Computer Dictionary Online

autobaud definition

automatic baud rate detection

autobogotiphobia definition

bogotify

AutoCAD definition

<CAD, product> A CAD software package for mechanical engineering, marketed by Autodesk, Inc.

(1994-11-09)

Autocode definition

<language> 1. The assembly language accepted by AUTOCODER.

2. A generic term for symbolic assembly language. Versions of Autocode were developed for Ferranti Atlas, Titan, Mercury and Pegasus and IBM 702 and IBM 705.

(2001-05-14)

AUTOCODER definition

<language> Possibly the first primitive compiler. AUTOCODER was written by Alick E. Glennie in 1952. It translated symbolic statements into machine language for the Manchester Mark I computer.

Autocoding later came to be a generic term for assembly language programming.

(1994-11-07)

autoconf definition

<software, tool> The GNU project's tool that configures a source code distribution to compile and run on a different platform.

Among open source hackers, a mere running binary of a program is not considered a full release; what's interesting is a source tree that can be built into binaries using standard tools. Since the mid-1990s, autoconf, automake, and libtools have been the standard way to make a distribution portable so that it can be built on multiple operating systems without change.

(2002-09-20)

autoconfiscate definition

<software, jargon> A term coined by Noah Friedman meaning to set up or modify a source-code distribution so that it configures and builds using the GNU project's autoconf/automake/libtools suite.

(2002-09-20)

Autodesk, Inc. definition

<company> The distributors of the AutoCAD CAD package.

Address: Sausalito, CA, USA.

(1994-11-09)

AUTOEXEC.BAT definition

<operating system> The batch file containing commands, loaded by MS-DOS after running CONFIG.SYS. AUTOEXEC.BAT contains normal DOS commands and can be used for additional system configuration such as setting paths and variables, configuring network connections and running application programs.

(1995-03-18)

AUTOGRAF definition

<tool> A system for describing bar charts.

["User's Manual for AUTOGRAF", Cambridge Computer Assoc, Dec 1972].

(2001-05-14)

AUTOGRP definition

AUTOmated GRouPing system

Auto Idle definition

A facility provided by some Intel clock doubled microprocessors where the internal clock can be slowed to the external clock rate while the processor is waiting for data from memory, returning to full speed as soon as the data arrives.

See also System Management Mode.

(1994-11-09)

Autolisp definition

<language> A dialect of Lisp used by the Autocad CAD package from Autodesk.

(1994-11-09)

autoloader definition

stack loader

automagically definition

<jargon> /aw-toh-maj'i-klee/ or /aw-toh-maj'i-k*l-ee/ Automatically, but in a way that, for some reason (typically because it is too complicated, or too ugly, or perhaps even too trivial), the speaker doesn't feel like explaining to you.

E.g. "The C-INTERCAL compiler generates C, then automagically invokes cc to produce an executable."

See magic.

[Jargon File]

(2001-05-18)

automata definition

automaton

automata theory definition

automaton

Automated Engineering Design definition

<language> (AED) (Or "ALGOL Extended for Design") A systems language for the IBM 7090 and IBM 360 developed at MIT System Laboratory ca. 1965 by a team led by Douglas T. Ross (now at Softech). AED is an extension of ALGOL 60 with records ("plexes"), pointers, and dynamic allocation. DYNAMO II was written in AED, as was the first BCPL compiler.

Versions: AED-0, AED-1, AED-JR.

["The Automated Engineering Design (AED) Approach to Generalized Computer-Aided Design", D.T. Ross, Proc ACM 22nd Natl Conf, 1967].

[Sammet 1969 and 1978].

(1995-03-26)

AUTOmated GRouPing system definition

<tool, mathematics> (AUTOGRP) An interactive statistical analysis system, an extension of CML.

["AUTOGRP: An Interactive Computer System for the Analysis of Health Care Data", R.E. Mills et al, Medical Care 14(7), Jul 1976].

(1994-11-07)

Automated Retroactive Minimal Moderation definition

<messaging> (ARMM) A Usenet robot created by Dick Depew of Munroe Falls, Ohio. ARMM was intended to automatically cancel posts from anonymous-posting sites. Unfortunately, the robot's recogniser for anonymous postings triggered on its own automatically-generated control messages! Transformed by this stroke of programming ineptitude into a monster of Frankensteinian proportions, it broke loose on the night of 1993-03-31 and proceeded to spam news.admin.policy with a recursive explosion of over 200 messages.

Reactions varied from amusement to outrage. The pathological messages crashed at least one mail system, and upset people paying line charges for their Usenet feeds. One poster described the ARMM debacle as "instant Usenet history" (also establishing the term despew), and it has since been widely cited as a cautionary example of the havoc the combination of good intentions and incompetence can wreak on a network.

Compare Great Worm; sorcerer's apprentice mode. See also software laser, network meltdown.

(1996-01-08)

automated testing definition

<testing> Software testing assisted with software tools that require no operator input, analysis, or evaluation.

(2001-05-20)

AUTOMATH definition

<language, mathematics> A very high level language for writing proofs, from Eindhoven, Netherlands.

["The Mathematical Language AUTOMATH, Its Usage and Some of its Extensions", N.G. deBruijn, in Symp on Automatic Demonstration, LNM 125, Springer 1970].

(2001-07-09)

Automatically Programmed Tools definition

<language> (APT) A language for numerically controlled machine tools.

Versions: APT II (IBM 704, 1958), APT III (IBM 7090, 1961).

["APT Part Programming", McGraw-Hill].

[Sammet 1969, p. 605].

(1995-05-04)

automatic baud rate detection definition

<communications> (ABR, autobaud) A process by which a receiving device determines the speed, code level, and stop bits of incoming data by examining the first character, usually a preselected sign-on character. ABR allows the receiving device to accept data from a variety of transmitting devices operating at different speeds without needing to establish data rates in advance.

(1996-06-18)

automatic hyphenation definition

<text> A feature of some word processors which can insert hyphens into words which would otherwise extend beyond the right hand margin of the page.

More advanced word processors may have options to control the position of the hyphen, to restrict certain words from being hyphenated, and to allow custom dictionaries of hyphenation points to be built up.

(1996-08-02)

Automatic Mathematical TRANslation definition

<mathematics, tool> (AMTRAN) A system developed by NASA in Huntsville in 1966 for the IBM 1620, based on the Culler-Fried System. It required a special terminal.

["AMTRAN: An Interactive Computing System", J. Reinfelds, Proc FJCC 37:537- 542, AFIPS (Fall 1970)].

(1995-11-14)

Automatic Network Routing definition

<protocol> (ANR) A source routing protocol used to route LU6.2 session and control traffic from node to node through a High Performance Routing network or subnet. ANR operates at the lower end of the SNA Path Control layer.

[Relationship to OS/390?]

(1997-05-08)

Automatic Number Identification definition

<communications> (ANI) A service that tells the recipient of a telephone call the telephone number of the person making the call. This number can be passed to computer equipment to automatically retrieve associated information about the caller, i.e. account status, billing records, etc.

See CTI.

(1996-12-08)

Automatic Repeat Request definition

<communications> (ARQ) A modem error control protocol in which the receiver asks the transmitter to resend corrupted data.

(1995-11-14)

Automatic Send Receive definition

<hardware> (ASR) Part of a designation for a hard-copy terminal, manufactured by Teletype Corporation, which could be commanded remotely to send the contents of its paper tape reader. The ASR-33 was the most common minicomputer terminal in the early 1970s.

(1995-11-23)

Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator definition

Mark 1

automation definition

Automatic, as opposed to human, operation or control of a process, equipment or a system; or the techniques and equipment used to achieve this. Most often applied to computer (or at least electronic) control of a manufacturing process.

See also design automation, office automation, manularity, Manufacturing Automation Protocol, PEARL, QBE.

(1994-10-21)

Automatische Rechenplanfertigung definition

<language> A programming language published in 1952 by Heinz Rutishauser (1918-70).

[Features?]

(2001-07-09)

automaton definition

<robotics, mathematics, algorithm> (Plural automata) A machine, robot, or formal system designed to follow a precise sequence of instructions.

Automata theory, the invention and study of automata, includes the study of the capabilities and limitations of computing processes, the manner in which systems receive input, process it, and produce output, and the relationships between behavioural theories and the operation and use of automated devices.

See also cellular automaton, finite state machine.

(1996-04-23)

Automatrix, Inc. definition

<company> The company which produced CAM-PC.

Address: Ballston Spa, NY, USA.

Home.

(1995-04-21)

Autonomous System definition

<networking, routing> (AS) A collection of routers under a single administrative authority, using a common Interior Gateway Protocol for routing packets.

(2001-09-16)

Autonomous System Number definition

<networking, routing> (ASN) Used for routing on the Internet.

[Does each ASN uniquely identify an Autonomous System?]

(2001-09-16)

Autopass definition

<programming>

["Autopass: An Automatic Programming System for Computer-Controlled Mechanical Assembly", L.I. Lieberman et al, IBM J Res Dev 21(4):321-333, 1979].

(2001-09-16)

autoprojector definition

<theory> A self-applicable partial evaluator.

(2001-09-16)

AUTO-PROMPT definition

<language> A numerical control language from IBM for 3D milling.

[Sammet 1969, p.606].

(2001-09-25)

Autostat definition

<language> A language for statistical programming.

["Autostat: A Language for Statistical Programming", A.S. Douglas et al, Computer J 3:61, 1960].

(2001-09-25)

autostereogram definition

SIRDS