bet from FOLDOC

BETA

Kristensen, Madsen <[email protected]>, Moller-Pedersen & Nygaard, 1983. Object-oriented language with block structure, coroutines, concurrency, strong typing, part objects, separate objects and classless objects. Central feature is a single abstraction mechanism called "patterns", a generalisation of classes, providing instantiation and hierarchical inheritance for all objects including procedures and processes.

Mjolner Informatics ApS, Aarhus, implementations for Mac, Sun, HP, Apollo.

E-mail: <[email protected]>.

Mailing list: <[email protected]>.

["Object-Oriented Programming in the BETA Programming Language", Ole Lehrmann et al, A-W June 1993, ISBN 0-201-62430-3].

[Jargon File]

Last updated: 1995-10-31

beta

/bay't*/, /be't*/ or (Commonwealth) /bee't*/

See beta conversion, beta test.

[Jargon File]

beta abstraction

[lambda-calculus] The conversion of an expression to an application of a lambda abstraction to an argument expression. Some subterm of the original expression becomes the argument of the abstraction and the rest becomes its body. E.g.

 4+1 --> (\ x . x+1) 4

The opposite of beta abstraction is beta reduction. These are the two kinds of beta conversion.

beta conversion

<theory>

A term from lambda-calculus for beta reduction or beta abstraction.

Last updated: 1999-01-15

Betamaxed

<jargon>

When a technology is overtaken in the market by inferior but better marketed competition. E.g. "Microsoft betamaxed Apple right out of the market". The Betamex videotape standard lost to VHS.

Last updated: 1999-01-15

beta reduction

[lambda-calculus] The application of a lambda abstraction to an argument expression. A copy of the body of the lambda abstraction is made and occurrences of the bound variable being replaced by the argument. E.g.

 (\ x . x+1) 4  -->  4+1

Beta reduction is the only kind of reduction in the pure lambda-calculus. The opposite of beta reduction is beta abstraction. These are the two kinds of beta conversion.

beta test

beta testing

<programming>

Evaluation of a pre-release (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of software (or possibly hardware) by making it available to selected users ("beta testers") before it goes on general distribution.

Beta testign aims to discover bugs that only occur in certain environments or under certain patterns of use, while reducing the volume of feedback to a manageable level. The testers benefit by having earlier access to new products, features and fixes.

Beta testing may be preceded by "alpha testing", performed in-house by a handful of users (e.g. other developers or friends), who can be expected to give rapid, high quality feedback on design and usability. Once the product is considered to be usable for its intended purpose it then moves on to "beta testing" by a larger, but typically still limited, number of ordinary users, who may include external customers.

Some companies such as Google or Degree Jungle stretch the definition, claiming their products are "in beta" for many months by millions of users.

The term derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints, first used at IBM but later standard throughout the industry. "Alpha test" was the unit test, module test or component test phase; "Beta Test" was initial system test. These themselves came from earlier A- and B-tests for hardware. The A-test was a feasibility and manufacturability evaluation done before any commitment to design and development. The B-test was a demonstration that the engineering model functioned as specified. The C-test (corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test performed on early samples of the production design.

Last updated: 2013-06-09

beta version

beta testing

Nearby terms:

best first search ♦ best fit ♦ BETA ♦ beta ♦ beta abstraction ♦ beta conversion

Try this search on Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Google, OneLook.