1. (Or "finite", "isolated") In domain theory, an element d
of a cpo D is compact if and only if, for any chain S, a
subset of D,
d <= lub S => there exists s in S such that d <= s.
I.e. you always reach d (or better) after a finite number of
steps up the chain.
("<=" is written in LaTeX as \sqsubseteq).
[Jargon File]
(1995-01-13)
2. Of a design, describes the valuable property that it can
all be apprehended at once in one's head. This generally
means the thing created from the design can be used with
greater facility and fewer errors than an equivalent tool that
is not compact. Compactness does not imply triviality or lack
of power; for example, C is compact and Fortran is not,
but C is more powerful than Fortran. Designs become
non-compact through accreting features and cruft that
don't merge cleanly into the overall design scheme (thus, some
fans of Classic C maintain that ANSI C is no longer
compact).
(1995-01-13)
Nearby terms:
communication system « Community of Massive Gaming Agency « COMNET « compact » Compact COBOL » Compact Disc » Compact Disc interactive
