informatics

© 1998, 1999, 2000 by Arden Schaeffer, 1932-2032?, author & webster
Edition of 2000/01/01 , at URL:
http://users.lmi.net/arden/in.english/informatics/informatics.html

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Table of Contents

Title | Table of Contents |

# | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
| Other pages | Other sites | End of Page

Numeric Section


1-2-3
1-2-3, a.k.a. Lotus 1-2-3, from Lotus Development Corporation, is the killer app spreadsheet program for its sole platform, the IBM Personal Computer, on which it runs like lightning, in native code, in 1981.

16
16, which = 2^4 = 256, is the number-base for hexadecimal arithmetic. || Contents

1642
In 1642, in France, Blaise Pascal makes an adding machine, the Pascaline, for his tax-collector father. || Contents

1673
In 1673, in London, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, born in Leipzig in 1646, exhibits his Stepped Reckoner that can add, subtract, multiply, & divide; but, because of economics, his machines are not used widely until 1820ish. || Contents

1823
In 1823, in England, mathematician Augusta Ada King, countess of Lovelace, designs, and her lover Charles Babbage begins but discontinues building, a Difference Engine to generate tables. || Contents

1825?
In 1825?, in France, Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents a loom controlled by punched cards. || Contents

1833
In 1833, in England, mathematician Augusta Ada King, countess of Lovelace, designs, and her lover Charles Babbage begins but discontinues building, an Analytical Engine to store information, and perform calculations of any kind, using Jacquard's punched-card input of both a program and variable data. || Contents

1890
In 1890, at MIT, Herman Hollerith, inspired by passenger-train conductors' punch-photographs that identified ticket-holders by certain variables such as size of nose and color of hair and of eyes, builds a punched-card tabulator for the U.S. Bureau of the Census which had needed seven years to process the data from the census of 1880. || Contents

1896
In 1896, in the USA, Herman Hollerith forms the Tabulating Machine Company, which he later sells to businessman Charles Ranlegh Flint, who merges it with companies that make shopkeeper's scales and workplace time-clocks to create a conglomerate that he calls the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR). || Contents

1924
In 1924, in the USA, CTR's president, Thomas J. Watson Sr, re-names the company International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) || Contents

1927
In 1927, in the USA, Philo Taylor Farnsworth, 1906-1971, demonstrates a working model of a televison system. || Contents

1930
In 1930, at MIT, Vannevar Bush makes an analog Differential Analyzer to solve differential equations. || Contents

1936
British mathematician Alan M Turing has a seminal paper published entitled "On Comparable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem", published in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, Vol. 42 (London, 1936), pp. 230-265, in which he posits the possibility of constructing a not-then-existent general-purpose computer, now called a Turing machine; and describes its characteristics, including what it can and can not do. Cf the halting problem (das Entscheidungsproblem).

1937
In the autumn of 1937, at Bell Labs, NY, USA, George R. Stibitz, having assembled on his kitchen table a "breadboard" circuit of electromechanical telephonic relays called a flip-flop, plans a non-programmable Complex Number Computer. || Contents

the late 1930s
In the late 1930s, in France (at the Institut Blaise Pascal?), Louis Couffignal writes several papers on the design of an electromechanical calculator using binary arithmetic. || Contents

1939/04
In 1939/04, at Bell Labs, NY, USA, work begins on George R. Stibitz's Complex Number Computer; it's finished in 6 months. || Contents

194
Claude Shannon. || Contents

1945/06/30
First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, by John von Neumann is completed 1945/06/30, and gives rise to the phrase "von Neumann architecture". || Contents

1947/12/22
In 1947/12/22, J Presper Eckert and John W Mauchly incorporate the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) with 36 employees. || Contents

1959
In 1959, at MIT, professor Marvin L Minsky founds the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. || Contents

1965
Gordon Moore, in a speech in 1965, posits what soon comes to be called Moore's Law, which says that one can expect the number of transistors on a typical microprocessor to double every eighteen to twenty-four months. || Contents

1966
Douglas Engelbart invents the mouse. || Contents

1967
In 1967, object-oriented programming (OOP) is invented. || Contents

1975
Ed Roberts, founder of MITS, begins shipping the Altair 8800 in 1975. || Contents

1976?
In 1976?, Steven Jobs, and Stephen Wozniak from HP, with funds from Mike Markkula, co-found Apple Computer, Incorporated. || Contents

1976?
In 1976?: Apple computer, $666.66/kit
1977
In 1977, the Apple II computer, fully assembled, with killer app VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, ships for $1195. || Contents

1970s,late
1970s, late: the Xerox Star workstation computers appear. || Contents

1981?
1981? the IBM PC appears. || Contents

1983?
1983?: Lisa: black-on-white "paper-look" display; introduces double-clicking, the menuBar. || Contents

1984
1984: the first Macintosh (128) appears. || Contents

1986
In 1986, Burroughs and Sperry Rand merge their computer operations to form computer mfgr Unisys.|| Contents

1990ish
In 1990ish, Steven Jobs quits Apple Computer and founds NeXT Software, which then develops Rhapsody. || Contents

1993 at the latest
Larry Wall creates Perl. || Contents

1996/12
In 1996/12, Apple Computer acquires NeXT Software. || Contents

1996
In 1996, Steve Jobs incorporates Pixar computer animation studio in Point Richmond, CA, USA; then Pixar releases the tremendously successful ToyStory; then A Bug's Life; what next? || Contents

1997
In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue, built to play chess, defeats Russian grand master Garry Kasparov in a six-game match. || Contents

1999-08-31 Tuesday
Apple Computer, Incorporated announces the Macintosh PowerPC® G-4:
  • the low-end 400Mz machine shipping 1999-08-31
  • the mid-range 450 MHz machine to ship in 1999/September "in a few weeks"
  • the high-end 500 MHz machine to ship in 1999/October
|| Contents

1999-12-13
A computer virus is said to be scheduled to erase hard disks in 1999-12-13. || Contents

2
2 is the number-base for binary arithmetic, which Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, born in 1646, invented. || Contents

256
256 = 2^8 = 16^2 = (the number of values that a byte can represent) || Contents

2000
The year 2000 is the dreaded Y2K, when year-numbers of dates roll over and ancient date-computation subroutines with 2-digit year-fields malfunction. See Y2K. || Contents

|| Contents

Section A


A/UX
A/UX is the abbreviation of 'Apple Unix' which is Apple Computer's version of the Unix operating system (OS). | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Access.com
www.access.com

Ada
In 1823, in England, mathematician Augusta Ada King, countess of Lovelace, designs, and her lover Charles Babbage begins but discontinues building, a Difference Engine to generate tables. || Contents

Adler, Peter
Peter Adler is BMUG's audio, music, and sound man.

Agenda
Agenda is a computer industry conference, co-founded by Stewart Alsop and Bob Metcalfe, that meets annually in the autumn at the Phoenician Resort, Scottsdale, AZ, US || Contents

AI
artificial intelligence || Contents

AI Lab
AI Lab is the abbreviation of Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Contents

Algol
Algol is a computer programming language developed in Switzerland. Algol 60 is beautiful; Algol 68 is ugly. See Computer programming languages. || Contents

Allen, Paul
Paul Allen and Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft. || Contents

Altair 8800
The Altair 8800, developed on the Intel 8080 processor, using Altair BASIC, by Ed Roberts, founder of MITS which began shipping it in 1975, is a very rudimentary personal computer toy for engineers, to be assembled from a knocked-down kit that cost $387 per kit with neither keyboard nor monitor nor software, but only switches for binary digital input and lamps for binary digital output. See personal computers. || Contents

Alto
The Alto, developed at Xerox PARC, was the first personal computer, and was begun in 1972 by Butler Lampson, Chuck Thatcher, Edward McCreight, and Alan Kay, and assembled in 1973/04/01, All Fools' Day. It was in a cubic-meter box on casters that rolled under the table; it had a keyboard, and a table-top monitor in tall (or portrait) orientation with icons on the first bit-mapped display; and, late in 1973, the first overlapping windows. Later, it introduced Douglas Engelbart's mouse of 1966. See personal computers. || Contents

analog computer
An analog computer processes continuous variable input. Cf digital computer. || Contents

Andreessen, Marc, b. 1943ish
Marc Andreessen, b. when?, is co-founder, with Jim Clark and Jim Barksdale, of Netscape Communications Corporation. || Contents

API
API is the abbreviation of 'application programming interface'.
Contents

app
An app is an application program; and cf killer app. || Contents

Apple

Apple Computer, Incorporated

Apple Computer Store
www.store1.apple.com

AppleScript Software Development Toolkit
Version 1.1 $49. www.devcatalog.apple.com | Links

application program
An application program (or app) is a program that does a task of a kind for whose accomplishment the user bought the computer; these application programs include:
  • computer-aided design (CAD) programs
  • database managers (DBMs)
  • desktop publishing (DTP) programs
  • e-mailers
  • personal information managers (PIMs)
  • spreadsheet programs
  • text editors (or word processors)
  • Web browsers
|| Contents

APS® Technologies:
www.aps.com/

ARPA
ARPA is the abbreviation and acronym of 'Advanced Research Projects Agency' (of the DOD). See DARPA. || Contents

artificial intelligence
Examples of the attempt to emulate human intelligence, now called artificial intelligence (AI), include:
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab)
  1. In 1959, at MIT, professor Marvin L Minsky creates the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
  2. || Contents

ATM
ATM is the abbreviation of 'automatic teller machine'.
National Cash Register (NCR) supplies most of the ATMs on planet Tellus. || Contents

audio
See MP3 and BMUG's Peter Adler for audio, music, and sound.

Aurora
Aurora 2.1.1 is a cdev (Control Panel Device) that can invert the menuBar-color, which in turn will help to prevent burn-in.

|| Contents

Section B


Babbage
In 1823, in England, mathematician Augusta Ada King, countess of Lovelace, designs, and her lover Charles Babbage begins but discontinues building, a Difference Engine to generate tables. || Contents

backup-storage
Back up your data onto a CD-R using Retrospect from Dantz. Cf storage.

Ballmer, Steve
Steve Ballmer (the Embalmer, according to Ray Noorda) has been #2 at Microsoft since the departure of Paul Allen. || Contents

Barksdale, Jim, b. 1943ish
Jim Barksdale, b. 1943ish, is co-founder with Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark, and ex-President, of Netscape Communications Corporation. || Contents

Be box
A Be box is computer that runs under the BeOS.

Be
Be Inc., Menlo Park, CA, USA
developer of the BeOS
founded by former Apple Computer employee Jean-Louis Gassée.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

beauty
  • in computer hardware and software design, as elsewhere, simplicity = elegance = beauty.
  • See David Hillel Gelernter's 1998 book Machine beauty, Basic Books MasterMinds Series, ISBN 0-465-04316-x (paper), LCCN 97-14613 CIP
  • || Contents

BeOS
The BeOS is a multimedia operating system (OS); cf Jean-Louis Gassée
The BeOS is good for hacking, and for media-work.
bash means 'Bourne-again Shell';
valid commandLines include:
$ cd /bin/
$ ls -alf | more
$ ls -alF | more
$ ls -alF

Berkeley Systems Distribution (BSD)
Berkeley Systems Distribution is a specification for the Unix OS;
MacOSC Server conforms to BSD 4.4;
cf FreeBSD.

Berners-Lee_Tim
British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, US) in 1998, invented the World-Wide Web at CERN in 1991.

binary arithmetic
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, born in 1646, invented binary arithmetic || Contents

|| Contents

bit
A bit is a binary digit. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

bit_mapped
bit_mapped display || Contents

bit parallel
The earliest digital computers were of bit serial design. The ERA 1101 of 1950 was bit parallel. See bit || Contents

bit serial
The earliest digital computers were of bit serial design. See bit, bit parallel. || Contents

bitslag
bitslag is the Internet info-garbage that impedes one's access to the rich ore of information that is to be found on the Internet. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

BMUG
BMUG is the Berkeley Macintosh User Group; see their sites at:and visit Planet BMUG

books on computers
Stacey's Professional Bookstore, San Francisco: www.staceys.com

Borland International
Borland International, Scotts Valley, CA, USA: Philippe Kahn, Founder. || Contents

bot
bot is short for robot; cf HotBot; a bot is also called a robot or a search engine or a spider or a Web crawler.

BSD
BSD stands for Berkeley Systems Distribution.

burn-in
Burn-in occurs when an image, especially that of the menuBar, becomes burned permanently into the phosphors of the monitor-screen.

byte
The number of values that a byte can represent = 2^8 = 16^2. || Contents

|| Contents

Section C


C
C is the name of the computer programming language that was developed in tandem with the Unix operating system.

cable modem
service-cost of a cable modem: = $49/month; speed = 10 x 56Kbps; see modem.

Caldera Systems
Caldera Systems, Orem, UT, US
Product = software, including:Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Casady and Green(e?)
Casady and Green(e?): Conflict Catcher 8 demo from Casady and Green(e?)

Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): bibliography includes:
  • "Cascading Style Sheets; designing for the Web" by Hâkon Wium Lie & Bert Bos, Addison Wesley Longman, 1997, ISBN 0-201-41998-X, LCCN is available.
    Dan Meriwether recommended it to George Woolley.

CD-R
stands for CD-Recordable; CD-Rs are reliable and portable, they're excellent for backup-storage, and their cost in 1999 is only 0.3 cents/MB.

Cerf, Vint
Vint Cerf has been called the Father of the Internet. || Contents

CERN
CERN is the acronym of the Centre Européen Recherche Nucléaire, Suisse | Switzerland, where British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, US) in 1998, invented the World-Wide Web.

cdev
A cdev is a Control Panel Device, and belongs in the System folder.

chess
In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue, built to play chess, defeats Russian grand master Garry Kasparov in a six-game match. || Contents

CISC

Cisco Systems Inc
Cisco Systems Inc makes the routers which form the backbone of the Internet in 1999. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Clark_Jim
Jim Clark co-founded:
clickable
To say that something is clickable means that if you click on it, then something will happen because you did; to say that something is not clickable means that if you click on it, your finger may become sore, but nothing else will happen. || Contents

CLUI
CLUI is the abbreviation and acronym of command line user interface, and is the antonym of GUI. || Contents

Code Fusion
Code Fusion from Cygnus Solutions:
  • is an integrated development environment (IDE);
  • it simplifies Linux programming in C, C++, and Java;
  • it runs on the four major Linux distributions;
  • it's optimized for Intel architectures;
  • it out-performs CodeWarrior;
  • it has:
    • a GUI
    • a project manager
    • a source-code editor
    • graphical source-code browsers
    • compilers
    • debugger tools
  • it's due in 1999/07 for $300-$1.
  • || Contents

CodeWarrior
CodeWarrior is from Metrowerks

ColorBallz
ColorBallz 2.0, from KBCW Qwert Yuiop Software, is a fun program which everyone should have.

Commander Data
The fictitious Commander Data is a member of the crew in Star Trek, and an intelligent android; see artificial intelligence || Contents

Compaq Computer Corporation
Compaq Computer Corporation is the #1 manufacturer of Wintel boxes in the 1990s. Cf the Presario line of computers. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

computer
|| Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Computer Chronicles
Stewart D. Cheifet's Computer Chronicles, telephone 1-888-310-7850
  • Fridays @ hour 13:30 on KQED-TV-9
  • Fridays @ hour 21:00 on KCSM-TV-60

computer firms
computer firms include
Computer Lib
Computer Lib and The Dream Machine were written by Ted Nelson, the creator of hypertext, and published together in a single two-faced volume in 1966. || Contents

computer networking
computer networking includes:
computer networking equipment
computer networking equipment || Contents

computer networking equipment manufacturers
computer networking equipment manufacturers include:
computer program
See program || Contents

computer programmer
See programmer || Contents

computer programming
See the halting problem; Hofstadter's law; programming

computer programming language
computer programming language || Contents

computer programming languages
Computer programming languages include:
computers
Cf computer.
For the early computers, v. Kenneth Flamm's "Creating the Computer" p. 9
Past and present computers include:
computers from Apple Computer, Incorporated
computers from Apple Computer, Incorporated include:
  1. Apple line:
    1. 1976?: Apple computer, $666.66/kit
    2. 1977: Apple II computer, fully assembled,
      with killer app VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, $1195.
    3. Apple IIe
  2. 1983?: Lisa: black-on-white "paper-look" display; introduces double-clicking, the menuBar.
  3. 1984: the 68K Macintosh line includes:
    1. 68K Macs (with Motorola CISC processor 680X0):
      1. 1984: the Macintosh (128): less costly than the Lisa
      2. Fat Mac 512
      3. Mac Plus
      4. Mac SE
      5. Mac II
      6. Quadra (with processor 68030, 68040)
      7. Centris (similar to the Quadra)
      8. Performa 6260, 6261, 6300
    2. PowerMacs with Motorola PPC RISC processor:
      1. Performa 6260, 6261, 6300
      2. PowerMac G-1?: 6100, 7100, 8100
      3. PowerMac G-2?: 7200, 7500, 8500, 9500, 4400, 7300, 7600, 8600, 5500/75MHz with monitor
      4. G-3 line:
        1. G-3
        2. 1998: iMac
        3. 1999: iBook
      5. 1999: G-4
      6. ?
  4. See Apple Computer, Incorporated
|| Contents

ConflictCatcher
ConflictCatcher version 8 demo is available from Casady and Greene at www.casadyg.com/downloads/default.html.

connection
in successful Internet telecommunications using PPP and TCP/IP, the following sequence of events should occur:
  • Connecting...
  • Dialing [telephone-number]
  • [modem-sound, then harsh cacophonous modem-noise]
  • Modem compression established.
  • Starting PPP...
  • Authenticating...
  • Starting Network protocols...

Cook, Scott D
Scott D Cook, Chairman, Intuit

Corel Corporation
Corel Corporation, Ottawa, CA
Product = software, including WordPerfect.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Covad
Covad Communications Group (COVD), Santa Clara, CA, USA, provides high-speed Internet access by copper phone lines in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1998ish. | Links

CP/M
CP/M is the abbreviation of 'Control Program / Monitor' which is an operating system (OS) written by Gary Kildall, which ran most of the microcomputers in the late 1970s and early 1980s such as the Osborne I, Kaypro, etc. || Contents

CSS
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets; in re which, cf w/ George Woolley.

Cygnus Solutions
Cygnus Solutions, Sunnyvale, CA, USA; products include: Code Fusion || Contents

Cyrillic
A graphical display is said to go Cyrillic when it displays garbage. || Contents

|| Contents


Section D


daemon
Cf demon; daemon droppings. || Contents

DARPA
DARPA is the abbreviation and acronym of 'Advanced Research Projects Agency' (of the DOD). See ARPA. || Contents

data
Latin plural of datum. || Contents

database
database (DB) | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

database manager
database manager (DBM) software || Contents

database managment
database managment || Contents

datum
Latin singular of data. || Contents

DB
DB is the abbreviation of 'database'.
Contents

DBM
DBM is the abbreviation of 'database-manager'.
Contents

DBMS
DBMS is the abbreviation of 'database-management system'.
Contents

DEC
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), founded in 1957 by Kenneth Olsen, is a maker of minicomputers of the PDP and VAX lines since 1957. || Contents

Deep Blue
In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue, built to play chess, defeats Russian grand master Garry Kasparov in a six-game match. || Contents

Dell Computer
Dell Computer, founded in 1984? by Michael Dell, Founder, President and CEO, Round Rock or Austin, TX, USA; manufactures Wintel boxes.

Dell, Michael
Michael Dell, Founder, President, and CEO, Dell Computer. || Contents

demon
Cf daemon; demon droppings. || Contents

desktop movies
desktop movies are Apple Computer's term for digital video. || Contents

Difference Engine
In 1823, in England, mathematician Augusta Ada King, countess of Lovelace, designs, and her lover Charles Babbage begins but discontinues building, a Difference Engine to generate tables. || Contents

digital computer
A digital computer processes discrete variable input. Cf analog computer. Cf digital computer system. || Contents

digital computer system
  • The function of a digital computer system is to ordinate (manipulate, process) data in digital (that is, discrete, not continuous) form.
  • the first true electronic digital computer was the Manchester University Enhanced Mark I of 1949.
  • component subsystems of a digital computer system:
    • central processing unit (CPU)
      • arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
      • control unit
      • cache memory
    • main memory: internal memory and a high-speed buffer
    • peripheral equipment of the input-output subsystem
      • terminal(s)
        • monitor
        • input device(s)
          • keyboard
          • trackball
          • touchpad
          • mouse
          • pointing-stick
      • modem(s)
      • printer(s)
      • disk drive(s)
      • tape drive(s)
      • card reader(s) and card punch(es) in remote antiquity
|| Contents

Digital Research
Digital Research (DR) was founded by Gary Kildall; flourished in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and the business was managed by his wife, Dorothy McEwen. || Contents

Digital Subscriber Line
The Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is also known as
the Dollar Subtraction Layer. || Contents

digital video
digital video is what Apple Computer has re-named desktop movies. || Contents

disk dancers
disk dancers are teenagers who hop from one free AOL account to another via AOL disks from magazines and direct mail. || Contents

DiskWarrior
Norton Utilities for the Mac (NUM), by deleting the extents catalog, pessimizes the file catalog; DiskWarrior optimizes it.

display
The display is what appears on-screen on your computer's monitor-screen.
|| Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

distributed computing
distributed computing is the term that the marketers use for distributed processing, which to them sounds too technical and therefore geeky. || Contents

distributed processing
distributed processing (which the marketers call distributed computing), means assigning different processors to execute different parts of the same task. || Contents

DOD
The US DOD (Department of Defense) created DARPA || Contents

DOS
DOS is the abbreviation and acronym of 'Disk operating system' which is an operating system (OS) written by IBM that ran the IBM-clone personal computers in the early 1980s. || Contents

DR
DR is the abbreviation of Digital Research. || Contents

Dr Frankenstein's creature
Dr Frankenstein's creature in Mary Shelley's novel: See artificial intelligence || Contents

DSR
DSR is the abbreviation of Dynamical Systems Research which worked out of an attic rented from one Darryl S. Rush (whose initials are also DSR, hence the firm's name || Contents

DSL
DSL is the abbreviation of Digital Subscriber Line, a.k.a. Dollar Subtraction Layer. || Contents

Dvorak
Alternative Dvorak keyboard layouts are downloadable at http://www.apple.com/education/k12/disability/shareware.html; get Typing Tutor 7 by Davidson; then choose Dvorak in your Keyboard control panel; contact Dvorak International at: mailto:dvorakint@aol.com or www.dvorakint.org || Contents

Dynamical Systems Research
Dynamical Systems Research (DSR), Oakland, CA 946, USA, working out of an attic rented from one Darryl S. Rush (whose initials are also DSR, hence the firm's name), with a core group of Princeton physicists led by Nathan Myhrvold, and including his brother Cameron, and Dave Weise, Dave Anderson, Wes Ruple, and Chuck Whitmer, write Mondrian, a clone of IBM's TopView with half the size and twice the speed of TopView; Microsoft acquires DSR in 1986. || Contents

Dyson, Esther
Esther Dyson's PC Forum is held annually in the spring. || Contents

|| Contents


Section E


e-mail
  • Netscape Navigator 3.0, which is primarily a Web-browser, can do rudimentary e-mail functions only;
  • In 1999/03, Eudora is the best program for e-mail.


ears
Your ears are the auditory input devices of your meatware;
between them is your wetware.

Eckert, John Adam Presper, Jr ("Pres")
J Presper Eckert (Presper (from Presbyter) was his grandmother's maiden name) and John Mauchly. || Contents

Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
In 1947/12/22, J Presper Eckert and John W Mauchly incorporate the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) with 36 employees. || Contents

EFF
EFF is the abbreviation of Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a non-profit group, founded in 1986ish by Mitch Kapor, that focuses on Internet policy issues.

elegance
  • in computer hardware and software design, as elsewhere, simplicity = elegance = beauty.
  • See David Hillel Gelernter's 1998 book Machine beauty, Basic Books MasterMinds Series, ISBN 0-465-04316-x (paper), LCCN 97-14613 CIP
  • || Contents

Ellison, Larry
Larry Ellison, a.k.a. Lawrence J Ellison, CEO, Oracle. || Contents

Embalmer, the
Steve Ballmer is the Embalmer, according to Ray Noorda. || Contents

EMCC
EMCC is the abbreviation of Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. || Contents

Engelbart, Douglas
Douglas Engelbart invents the mouse in 1966, and tiles windows in the late 1960s. || Contents

ENIAC
ENIAC of 1945, weighing 30 tons and filling a large room at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, was the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, with 18,000 vacuum tubes. See computers. || Contents

ERA 1101
The ERA 1101 of 1950 was bit_parallel. See computers || Contents

Ethernet
Bob Metcalfe (Dr Robert Metcalfe) invented Ethernet at Xerox PARC. || Contents

Eudora


eyes
The eyes of your meatware are graphic format input devices. || Contents

|| Contents


Section F


Farnsworth, Philo Taylor, 1906-1971
Philo Taylor Farnsworth, 1906-1971, invents televison in an edifice that still, in 1999, stands at the intersection of Sansom and Green Streets in San Francisco, CA, USA; in 1927, in the USA, Philo Taylor Farnsworth demonstrates a working model of a televison system. || Contents

Felsenstein, Lee
Lee Felsenstein, financed by Adam Osborne, developed the Osborne I microcomputer that ran under CP/M; and created the first user group, called the First Osborne Group (FOG). || Contents

file server
The term file server is now usually abbreviated to server, which see. || Contents

Finux
Neal Stephenson, in Cryptonomicon, p.184:mb, may be referring to the OS Linux when he says that Finux is good for industrial-strength typesetting.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

FirstClass™
To visit Planet BMUG, you'll need to obtain the FirstClass™ client program at http://www.bmug.org

FirstWorld Communications
FirstWorld CommunicationsTitle | Contents | Pages | Sites

flat-file database
Unlike a relational database, a flat-file database has cells that cannot communicate with each other. See database. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

flat-panel
Apple Computer introduces a stand-alone desktop computer monitor with a flat-panel screen that sells for $1300 in 1999/09. Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

FreeBSD
In the term FreeBSD, BSD stands for Berkeley Systems Distribution, which is a specification for the Unix OS;
MacOSC Server conforms to BSD 4.4.

FreePPP
FreePPP is the abbreviation of 'Free Point-to-Point Protocol'.

|| Contents


Section G


|| Contents

G-1
|| Contents

G-2
|| Contents

G-3
|| Contents

G-4
1999-08-31: Apple Computer announces the G-4. || Contents

Gassée, Jean-Louis
Jean-Louis Gassée is a former Apple Computer employee who founded Be Inc.

Gates, Bill
See William Henry Gates III, 1955-.

Gateway 2000
Gateway 2000 manufactures top-quality Wintel boxes, and has a following that is as loyal and devoted as is Apple's. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Global InfoNet
Global InfoNet, 330 41st Street, Oakland CA 94609 is an ISP whose Web-site URL is http://www.california.com; David Smith says: Rick Eggers at Global InfoNet, Oakland; M-F 8-5 telephone 510-658-2177 Voice; Web-space = 10 or 15 MB; $14/mo for BMUG members.

Gödel, Kurt
Kurt Gödel is a famous a Czech mathematician. Cf Alan Turing. || Contents

going Cyrillic
A graphical display is said to go Cyrillic when it displays garbage. Cf Cyrillic. || Contents

golem
The golem is a clay creature animated by the secret name of God, in the myths of mediaeval Jewish Kabbalists. See artificial intelligence || Contents

graphic
A graphic is a drawn or painted image, not text. || Contents

graphical
Consisting of pictures rather than text. Cf graphic, and the GUI. || Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Grapple

Grove, Andy
Andy Grove, CEO, Intel. || Contents

GUI
GUI is the abbreviation and acronym of graphical user interface, and is the antonym of CLUI. || Contents

|| Contents


Section H


halting problem
In computer programming, the halting problem, which is called in German das Entscheidungsproblem, and which Alan Turing proved in 1936 to be incomputable and insoluble, is that one can predict that a program will halt or crash, but never that it won't. See:
  • "On Comparable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem", published in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, Vol. 42 (London, 1936)
  • Gelernter, David Hillel, "Machine beauty" © 1998, pp.52:b-53:m.
  • || Contents

hardware
hardware is the antonym of software || Contents

Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard (HP) is a workstation-computer-maker, and manufactures some of the best printers available.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

hexadecimal
hexadecimal arithmetic is based on the number 16 which = 2^4 = 256. || Contents

Hofstadter's law
Hofstadter's law says that everything will always take longer than you think, even when you've accounted for Hofstadter's law. See programming. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

homunculus, pl. homunculi
An homunculus is a tiny quasi-human creature that emulates human intelligence. The ancient Greeks sought to create homunculi. See artificial intelligence || Contents

Honeywell
Honeywell made minicomputers in the 1960s. || Contents

HotBot
HotBot is a bot, or search engine, born in 1998; visit www.hotbot.com.

HP
HP is the abbreviation of Hewlett-Packard | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

hyperLink
A hyperLink is a container tag which creates clickable hypertext which, when clicked on, refers the reader to related text that's situated elsewhere in either the same or a different document. See HTML. | HTML-Glossary

hypertext
Hypertext is clickable hyperLinked text which, when clicked on, refers the reader to related text that's situated elsewhere in either the same or a different document, just as Ted Nelson described it in the 1960s in his twin books "Computer Liberation" and "The Dream Machine"; but avoid the Jacques Derrida's long treatise on hypertext which is full of his complex and convoluted and totally opaque cerebrations and lucubrations and rationcinations that try but fail to explain in what Ted Nelson says clearly and lucidly. See HTML. | HTML-Glossary

| Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Section I


IBM
IBM is the abbreviation of 'International Business Machines' which was the name of a company, now called simply IBM, founded by Tex Watson who merged with Hermann Hollerith's tabulator company. When IBM was Snow White among the Seven Dwarfs, the Dwarfs competed against each other, but said that IBM was not the competition; IBM was the environment. The development of the personal computer ended IBM's hegemony of, but not prominence in, the computer industry. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

ICD
An ICD is an intelligent computing device. || Contents

icon
An icon is a clickable image in a graphic display. || Contents

ICQ
ICQ, a pun on I Seek You, is an Internet chat program from Mirabilis.

IDE
IDE is the abbreviation of 'integrated development environment'.
Contents

IDG
IDG (International Data Group), MA, USA, is
a publisher of books on computers, including the "Dummies" series.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) || Contents

iMac
The original translucent Bondi blue iMac was introduced in 1998;
in 1999/01 the iMac appeared in five translucent tutti frutti colors called blueberry, grape, lime, strawberry, and tangerine.

image
image || Contents

imaging
in re imaging: cf magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Inktomi
Inktomi Corp, San Mateo, CA, USA, is a vendor of software used by Internet directories to help visitors find news and entertainment online. Their products include:
  • Traffic-Server, which speeds the delivery of the data used most often.
| Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Intel
Intel, which is the abbreviation and acronym of 'International Electronics', was co-founded by Gordon Moore. Andy Grove, CEO. || Contents

Intergalactic Digital Research
Intergalactic Digital Research, later simply Digital Research (DR), was founded by Gary Kildall. || Contents

International Data Group
The International Data Group (IDG), MA, USA, is
a publisher of books on computers, including the "Dummies" series.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Internet, the
Vint Cerf has been called the Father of the Internet. || Contents

Internet telecommunications
Tim Berners-Lee says that Internet telecommunications has occurred in two phases:
  • Phase I is folks-to-folks;
  • Phase II is bot-to-bot without human intervention.
See connection.

ISP
ISP is the abbreviation of Internet service provider;
cf UUNet;
ISPs include:

IT
IT is the abbreviation of 'information technology'.
Contents

ITAA
ITAA is the abbreviation of 'Information Technology Association of America'.
Contents

|| Contents

Section J


Jobs, Steven

|| Contents

Section K


Kahn, Philippe
Philippe Kahn, a French Jew, jazz musician, and mathematician, taught mathematics in France; then, when he found himself unemployed, he founded Borland International in Scotts Valley, CA, USA. || Contents

Kapor, Mitch
Mitch Kapor, from Brooklyn, NY, USA, a DJ (disc jockey) turned computer programmer, is Founder, and CEO until 1986, Lotus Development Corporation, Cambridge, MA, USA; then leaves in 1986 and founds the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). || Contents

Kaypro
The Kaypro microcomputer of 197? and the early 1980s ran under CP/M. See microcomputers. || Contents

KBCW Qwert Yuiop Software
KBCW Qwert Yuiop Software is named after the ten letter-keys of the top line of letter-character-keys of the qwerty keyboard layout; they produce a fun program named ColorBallz 2.0 which everyone should have.

kernel
The kernel is the core of a computer OS, which manages memory, files, and system resources. Cf: microkernel | || Contents

Kertzman, Mitchell
Mitchell Kertzman, CEO, Sybase || Contents

keyboard
See keyboard layouts. || Contents

keyboard layouts
keyboard layouts include:
  • qwerty, named after the arrangement of the first six letters at the upper left-hand corner of the North American English keyboard, was designed to retard typing so that typewriter keys wouldn't stick, and is what every North American anglophone learns in school; and cf KBCW Qwert Yuiop Software.
  • Dvorak, named after its inventor, was designed to maximize typing-speed.

Kildall, Gary, 1942-1994
Gary Kildall, 1942-1944, whose widow is Dorothy McEwen, wrote CP/M, and founded Intergalactic Digital Research, later named simply Digital Research (DR). || Contents

killer app
A killer app is an app that kills the competition, or at least kills the objections of the naysayers, and thereby launches, and insures the success of, whatever other product it's bundled with. Thus, for example, in 1977, the first spreadsheet program, VisiCalc, was the killer app which, bundled with the Apple II computer which shipped fully assembled for $1195, launched it and guaranteed its success; and the World-Wide Web, a subset of the Internet which Tim Berners-Lee wrote at CERN in 1991, was the killer app that launched the Internet into celebrity by the year 1994 which was the year of the popularization of the Web, and which journalists described as the Year of the Internet, which rode to fame on the coattails of the Web. || Contents

|| Contents

Section L


language
A language is a code of symbols, and a dialect with an army.
Some languages, including markup languages, exist for the purpose of issuing commands to electronic computers. | HTML-Glossary

languages
See computer programming languages

LANminds Inc
LANminds Inc (LMI), 1700 MLK Way, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA, is an ISP whose Web-site URL is http://www.LANminds.com; telephone 510-843-6389 M-Sat 8-20; Web-space = 20 or 25 MB; somewhat more expensive; but tech support, though available during daytime business hours only, is excellent.

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm
In 1673, in London, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, born in Leipzig in 1646, exhibits his Stepped Reckoner that can add, subtract, multiply, & divide; but, because of economics, his machines are not used widely until 1820ish. He also invents binary arithmetic. || Contents

life
A life, as in the phrase "get a life", exists, not in virtual reality, but rather in the physical universe.

lightPen
The SAGE air defense system gave birth to the lightPen which permitted the user to draw on a display tube; and the lightPen permitted MIT graduate student Ivan Sutherland in the 1960s to write a program named Sketchpad. || Contents

Linus Torvalds
For Linus Torvalds, see Torvalds, Linus.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Linux
Linux, which is short for "Linus' Unix", is a free version of the operating system (OS) named Unix which Linus Torvalds wrote at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Cf open source code | penguin. Hardware to run Linux is sold by Penguin Computing, San Francisco 941, CA, USA. || Contents

Linux distributions
Linux distributions include: MkLinux; RedHat, OpenLinux from Caldera Systems, and SuSE, all three of which can run on either a server or a desktop computer; TurboLinux Workstation 3.6 from TurboLinux, CD-ROM price $49.95, download free; VA Linux Systems Incorporated ||. || Contents

Linux vendors
Linux vendors include: Red Hat; Caldera Systems; SuSE; TurboLinux; VA Linux Systems Incorporated.. || Contents

Lisa
1983?: Lisa: black-on-white "paper-look" display; introduces double-clicking, the menuBar. || Contents

LMI
LANminds Inc

logic
Solid state logic is semiconductor logic. || Contents

Lotus 1-2-3
1-2-3, a.k.a. Lotus 1-2-3, from Lotus Development Corporation, is the killer app spreadsheet program for its sole platform, the IBM Personal Computer, on which it runs like lightning, in native code, in 1981.

Lotus Development Corporation
Lotus Development Corporation, Cambridge, MA, USA, was founded by Mitch Kapor, and produced the IBM Personal Computer's killer app spreadsheet program Lotus 1-2-3. its CEOs include: Jim Manzi from 1986. || Contents

LSI
LSI stands for large scale integration. Cf VLSI || Contents

Lucent Technolgies Inc
Lucent Technolgies Inc was Bell Laboratories; see computer networking equipment manufacturers || Contents

|| Contents

Section M


Mac OS
Mac OS is the operating system (OS) that runs Macintosh computers.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Mac OS X
Mac OS X, which is an operating system (OS) for Macintosh computers, is the offspring of Rhapsody and the Mac OS.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

machine
Term used as a synonym of computer in the terms Turing machine, Von Neumann machine. A computer is just a machine. || Contents

Macintosh
Macintosh
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Macintosh Programmers Workshop (MPW)
Macintosh Programmers Workshop (MPW) is a development system from Apple Computer, Inc. | Contents

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Cf imaging.

Manzi, Jim
Jim Manzi, CEO, Lotus Development Corporation from 1986. || Contents

markup
For markup, see HTML-Glossary.

Mauchly, John William
John William Mauchly and J Presper Eckert. || Contents

McEwen, Dorothy
Dorothy McEwen is the widow of Gary Kildall; she managed Digital Research (DR). || Contents

McNealy, Scott
Scott McNealy co-founded Sun Microsystems. || Contents

meatware
Your meatware is what clings to an armature called the skeleton; its functions are managed by the programming that is contained in the gray matter called wetware which is situated behind the graphic format input devices, called eyes, and between the auditory input devices, called ears, of your meatware; and both the skeleton and the meatware exist in a place called the physical universe, which lies outside the universe of virtual reality, and which you may want to visit sometime; although, if you're a computer geek, then you most certainly won't want to live there..

menuBar
The menuBar is the 20-pixEl-wide field that displays menu-Titles at the top of the monitor-screen-display. The cdev (Control Panel Device) Aurora 2.1.1 can invert its color, which in turn will help to prevent burn-in.

Metcalfe, Bob (Dr Robert Metcalfe)
Bob Metcalfe (Dr Robert Metcalfe) invented Ethernet at Xerox PARC; and founded 3Com. || Title | Contents

Metrowerks
producers of Metrowerks CodeWarrior.

microcomputer
What the marketers now prefer to call the personal computer, including but not limited to the Wintel PC, was originally and is technically called the microcomputer. The first was the Alto of 1973, born at Xerox PARC. || Contents

microcomputers
What the marketers now prefer to call personal computers were originally and are technically called microcomputers, and include the following: || Contents

microkernel
Re microkernel, cf: kernel | Microkernel Linux || Contents

Microkernel Linux
Microkernel Linux (MkLinux) for the Power Macintosh, sponsored by Apple Computer, Incorporated, combines the Linux 2.0 kernel with the Mach 3.0 (Mk) microkernel; cf MkLinux. || Contents

microprocessor
The chip that runs a microcomputer is called a microprocessor. Cf CISC | RISC || Contents

microprocessors
The chips that run microcomputers are called microprocessors. Cf CISC | RISC || Contents

Microsoft
Microsoft (MS) is the Evil Empire, co-founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates.. || Contents

minicomputers
minicomputers include the PDP and VAX lines from DEC. || Contents

Mirabilis
Mirabilis is the software firm that produced ICQ, and is owned by AOL. || Contents

MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. || Contents

MITS
Ed Roberts, founder of MITS, begins shipping the Altair 8800 in 1975. || Contents

MkLinux
See the book MkLinux: Microkernel Linux for the Power Macintosh, editor Rick Morin, ISBN 1-881957-24-1, published by Prime Time Freeware, 370 Altair Way, #510, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA, telephone 408.433.9662, fax 408-433-0727, www.ptf.com, info@ptf.com, sponsored by Apple Computer, Inc. The book weighs many pounds, and costs US $50. See Microkernel Linux. || Contents

modem
modem: modulator-demodulator. See cable modem. || Contents

Mondrian
Mondrian, written ty the Princeton physicists at DSR, is a clone of IBM's TopView with half the size and twice the speed of TopView. || Contents

monitor
|| Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Moore Gordon
Gordon Moore, in a speech in 1965, posits what soon comes to be called Moore's Law, which says that one can expect the number of transistors on a typical microprocessor to double every eighteen to twenty-four months. Soon thereafter he co-founds Intel. || Contents

Moore's Law
Gordon Moore, in a speech in 1965, posits what soon comes to be called Moore's Law, which says that one can expect the number of transistors on a typical microprocessor to double every eighteen to twenty-four months. However, although this will increase processor clock-speeds, any resultant increase in the speed of computer operation is soon offset by Pogue's_Law. || Contents

Mosaic
NCSA Mosaic is the original Net browser, developed at the University of Illinois, and updated until the PowerPC® version 2.0.1 appeared in 1995/10/02.

Motorola
Motorola manufactures consumer electronic devices, and chips, including IBM's PowerPC® RISC processor, for Apple's computers; and, in the mid-1990s, manufactured a Power Macintosh clone called the StarMax.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

mounting
Cf mounting a volume.

mouse
Douglas Engelbart invents the mouse in 1966. || Contents

Mozilla
Mozilla is Netscape's original code name of Netscape Navigator.

MP3
MP3 is shorthand for MPEG 1, Layer 3 which is a sound-compression algorithm that's said to sound good; but ask BMUG's Peter Adler about this.

MPEG 1, Layer 3
MPEG 1, Layer 3 is abbreviated to MP3.

MPW
MPW is the abbreviation of Macintosh Programmers Workshop.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

MRI
MRI is the abbreviation of magnetic resonance imaging.

MRJ
MRJ is the abbreviation of Macintosh Runtime Java, from Apple Computer, Inc. Version 2.1.1 is available from Apple. Get it, and a Netscape MRJ plug-in, and another plug-in. Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

MS
MS is the abbreviation of Microsoft. || Contents

music
See MP3 and BMUG's Peter Adler in re audio, music, and sound.

Myhrvold, Nathan
Nathan Myhrvold is a Princeton physicist and cosmologist who founded DSR in Oakland, CA 946 USA; in 1986 Nathan Myhrvold sold DSR to Microsoft, and became Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft. || Contents

|| Contents


Section N


National Cash Register
National Cash Register (NCR), Dayton, OH, USA
supplies most of the ATMs on planet Tellus. || Contents

NBS
The (US) National Bureau of Standards (NBS) SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer) in the spring of 1950 was the first computer to use solid state (semiconductor) logic. See computers. || Contents

NCR
NCR is the abbreviation of National Cash Register. || Contents

NCSA
NCSA: Cf NCSA Mosaic.

Nelson, Theodor Holm
Computer Lib and The Dream Machine were written by Ted Nelson, the creator of hypertext, and published together in a single two-faced volume in 1966 under the by-line of Theodor Holm Nelson. || Contents

Net-crawler
A Net-crawler is also called a search engine. || Contents

Netscape Communications Corporation
Netscape Communications Corporation is co-founded in 1994 by Jim Barksdale, b. 1943ish, President; Jim Clark; and Marc Andreessen; and releases Netscape Navigator, formerly Mosaic, in 1994/12. || Contents

Netscape Communicator
Netscape Communicator || Contents

Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator, formerly Mosaic, is a Web-browser released in 1994/12 from Netscape Communications Corporation; Greg Yahna recommends version 3 which is stable; and not version 2, nor v. 4.0.8, and most certainly NOT v. 4.5, none of which is stable.

netWare
netWare is networking software. || Contents

NetWare
NetWare is networking software from Novell. || Contents

network
network || Contents

networking
networking || Contents

networking software
networking software includes:
  • Novell's NetWare
  • MS Net, released in 1984
  • MS LAN-Man, released in 1987; incorporated into Windows NT in 1996/7ish, it kills Novell.
  • || Contents

newsgroup
Internet newsgroups called usenet originated in 1979.

Newswatcher
Newswatcher downloads new images.

NeXT Software
In when? Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs founds NeXT Software, which then develops Rhapsody;
in 1996-12, Apple Computer acquires NeXT.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Noorda, Ray, 1924-
Ray Noorda, a turnaround artist, becomes CEO, until 1994, of Novell which he saves from immediate bankruptcy until Bill Gates crushes Novell. || Contents

Norton Utilities
Norton Utilities is short for Norton Utilities for the Mac (NUM).

Norton Utilities for the Mac (NUM)
Norton Utilities for the Mac, by deleting the extents catalog, pessimizes the file catalog; DiskWarrior optimizes it.
GYahna got NUM v. 4.0.1 in 1998/12/29.

nose
Your nose is the olfactory input device of your meatware;
behind it is your wetware.

Novell
Novell, UT, USA: turned around and saved from immediate bankruptcy by Ray Noorda, produces NetWare, crushed by Bill Gates. || Contents

NT
NT is the abbreviation of 'New Technology' which is an operating system (OS) written by whom? that ran/runs many workstation computers in the early 1990s. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

NUM
NUM stands for (Norton Utilities for the Mac) which see.

|| Contents

Section O


O'Reilly
O'Reilly, 101 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472, USA;
phone 1-800-998-9938;
http://www.oreilly.com.
See publishers of books on computers || Contents

Olsen, Kenneth
Kenneth Olsen supervised MIT's and IBM's joint SAGE air defense system computer development, then designed MIT's TX-0 computer for testing new driver circuitry and core memories; then in 1957 he founded Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). || Contents

on-screen
on-screen || Contents

OO
OO is the abbreviation and acronym of 'object-oriented'; object-oriented programming (OOP) was invented in 1967.
Contents

OOP
OOP is the abbreviation and acronym of object-oriented programming, invented in 1967.
Contents

open source code
open source code is program source code that's available to everyone; cf Linux. || Contents

operating system
An operating system (abbreviated OS) is a program that: || Contents

Oracle
Oracle: mfgr of database managment software; Larry Ellison || Contents

OS
OS is the abbreviation and acronym of 'operating system'.
OSs include:Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Osborne
The Osborne I microcomputer of 197? and the early 1980s, designed by Lee Felsenstein and financed by Adam Osborne, ran under CP/M. See microcomputers. || Contents

OT/PPP
OT/PPP is the abbreviation of 'OpenTransport/Point-to-Point Protocol'.

|| Contents

Section P


Pascaline
In 1642, in France, Blaise Pascal makes an adding machine, the Pascaline, for his tax-collector father. || Contents

Pascal, Blaise
In 1642, in France, Blaise Pascal makes an adding machine, the Pascaline, for his tax-collector father. || Contents

path
The path-name, also called the access path or the search path, is the specification of how to find the file sought; in the Macintosh file system, the colon (:) is reserved for the purpose of separating folder-names, so it cannot be used within a file-name; in HTML, the slash (/) is reserved for that purpose, so it should not be used within a file-name, else it will bite you.

PBX
public branch exchange || Contents

PC
PC is the abbreviation of personal computer, not to be confused with the Wintel box. || Contents

PCMCIA
PCMCIA expands officially to
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association;
and unofficially to
People Can't reMember Computer Industry Acronyms. || Contents

PDF
PDF is the abbreviation of Adobe's Portable Document Format.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

PDP
PDP (Programmed Data Processor) is a line of DEC minicomputers.
  • 1961: PDP-1
  • 1963ish: PDP-5
  • 1964: PDP-6
  • 1964ish: PDP-11; & cf 1977: VAX 11/780
  • 1965: PDP-8, $18,000
  • 1970: PDP-10
  • & cf 1977: VAX 11/780
  • || Contents

penguin
The penguin is the logo of Linux, and is a (registered?) trademark of Penguin Computing. || Contents

Penguin Computing
Penguin Computing, San Francisco 941, CA, USA: sells hardware to run Linux. || Contents

Perl
Perl is the acronym of PERL, which is the abbreviation of
'Practical Extraction and Report Language', which is a computer programming language written by Larry Wall by 1993;
  • for information on Perl, get the books:
    • "Learning Perl", by Randal L. Schwartz & Tom Christiansen, foreword by Larry Wall, ed.2, publ. O'Reilly;
    • "Programing Perl", by Larry Wall, Randal L. Schwartz & Tom Christiansen, publ. O'Reilly;
    • "MacPerl: Power and Ease, by Vicki Brown and Chris Nander;
  • meanwhile, go to George Woolley's site on Perl at URL: http://www.metaart.org/perl/

personal computer
What the marketers now prefer to call the personal computer, including but not limited to the Wintel PC, was originally and is technically called the microcomputer. The first was the Alto of 1973, born at Xerox PARC. || Contents

Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
Personal Computer Memory Card International Association: see PCMCIA. || Contents

personal computers
What the marketers now prefer to call personal computers were originally and are technically called microcomputers, and include the following: || Contents

physical universe
The physical universe is the environment that contains all computer hardware, and your meatware, as subsets of itself. It lies outside the universe of virtual reality. The physical universe is a fun place to visit, so you may want to visit it sometime; but, if you're a cyber-geek, then you probably won't want to live there. || Contents

Pixar
Steve Jobs incorporates Pixar Inc computer animation studio in Point Richmond, CA, USA, in 1986; then Pixar releases the tremendously successful ToyStory; then A Bug's Life; what next?

Planet BMUG
Planet BMUG is the FirstClass™ bulletin-board system of BMUG. To visit Planet BMUG, you'll need to obtain the FirstClass™ client program at http://www.bmug.org
Power Macintosh
The Power Macintosh is a Macintosh with a PowerPC® processor. || Contents

PowerPC®
The PowerPC® is a RISC processor developed jointly by Apple Computer, Inc, IBM, and Motorola at Tintagel in Texas, USA. || Contents

Pogue's_Law
Moore's Law is offset by Pogue's_Law, which says that "any extra speed introduced by faster chips is soon offset by increasingly bloated software." -David Pogue, in article "The Repeal of Moore's Law" in Macworld 1999/11 p.198-end || Contents

Pogue_David
David Pogue is the enunciator of Pogue's_Law. || Contents

PPP
PPP is the abbreviation of 'Point-to-Point Protocol'.

Presario
The Presario line of computers is made by Compaq Computer Corporation, the #1 manufacturer of Wintel boxes in the 1990s. || Contents

program
A computer program is a set of instructions written by a programmer that tells the computer what to do. See programs. || Contents

programmer
A programmer is one who writes computer programs. See programmers. || Contents

programmers
Computer programmers are different from ordinary humans.
Once upon a time, a programmer went, uncharacteristically, into the countryside, where he met a talking frog. The frog said: "Kiss me, and I'll turn into a beautiful princess and fulfill your every wish." The programmer put the talking frog into his pocket. Then he went home, and took the frog out of his pocket. The frog said: "Kiss me, and I'll turn into a beautiful princess and fulfill your every wish." The programmer put the talking frog into his pocket. Then he booted up his computer and went to work. After a few hours, he shut down his computer, and took the frog out of his pocket. The frog said: "Kiss me, and I'll turn into a beautiful princess and fulfill your every wish." The programmer put the talking frog into his pocket. Then the programmer ate supper, washed the dishes, went to his bedroom, stripped himself naked, and took the frog out of his pocket. The frog said: "Kiss me, and I'll turn into a beautiful princess and fulfill your every wish." The programmer was about to put the talking frog into his pocket, when the frog said: "What's with you? Don't you like beautiful princesses?" Before the programmer put the frog back into his pocket, he said to the frog: "Hey! I'm a programmer, so I have no time for beautiful princesses; but to have a talking frog is way cool." || Contents

programming
See computer programming

programming languages
See computer programming languages

programs
computer programs are of three principal types:See program || Contents

publishers of books on computers
publishers of books on computers include: | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites
|| Contents

Section Q


Quantum
Quantum Corp, Milpitas, CA, USA, is a provider of computer peripheral devices.

qwerty
Qwerty is the name of a keyboard layout, (named after the arrangement of the first six letters at the upper left-hand corner of the North American English keyboard layout): what every North American anglophone learns in school; and cf KBCW Qwert Yuiop Software.

|| Contents

Section R


RAID
RAID is the abbreviation and acronym of 'redundant array of inexpensive disks'.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

raster
To raster is to paint an image on a monitor-screen by sweeping across the screen like a plow. Cf raster-scanning | rastering || Contents

raster-scanning
raster-scanning is rastering. Cf raster | rastering || Contents

rastering

RDB
RDB is the abbreviation of 'relational database'; See DB. |
Contents

RDBM
RDBM is the abbreviation of 'relational database manager'.
Contents

RDBMS
RDBMS is the abbreviation of 'relational database management system'.
Contents

relational database
Unlike a flat-file database, a relational database has cells that can communicate with each other. See database. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

relational database manager
relational database manager | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Retrospect
Retrospect is an excellent file backup program from Dantz.
GYahna got v. 4.1 in 1998/12/29.

Rhapsody
Rhapsody is an OS developed by NeXT Software.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

RISC

Roberts, Ed
Ed Roberts formed MITS, and began shipping the Altair 8800 in 1975. || Contents

robot
A robot is either a robotic computer, or a robotic program routine that operates (and enables computers to communicate with each other) independently of any human intervention; a robot is also called a bot or a search engine or a spider or a Web crawler.

router
A router is a server which controls the flow of traffic of information in networks of computers, including the Internet. cf router droppings; routers. || Contents

router droppings
daemon droppings, demon_droppings, or router droppings, are the routing information that router daemons drop like excrement onto the e-mail messages that you get. || Contents

routers
routers which form the backbone of the Internet in 1999 come from Cisco Systems. || Contents

|| Contents


Section S


scheme
in an URL, the scheme is a protocol that specifies how to reach one's destination, which in turn depends on what one wants to do when one arrives there. Schemes include:
  • file:/// (followed by the path-name, followed by an optional file-name (e.g., index.html) followed optionally by a hash mark # followed by a word or phrase, to refer to a destination on one's own local disk)
  • finger: i have not even the foggiest notion of what this could be; have you?
  • ftp:// (File Transfer Protocol, for transferreing files between one's own disk and another)
  • gopher:// (followed by the gopher site name)
  • (both ftp:// above and http:// below are followed by the path-name, and then by either a forward slash / followed by a file-name; or simply by a trailing forward slash /, which indicates the default file in the last directory named (common default file names include "default.html" and "index.html").)
  • http:// (HyperText Transfer Protocol, for wandering on the Web)
  • mailto: (followed by the eddress (e-mail address); e.g., mailto:foobar@bozo.com)
  • news: (followed by the newsgroup-name)
  • telnet://
  • wais://

screen
The screen is the glass-paneled front part of the monitor that shows the display; cf on-screen.Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

SCSI
SCSI stands for Small Computer Systems Interface. In the iMac, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) supplants SCSI.

Scientific Data Systems
Scientific Data Systems (SDS). || Contents

SDS
SDS is the abbreviation of Scientific Data Systems. || Contents

SEAC
SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer) in the spring of 1950 was the first computer to use solid state (semiconductor) logic. See computers. || Contents

search engine
There are some 200 search engines, also called a Net-crawler or bot or a robot or a spider or a Web crawler.
semiconductor
The principal semiconductor logic chip makers in 1999 include:
  • LSI Logic Corp, Milpitas, CA, USA
  • VLSI Technology Inc, San Jose, CA, USA
| Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

server
A server, known originally as ia file server, is a large and powerful computer, typically no smaller than a tower model workstation computer, that is dedicated to holding the files of a network of computers such as that of an ISP; cf router.

server-makers
server-makers include | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

server name
In an URL, the server name (e.g., www.bmug.org or www.sirius.com) follows the the scheme, and specifies the ISP server on which reside the files that the visitor wishes to access.

SGI
SGI is the alphabet soup abbreviation of:
  1. Soka Gakkai International
  2. workstation-computer-maker SGI, of Mountain View, CA, USA, formerly (before 1999/04/13) known formally as Silicon Graphics Inc
| Links

Silicon Graphics Inc
In 1999/04/13, Silicon Graphics Inc formally changes its name to its thitherto informal name, SGI, which is also the alphabet soup abbreviation for the Soka Gakkai International. | Links

simplicity

Sirius Connections
Sirius Connections is owned in 1999 by FirstWorld Communications.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

skeleton
The skeleton is the armature that supports your meatware.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Sketchpad
|| Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Slip.Net
Slip.Net is owned in 1999 by FirstWorld Communications.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

software
software is the antonym of hardware. || Contents

Solectron
Solectron, Milpitas, CA, USA | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

sound
See MP3 and BMUG's Peter Adler in re audio, music, and sound.

spider
A spider is also called a bot or a robot or a search engine or a spider or a Web crawler or a Net-crawler.

spreadsheet
In 1977, the Apple II computer, fully assembled, with killer app VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, ships for $1195. || Contents

Stepped Reckoner
In 1673, in London, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, born in Leipzig in 1646, exhibits his Stepped Reckoner that can add, subtract, multiply, & divide; but, because of economics, his machines are not used widely until 1820ish. || Contents

storage
for backup-storage: CD-R

subroutine
subroutine || Contents

Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, of Mountain View, CA, USA, co-founded by Scott McNealy and (whom?), is a workstation-computer-maker, the #4 server-maker in 1999/04/16. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Sutherland, Ivan
Author of Sketchpad. || Contents

Sybase
Sybase: Mitchell Kertzman, CEO. || Contents

SyQuest Technology Inc
SyQuest Technology Inc, Fremont, CA, US, is a manufacturer of disk drives.

|| Contents

Section T


telecom
Telecom is short for telecommunications.

telecommunications
telecommunications, abbreviated Telecom, includes Internet telecommunications.

televison
In 1927, in the USA, Philo Taylor Farnsworth, 1906-1971, demonstrates a working model of a televison system. || Contents

The Dream Machine
Computer Lib and The Dream Machine were written by Ted Nelson, the creator of hypertext, and published together in a single two-faced volume in 1966. || Contents

tiling
The tiling of was first done in the late 1960s by Douglas Engelbart. || Contents

Tintagel
Tintagel is the name of the last redoubt of King Arthur, and of the place in Texas, USA, where three teams of engineers from Apple Computer, Inc, IBM, and Motorola, with instructions to leave their company culture behind, jointly developed the PowerPC® RISC processor. || Contents

TopView
Regarding TopView from IBM, see Mondrian. || Contents

Torvalds, Linus
  • [when?]: he is born Linus Torvalds in Helsinki, Finland.
  • writes Linux (a free version of Unix) at the University of Helsinki, Finland.
  • moves to Sweden.
  • 1997: moves to the USA, and settles in Silicon Valley with his wife and 2 offspring.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

transistor
in re the transistor, cf Moore's_Law and Pogue's_Law. || Contents

TurboLinux
TurboLinux, formerly Pacific Hi Tech, phone 1-650-244-7777, www.turbolinux.com; cf Linux. || Contents

Turing, Alan M
Alan M Turing was a British mathematician who, in a seminal paper entitled "On Comparable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem", published in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, Vol. 42 (London, 1936), pp. 230-265, posits the possibility of constructing a not-then-existent general-purpose computer, now called a Turing machine; and describes its characteristics, including what it can and can not do (cf the halting problem). || Contents

Turing machine
An abstract theoretical general-purpose computer described by British mathematician Alan Turing in a seminal paper entitled "On Comparable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem", published in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, Vol. 42 (London, 1936), pp. 230-265, in which he posits the possibility of constructing a not-then-existent general-purpose computer, now called a Turing machine; and describes its characteristics, including what it can and can not do (cf the halting problem). See David Hillel Gelernter's book "Machine beauty" © 1998, pp.50:b-53:m. || Contents

|| Contents

Section U


Unisys
Unisys is a computer mfgr formed by the merger of Burroughs' and Sperry Rand's computer operations in 1986. || Contents

UNIVAC
Universal Automatic Computer. The UNIVAC I of 1951 was of bit serial design. || Contents

Universal Serial Bus
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) supplants SCSI in the iMac.

Unix
Unix is the name of the operating system (OS) that was developed in tandem with the computer programming language named C; cf Linux.

UPS
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) uses a battery to keep one's system alive and up and running long enough to save one's work and shut down one's system properly in case of a power outage; the cost of a UPS ranges from less than $100 to several H$$$; visit American Power Conversion's site at URL http://www.apcc.com.

URL
The Earl of the URL says that the term URL has two correct pronounciations:
  • economically, as an acronym which is pronounced /rl/ like the Title of nobility "earl";
  • less economically, as an abbreviation which is pronounced U.R.L.
The term URL is the abbreviation and acronym of Universal Resource Locator, which no one ever actually says, and which is merely its expansion, and not its definition.
The term URL is defined as the address of a file, whether it be:
  • on one's own local disk, or
  • at one's own local site, or
  • at a remote site.
URLs are written in HTML as values of the (HREF) hypertext reference attribute in beginning anchor tags.
  • Absolute URLs are complete, and comprise a scheme (which see), a server name (e.g., www.bmug.org or www.sirius.com), the complete path-name (e.g., /~ardensch/), and an optional file-name (e.g., index.html), followed optionally by a hash mark # followed by a word or phrase.
  • Relative URLs specify only what is necessary to refer to destinations at the local site, and use multiples of dot-dot-(forward-)slash ../ in the path-name to refer up one or more levels if necessary.

USB
The abbreviation USB stands for Universal Serial Bus [sic], which supplants SCSI in the iMac.

used computer recycling
used computer recycling is done by:
usenet
Internet newsgroups called usenet originated in 1979.

user group
Lee Felsenstein created the first user group, called the First Osborne Group (FOG). || Contents

utility program
A utility program (or utility) is a program that:
  • operates on and within the computer-system;
  • produces nothing outside of the computer-system.
So, utility programs (or utilities) include, for example:
  • anti-viral programs;
  • disk-diagnostic and disk-repair programs;
  • file-backup programs;
  • file-compressor and decompressor programs.
|| Contents

UUNet
UUNet: an early ISP, fl. CE 1993.

|| Contents

Section V


Van Eck phreaking
Van Eck phreaking is reading the internal state of a computer by listening to the faint radio waves that its processors emit. | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

VA Linux Systems Incorporated
VA Linux Systems Incorporated manufactures business computers with Linux software.. || Contents

VAX
DEC's VAX line of minicomputers, running under VMS, began in 1977 with the VAX 11/780 developed from the PDP-11. || Contents

VisiCalc
In 1977, the Apple II computer, fully assembled, with killer app VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, ships for $1195. || Contents

VLSI
VLSI stands for very large scale integration. Cf VLSI || Contents

VMS
VMS, which is the abbreviation of '', is the operating system (OS) written by whom? that ran/runs DEC VAX minicomputers beginning in 1977 with the VAX 11/780 developed from the PDP-11. || Contents

VMware Inc
VMware Inc, Palo Alto, CA, US | Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

volume
Cf mounting a volume. | Links |

Von Neumann machine
A general-purpose electronic digital computer of the single-instruction-stream, single-data-stream (SISD) architecture described by mathematician John von Neumann at the request of the chairman of his department. || Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

|| Contents


Section W


W3C
the World-Wide Web Consortium.

Wall, Larry
Larry Wall is the author of Perl, which he created by 1993. || Contents

Web
The Web is the World-Wide Web.
See the novel "Donnerjack" by Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold, 1997, Avon Books, New York, ISBN 0-380-97326-X

Web browser
A Web browser is a program that enables one who wanders in the Web to view Web pages. The Web browsers which are most popular in the year 2000 are Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. || Contents

Web crawler
A Web crawler is also called a bot or a robot or a search engine or a spider.

Web page
A Web page is an entity comprising either a single document, or a collage or montage of several documents, both textual and other (graphic, sound, etc.), written in a browser-readable formatting language so that when a Web browser reads the WebPage, and displays it in the browser's document-field, the "page" appears to be a single entity, even though this appearance may be an illusion. See html/web-page-making.html.

wetware
Your wetware is the gray matter which is situated behind the graphic format input devices, called eyes, and between the auditory input devices, called ears, of your meatware, and which contains the programming that runs your meatware.

window
A window is a graphic rectangle, drawn on the display, that gives the user a view into one or more folders containing directories. || Contents

windows
|| Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Windows
Windows is an operating system (OS), written by Microsoft to replace MS-DOS, that runs most non-Macintosh personal computers in the 1990s.
Windows 95 is good for running game software.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Windows NT
Windows NT is the abbreviation of 'Windows New Technology' which is an operating system (OS), good for doing office-work, written by whom?, that ran/runs many workstation computers in the early 1990s.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Wintel
A Wintel (Windows-Intel) box is a computer that runs the Windows operating system on a chip from Intel. || Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

WordPerfect
WordPerfect is owned by the Corel Corporation
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

workstation computer
High-end workstation computers can be used:
  • to create sophisticated digital products, such as movies' special effects
  • as file servers and routers;
See workstation-computer-makers. || Contents

workstation computers
The Xerox Star was a workstation computer of the late 1970s from Xerox. See workstation-computer-makers.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

workstation-computer-makers
Cf workstation computers. workstation-computer-makers include:Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

World-Wide Web
The World-Wide Web, a subset of the Internet, was invented in 1991 at CERN by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, US) in 1998. By 1994 the Web had become the killer app of the Internet. Standards for the Web are set by the W3C. || Contents

World-Wide Web Consortium
The World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a planetary organization of some 250 firms, govermental agencies, and centers of research (institutes of technology, schools of engineering, universities), that sets standards for the World-Wide Web; Dan Austin is a member thereof. The W3C's Web-site URL is http://www.w3.org/

Wozniak, Steven
In 1976?, Steven Jobs, and Stephen Wozniak from HP, with funds from Mike Markkula, co-found Apple Computer, Incorporated. || Contents

|| Contents


Section X


Xerox
See Xerox PARC and Xerox Star. || Contents

Xerox PARC
Xerox PARC is the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, a computing and information research center, conceived by Xerox in 1969, opened in 1970, headed by Bob Taylor at its acme, and birthplace of the Ethernet; and of the first personal computer, namely the Alto. || Contents

Xerox Star
The Xerox Star was a workstation computer of the late 1970s from Xerox. See workstation computers. || Contents

|| Contents


Section Y


Y2K
Y2K is computer programmers' shorthand for year 2000 when year-numbers of dates roll over and ancient date-computation subroutines with 2-digit year-fields malfunction. See the book "Time bomb 2000: what the year 2000 computer crisis means to you" 1998 by Edward Yourdon & Jennifer Yourdon, ISBN 0-13-095284-2, LCCN 97-36590 CIP, © 1998 Prentice-Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 USA, http://www.phptr.com || Contents

|| Contents

Section Z


ZD
ZD (Ziff-Davis), of New York, NY, USA, and
300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02494-2722 USA,
is a Softbank company and a publisher of books on computers.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

Ziff-Davis
Ziff-Davis (ZD), of New York, NY, USA, and
300 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02494-2722 USA,
is a Softbank company and a publisher of books on computers.
Title | Contents | Pages | Sites

|| Contents

Bibliography

 See the book "Machine beauty; elegance and the heart of technology" by David Hillel Gelernter, © 1998, Basic Books, 10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022-5299 USA, ISBN 0-465-04516-2 cloth, -x paper, LCCN 97-14613, pp. ff:
  • 52:b-53:m on the halting problem
  • 50:b-53:m on the Turing machine
  • 55:m-58:m on the algorithm Quicksort of 1962 by English scientist C.A.R. Hoare (at Oxford in 1998)
  • 58:b-62:t on Algol 60 and Simula 67


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