Software engineering glossary

STING software engineering glossary

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4GL
Fourth generation language.
88open
A consortium with the aim of creating a multivendor open computing environment based on the Motorola 88000 RISC processor family.

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AAP DTD
A DTD for a standard SGML document type for scientific documents, defined by the AAP.
AAP
The Association of American Publishers: engaged in standardisation efforts in document preparation.
ABI
Application Binary Interface: the interface by which an application program gains access to operating system and other services, designed to permit porting of compiled binary applications between systems with the same ABI.
Abstract Class
In object-oriented programming, a class designed only as a parent from which sub-classes may be derived, but which is not itself suitable for instantiation. Often used to "abstract out" incomplete sets of features which may then be shared by a group of sibling sub-classes which add different variations of the missing pieces.
ACA
Application Control Architecture: DEC's implementation of ORB
ACE
Advanced Computing Environment: a consortium to agree on an open architecture based on the MIPS R4000 chip. A computer architecture ARCS will be defined, on which either OS/2 or Open Desktop can be run.
ACE
Adaptive Communication Environment, a C++ Wrapper Library for communications from the University of California at Irvine.
ACM
Association for Computing Machinery.

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Actis
An approach to integrated CASE by Apollo.
Active object
An object that encompasses its own thread of control.
Active DBMS
A conventional or passive DBMS combined with a means of event detection and condition monitoring. Event handling is often rule-based, as with an expert system.
Actor
In object-oriented programming, an object which exists as a concurrent process. (Also a term in Chorus denoting the unit of resource allocation).
Actra
A multiprocessor Smalltalk project.
AD/Cycle
(AD = Application Development): a set of SAA-compatible IBM-sponsored products for program development, running on workstations accessing a central repository on a mainframe. The stages cover requirements, analysis and design,production of the application, building and testing, and maintenance. Technologies used include code generators and knowledge based systems, as well as languages and debuggers.
Ada
A high-level computer language sponsored by the US Department of Defense. It has a multitasking mechanism, and a number of features useful for software engineering.
Adaline
Name given by Widrow to ADAptive LInear NEurons, that is neurons (seeMcCulloch-Pitts) which learn using the Widrow-Huff Delta Rule (see also Madaline).
ADAMO
A data management system written at CERN based on the Entity-Relationship model.

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Adaptable User Interface
A toolkit from Oracle allowing applications to be written portably for different windowing systems. It provides one call level interface along with a resource manager and editor across a range of "standard" GUIs, including Macintosh, Windows and the X Window System.
Adaptive learning
Learning in which a system programs itself by adjusting weights or strengths until it produces the desired output. Same as Hebbian.
ADDD
A Depository of Development Documents. A public domain Software Engineering Environment from GMD developed as part of the STONE project.
ADL
API Definition Language. A project for Automatic Interface Test Generation.

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ADT
Abstract Data Type: a class of data structures described by means of a set of operations rather than by physical representation, such as a class in object-oriented programming..
Aegis
A CASE tool for project change management, part of the GNU software.
AEP
Application environment profile .
AES
Application environment specification: a set of specifications from OSF for programming and user interfaces, aimed at providing a consistent application environment on different hardware platforms. It includes O/S for the operating system (user commands and program interfaces), U/E for the User Environment (Motif), and N/S for Network services.
AFIPS
American Federation of Information Processing Societies.
AFNOR
Association Francaise pour la Normalisation: the French national standards institute, a member of ISO.
AFS
Andrew File System .
AGL
Atelier de Genie Logiciel: French for IPSE.
AI
Artificial Intelligence .
AIA
Application Integration Architecture: DEC's "open standards" specifications.
AIFF
Audio IFF. A format developed by Apple for storing high-quality sampled sound and musical instrument info; also used by SGI and several professional audio packages.
AIX
Advanced Interactive eXecutive: IBM's version of UNIX, taken as the basis for the OSF standard.
Algol
A high-level programming language developed in the 1950s .
Algorithm
A systematic procedure guaranteed to produce a result after a finite number of steps.
Alvey
A funding programme for collaborative research in the UK.
Amoeba
A distributed operating system developed by A.Tanenbaum and others at Amsterdam.
AMS
Andrew Message System.
Analysis
The part of the software development process concerned with defining the requirements for the product.
ANDF
Architecture-Neutral Distribution Format: an emerging OSF standard for software distribution. Programs are compiled into ANDF before distribution, and executables are produced from it for the local target system.
Andrew File System
The distributed file system of the Andrew project, adopted by the OSF as part of their DCE.
Andrew Message System
A multimedia interface to electronic mail and bulletin boards, developed as part of the Andrew project
Andrew Project
A distributed system project for support of educational and research computing at Carnegie Mellon University.

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Andrew Toolkit
A portable user interface toolkit developed as part of the Andrew project, running on the X Window System and distributed with X11R5.
ANL
Argonne National Laboratory, USA.
Anna
A specification language from Stanford University for formally specifying Ada programs. It has a Specification Analyzer and a Consistency Checking System.
Annealing
A technique which can be applied to any minimization or learning process based on successive update steps (either random or deterministic) where the update step length is proportional to an arbitrarily set parameter which can play the role of a temperature. Then, in analogy with the annealing of metals, the temperature is made high in the early stages of the process for faster minimization or learning, then is reduced for greater stability.
ANSA
Advanced Network Systems Architecture: a "software bus" based on a model for distributed systems developed as an Esprit project.
ANSI Z39.50
Information Retrieval Service Definition and Protocol Specification for Library Applications. This standard specifies an OSI application layer service to allow an application on one computer to query a database on another; it is used by WAIS.
ANSI/SPARC Architecture
A layered model of database architecture comprising a physical schema, a conceptual schema, and user views.
ANSI
American National Standards Institute, responsible for approving U.S. standards in many areas, including computers and communications. ANSI is a member of ISO.

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AOCE
Apple Open Collaboration Environment. A set of software for e-mail, directory services etc.
APA
Application Portability Architecture: DEC's plan for portable applications software.
apE
A graphics package from the Ohio Supercomputer Centre .
API
Application Program Interface: a term for the interface by which an application program gains access to operating system and other services, defined at source-code level.
APL
A Programming Language developed by Iverson for mathematical applications.
Apollo
Apollo Computer, now a division of Hewlett-Packard, also the name of a range of workstations manufactured by this company.
AppKit
A set of objects used by the application builder for the NeXTstep environment.
Apple
Apple Computer Inc, manufacturers of the Macintosh range of Personal Computers.
Appletalk
The proprietary local area network protocol developed by Apple for their Macintosh range of processors. Current implementations exist on Localtalk and Ethertalk.
APSE
Ada Programming Support Environment.
ARC
(Previously ARCS) Advanced RISC Computing Specification: the standard hardware architecture of ACE., specifying the baseline hardware requirements to create ACE-compatible systems.
Archie
An archive server database and query system operated by the McGill University School of Computer Science. Services remote requests for information on software kept on archives worldwide and available via ftp.
ARCS
see ARC.
ARL
ASSET Reuse Library.
ARPANET
U.S. Department of Defense (DARPA) wide area network. It became operational in 1968 and was the forerunner of the Internet.
Artifex
A CASE environment from ARTIS of Turin for the development of large event-driven distributed systems. It has code-generation and rapid prototyping features.

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Artificial Intelligence
The subfield of computer science concerned with the concepts and methods of symbolic inference by computer, and the symbolic representation of the knowledge to be used in making inferences.

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ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
ASDL
Abstract-Type and Scheme-Definition Language: developed as part of Esprit project GRASPIN, as a basis for generating language-based editors and environments. It combines an object-oriented type system, syntax-directed translation schemes and a target-language interface.
ASE
Advanced Software Environment: an object-oriented application support system from Nixdorf.
ASIC
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit: an integrated circuit designed to perform a particular function by defining the interconnection of a set of basic circuit building blocks drawn from a library provided by the circuit manufacturer.
ASIS
Application Software Installation Server at CERN .

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ASME
American Society of Mechanical Engineers: involved in CAD standardisation.
ASN.1
Abstract Syntax Notation 1: an ISO/CCITT standard for the description of data. It is intended to facilitate the exchange of data between application programs.
ASPECT
An IPSE developed by an Alvey project, using Z to specify the object-management system and tool interface.
ASSET
Asset Source for Software Engineering Technology. A programme to promote software reuse by the DoD.

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AtFS
Attributed File System: the basis of the Shape_VC toolkit. Cooperative work within projects is supported by a status model controlling visibility of version objects, locking, and "long transactions" for synchronizing concurrent updates. The concept of object attributes provides a basis for storing management information with versions and passing this information between individual tools. This mechanism is useful for building integrated environments from a set of unrelated tools.
Athena
Project Athena: a distributed system project for support of educational and research computing at MIT. Much of the software developed is now in wider use, especially the X Window System
Atherton
Atherton Technology developed the Software BackPlane CASE framework. Their Atherton Tool Integration Services were the basis for the ATIS standard.
ATIS
A Tools Integration Standard: an object-oriented interface to a set of services that allows the saving, accessing, and managing of information in a common repository. Developed by Atherton Technology and DEC, based on an extended version of the Software BackPlane, now proposed as an industry standard.
ATK
The Andrew Toolkit
AUI
Adaptable User Interface from Oracle.
AutoCAD
A CAD software package for mechanical engineering marketed by Autodesk Inc.
AVS
Application Visualisation System: a portable modular UNIX-based graphics package supported by a consortium of vendors including Convex, DEC, IBM, HP, SET Technologies, Stardent and WaveTracer.
AWK
A pattern scanning and processing language named after its authors: Aho, Weinberger and Kernighan.
aXe
A text editor for the X-Window-System.
Bachman
Proposed a style of Entity-Relationship modeling which differs from the original Chen proposals.
Back-propagation
An important algorithm for learning in feed-forward networks which makes use of a mathematical trick when the network is simulated on a digital computer, yielding in just two traversals of the network (once forward, and once back) both the difference between the desired and actual output, and the derivatives of this difference with respect to the connection weights.
Backus Naur
A formal language for syntax specification.
Baseline
See Released version.
BASIC
Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code: a programming language, usually interpreted, suitable for simple applications.
BBN
Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.,of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was awarded the original contract to build the ARPANET and has been extensively involved in Internet development. It is responsible for managing NNSC, CSNET, and NEARnet.
BCS
Binary Compatibility Standard: the ABI of 88open.
BCS
British Computer Society.
BEA
Basic programming Environment for interactive-graphical Applications, from Siemens-Nixdorf.
Bedrock
A C++ class library for Macintosh user interface portability.
Benchmark
A standard set of programs which can be run on different platforms to compare performance.

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Berkeley UNIX
see BSD.
BETA
An object-oriented language and associated programming environment from Mjolner, Aarhus.
BITNET
An academic and research network connecting approximately 2500 computers, often IBM mainframes. It provides interactive electronic mail, and file transfer services via a store-and-forward technique based on IBM NJE protocols. BITNET traffic and Internet traffic are exchanged via several gateway hosts. It is now operated by CREN.
BOCS
Berard Object and Class Specifier, an Object-oriented CASE tool from Berard Software Engineering.
BNF
Backus-Naur Form.
Boehm B.
Proposed the COCOMO technique for evaluating the cost of a software project.
Bookreader
DEC's CD-ROM-based online documentation browser.
Bookviewer
A hypertext documentation system from Oracle based on Oracle Toolkit. It allows the user to create private links and bookmarks, and to make multimedia annotations.
BOS
A data management system written at DESY and used in some HEP programs.
Bourne shell
A common UNIX shell

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Browser
A tool for navigating around hypertext documents.
BSD
Berkeley Source Distribution: the versions of UNIX developed and distributed by the University of California at Berkeley. Many commercial UNIX implementations such as SunOS and Dynix are derived from it.
BSI
British Standards Institution: a member of ISO.
BSP method
A CASE method from IBM .
Byte
A data unit of several bits smaller than a computer word: usually 8 bits.
C++
An extension to the C language developed primarily by B.Stroustrup at AT&.T Bell Laboratories: it supports object-oriented programming among other enhancements.

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C Beautifier
A tool for tidying the syntax of C source code.
c shell
A common UNIX shell originating on Berkeley UNIX.

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C
A language developed in conjunction with the UNIX operating system at AT&.T Bell Laboratories by D.Ritchie and now an ANSI standard. It has grown popular due to its simplicity, efficiency, and flexibility. C programs are often easily adapted to new environments.

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Cache
A small fast memory holding recently-accessed data, designed to speed up further access.
CACI
A company marketing SIMSCRIPT, MODSIM, and other simulation software products.
CACM
Communications of the ACM.
CAD/CAM
Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing.(see CAD)
CAD
Computer Aided Design: usually applied to that part of CAE which has to do with the drawing or physical layout steps of engineering design.
CADD
Computer Aided Detector Design: a project to develop standards and methods to allow cooperation between HEP detector designers working in different institutes.

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CADRE
A software engineering vendor in the US.
CAE
Common Applications Environment of X/Open, based on POSIX and C.
CAE
Computer Aided Engineering: a technique for using computers to help with all phases of engineering design work. As CAD, but also involving the conceptual and analytical design steps.
CAIS-A
Common APSE Interface Set: DoD-STD-1838A.
CAIS
Common APSE Interface Specification.
CAiSE
Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering.
CALS
Computer-Aided Acquisition and Logistics Support: a DoD standard for electronic exchange of data with commercial suppliers.
CARDS
Central Archive for Reusable Defense Software of the DoD .
CASE*Method
An analysis and design method from Oracle, targeted at information management applications.
CASE framework
A set of products and conventions that allow CASE tools to be integrated into a coherent environment.
CASE tools
Software tools to help in the application of CASE methods to a software project.
CASE
Computer Aided Software Engineering: a technique for using computers to help with the systematic analysis, design, implementation and maintenance of software. Adopting the CASE approach to building and maintaining systems involves software tools and training for the developers who will use them.
CAST
Computer Aided Software Testing.
CATE
Computer Aided Test Engineering: CASE methods applied to electronics testing and linked to CAE
cb
C Beautifier.
CCITT
A committee of the ITU responsible for making technical recommendations about telephone and data communication systems for PTTs and suppliers. Plenary sessions are held every four years to adopt new standards.
CCS
Common Communication Services: the standard program interface to networks in SAA.
CDA
Compound Document Architecture: DEC's set of standards for compound document creation, storage, retrieval, interchange and manipulation.
CDC
Control Data Corporation
CDD/Plus
DEC's CASE repository.
CDE
C Development environment from IDE
CDE
Common Desktop Environment. A Desktop manager from COSE

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CDF
Common Data Format. A library and toolkit for multi-dimensional data sets.

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CDM
Content Data Model. An SGML-based DoD specification for interactive manuals.
CDIF
CASE Data Interchange Format: an emerging standard.for interchange of data between CASE tools.
CEN
Conseil Europeen pour la Normalisation: a body coordinating standardisation activities in the EEC and EFTA. countries.
CERN
The European Laboratory for Particle Physics.
CERNLIB
The CERN Program Library

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CENELEC
CEN-electricite.
CGI
Common Gateway Interface. A standard for running external programs under a WWW or similar information server.

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CGI
A (French) software engineering vendor in the US.
CGM
Computer Graphics Metafile: a standard file format for storage and communication of graphical information, widely used on personal computers and accepted by desktop publishing systems. (ANSI/ISO 8632-1987).
Change Management
A consistent set of techniques that aid in evolution, composition and policy management of the design and implementation of an object or system.
Charm
A portable parallel programming system.

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Chen
Peter Chen developed the Entity-Relationship model.
CHEOPS
A satellite-based batch data dissemination project between CERN and member state institutes.
Child version
A version of a version. See change management.
CHILL
CCITT High-Level Language. A real-time language used in telecommunications.
Chorus
A distributed operating system developed at INRIA.
CICERO
Control Information system Concepts based on Encapsulated Real-time Objects. A CERN DRDC proposal.
CIL
Component Integration Laboratories. An effort to create a common framework for interoperability between applications on desktop platforms, formed by Apple, IBM, Novell, Oracle, Taligent, WordPerfect, and Xerox.

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CIM
Computer Integrated Manufacturing.
CIS
Case Integration Services: a committee formed to discuss CASE tool integration standards related to ATIS.
CISC
Complex Instruction Set Computer.
CISI
A French software house.
Class-Relation Method
A design technique based on the concepts of object-oriented programming and the Entity-Relationship model from the French company Softeam.
Class
A language developed by the Andrew Project: one of the first attempts to add object-oriented features to C.
Class
The prototype for an object in an object-oriented language; analogous to a derived type in a procedural language.
Class library
A library of reusable classes for use with an object-oriented programming system.

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Cleanroom
A software development approach aimed at producing software with the minimum number of errors.
Client
A system or process that requests a service from another system or process.
CLHEP
A C++ class library for high energy physics applications.

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CLOS
Common Lisp Object System: an object-oriented language derived from Common Lisp.
CLU
An object-oriented programming language developed at MIT by Liskov et al.
CLX
The Common Lisp interface to the X Window System, equivalent to Xlib.
CM
Configuration Management.
CMA
Concert Multithread Architecture from DEC .
CMS
A code management system from DEC.
CMVC
Configuration Management Version Control from IBM.
CMZ
A portable interactive code management system from CodeME S.A.R.L in use in the high-energy physics community.
CNET
Centre national d'Etudes des Telecommunications: the French national telecommunications research centre at Lannion.
CNRI
Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Reston, VA. A US research and development organisation in information processing technology.

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COBOL
COmmon Business Oriented Language: an early and widely-used programming language for business applications.
COCOMO
Constructive Cost Model: a method for evaluating the cost of a software package proposed by B.Boehm, "Software Engineering Economics" Prentice-Hall 1987.
Codd's First Normal Form
see Normal Form.
Code Management
A source code management system helps program developers keep track of version history, releases, parallel versions etc. There are several in popular use.

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CodeCenter
A proprietary software development environment for C programs, offering an integrated toolkit for developing, testing, debugging and maintainance (formerly Saber-C)
Cognitech
A French software house specialising in Artificial Intelligence.
COHESION
DEC's CASE environment.
COM
Common Object Model. An open architecture from DEC and Microsoft, allowing interoperation between ObjectBroker and OLE.

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COMIS
a COMpilation and Interpretation System. A FORTRAN interpreter use by the PAW system.

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COMNET
A simulation tool from CACI for analysing wide-area voice or data networks, based on SIMSCRIPT..
Compaq
A US manufacturer of IBM PC-compatibles.
Compression
Data files are often compressed to take up less network bandwidth, memory etc. Common examples are program executables and visual images. Many algorithms and utilities exist for this.

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Concrete Class
In object-oriented programming, a class suitable to be instantiated.(as opposed to an abstract class).
Concurrent Clean
A functional language for the Macintosh from the University of Nijmegen.
Configuration management
The process of identifying, defining, recording and reporting the configuration items in a system and the change requests. Controlling the releases and change of the items throughout the life-cycle See also code management .
Constructor
A function provided by a class in C++ to instantiate an object.
Container class
A class whose instances are collections of other objects. Examples include stacks, queues, lists and arrays.
CooL
Combined object-oriented Language from the ITHACA Esprit project, which combines C-based languages with database technology.
COOL
A class library for C++ from Texas Instruments.

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CORBA
Common Object Request Broker Architecture: an OMG specification.

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Cortex
An experimental slow controls project at CERN .

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COS
Corporation for Open Systems: an international consortium of computer users and vendors, set up to provide ways of testing OSI implementations.
COSE
Common Open Software Environment. An initiative by Hewlett-Packard, Sun, IBM, Novell, Univel and SCO to move towards consistency and interopability between Unix suppliers.
COSS
Common Object Services Specification in CORBA.
COSINE
Cooperation for Open Systems Interconnection Networking in Europe. A EUREKA project.
CPI
Common Program Interface: the API of SAA.
CPU
Central Processing Unit, usually applied to that part of a computer which carries out the arithmetic and controls the instruction flow.
CRAY
Cray Research Inc.: manufacturers of a range of large powerful mainframes.
CREN
Corporation for Research and Educational Networking: responsible for providing networking service to BITNET and CSNET users.
cron
The clock daemon in UNIX that executes commands at specified dates and times according to instructions in a file.

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Cross software
Software developed on one kind of computer for use on another (usually because the other computer does not have itself adequate facilities for software development).
CSCW
Computer Supported Cooperative Work (also known as Groupware): software tools and technology to support groups of people working together on a project, often at different sites.

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csh
See c shell
cshell
See c shell
CSMA/CD
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection: a network arbitration scheme used on Ethernet. A station with a message to send starts sending if there is no carrier detected on the transmission medium. If a collision occurs, transmission is abandoned and retried after a delay.
CSNET
Computers and Science Network, operated by CREN for US computer science institutes. It provides electronic mail service via dial-up lines, plus X.25 and Internet services.
CSP
Communicating Sequential Processes.
CUA
Common User Access: the User Interface standard of SAA.
curses
A set of subroutines in UNIX for handling navigation on a terminal screen using the cursor.

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CVS
A code management system based on RCS .
CWI
Dutch Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science, Amsterdam.
DAA
Distributed Application Architecture: under design by Hewlett-Packard and Sun. A distributed object management environment that will allow applications to be developed independent of operating system, network or windowing system.
DACNOS
A prototype network operating system for multivendor environments, from IBM European Networking Centre Heidelberg and University of Karlsruhe.
daemon
A process running in the background performing some service (such as handling print queues) in UNIX or other operating systems.
DARPA
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency of the US Department of Defense,.responsible for the development of new technology, including ARPANET.
DASE
Distributed Application Support Environment .
Data base
See DBMS
Data Definition Language
A language enabling the structure and instances of a database to be defined in a human- and machine-readable form.
Data dictionary
A set of data descriptions that can be shared by several applications.
Data Flow Diagram
A graphical notation used to describe how data flows between processes in a system. An important tool of most structured analysis techniques.
Data Model
A set of data structures with manipulation and validation operators for general purpose usage. Examples are the Entity-Relationship model and NIAM
Database
See DBMS.
Datacom
A DBMS from Computer Associates International..
DATATRIEVE
A query and report system for use with DEC's VMS system (RMS, VAX Rdb/VMS or VAX DBMS).
DataViews
Graphical user interface development software from V.I.Corporation, aimed at constructing platform-independent interactive views of dynamic data.
DAZIX
Daisy/Cadnetix Corporation: a supplier of digital electronic CAE systems.
DB2
A DBMS from IBM.
DB
Database.
DBA
DataBase Administrator.
dBASE III
A DBMS from Ashton-Tate Corporation.
DBMS
Database management system: such systems typically manage large structured sets of persistent data, offering ad hoc query facilities to many users. They are widely used in business applications: commercial examples include Ingres, Oracle, Sybase etc.
DCA
Document Content Architecture.from IBM
DCE
Distributed Computing Environment from OSF.
DD
Data Dictionary.
DDE Manager
An Oracle product that lets Windows applications that support the DDE protocol act as front end tools for Oracle. It allows applications like Excel, Word, Ami Professional, WingZ, and ToolBook to query, update, graph, and report information stored in Oracle.
DDE protocol
Dynamic Data Exchange: a Microsoft protocol that allows Windows applications to communicate using a client/server model.
DDIF
Digital Document Interchange Format. A CDA specification for representing compound documents in revisable format; a DEC standard for document encoding.
DDL
Data definition language.
DDL
Document Description Language.
DEC
Digital Equipment Corporation: a computer manufacturer and software vendor.
DECdesign
A software analysis and design tool from DEC supporting several methodologies.
DECdns
Distributed Naming Service: adopted by OSF as the naming service for DCE.
DECnet
The network marketed by DEC to connect its computers together.
DECstation
A range of RISC based workstations manufactured by DEC.
DECwindows
DEC's windowing environment based on the X Window System.
DECwrite
DEC's CDA-based, WYSIWYG document processing application. It can generate and import SGML marked-up documents.
Delta
The information which differentiates a version from members of its immediate family. See change management
Delta-4
Definition and Design of an open Dependable Distributed system architecture. An Esprit project investigating the achievement of dependability in open distributed systems, including real-time systems.
DELTASE
A distributed processing environment concerned with fault-tolerant and process-control applications from the Esprit Delta-4 project.
DeMarco
Tom DeMarco proposed a form of Structured Analysis.
Demeter
A CASE tool developed mainly by Karl Lieberherr (see Aug/Sep 1988 issue of JOOP, OOPSLA '89 Proceedings "Contributions to Teaching Object-Oriented Design and Programming")
Design
Design is usually considered to be the phase of software development following analysis, and concerned with how the problem is to be solved.
Design recovery
A subset of reverse engineering in which domain knowledge, external information, and deduction of fuzzy reasoning are added to the observations of the subject system to identify meaningful higher level abstraction beyond those obtained directly by examining the system itself.
Desktop manager
A user interface to system services, usually icon and menu based like the Macintosh Finder, enabling the user to run applications and use a filing system without directly using the command language of the operating system.
DESQview
A system from Quarterdeck Office Systems implementing multitasking under MS-DOS.
Destructor
A function provided by a class in C++ to delete an object.
DESY
Deutsches Electronen Synchrotron Laboratory, Hamburg, Germany.
Development
The process of analysis, design, coding and testing software.
DFD
Data Flow Diagram.
DGL
Data Generation Language: a tool for generating test data for hardware or software systems.
DGL
The distributed version of GL .
Dhrystone
A benchmark program in C and Ada.
DIALOG
A commercial bibliographic database and retrieval service from DIALOG Information Services.
DIN
Deutsche Institut fuer Normung: the German standardisation body, a member of ISO.
DIP
Document Image Processing: storage, management and retrieval of images.
Dirt
Design In Real Time: a user interface builder for the X Window System by R.Hesketh
Display PostScript
An extended form of PostScript permitting its interactive use with bitmap displays.
DL/I
The data manipulation language of IMS.
DLM
Distributed Lock Manager on distributed VMS systems.
DME
Distributed Management Environment: an OSF standard presently at the RFT stage.
DNS
Distributed Name Service: see DECdns.
Document Examiner
A high-performance hypertext system by Symbolics that provides on-line access to their user documentation.
Document Style Semantics and Specification Language
An ISO standard under preparation, addressing the semantics of high-quality composition in a manner independent of particular formatting systems or processes. DSSSL is intended as a complementary standard to SGML for the specification of semantics.
DoD-STD-2167A
A DoD standard specifying the overall process of development and documentation for mission-critical software.
DoD-STD-2168
A DoD standard for software quality assurance procedures.
DoD
The US Department of Defense, responsible for sponsoring many standards in the software engineering field.

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DOE
Distributed Object Environment: a distributed object-oriented application framework from SunSoft.
Domain
Distributed Operating Multi Access Interactive Network:the proprietary network protocol used by Apollo workstations.
DOMF
Distributed Object Management Facility: an OMG-compliant object management system; part of DOE. from SunSoft.
DOORS
Dynamic Object Oriented Requirements System.
DORIS
3-10 GeV center of mass electron-positron storage ring/collider at DESY.
DPS
Display PostScript.
DRAGON
An Esprit project aimed at providing effective support to reuse in real-time distributed Ada applications..
DRAGOON
A distributed concurrent object-oriented Ada-based language from the Esprit DRAGON project.
DSE
Data Structure Editor.
DSEE
Domain Software Engineering Environment: a proprietary CASE framework and configuration management system from Apollo.
DSP
Digital Signal Processing.
DSS
Decision Support Systems. Software tools to help with management tasks.
DSSSL
Document Style Semantics and Specification Language.
DTD
Document Type Definition: the definition of a document type in SGML, consisting of a set of markup tags and their interpretation.
DTLS
Descriptive Top-Level Specification language: used in POSIX and TRUSIX.
DTP
Desktop publishing.
DTS
Distributed Time Service .
DVI
Device independent file format. A dvi file containing a description of the formatted document is the usual output of TeX .
E
A database progamming language developed for the EXODUS project.
E-mail
See Electronic mail .
EARN
European Academic and Research Network. A self-managing network in the research community originally sponsored by IBM. It uses BITNET protocols and connects to BITNET in the U.S.
EAST
A Eureka project developing a software engineering platform.
ECFA
European Committee for Future Accelerators. This body, whose principal role is to take care of Europe's requirements for future particle accelerators, has also looked at particle physics data handling on a European-wide basis.
ECHT
European Conference on Hypertext.
ECIP2
An Esprit Project on the definition of a specification language at the requirement level.
ECIS
European Committee for Interoperable Systems.
ECMA
European Computer Manufacturers Association.

More information.

ECOOP
European Conference on Object-oriented Programming.
EDA
Product line from Dazix .
Eden
An object-oriented distributed operating system based on an RPC mechanism .
EDI
Electronic Data Interchange: a set of standards for exchanging orders and other business transactions by electronic mail.
EDIF
Electronic Design Interchange Format .
EDMS
Electronic Document Management System.
EER
An extended entity-relationship model .
EHTS
Emacs HyperText System: an experimental multiuser hypertext system from the University of Aalborg. It consists of a text editor (based on Epoch and GNU Emacs and written in elisp) and a graphical browser (based on XView and written in C) running under the X Window System and OpenWindows Both tools use HyperBase as database.
Eiffel
An object-oriented programming language developed by B.Meyer et al. and commercialised by ISE.

More information.

Electronic Mail
A system allowing computer users to exchange messages via a network.
Ellemtel
A C++ style guide originated by Ellemtel Telecom Systems, Stockholm.
emacs
A popular editor and associated utilities for UNIX from the FSF
email
See Electronic mail .
EMDIR
The CERN Electronic Mail DIRectory utility.
Encapsulation
The ability to provide users with a well-defined interface to a set of functions in a way which hides their internal workings. In object-oriented programming, the technique of keeping together data structures and the methods (procedures) which act on them.
Entity-Relationship diagram
A type of diagram used in the Entity-Relationship model.
Entity-Relationship
An approach to data modelling proposed by P.Chen in 1976.
EOUG
European ORACLE Users Group.
EPCS
Experimental Physics Control Systems: a group of the European Physical Society, focussing on all aspects of controls, especially informatics, in experimental physics, including accelerators and experiments.
Epoch
A version of GNU Emacs for the X Window system from NCSA.
EPS
Encapsulated PostScript.
ER
Entity-Relationship.
ERA
Entity-Relationship-Attribute.
ERC
An extended entity-relationship model .
ERCIM
European Research Consortium on Informatics and Mathematics. An association of European research organizations promoting cooperative research on key issues in information technology.

More information.

ERD
Entity-relationship diagram.
ESA
European Space Agency.

More information on ESA software standards.

ESF
Eureka Software Factory.
ESI
European Software Institute.

More information.

ESML
Extended Systems Modelling Language: a real-time software engineering methodology based on RTSA.
Esprit
A funding programme to develop Informatics in the EEC.
Estelle
A formal description technique developed for OSI protocol specification.
Ethernet
A 10-megabit/second local area network developed by Xerox and now widely adopted. Hosts are connected to a coaxial cable, and transmission conflicts are avoided by backing off and re-sending later. IEEE standard 802.3 defines the hardware and transport layers of the network.
ETM
An active DBMS from the University of Karlsruhe.
EUNET
The European UNIX network: a self-managing network in the UNIX user community.
Eureka
A European technological development programme.
EUUG
European UNIX User Group.
EWOS
European Workshop for Open Systems.
Excelerator
A set of CASE tools from Index Technology Corp.
eXodus
A package from White Pines allowing the Macintosh to be used as an X server.
EXODUS
An extensible database project developed at the University of Wisconsin.
Expert system
An intelligent computer program that contains a knowledge base, specialized software, and a set of algorithms or rules that infer new facts from knowledge and from incoming data.
Express
A data modelling language adopted by the ISO working group on STEP.
Extensible database
A DBMS that allows access to data from remote sources as if it were part of the database.
EXUG
European X User Group.

More information.

FATMEN
A distributed file and tape management system for HEP data.

More information.

FDDI
Fiber Distributed Data Interface: a new ANSI standard for a 100 megabits/second fibre optic token ring local area network
FEA
Finite Element Analysis.
Feature
An attribute or function of a class in Eiffel.
Feed-forward
A multilayer perceptron network in which the outputs from all neurons (see McCulloch-Pitts) go to following but not preceding layers, so there are no feedback loops.
FFT
Fast Fourier Transform
FIMS
Form Interface Management System.
FIPS
Federal Information Processing Standard: U.S. Government standards.
FITS
Flexible Image Transport System. The standard data interchange and archive format of the astronomy community.

More information.

FNAL
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Illinois, USA).
Floppy
A Fortran coding convention checker. The latest version has a feature for generating HTML.

More information.

Foresight
A software product from Nu Thena providing graphical modelling tools for high level system design and simulation.
FORML
Formal Object Role Modeling Language.
FORTH
Greek FOundation for Research and Technology.

More information.

FORTRAN
FORmula TRANslating system: a programming language widely used for many years in scientific applications.
Forward delta
The delta which, when combined with a version, creates a child version. See change management
Forward engineering
The traditional process of moving from high-level abstractions and logical, implementation-independent designs to the physical implementation of a system.
FORWISS
Bayerische Forschungszentrum fuer Wissensbasierte Systeme (Bavarian research centre for knowledge-based systems) in Passau.

More information (in German).

Fourth generation language
A high-level language, usually non-procedural, to allow users inexperienced in programming to develop database applications.
Framework
In object-oriented systems, a set of classes that embodies an abstract design for solutions to a number of related problems.
FrameMaker
Commercial publishing software available on a wide variety of workstations and addressing technical and scientific needs.

More information.

FreeHEP
An organisation offering a repository of software and related information for high energy physics applications.

More information.

Fresco
An object-oriented API for graphical user interfaces, under development by the X consortium as an open, multi-vendor standard.
Friend
Relationship between classes in the language C++.
FSF
Free Software Foundation (675 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA): dedicated to promoting the development and use of free software, especially the GNU system.
FSM
Finite State Machine .
FTAM
File Transfer, Access, and Management: an application layer protocol for file transfer and remote manipulation (ISO 8571).
FTP
File Transfer Protocol (based on TCP/IP). Also the name of a utility program available on several operating systems which makes use of this protocol to access and transfer files on remote computers.
Full-custom
A technique used for the design of integrated circuits that involves the manipulation of circuit designs at the semiconductor device level.
Functional language
A general purpose, high-level programming language based on the mathematical notion of functions. A functional program consists of a set of (possibly recursive) function definitions. Its execution consists of the evaluation of a function . Programs written in a functional language are generally compact and elegant, but tend to run slowly and consume a lot of memory.
Functional programming
See Functional language
FUSE
A DEC software development environment for ULTRIX, offering an integrated toolkit for developing, testing, debugging and maintainance.
FWEB
See Literate Programming
G2
A real-time expert system from Gensym Corporation.
GAIA
GUI Application Interoperability Architecture project of OSF
GANDALF
A software development environment from Carnegie Mellon University.
Garbage collection
The process of reclaiming storage which is no longer in use.
Garnet
A graphical object editor system and Macintosh environments.
GBIP
General Purpose Interface Bus (IEEE 488).
GCC
Gnu C Compiler.
GDB
Gnu DeBugger.
GDMO
Guidelines for the Definition of Managed Objects. A standard (ISO/IEC 10165-4) for defining data models on ASN.1
GEANT
A simulation, tracking and drawing package for HEP.

More information.

GEI
A German software engineering company.
GEN-X
An expert system developed by General Electric.
Generic Markup
In computerised document preparation, a method of adding information to the text indicating the logical components of a document, such as paragraphs, headers or footnotes: SGML is an example of such a system. Specific instructions for layout of the text on the page do not appear in the markup.
Genericity
The possibility for a language to provided parameterized modules or types. e.g. List(of:Integer) or List(of:People).
Genesia
An expert system developed by Electricite de France and commercialised by STERIA (Paris).
ghostscript
The gnu PostScript interpreter.
ghostview
An X window interface to the ghostscript interpreter.
GIF
Graphics Interchange Format: a standard for digitised images compressed with the LZW algorithm.
GKS-3D
The three-dimensional version of GKS, a standard for graphics I/O (ISO 8805).
GKS
Graphical Kernel System: a standard for graphics I/O (ANSI X3.124).
GL
A graphics package from Silicon Graphics.
GMD
Gesellschaft fuer Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung (German Institute for Mathematics and Data Processing), D-53754 Sankt Augustin.

More information.

GNU
GNU 's Not UNIX: a popular range of portable software from FSF, upwardly compatible with UNIX.

More information.

Gopher
A Campus Wide Information System designed at the University of Minnesota.
GPIB
General Purpose Interface Bus: an 8-bit parallel bus (IEEE 488).
Grapevine
A distributed system project .
Grammar
A grammar is a mathematical system for defining a language, as well as a device for giving the sentences in the language a useful structure.
GRAS
A public domain graph-oriented database system for software engineering applications from RWTH Aachen
GRASPIN
An Esprit project to develop a personal software engineering environment to support the construction and verification of distributed and non-sequential software systems.
GRIB
GRid In Binary. World Meteorological Organization data format.

More information.

Groupware
see CSCW.
GUI
Graphical User Interface.
Guide
A hypertext system from the University of Kent (GB) and OWL for displaying online documentation .
GUIDE
Graphical User Interface Development Environment from Sun.
gunzip
The decompression utility corresponding to gzip .
gzip
A compression utility available with the gnu software.
h
A simple markup language intended for quick conversion of existing text to hypertext.

More information.

Hardware description language
A language used for the conceptual design of integrated circuits. Examples are VHDL and Verilog.
Haskell
A functional language (Hudak et al.).
HBOOK
A histogramming package in the CERN program library.

More information.

hc
The compiler for the h hyperbook language.
HCI
Human Computer Interface.
HCS
Heterogeneous Computer System: a distributed system project .
HDF
Hierarchical Data Format from NCSA .

More information.

HDL
Hardware description language.
HDTV
High Definition Television.
Hebbian
Refers to the most common way for a neural network to learn, namely supervised learning. Using a training sample which should produce known responses, the connection weights are adjusted so as to minimize the differences between the desired and actual outputs for the training sample.
Helix
A hardware description language from Silvar-Lisco.
HEP
High Energy (Particle) Physics.
HEPDB
A database management system for HEP.

More information.

HEPiX
A recently formed collaboration among various HEP institutes aiming at providing "compatible" versions of the UNIX operating system at their sites.

More information.

HEPnet
An association concerned with networking requirements for high energy physicists.

More information.

HEPVM
A collaboration among various HEP institutes to implement "compatible" versions of IBM's VM-CMS operating system at their sites.
HERA
An electron-proton collider at DESY, W. Germany.
Hermes
An experimental object-oriented distributed systems language from IBM Watson Research Centre.
Hesiod
The name server of the Athena project.
Heuristic
A rule of thumb, simplification or educated guess that reduces or limits the search for solutions in domains that are difficult and poorly understood. Unlike algorithms, heuristics do not guarantee solutions.
Hewlett-Packard*
A manufacturer of workstations, electronic instrumentation and test equipment etc.
HIGZ
High Level Interface to Graphics and Zebra. Part of the PAW system.

More information.

HiPAC
An active DBMS from Xerox Advanced Information Technology.
HIPPI
HIgh Performance Parallel Interface: a 100 Mbyte/sec data transfer system with associated interfaces and switches, developed at Los Alamos National Lab and now ANSI standard X3T9/88-127.
HISTORIAN
A source code management system sold by OPCODE, Inc..
HOOD
Hierarchical Object Oriented Design: a method for Architectural Design primarily for software to be developed in Ada, leading to automated checking, documentation and source code generation.
Hope
A functional language (Burstall et al. 1980).
Hopfield
John Hopfield in the early 1980's investigated a particular kind of neural network which is now commonly referred to as the Hopfield network or Hopfield model. In the Hopfield network, there are no special input or output neurons (see McCulloch-Pitts), but all are both input and output, and all are connected to all others in both directions (with equal weights in the two directions). Input is applied simultaneously to all neurons which then output to each other and the process continues until a stable state is reached, which represents the network output.
HP-UX
The version of UNIX running on Hewlett-Packard workstations.
HP VEE
Visual Engineering Environment from Hewlett-Packard: a package similar in intention to LabVIEW running on UNIX workstations with OSF/Motif.
HP
Hewlett-Packard.
HPLOT
A graphical output facility for HBOOK.

More information.

HPPI
An earlier name for HIPPI.
HTML
An SGML document type used to mark up hypertext in the WWW project.
HTTP
The protocol used between client and server in the WWW project.
Hyper-Man
A browser available with Epoch giving hypertext capability for the UNIX manual.
HyperBase
An experimental active multiuser database for hypertext systems from the University of Aalborg, written in C++.It is built on the client-server model enabling distributed, concurrent, and shared access from workstations in a local area network. See EHTS.
Hypercard
A software package for the Macintosh for storage and retrieval of information. It can handle images, and is designed for browsing. The powerful customisable interactive user interface allows new applications to be easily constructed by manipulating objects on the screen, often without conventional programming.
Hypermedia
Hypertext systems where the nodes can contain text, graphics, audio, video, as well as source code or other forms of data.
HyperNeWS
A Hypertext system from the Turing Institute Glasgow, based on NeWS.
Hypertalk
The language for writing procedures associated with objects in Hypercard.
Hypertext
An approach to information management in which text is stored in a network of nodes connected by links. The nodes are meant to be viewed through an interactive browser. A link is something which connects a piece of text to a destination piece of text; the source and destination areas are usually marked on a display by highlighting or special graphics.
HyTime
Hypermedia/Time-based Structuring Language: an emerging ANSI/ISO Standard from the SGML Users' Group's Special Interest Group on Hypertext and Multimedia (SIGhyper
I-CASE
Integrated CASE: another term for an IPSE.
IAD
A dynamic analyser from IBM giving information on run time performance and code utilisation.
ICSI
International Computer Science Isntitute at Berkeley, CA.

More information.

IDE
Interactive Development Environments: a US Software Engineering Company.
IDL
Interactive Data Language. A package for interactive reduction, analysis, and visualization of scientific data, from Research Systems, Inc.

More information.

IDL
Interface Definition Language: an OSF standard for defining RPC stubs.
IDL
Interface Definition Language: associated with the CORBA standard.

More information.

IDSS
Intelligent Decision Support Systems.
IEC
International Electrotechnical Commission: a standardisation body at the same level as ISO.

More information.

IEF
Information Engineering Facility. A CASE tool from Texas Instruments which generates code from graphical business process models.
IEEE 1076
The IEEE standard for VHDL..
IEEE 488
The IEEE standard for GPIB.
IEEE 802
The IEEE standards for local area networks (LANs). The Ethernet standard is 802.3, the IBM Token Ring is IEEE 802.5.
IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA).

More information.

IETF
Internet Engineering Task Force. A group of people who make technical and other contributions to the engineering and evolution of the Internet and its technologies. It is the principal body engaged in the development of new Internet Standard specifications.

More information.

IFAC
International Federation of Automatic Control, involved in informatics related to control systems.
IFDL
Independent Form Description Language: DEC's language for describing form-based human interfaces in DECforms.
IFIP
International Federation of Information Processing.

More information.

IGES
Initial Graphics Exchange Specification: an ASME/ANSI standard for the exchange of CAD data.
IIDMS/R
Integrated database management system: a DBMS from Cullinet Software Inc.
Immediate version
See Child version.
IMS
Information Management System: a DBMS from IBM.
IMSE
Integrated Modelling Support Environment: an Esprit programme.
Inference engine
A program that infers facts from a set of knowledge or inputs.
Inference
The logical process by which new facts are derived from known facts.
INFN
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare: an Italian State research organisation.
Informix
A relational DBMS vendor.
INGRES
A relational DBMS vendor.
Inheritance
In object-oriented programming, the ability to derive new classes from existing classes. A derived class inherits the instance variables and methods of the base class, and may add new instance variables and methods. A new method may be defined with the same names as one in the base class, in which case it overrides the original one.
INRIA
Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique, French computer science research institute.

More information.

Instantiation
A more precisely defined version of some object which was already partially defined. In object-oriented programming, a particular example of an object produced from its class template.
InterBase
A commercial active DBMS.
Interface Architect
An interface builder for Motif distributed by Hewlett-Packard (see UIMX).
Interleaf
A document preparation system available on the Sun, VAX, Apollo and other workstations.
INTERLINK
A commercial product comprising hardware and software for file transfer between IBM and VAX computers.
Intermedia Interchange Format
A Standard Hypertext Interchange format from IRIS.
Intermedia
A hypertext system developed by a research group at IRIS (Brown University).
Intermetrics
A software engineering company .
Internet Address
A thirty-two-bit number that uniquely identifies an Internet host. It is usually represented as four 8-bit numbers separated by dots e.g. 128.121.4.5. It consists of a network number and a host number, and can be subdivided in several ways.
Internet
A set of interconnected networks. "The Internet" now usually refers to the general American TCP/IP internet (ARPANET etc.).

More information.

Interpress
A page description language from Xerox.
InterViews
An object-oriented toolkit developed at Stanford University for building graphical user interfaces. It is implemented in C++ and provides a library of objects and a set of protocols for composing them.
Intrinsics
A library package on top of Xlib, extending the basic functions of the X Window System. It provides mechanisms for building widget sets and application environments..
IP address
An Internet address.
IP
Internet transport layer Protocol.
IPC
Inter-Process Communication.
IPE
Integrated Programming Environment.
IPSE
Integrated Project Support Environment: a term for a set of management and technical tools to support software development, usually integrated in a coherent framework: equivalent to an SEE.
Incremental Prototyping Technology for Embedded Realtime Systems, an Esprit project.
IRDS
Information Resource Dictionary System. A set of ISO standards for CASE repositories. It governs the definition of data dictionaries to be implemented on top of relational databases (see repository, data dictionary).
Iris
An object-oriented DBMS.
IRIS
Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship of Brown University (Providence RI).
ISA
An Esprit project continuing the ANSA project.
ISA
International Smalltalk Association
ISAM
Indexed Sequential Access Method: a file access method supporting both sequential and indexed access.
ISDE
Integrated Software Development Environment: equivalent to an IPSE.
ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network: a set of CCITT standards to support many types of signal traffic (speech, data, video) via a digital transmission system, eventually intended to replace current telephone systems. The Basic rate is 64 kbits/sec.
ISE
Interactive Software Engineering: a software engineering company marketing Eiffel among other products.
ISEE
Integrated Software Engineering Environment: equivalent to SEE.
ISF
Information Systems Factory: equivalent to an SEE.
ISIS
A toolkit for implementing fault-tolerant distributed systems, developed at Cornell and now available commercially
ISO
International Organisation for Standardisation.

More information.

ISODE
ISO Development Environment: software that implements a set of OSI upper-layer services. It supports OSI applications on top of OSI and TCP/IP networks.
ISTAR
An experimental IPSE. from Imperial Software Technology.
ISV
Independent Software Vendor (not a hardware manufacturer).
IT
Information Technology.
ITHACA
An Esprit project to put a "4th generation" object-oriented system to practical use in an industrial environment. The ITHACA environment offers an application support system incorporating advanced technologies in the fields of object-oriented programming, programming languages, database technologies, user interface systems and software development tools.
ITU
International Telecommunications Union.

More information.

Jackson method
A proprietary structured method for software analysis, design and programming.
JANET
The Joint Academic NETwork which links U.K. academic and research institutes.
JAZELLE
A data management system for HEP from SLAC.
JOOP
Journal of Object-Oriented Programming.
JPEG
A standardized image compression mechanism. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the committee that wrote the standard. JPEG is designed for compressing either full-color or gray-scale digital images of "natural", real-world scenes. It does not work so well on non-realistic images, such as cartoons or line drawings. JPEG does not handle black-and-white (1-bit-per-pixel) images, or motion picture compression. Standards for compressing those types of images are being worked on by other committees, named JBIG and MPEG.
jpg
See JPEG.
JSA
Japanese Standards Association
JTC
Joint Technical Committee (of ISO and IEC).
KBS
Knowledge-based system.
Kerberos
An authentication system from the Athena project, adopted by OSF as the basis of security for DME

More information.

KERMIT
A protocol for file transfer. Mainly used for transfers to and from PC's.
kernel
The essential part of UNIX or other operating systems, responsible for resource allocation etc.
KMS
Knowledge Management System: a distributed hypermedia system for managing knowledge in organisations A commercial system from Knowledge Systems Inc running on workstations, based on previous research with ZOG at Carnegie Mellon University.
Knowledge Representation
A subset of AI .
Kohonen
T. Kohonen of the University of Helsinki has been studying neural networks for many years with the idea of modelling as closely as possible the behaviour of biological systems, and his name is commonly associated with a particular kind of neural network in which there are only two kinds of neurons (see McCulloch-Pitts), input and others. All the input neurons are connected to all others, and the others are connected only to their other nearest neighbors. The training algorithm is a relatively simple one based on the geometric layout of the neurons, and makes use of annealing.
KR
Knowledge Representation.
KUIP
Kernel User Interface Package: the human interface to PAW.
Labview
A package from National Instruments Corp originally developed to provide a graphical interface to instruments connected by the IEEE 488 (GPIB) bus. It has powerful graphical editing facilities for defining and interconnecting "virtual instruments".
LAMPF
Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility (An 800 MeV proton and negative H ion high-current LINAC, 1mA average, 12mA peak).
LAN
Local area network
Language-Based Editor
An editor that is aware of the syntactic, semantic and in some cases the structural rules of a specific programming language and provides a framework for the user to enter source code. Programs or changes to previously stored programs are incrementally parsed into an abstract syntax tree and automatically checked for correctness.
LANL
Los Alamos National Laboratory - Los Alamos, NM, USA.
LaTeX
A document preparation system based on TeX, popular in the HEP community. It adds a collection of commands to simplify typesetting, and lets the user concentrate on the structure of the text rather than on formatting commands.
LBE
Language-Based Editor.
LBL
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA.
LEAR
Low Energy Antiproton Ring.
LEDA
Library of Efficient Data types and Algorithms. A class library for C++ with graph classes from Uni Saarbruecken.
Legacy
Legacy system is a term used to describe old software systems still in use but which could benefit from re-engineering using more modern methods.
LEP
Large Electron Positron Collider. A 27km circumference accelerator at CERN , which brings bunches of electrons and positrons into collision.
lex
A lexical analysis tool for the UNIX environment.
LHC
Large Hadron Collider: proposed to be built in the LEP tunnel at CERN .
Life-Cycle
The software life-cycle consists of phases: requirements analysis, design, construction, testing and maintenance. The development process tends to run iteratively through these phases rather than linearly; several models (spiral, waterfall etc) have been proposed to describe this process.
Lifecycle
See Life-Cycle .
LIFIA
Laboratoire d'Informatique Fondamentale et d'Intelligence Artificielle.
LIGHT
LIfecycle Global HyperText. A project in the CERN ECP/TP group whereby documents resulting from the software life cycle are available as hypertext.
Linda
A portable parallel language to simplify parallel programming. Extensions to C and Fortran, available from Scientific Computing Associates, Inc.

More information.

link
see Hypertext
lint
A C language preprocessor which carries out more thorough checks on the code than is usual with C compilers themselves.
Linux
An implementation of UNIX written from scratch with no proprietary code for IBM PC compatibles by Linus Torvalds and distributed under the GNU public licence.

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LISP
A List Processing Language suitable for symbolic and logical programming.
LispView
CLOS based windowing system on OpenWindows.
Literate programming
Combining the use of a language such as TeX and a conventional programming language, so as to maintain documentation and source together.

More information.

LitProg
Literate Programming
Lml
A functional language (Johnson 1984).
LOC
Line of code.
Local Area Network
Usually abbreviated to LAN: a communications network which is geographically limited (typically to a 1 km. radius) allowing easy interconnection of terminals, microprocessors and computers within adjacent buildings. Ethernet and FDDI are examples of standard LANs.
Locus
A distributed system project supporting transparent access to data through a network-wide file system.
Logic Programming
Programming in a language such as Prolog, which allows the programmer to make a series of assertions which are interpreted by an inference engine.
LOGISCOPE
Software quality analysis tools from Verilog SA,.used to evaluate the quality of software,both statically (based on software metrics) and dynamically.

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Looking Glass
A desktop manager for UNIX from Visix.
Loops
Lisp Object-oriented Programming System from Intelligent Systems Laboratory, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.
LOTOS
A formal description technique used for protocol specfication in ISO OSI standards (ISO 8807).
LSE
Language Sensitive Editor: from DEC .
Lynx
A WWW browser from University of Kansas.

More information.

(See also LynxOS).

LynxOS
A POSIX compliant real-time operating system from Lynx Real-Time Systems, Los Gatos, California, with a UNIX-like interface to application programs.
LZW
Lempel-Ziv-Welch data compression algorithm.
MACAnalyst
An analysis CASE tool for the Mac from Excel Software Inc.
MACDesigner
A design CASE tool for the Mac from Excel Software Inc.
Mach
An operating system kernel under development at Carnegie-Mellon University to support distributed and parallel computation. Mach is designed to support computing environments consisting of networks of uniprocessors and multiprocessors. Mach is the kernel of the OSF/1 system

More information. .

Macintosh
A range of personal computers manufactured by Apple Computer Inc.
MacX
A package allowing the Macintosh to be used as an X server.
Madaline
A structure of many ADALINE units.
Maintenance
An important part of the software life-cycle. Maintenance is expensive in manpower and resources, and software engineering techniques aim to reduce its cost.
Make
A popular tool on UNIX systems to automate the recompilation, linking etc. of programs, taking account of the interdependencies of modules.
Makedoc
A program from Carleton University, Ottawa that generates documentation for Objective C programs. It will also generate a class hierarchy diagram. The output format is similar to that used by StepStone.
MAP
Manufacturers Automation Protocol, a set of protocols developed by General Motors based on Token Bus (IEEE 802.4) and giving predictable response in real time.
Maple
A mathematics package developed by the University of Waterloo and ETH Zurich.
Markowitz
The author of the original Simscript language.
Markup
In computerised document preparation, a method of adding information to the text indicating the logical components of a document, or instructions for layout of the text on the page.
MASCOT
Modular Approach to Software Construction Operation and Test: a method for software design aimed at real-time embedded systems from the Royal Signals and Research Establishment, UK.
Mathematica
A general program for symbolic computing and programming from Wolfram Research.

More information.

MBONE
Multicast backbone: a virtual network on top of the Internet to support routing of IP multicast packets, intended for multimedia transmission.

More information.

McCulloch-Pitts
The McCulloch-Pitts neuron is the basic building block of neural networks. It receives one or more inputs and produces one or more identical outputs, each of which is a simple non-linear function of the sum of the inputs to the neuron. The non-linear function is typically a threshhold or step function which is usually smoothed (i.e. a sigmoid) to facilitate learning.
MCS
Meta Class System: a portable object-oriented extension of Common Lisp from GMD. It integrates the functionality of CLOS and TELOS.
MDL
An early object-oriented language from MIT .
Mellor
see Schlaer-Mellor.
Member Function
In C++, the name given to a method.
MERISE
Methode d'Etude et de Realisation Informatique pour les Systemes d'Enteprise: a Software Engineering method popular in France; many IPSE s are based on it.
Mesa
An early object-oriented programming language developed at the Xerox Palo Alto research centre.
Message
In object-oriented programming sending a message to an object (to invoke a method) is equivalent to calling a procedure in traditional programming languages, except that the actual code executed may only be selected at run-time depending on the class of the object. Thus, in response to the message "drawSelf", the method code invoked would be different if the target object were a circle or a square.
Meta-CASE tool
A term sometimes used for software packages (like TBK or VSF) which allow users to develop or customise their own CASE tools.
MetaCard
A commercial human interface and hypertext system for UNIX and X-windows, similar to Hypercard.
Metaclass
The class of a class. A metaclass is a class whose instances are themselves classes.
Metadata
Data definitions describing aspects of the actual data items, such as name, format etc.
Metafile
Typically a file of graphics data for transport between different machines.
Method
The name given in Smalltalk (and sometimes in other object-oriented languages) to a procedure or routine associated with an object.
Methodology
A term for a codified set of procedures for some phase of software engineering, such as analysis and design.
Metric
see Software Metrics.
Meyer
Bertrand Meyer, the author of the Eiffel Language and many articles on object-oriented software techniques.
Microkernel
An approach to operating systems design which puts emphasis on small modules which implement the basic features of the system and can be flexibly configured .
Microsoft
A vendor of systems and application software for personal computers and similar platforms.
Midas-WWW
A Motif-based browser for WWW .

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Midas
A Motif-based toolkit for interactive data analysis by T.Johnson, SLAC. The basis for the Midas-WWW browser.
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIMD
Multiple Instruction Multiple Data: a form of parallelism in multiprocessor computing where there are several instruction streams (programs) operating concurrently on several data streams.
MIME
Multimedia Internet Mail Extensions. A method of processing multi-part, multimedia messages on the Internet . Currently the subject of an RFC .

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MINUIT
A Program for Function Minimization and Error Analysis

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MIPS
A microprocessor vendor .
MIS
Management Information Systems.
MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
ML
A functional language .
MODSIM
A general-purpose modular block-structured language from CACI, which provides support for object-oriented programming and discrete event simulation. It is intended for building large process-based discrete event simulation models through modular and object-oriented mechanisms similar to those of Modula-2.
Modula-2
A high-level programming language designed by N.Wirth. It is a derivative of Pascal with well-defined interfaces between modules, and facilities for parallel computation.
Montage
An object-relational database management system from Montage Software: the commercialisation of POSTGRES
Mosaic
An X-Window based browser for WWW from NCSA.

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Motif
The standard Graphical User Interface and window manager from OSF, running on theX Window System

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MPEG
Moving Pictures Experts Group of ISO that generates standards for digital video (sequences of images in time) and audio compression.
MPV
Extension of the VRTX real-time operating system to support multi-processing.
MS-DOS
An operating system developed by MicroSoft Corporation for computers using the Intel 16 and 32-bit family of processors.
MTBF
Mean Time Between Faults
Multi-media
See Multimedia
Multimedia
Human computer interaction involving text, graphics, voice, video etc.
Multiple Inheritance
In object-oriented programming, the possibility that a sub-class may be derived from multiple parents which are themselves not derived one from the other.
MVC
Model View Controller architecture for interactive software.
NAG
Numerical Algorithms Group.
NAS
Network Application Support: DEC's approach to applications integration across a distributed multivendor environment.
NBS
National Bureau of Standards: part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, now NIST.
NCS
Network Computing System: Apollo's RPC system used by DEC and Hewlett-Packard.The protocol has been adopted by OSF.
NCSA
National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Urbana, IL, USA.
NDL
National Database Language: a US standard for portability of database definitions and application programs.
NISO
National Information Standards Organisation (USA). NISO Standards cover many aspects of library science, publishing, and information services, and address the application of both traditional and new technologies to information services.

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Neptune
A hypertext system for computer assisted software engineering, developed at Tektronix.
netCDF
Network Common Data Form. A machine-independent, self-describing file format for scientific data.

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Neural net
See Neural network
Neural network
A computing device which converts one or more input signals to one or more output signals by means of an interconnected set of elementary non-linear signal processors called neurons. Animal brains are examples of biological neural networks. Artificial Neural Networks are man-made computing devices modelled after their biological counterparts. The features which distinguish artificial neural networks from traditional Von Neumann (sequential) computers are: (a) the elementary processors are highly non-linear (in the limit, they are simple threshold discriminators), (b) the neurons are highly interconnencted which allows a high degree of parallelism and (c) there is no idle memory containing data and programs, but rather each neuron is pre-programmed and continuously active.

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Neural
See Neural network
Neuron
See Neural network , also McCulloch-Pitts
NeWS
Network extensible Window System from Sun Microsystems, offering facilities similar to those of the X Window System. Communication is based on PostScript, and server functions can be extended.
NewWave
A graphical user interface and object-oriented environment from Hewlett-Packard, based on Windows and available on UNIX workstations.
NeXTstep
A graphical interface builder, object-oriented application builder, and windowing software for the NeXT and IBM AIX systems.
NFS
Network File System: developed by Sun to allow a computer to access files over a network as if they were on local disks; now public domain, a de facto standard.
NFT
Network File Transfer. An INTERLINK command on CERNVM.
NIAM
Natural Language (or Nijssen) Information Analysis Method: a method for data modelling. (see "Conceptual Scheme and Relational Database Design", Nijssen and Halpin, Prentice-Hall, 1989)
NIH
The US National Institutes of Health.

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NIHCL
A class library for C++ from the NIH

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NIST
National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA (formerly NBS).

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NLS
Native Language System: a set of interfaces specified by X/Open for developing applications to run in different natural language environments.
NNTP
Network News Transfer Protocol: the protocol used for distributing news on the Internet.
Node
see Hypertext
Normal form
A relation in a relational database is said to be in normal form if it satisfies certain constraints. Codd's original work defined three such forms.
NoteCards
An ambitious hypertext system developed at Xerox PARC, "designed to support the task of transforming a chaotic collection of unrelated thoughts into an integrated, orderly interpretation of ideas and their interconnections".
Novell
A proprietary local area network protocol developed by Novell Netware for the interconnection of PCs over Ethernet.
NOWEB
A system of structured programming and documentation from M.Speh in DESY. See Literate Programming
NQS
Batch processing software for UNIX systems.
NSE
Network Software Environment: a proprietary CASE framework from Sun Microsystems.
NSRD
National Software Reuse Directory. A directory of reusable software in the ASSET system.
NTP
Network Time Protocol: a protocol built on top of TCP/IP that allows local clocks to be synchronised with reference clocks on the Internet.
Nu Thena
A software vendor specialising in rapid prototyping tools for real-time hardware and software systems, collaborating with DAZIX.
NuThena
See Nu-Thena
OATH
Object-oriented Abstract Type Hierarchy, a class library for C++ from Texas Instruments.

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Oberon
A programming language developed as a successor to Modula 2.

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Object management system
In an IPSE, the system which maintains information about the system under development.
Object-oriented database
A system offering DBMS facilities in an object-oriented environment.
Object-oriented programming
see object-oriented
Object-oriented
Applied to analysis, design and programming. The basic concept in this approach is that of objects, which consist of data structures encapsulated with a set of routines, often called "methods" which operate on the data. Operations on the data must be performed via these methods, which are common to all instances of objects of a particular class. Thus, the interface to objects is well defined, and allows the code implementing the methods to be changed so long as the interface remains the same.

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Object
In object-oriented programming, an instance of a data structure defined according to the template provided by its class, and which can respond to the messages defined by its class.
ObjectBroker
A distributed object system from DEC based on the CORBA standard.
ObjectCenter
A product offering similar facilities to CodeCenter for the C++ language, plus class browsing facilities etc (formerly Saber-C++).

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Objecteering
An Object Oriented design tool from Softeam, based on the Class Relation Methodology, with C++ code generation.

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Objective C
A Smalltalk-like extension of the C language which provides the possibility to use object-oriented programming constructs>
Objective PASCAL
An extension of the PASCAL language which provides the possibility to use object-oriented programming constructs.
Objectworks
An object-oriented development environment developed by ParcPlace, available under Smalltalk and C++.
Occam
A programming language for the Transputer which facilitates writing parallel programs, allowing the programmer to specify whether processes are to be executed sequentially or in parallel.
OCR
Optical Character Recognition: recognition of printed or written characters by computer.
OCS
[SE[Object Compatibility Standard: an 88open standard for compilers and linkers.
ODA
Open (formerly Office) Document Architecture: an ISO standard (8613) for describing documents. It allows text, graphics, and facsimile documents to be transferred between different systems.
ODIF
Open Document Interchange Format: part of the ODA standard.
ODMG
Object Data Management Group.
ODP
Open Distributed Processing.
ODT
Open Desktop.
OLE
Object Linking and Embedding. A distributed object system from Microsoft.
OLTP
On-Line Transaction Processing: the processing of transactions by computers in real time.
OMA
Object Management Architecture: a set of standards under study by OMG.
OMF
Object Management Facility: part of the DAA proposed by Hewlett-Packard and Sun.
OMG
Object Management Group: a consortium aimed at setting standards in object-oriented programming.

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OMT
An object-oriented methodology .
OMTool
A graphical tool from General Electric Advanced Concepts Center for design and analysis of systems with the OMT methodology with some C++/SQL code generation.

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ONC
Open Network Computing: Sun's network protocols.
OnX
A graphics package from LAL Orsay
OO
Object-oriented: for example Analysis (OOA), Design (OOD), Programming (OOP), Programming Language (OOPL), Data Bases (OODBMS) etc.
OOA
Object-oriented Analysis.
OOD
Object-oriented Design.
OODBMS
Object-oriented database management system.
OOP
Object-oriented programming.
OOPL
Object-oriented programming language: a language such as C++, Eiffel, Objective-C etc designed to support object-oriented programming.
OOPSLA
Conference on Object-oriented Programming Systems, Languages and Applications.
OOSD
Object-oriented structured design: a design method elaborated from structured design and incorporating the essential features of the object-oriented approach.
Open Desktop
A UNIX environment from SCO. (part of the ACE initiative).
Open Look
A graphical user interface and window manager from Sun and AT&.T.
Open Software Foundation
See OSF .
OpenDoc
A compound document architecture from CIL based on CORBA. It aims to enable embedding of features from different applications into a single working document.

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OpenWindows
A server program for the Sun which handles SunView, NeWS and X Window System protocols.
Oracle*CASE
A set of CASE tools from Oracle.
Oracle Card
A hypercard-like product from Oracle for constructing DB applications, running on PC and Macintosh.
Oracle Toolkit
See Adaptable User Interface.
Oracle
A vendor of database management systems: also their relational DBMS.
ORB
Object Request Broker: part of the OMG standard.
ORKID
Open Real-time Kernel Interface Definition.
OS/2
An operating system from IBM and Microsoft for the PS/2 range of microcomputers.
OSA
Open Scripting Architecture. A CIL approach to the coexistence of multiple scripting systems.
OSE
Open Systems Environment.
OSF
Open Software Foundation. A foundation created by nine computer vendors, (Apollo, DEC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Bull, Nixdorf, Philips, Siemens and Hitachi) to promote "Open Computing". It is planned that common operating systems and interfaces, based on developments of UNIX, the X Window System, etc. will be forthcoming for a wide range of different hardware architectures.

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OSI
Open Systems Interconnection: a seven-layer reference model developed by ISO as a framework for the development of standards for interconnecting heterogeneous computers.

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OTI
Open Tool Interface .
OWL
A software company offering the Guide hypertext system .
P-CAD
A CAE system marketed by CADAM, an IBM company.
Page Description Language
A language such as Adobe PostScript or Xerox Interpress which allow the appearance of a printed page to be described in a high-level device-independent way. Printing then becomes a two-stage process: an application produces a description in the language, which is then interpreted by a specific output device. Such a language can therefore serve as an interchange standard for transmission and storage of printable documents.
Pansophic
A Software Engineering company in the US.
Parser
A function that recognizes valid sentences of a language by analysing the syntax structure of a set of tokens passed to it from a lexical analyzer.
PARADIGM PLUS
A configurable object-oriented CASE tool from Proto Soft Inc.

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Parlog++
An object-oriented extension to MacParlog. It combines object-oriented and parallel logic programming, giving the benefits of both paradigms within a single coherent development environment.
Pascal
A programming language designed by N.Wirth for teaching purposes, emphasising structured programming constructs, data structures and strong typing.
PATCHY
A FORTRAN code management program written at CERN .
PAW
Physics Analysis Workbench - general purpose portable tool for analysis and presentation of physics data.

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PAW++
An extended version of PAW with a Motif human interface.
PC
Personal Computer.
PCA
A dynamic analyser from DEC giving information on run time performance and code utilisation.
PCTE+
A European NATO specification based on PCTE with security enhancements.
PCTE
Portable Common Tool Environment: an ECMA standard framework for software tools developed in the Esprit programme. It is based on an entity-relationship Object Management System and defines the way in which tools access this.
PDF
Portable Document Format from Adobe.
PDL
Page Description Language.
PDL
Program Design Language.
PDSA cycle
Plan, Do, See, Approve (from Japan).
Perceptron
This term is sometimes used to refer to a single McCulloch-Pitts neuron, but may also refer to a network of neurons in which the output(s) of some neurons are connected through weighted connections to the input(s) of other neurons. The term multilayer perceptron specifically refers to a network composed of more than one layer of neurons, with some or all of the outputs of each layer connected to one or more of the inputs of another layer. The first layer is called the input layer, the last one is the output layer, and in between there may be one or more hidden layers.
perl
Practical Extraction and Report Language. An interpreted scripting language for scanning text files, extracting information, and printing reports. It combines features of c , sed , awk and sh

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Personal Computer
A general-purpose single-user microcomputer designed to be operated by one person at a time.
Petri net
A graphical representation of concurrent systems in terms of tokens, places and transition bars.
PEX
(PHIGS Extension to X) Extension to the X Window System providing 3-D graphics support.
PHIGS
Programmers Hierarchical Interactive Graphics System: an ANSI/ISO standard.
Plexus
A set of modular WWW server software written in Perl.

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Polymorphism
In object-oriented programming, the term is used to describe variables which may refer at run-time to objects of different classes. For example, the variable "myVehicle" could refer to an object of class "motorCar" or "Truck".
POSIX
Portable Operating System Interface for computer environments. A set of IEEE standards designed to provide application portability. IEEE1003.1 defines a UNIX-like operating system interface, 1003.2 the shell and utilities, and 1003.4 real-time extensions.
POSTGRES
An active DBMS from Univ. of Calif. Berkeley.
Postscript
A page description language from Adobe Systems Inc. Its primary application is to describe the appearance of text, graphical shapes and sampled images on printed or displayed pages. A program in PostScript can communicate a document description from a composition system to a printing system in a device-independent way. Many printers now exist which interpret PostScript directly.

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Pragma
A standardised form of kluge in Ada.
Predicate calculus
A notation for representing logical statements which goes beyond propositional calculus in certain ways.
Presentation Manager
The user interface to the OS/2 system.
ProDoc
A set of tools for software documentation from SPC
Project assurance
The process of specifying the support system: techniques, internal standards, measurements, tools, and training for a project; counseling the project team in the application of these elements and monitoring the adherence to the standards.
Project management
The process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling the production of a system. Software tools are available to help with this.

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Project planning
See Project management.
PROLOG
A language for PROgramming in LOGic.
Propositional calculus
A system of symbolic logic.
Protocol
An agreement about how to transmit data, especially across networks. Low level protocols define the electrical and physical standards to be observed, and deal with the transmission and error detection and correction of the bit stream. High level protocols deal with the data formatting, including the form of messages, the terminal to computer dialogue, files, etc.
Prototyper
An interface builder for the Macintosh from Smethers Barnes .
Prototyping
The creation of a model and the simulation of all aspects of a product. CASE tools support different degrees of prototyping. Some offer the end-user the ability to review all aspects of the user interface and the structure of documentation and reports before code is generated.
PS
PostScript.
PSA
Problem Statement Analizer: see PSL/PSA.
Pseudocode
A notation resembling a programming language but not intended for actual compilation. It usually combines some of the structure of a programming language with an informal natural-language description of the computations to be carried out. It is often produced by CASE systems as a basis for later hand coding.
PSL/PSA
Problem Statement Language/Problem Statement Analyser: a CASE system developed by D.Teichroew. It allows computer-based development and analysis of a statement of requirements, and assistance during the design phase.
PSL
Problem Statement Language: see PSL/PSA.
PTI
Portable Tool Interface: a standard such as PCTE, allowing interworking between different software tools via defined interfaces to the user and to the repository or object management system.
PureLink
An incremental linker from Pure Software.

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Purify
A debugging tool from Pure Software.

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PV~WAVE
Interactive scientific visualisation software from Precision Visuals.
QA
Quality Assurance.
QAM
Quality Assurance Management.
QBE
A query language.
Quantify
A performance analysis tool from Pure Software.

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Query language
A language such as SQL whereby users of a database system can interactively formulate requests, generate reports etc.
RAD
Rapid Application Development.
RAL
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK).

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RAID
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. A data storage technique.
RARE
Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne: an association of national and international European networks and users.

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RCS
A code management system .
Rdb
DEC's SQL-based relational DBMS for VAX/VMS.
RDBA
Remote Database Access: a standard permitting the exchange of information between different DBMS systems.
RDBMS
Relational database management system.
Re-engineering
The examination and modification of a system to reconstitute it in a new form and the subsequent implementation of the new form.
Real-time
Generally used to describe systems that must guarantee a response to an external event within a given time
Realtime
see real-time
Redocumentation
The creation or revision of a semantically equivalent representation within the same relative abstraction level. The resulting forms of representation are usually considered alternate views intended for a human audience.
Reengineering
see Reverse engineering
Relation
A table in a relational database
Relational database
See Relational DBMS.
Relational DBMS
A DBMS based on the relational model developed by Codd. It allows the definition of data structures, storage and retrieval operations, and integrity constraints. In such a database, the data and relations between them are organised in tables. INGRES and Oracle are well-known examples.
Released version
A version of an object that is not modifiable, as designated by some person. Also known as baseline. See change management.
Rendezvous
In Ada, the method of synchronising the activity of different tasks.
Repository
The core of a CASE tool is typically a DBMS where all development documents are stored.
Requirements
The first stage of software development should be to define requirements with the potential users. In modern methods these requirements should be testable, and will usually be traceable in later development stages.

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Restructuring
The transformation from one representation form to another at the same relative abstraction level, while preserving the subject system's external behavior (functionality and semantics).
Reusability
The possibility of using code developed for one application in another application: traditionally achieved using program libraries. Object-oriented programming offers the potential for greater reusability of code via its techniques of inheritance, genericity etc. Class libraries with intelligent browsers and application generators are under development to help in this process.
Reverse Engineering
The process of analyzing an existing system to identify its components and their interrelationships, and create representations of the system in another form or at a higher level of abstraction. Usually undertaken in order to redesign the system for better maintainability.
RFC
Request For Comment. The name by which Internet standards are known.
RFT
Request For Technology - process established by OSF to get proposals for new standards.
RIPE
Reseaux IP Europeens. A collaborative organisation of European Internet service providers.

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RISC
Reduced Instruction Set Computer; one whose design is based on the rapid execution of a sequence of simple instructions rather than on the provision of a large variety of complex instructions.
RLF
Reuse Library Framework of the DoD
RM-ODP
The ISO Reference Model for Open Distributed Environments.
Root version
The initial value of an object. See change management.
RPC
Remote Procedure Call: a call to a routine that results in code being executed on a different system from the one where the request originated. An RPC system allows calling procedures and called procedures to execute on different systems without the programmer needing to explicitly code for this.
RTEE
Real Time Engineering Environment: a set of CASE tools produced by Westmount Technology B.V.
RTF
Rich Text Format: an interchange format from Microsoft for exchange of documents between Word and other document preparation systems.
RTL
Register Transfer Language: a kind of HDL used in describing the registers of a computer or digital electronic system, and the way in which data is transferred between them.
RTSA
Real-time structured analysis: versions of structured analysis capable of modelling real-time aspects of software.
Rule-based
Having to do with systems that infer or use "rules" (i.e.logical statements).
SA
Structured Analysis.
SAA
Systems Application Architecture: IBM's family of standard interfaces which enable software to be written independently of hardware and operating systems.
Saber-C++
see ObjectCenter.
Saber-C
see CodeCenter.
SADT
Structured Analysis and Design Technique .
SASD
Structured Analysis, Structured Design.
Sather
An object-oriented programming language that is a simplified optimized variant of Eiffel.

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SBM
Solution Based Modelling. a software development process described in the book "Developing Object-Oriented Software for the Macintosh" written by Neal Goldstein and Jeff Alger, published by Addison Wesley in 1992.
SCCS
Source Code Control System: a popular code management system for UNIX systems.
Schematic capture
The process of entering the logical design of an electronic circuit into a CAE system by creating a schematic representation of components and interconnections.
Schlaer-Mellor
An Object-Oriented Analysis (OOA) modeling method that addresses the the integration of structural and behavioral properties.
SCI
Scalable Coherent Interface, IEEE Std 1596-1992.

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SCO
The Santa Cruz Operation, a leading supplier of UNIX systems for systems based on Intel microprocessors. Suppliers of Xenix and Open Desktop.

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SCOPE
Software Assessment and Certification Programme. An Esprit project.

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SCPI
Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments: a standard complementing IEE 488 developed by Hewlett-Packard and promoted by the SCPI Consortium, 8380 Hercules Drive, Suite P3, La Mesa, CA 91942, USA
SCSI
Small Computer Systems Interface.
SD
Structured Design: a program design method.
SDE
Software Development Environment: equivalent to SEE.
SDL
Specification and Design Language: defined by the CCITT (recommendation Z100) to provide a tool for unambiguous specification and description of the behaviour of telecommunications systems. The area of application also includes process control and real-time applications. SDL provides a Graphic Representation (SDL/GR) and a textual Phrase Representation (SDL/PR), which are equivalent representations of the same semantics. A system is specified as a set of interconnected abstract machines.which are extensions of the Finite State Machine (FSM).
SDM
Schematic Data Model.
SDS
Schema Definition Set in PCTE.
SE-ODP
Support Environment for Open Distributed Processing: an ECMA standard.
SE
Software Engineering, the methods used in developing software.
SEE
Simultaneous Engineering Environment: a CAE framework from DAZIX.
SEE
Software Engineering Environment: a set of management and technical tools to support software development, usually integrated in a coherent framework; equivalent to an IPSE.
SEI
Software Engineering Institute (Carnegie Mellon University).

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Selector
In Smalltalk or Objective-C, the syntax of a message which selects a particular method in the target object.
SELF
An object oriented programming language from Stanford
Semaphore
The classic method for restricting access to data shared between several cooperating processes .
SEP
A SASD tool from IDE.
Server
A computer which, by means of network connections, carries out parts of a computing task on behalf of one or more remote computers.
SES/workbench
An iconic simulation and design tool, linked to some of the major CASE systems now available or in development.
SET
Standard d'Echange et de Transfert: a French standard for exchange of CAD data.
Setext
A markup scheme intended for documents that are both human- and computer-readable.

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SGI
Silicon Graphics Incorporated, a vendor of graphical workstations and software
SGML
Standard Generalised Markup Language (ISO 8879). A generic markup language for representing documents.

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ShapeTools
A code management system for UNIX from TU Berlin.
Shape_VC
A code management system which offers version control functionality similar to systems like RCS or SCCS with some extensions and a more UNIX-like command interface.
Shelf
A public library of classes for the Eiffel language.
Shell Script
A program written to be interpreted by the shell of an operating system, especially UNIX.
Shell
The outer part of an operating system, especially UNIX, which provides the user interface, as opposed to the kernel which provides the basic services to processes. The commonest UNIX shells are the c shell (csh) and the Bourne shell (sh) .
SHIFT
Scalable Heterogeneous Integrated Facility Testbed. A parallel processing project at CERN .
SICL
Standard Instrument Control Library: a platform-independent API for software to control and test electronic instruments conforming to IEE 488
SICS
Swedish Institute for Computer Science.

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SIGhyper
Special Interest Group on Hypertext and Multimedia of the SGML Users' Group.

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SIMD
Single Instruction Multiple Data: a form of parallelism in multiprocessor computing where there is a single instruction stream (programs) operating concurrently on several data streams.
Simscript
A free-form, English-like general-purpose simulation language. SIMSCRIPT II.5 from CACI has evolved from the original work on SIMSCRIPT by H.Markowitz.
SIMULA
A program based on Algol 60 with extensions for simulation, which was a precursor of the object-oriented approach.
Single Inheritance
The property of an object-oriented language which restricts a sub-class to be derived from only one parent.
Smalltalk
A pioneering object-oriented programming system developed at the Xerox Palo Alto research centre. It includes a language (usually interpreted), a programming environment, and an extensive object library.
SMCC
Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation
SMG
Screen Management Guidelines - a VMS package of run-time library routines providing windows on VT100 terminals.
SML/NJ
Standard ML of New Jersey.
SML
Standard ML: a functional language.
SNA
Systems Network Architecture - IBM's networking standard.
Sniff
A C++/C programming environment providing browsing, cross-referencing, design visualization, documentation, and editing support. Developed by UBS Switzerland and marketed by takeFive Salzburg.
SNOBOL
String Oriented Symbolic Language. A language from the 1960s for string manipluation.
SoftBench
An IPSE from Hewlett-Packard.
Softlab
A software engineering company strong in UK and Germany.
Software AG
SE company from FRG.
Software BackPlane
A CASE framework from Atherton.
Software bus
A support environment for heterogeneous distributed processing, such as the ANSA Testbench.
Software Engineering
A systematic approach to the analysis, design, implementation and maintenance of software. It usually involves the use of CASE tools. There are various models of the software life-cycle, and many methodologies for the different phases.
Software Metrics
Measures of software quality which indicate the complexity, understandability, testability, description and intricacy of code.
Software through Pictures
see StP.
SPARC
see ANSI/SPARC Architecture.
SOM
System Object Model. An implementation of CORBA by IBM.

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Sparcstation
A family of workstations from Sun .
SPC
Software Productivity Centre. A non-profit organization based in Vancouver, BC, Canada with the mandate to assist software developers to improve their software engineering process.

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SPDL
Standard Page Description Language: a draft within the ODA standard.
Specific markup
In computerised document preparation, a method of adding formatting commands to the text to control layout, such as new line, new page, center text etc. (see Generic markup).
Spreadsheet
A type of application which manipulates data in rows and columns of cells. The value in a cell is calculated by a formula which can involve other cells. Popular in commercial applications.
Sprite
An operating system from Berkeley supporting multiprocessing and distributed files.
SQL/DS
A database package from IBM including a relational DBMS.
SQL2
An extended version of the SQL standard.
SQL
Structured Query Language: ISO, ANSI standard user front end to a relational database management system.
SRI
Stanford Research Institute.
SSADM
A software engineering method and toolset required by some UK government agencies.
SSII
Societe de Service en Ingenierie Informatique.
Standards
Although boring, standards are necessary for interworking, portability and reusability. They may be de facto standards for various communities, or officially recognised national or international standards. Some important bodies concerned in one way or another with Software standards are ISO, ANSI, DoD, ECMA, IEEE, IETF, OSF.

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StarBurst
An active DBMS from IBM Almaden Research Center.
State Diagram
see State Transition Diagram.
State transition diagram
A diagram consisting of circles to represent states and directed line segments to represent transitions between the states. One or more actions may be associated with each transition. The diagrom represents a Finite State Machine.
STD
State Transition Diagram.
STDWIN
A windowing interface from CWI with windows, menus, modal dialogs, mouse and keyboard input, scroll bars, drawing primitives, etc that is portable between platforms. STDWIN is available for Macintosh and the X Window System.
STEP
Standard for the exchange of product model data: a draft ISO standard for the exchange of CAD data.
StepStone
Corporation founded by Brad Cox, responsible for Objective-C.
STONE
A Structured and Open Environment: a project supported by the German Ministry of Research and Technology (BMFT) to design, implement and distribute a SEE for research and teaching.
StP
Software through Pictures: a set of CASE tools from IDE.

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Strand
A concurrent programming language from Strand Software Technologies Limited.
Struct
A data type in C corresponding to a record in Ada or Pascal.
Structured analysis
One of a number of requirements analysis methods used in software engineering.
Structured design
One of a number of systematic top-down design techniques used in software engineering, usually after structured analysis.
Sublanguage
One of the languages associated with a DBMS, for example data-definition language or query language.
Sun
Sun Microsystems, a US workstation manufacturer with manufacturing capacity in Europe.
SunOS
The version of UNIX running on Sun workstations.
SunView
A windowing system from Sun Microsystems, superseded by NeWS.
Superclass
The class from which another class inherits (see Inheritance).
SVID
System V Interface Definition: allowing source code portability between different platforms running UNIX System V.
Sybase
A relational DBMS vendor.
System V
One of the two major versions of the UNIX system, due to AT&.T. (see BSD).
TBK
Tool Builder Kit: a product from IPSYS which allows users to develop CASE tools appropriate to any software engineering methodology.

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TC/IX
The LynxOS kernel ported to the MIPS R3000 RISC processor by CDC.
Tcl
Tool command language. A command language and associated library package running on a number of platforms.

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TCP/IP
A reliable connection-oriented protocol originated by DARPA for internetworking, encompassing both network and transport level protocols. While the terms TCP and IP specify two protocols, TCP/IP is often used to refer to the entire DoD protocol suite based upon these, including Telnet, FTP, UDP, and RDP.
Teamwork
A SASD tool from CADRE Technologies.
TELEPAC
The Swiss PTT X.25 Network.
TeleUSE
An interface builder for Motif .
Telnet
The Internet standard protocol for remote terminal connection service, running over TCP/IP. Telnet allows a user to log onto a remote host computer.
TELOS
The object system of LeLisp Version 16 and EULISP.
Template code
Pseudocode generated by an automated CASE system and requiring further hand-coding before compilation.
Testing
The process of exercising the product to identify differences between expected and actual results and performance. Typically testing is bottom-up: unit test, integrate test and finally system test.
TET
Test Environment Toolkit project coordinated by X/Open
TeX
A computer typesetting program by D.E.Knuth popular for document preparation in the HEP community. It provides specific markup for text processing

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Think C
An extension of ANSIC for the Macintosh by Symantec Corporation, similar to C++, to support object-oriented programming techniques.
TickIT
A software industry quality assessment scheme.

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Tk
An extension to Tcl providing an interface to the X windows .
Token
A basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language.
Token ring
A computer network arbitration scheme in which conflicts in the transmission of messages are avoided by the granting of "tokens" which give permission to send. A station keeps the token while transmitting a message, if it has a message to transmit, and then passes it on to the next station.
Toolbuilder
see TBK
TOP
Technical/Office Protocol: a protocol stack for office automation developed by Boeing following the OSI model. This protocol is very similar to MAP except at the lowest levels, where it uses Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) rather than Token Bus (IEEE 802.4).
Transaction
A unit of interaction with a DBMS or similar system. It must be treated in a coherent and reliable way independent of other transactions .
Transputer
A family of microprocessors from Inmos with interprocessor links, programmable in Occam.
Trellis
An object-oriented application development system from DEC, based on the Trellis language.
TRUSIX
TRUSted unIX operating system .
TSEE
Technical and Engineering Environment: part of the RTEE toolset.
TXL
A hybrid functional and rule-based language for source transformation applications from Queen's Univ. Canada.
UDP
User Datagram Protocol: the Internet standard protocol for sending datagrams between user programs. This protocol neither guarantees delivery nor does it require a connection. As a result it is lightweight and efficient, but all error processing and retransmission must be taken care of by the application program. This protocol is built on top of IP and uses IP for datagram delivery (see TCP/IP). .
UI
UNIX International: a consortium including Sun and AT&.T, promoting an open environment base on UNIX System V including the Open Look windowing system.
UIL
User Interface Language: in OSF/Motif and DECwindows, a language for specifying widget hierarchies etc.
UIMS
User Interface Management System: a system supporting the development and execution of user interfaces, usually on top of windowing systems.
UIMX
An interface builder for Motif from Visual Edge.
UIS
A VMS graphics programming interface package for VAXstations.
Ultrix
A version of UNIX based on the Berkeley version, designed and implemented by DEC to run on their VAX and DECstation series of processors.
UNI
Ente Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione: the Italian national standards body, a member of ISO.
UNIX International
A consortium of AT&.T and others formed to advise on the development of UNIX System V.
UNIX
Computer operating system developed by Bell Labs. Since it was written in C, it was possible to port it to run on different hardware architectures. It is now offered by many manufacturers and is the subject of an international standardisation effort. See also OSF.

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URC
Uniform (previously Universal) Resource Citation.

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URI
Uniform (previously Universal) Resource Identifier.

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URL
Uniform (previously Universal) Resource Locator.

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URN
Uniform (previously Universal) Resource Name.

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Usenet
The practice of using computer networks to exchange items of information grouped into "newsgroups" by topic. This is supported by a number of diverse and informally applied mechanisms and conventions.

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USL
UNIX System Laboratories: the software subsidiary of AT&.T, responsible for UNIX System V and related software.
UUCP
The large international network of UNIX machines using the UUCP protocol to exchange news and electronic mail. .
V
A testbed for distributed system research .
Validation
The process of evaluating software at the end of the development process to ensure compliance with software requirements.
VAX DOCUMENT
A document preparation system from DEC.
VAX/VMS
see VMS.
VAX
A range of 32-bit computers manufactured by DEC.
VAXset
A set of software development tools from DEC, including a language-sensitive editor, compilers etc.
VAXstation
A family of workstations from DEC based on their VAX computer architecture.
VDL
Vienna Definition Language: an algebraic definition language, see VDM.
VDM
Vienna Definition Method: a program development method based on formal specification using the Meta-IV language.

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VDM
Virtual Device Metafile.
VEE
see HP VEE.
Verification
The process of determining whether or not the products of a given phase in the life-cycle fulfill a set of established requirements.
Verilog SA
A French real-time software engineering company.
Verilog
A Hardware Description Language for electronic design and gate level simulation.
Version
A variant of the original value of an object. See change management
VHDL
Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Description Language: a high-level VLSI design language, now standardised as IEEE 1076.

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VHE
Virtual Home Environment: a tool for using NFS on HP UX .
Viola
An experimental hypercard-like interpreted hypertext system by Pei Y. Wei of Berkeley.
Visualization
A method by which a computer system presents data to the user.
VLIW
Very Long Instruction Word.
VLSI
Very Large Scale Integration. Refers to semiconductor chips composed of very many tightly packed logic elements or memories.
VM/CMS
Virtual Machine / Conversational Monitor System: an IBM operating system running on 43xx and 30xx series machines, providing efficient support for large numbers of interactive users.
VM
see VM/CMS.
VME
Common abbreviation for VMEbus.
VMEbus
A widely accepted backplane interconnection bus system developed by a consortium of companies led by Motorola, now standardized as IEEE 1014.
VMS
The operating system offered by DEC as the standard system for their VAX range of processors.
VRTX
Virtual Real-Time Executive: a real-time operating system from ReadySystems for the Motorola 68000 family of microprocessors.
VSF
Virtual Software Factory: a product from Systematica which allows users to develop CASE tools appropriate to any software engineering methodology.
VSX
Verification Suite.for X/open
VTS
A suite of test programs for Motif from OSF.
VUE
Visual User Environment: a desktop manager for UNIX from Hewlett-Packard.
VUIT
Visual User Interface Tool: a WYSIWYG editor from DEC for building human interfaces to applications using OSF/Motif. It provides an interactive interface to UIL and the Motif toolkit.
VxWorks
A real-time software development environment and multitasking operating system from Wind River Systems that uses the VRTX kernel.
W3
See WWW.
WAIS
Wide Area Information Servers: a distributed document retrieval system supported by Apple, Thinking Machines and Dow Jones. Servers answer questions from personal workstations following a standard protocol.

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WABI
A software package to emulate Windows under X
WAN
Wide Area Network.
Wasserman
A.I.(Tony) Wasserman: president of IDE.
Waterfall
A software life-cycle model showing the phases of the cycle and their interrelations on a characteristic diagram.
WE
A hypertext authoring system developed at the University of North Carolina.
WEB
See Literate Programming and also WorldWide Web
Westmount
A Netherlands software engineering vendor of RTEE and other products.
Whetstone
A benchmark program.
Widget
In the X Window System, a window with its associated input and output functions. Widgets, provided by a library package, are used as building blocks to construct a wide variety of application environments.
WIMP
Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers (or maybe Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pull-down menus). The style of user interface made popular by the Apple Macintosh and now available in other GUIs, such as OSF/Motif and NeWS.
Window manager
In a window system, a program which manages windows on a screen. It is responsible for moving and resizing windows, and other practical functions.
Window system
Software which supports windowing. Examples are the X Window System, and proprietary systems on the Macintosh, NeXT and Sun.
Windowing
The ability to interact at will with several processes in a computer through reserved areas, or windows, on a VDU screen.
Windows
A window system and user interface software from Microsoft for MS-DOS.
Windows 4GL
INGRES/Windows 4GL is a graphical tool running on top of workstation native windowing systems, to help developers to build user interfaces to INGRES applications.
WizDOM
Software for distributed UNIX system management from TIVOLI Systems of Austin, Texas
Word
A document processing program from Microsoft.
Workstation
A general-purpose computer designed to be used by one person at a time and which offers higher performance than normally found in a PC, especially with respect to graphics, processing power and the ability to carry out several tasks at the same time.
WWW
WorldWide Web: a CERN-based project aimed at providing hypertext-style access to information from a wide range of sources .

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WYSIWYG
What You See Is What You Get: a feature of document preparation systems allowing the user to work on a document displayed on a screen in exactly the same form as it will appear when printed.
X client
An application process in the X Window System: it gains access to windowing services via the Xlib library. These are translated by the system into messages to an X server.
X Consortium
A vendor consortium supporting development of the X Window System.

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X-designer
A user interface builder for Motif from Imperial Software Technology.
X protocol
A standard used by clients (applications) and servers in the X Window System for exchanging requests for window manipulations.
X server
A process which controls a bitmap display device.in an X Window System. It performs operations on request from client applications.
X terminal
An intelligent terminal which operates as an X server directly connected to Ethernet.
X-terminal
An intelligent terminal with a built-in implementation of an X server , which can therefore communicate with computers running X clients .
X Window System
A specification for device-independent windowing operations on bitmap display devices, developed by MIT and now a de facto standard supported by the X consortium.

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X.25
A standard networking protocol suite approved by the CCITT and ISO. This protocol suite defines standard physical, link, and networking layers (layers 1 through 3). X.25 networks are in use throughout the world.
X.400
The set of CCITT communications standards covering mail services provided by data networks.
X.500
The set of CCITT standards covering electronic mail directory services.
X.desktop
A desktop manager for UNIX from IXI.
X/Open
An international consortium of vendors whose purpose is to define the X/Open Common Applications Environment designed to provide applications portability.
X11R4
Version 11 release 4 of the X protocol; the current standard.
X11R5
Version 11 release 5 of the X protocol; the new standard.
X3J16
The C++ standard technical committee.
X
An abbreviation for the X Window System.
Xaw
The Athena Widget Set: a set of widgets distributed with the X Window System.
XDR
eXternal Data Representation - universal machine independent form of data sent by RPC systems.
XENIX
UNIX implementations from SCO.
XIE
X Image Extension: extensions to the X protocol to handle images.
Xlib
X library: program interface to the X Window System.
xmosaic
See Mosaic
XNS
Xerox Network Services: a proprietary networking architecture developed by Xerox.
Xopen
See X/Open
XPG3
Version 3 of XPG.
XPG
X/open Portability Guide: defines the interfaces of the X/Open Common Applications Environment.
XRemote
A serial line protocol for the X Window System .
XRN
A newsreader program for Usenet news base on the X Window System. host.
XSI
X/Open System Interface specification: part of the X/Open Common Applications Environment.
Xt
The intrinsics of theX Window System Toolkit.
Xterminal
See X-terminal
XTI
X/open Transport Interface.
XUI
X User Interface: program interface to the X Window System supported by DEC.
Xv++
A library of classes from Interface Engineering, Stevenage, providing a C++ Application Programmer's Interface to the XView toolkit.
XView
A toolkit from Sun, derived from SunView, providing an Open Look user interface for X applications.
XVT
eXtensible Virtual Toolkit: a product allowing applications to be developed independent of GUI.
Xwindow
See X Window System
yacc
Yet Another Compiler Compiler. A parser generator for UNIX by S.C.Johnson
YP
Yellow Pages: a name server in NFS to link clients desiring a service with servers who can provide it.
YSM
Yourdon Structured Method
Z
An algebraic definition language developed at Oxford University for describing computing systems, based on set theory and predicate calculus.

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ZEBRA
A data management package in the CERN Program Library.

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ZOG
A high-performance hypertext system developed at Carnegie-Mellon University.
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MS, 7 March 1994