Memory System (DEC)
VRAM Video RAM
VSAM Virtual Storage Access Method (IBM)
VSYNC vertical synchronisation
W
TERM MEANING
WAIS Wide Area Information Server;
also Wide Area Information Service
WAN wide-area network
WIMP windows, icons, menus and pointing
device
WISC writable instruction set computer
WORM write once, read many times
WOSA Windows Open Services Architecture
WWW World Wide Web
WYSIWYG what-you-see-is-what-you-get
X
TERM MEANING
XA Extended Architecture
XAPIA X.400 API Association
XCMD external command: A user-defined
command that uses built-in Macintosh
code to extend the features of
HyperCard.
XGA Extended Graphics Array
XMS Extended Memory Specification: A set
of rules defining a software interface
that provides DOS applications with
access to extended memory.
XON/XOFF
telecommunications control protocol
XOR exclusive-OR
XPG X/Open Portability Guide
Z
TERM MEANING
ZBR zone-bit recording
ZCAV zone constant angular velocity
ZIF zero insertion force
ZIP zig-zag in-line package/pin