Complete A-Z of I.T. Terminology - letters A-C

Abap 
This is the programming language used by the implementers of Sap’s enterprise application software.

Active Directory 
"This is Microsoft’s implementation of LDAP. An Active Directory stores information relating to an organisation in one database. This allows administrators to assign user security profiles or deploy software to multiple computers. The type of information stored in an Active Directory falls into the category of resource (eg. PC), service (eg. email) and users."

Active Server Pages 
"Active Server Pages.  A Microsoft technology used for dynamically developing web pages when requested by the user. When the user requests say books on martial arts, the web server running ASP extracts the records that match the criteria from the book database, builds the web page and sends it back to the user. It makes use of scripting languages such as VBScript, JScript and PerlScript."

ActiveX 
"A programming standard created by Microsoft.  It is programming language independent, so you can write Active X controls in, for example, C++ or Java.  "

ActiveX component 
An Active X component (or control) is software written to Microsoft’s ActiveX programming standard.

Ada 
This is a programming language used to develop real-time systems. Old school technology.

Adaptive enterprise 
"A term used for organizations that adapt to market conditions, rather than plod on regardless (dinosaurs were a good example of this). In the extreme, adaptive organizations will on having a bad day sack an appropriate number of staff and retune their business plan. If the next day is better they will launch a ‘new hire’ programme."

ADO 
Active X Data Object - A Microsoft standard/technology that allows Windows programmers to access datastores.  ADO protects the programmer from needing to understand SQL or anything about the associated database

ADSL 
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line – a successor to ISDN.  It is used to transfer voice and data over the same telephone line.

Agent 
Otherwise known as an intelligent agent is a programme that carries out a task on behalf of a user/computer. An example includes: finding the best price for an item by scouring the web.

Agile (1) 
A term used to describe an organization that is responsive to changes in the market.

Agile (2) 
An approach to developing software where there is a strong focus on user feedback and speed of delivery. In essence it is the new name for what used to be known as RAD.

AI 
Artificial Intelligence. Essentially computers that think. See the film 2001 – A Space Odyssey to see how this can get out of hand.

AIX 
"IBM’s flavour of Unix, which, runs on the RS/6000 computer."

Ajax 
Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This is a web development technique to make the web pages feel more responsive to the user. Without Ajax when the user requests a change the whole web page does not have to be reloaded. This increases the web page speed and usability.

ALM 
See Application Lifecycle Management.

Alpha 
See Dec Alpha.

Amdahl 
They make IBM mainframe clones and are now owned by Fujitsu.

Analysis 
A phase in the software development life cycle where the user requirements are gathered.

Analyst Programmer 
A term used to describe a programmer that is involved in the full development lifecycle and so needs to have analysis and design skills as well as programming skills. They are usually required to have good interpersonal skills.

Apache 
Apache is an open source web server and is one of the key projects associated with the Apache Software Foundation.

Apache Software Foundation 
ASF is a US non-profit organization that manages a number of open source software projects including the Apache web server and Struts Java development framework.

API 
"Application Program Interface. This is a term that refers to the mechanism by which software communicates with a particular application. For example if one wanted to produce software that ran on MS Windows, the software would need to be written to work with the APIs of Windows."

Applet 
A Java program designed to run on the user’s computing device.

Application Lifecycle Management 
Application Lifecycle Management is a term that is used to collectively describe the tools that are used to create and maintain applications.  It is the new name for what used to be called Case.

Application Service Provider 
"Application Service Provider. A provider of applications via the Web. Users thus do not need to host their own applications. Very much associated with web services. If the Asp vendors get their way, this will be the death for end user IT departments. "

Application Software 
"This is the software, which makes the computer useful to users.  Examples being MS Office, bank trading systems and personnel management systems.  Without application software a computer offers the functionality of an inefficient yet expensive room heater."

AS/400 
A very popular mid range computer from IBM. Old school technology. Its successor is known as the i-Series.

ASP (1) 
See Active Server Pages.

ASP (2) 
See Application Service Provider.

Assembler 
A low level programming language.  Difficult to write and very difficult to maintain. Old school. But traces of assembler can be found in the world of real-time systems.

ATM 
Asynchronous Transfer Mode.  This is a networking standard and technology developed by the Telecoms industry.  It supports the handling of data and voice on the same network. Old school.

Authentication 
"Security term, which refers to the process of verifying the identity of another person or system."

Autonomic computing 
"A concept introduced by IBM, but quickly being latched on to by both hardware and software players. In essence autonomic computing enables computers to take care of themselves, ie they will not need to have human support to keep them available. This should cause operators and even system administrators to consider their long terms career plans."

Avatar 
"A software programme that simulates a real person either physically or iconically. Such avatars can have designer personalities. The most famous to date is Ananova, the virtual newsreader."

B2B 
Business to business. An e-business term for transactions between businesses over the Internet. Somewhat passé term.

B2C 
Business to consumer. An e-business term for transactions from businesses to consumers over the Internet. Somewhat passé term.

B2E 
"Business to employee. An e-business term for transactions between businesses and their staff. This is not so much retail as managing expenses, appraisals and remuneration packages via the web. Somewhat passé term."

B2G 
Business to government. An e-business term for transactions between businesses to government(s) over the Internet. Somewhat passé term.

Back-end 
The term used to describe those technologies that sit in the IT department (or broom cupboard depending on the size of the organisation). In other words those technologies that the users access indirectly via their desktop and handheld devices.

Back-end database 
"Multi-user, industrial, secure, robust, (and often expensive) database residing on a server or mainframe."

Back-end language 
Programming language primarily used for building the server end of the application. Usually a 3GL.

Back-office 
This is a generic term used for non-sales related activities that take place within an organisation.  Examples being bank statement production or payment chasing. This is not specifically an IT term and is not to be confused with back-end.

Back Office Server 
"This was a suite of Microsoft products that ran on Windows servers. It includes Exchange server, SMS server, Proxy server and SQL server.  It was discontinued in 2001."

Back Orifice 
"A programme created by the hacktivist group, Cult of the Dead Cow, to exploit weaknesses in Microsoft’s back office products. Apologies if you have arrived at this page hoping for something more graphical. It has benign use as well as a tool for remote system administration."

Backbone 
A term used to describe the network that links a number of smaller networks together.

Bandwidth 
A measure of the quantity of data that can be passed down a communication link in a given time. Measured in Mbps (Mega bits per second) and increasingly Gbps (Giga bits per second).

Basis 
"Is the software that sits on the operating system that creates the SAP platform.  Basis specialists in many ways are like system administrators in that they have to set up, configure and tune Sap software"

Basle II 
Not specifically an IT related term. It is legislation that relates to operational risk in the Financial services sector. The implementation of Basle II does however have a major impact on the IT systems of those financial organisations affected by this legislation.

Beenz 
Internet concept similar to air-miles from Beenz.com (now defunct). Buy a product and get some beenz that can then be redeemed for other products. Not to be confused with Java beans. Essentially a crazy dotcom era alternative to money.

Beta testing 
"A type of product or system testing that involves getting feedback from a selected set of real (and tame) users. Some big software organisations, sadly, use this as the first step in their testing methodology as opposed to the last."

Biometrics 
"A term used to describe the emerging branch of security that uses ‘what you are’ to authenticate a person. An alternative security approach involves ‘what you know’, eg. password. Characteristics measured using biometrics include: iris, cranium, and fingerprint recognition."

BI 
See Business Intelligence.

BizTalk 
Microsoft BizTalk Server enables companies to integrate and manage business processes by handling the exchange of documents such as invoices and purchase orders.

Blackcomb 
A Microsoft internal project name for the next generation of Windows desktop and server operating systems. Launch planned circa 2010. It has been renamed to Windows Vienna.

Blackberry 
Neat little device from Research in Motion that allows one to access emails whilst on the move. Given the impact it has on users it is sometimes referred to as a crackberry.

Bluetooth 
"A wireless short range networking technology. Amongst other things it will herald the arrival of client server applications into the home, eg. distributed music centres or integrated toasters and alarm clocks."

Blog 
"An abbreviation of weblog. It can be thought of as an online diary that is accessible to everyone or to just a confined community. To captivate the readership, blogs are usually some combination of informative, interesting and entertaining. Some organisations see them as an effective approach to releasing corporate messages into the market."

Blogger 
Bloggers are people who populate blogs.

Broadband 
A term used to describe a high bandwidth medium. This usually refers to video quality data rates.

Bridge
A networking device that links networks together.  It is a less intelligent version of a router

.brk (dot brick) 
e-business expression for a traditional high street organisation. By implication it has little or no web presence. Note that .brk does not exist as part of an internet address (there is no such thing as www.bigshop.brk). Somewhat passé term.

Booch 
"An object oriented software development methodology, named after its originator."

Bot 
"Short for software robot. Used to describe a smart piece of software that is used to carry out some task, eg. spot trends in the database or intelligently search the web."

BPO 
See Business Process Outsourcing.

Browser 
"Primarily this is software, which enables users to access the World Wide Web."

Browser Hijacker 
A type of spyware that takes control of one’s browser. It is likely that your PC contains a browser hijacker if the default page for your browser is different to how you set it originally.

Bull 
"Groupe Bull, a French IT company, is most famous for its mainframes and loss making. Honeywell now owns it. Old school."

Business Analyst 
"A role that exists to gather user requirements and to relay these to the IT department.  Usually confused with systems analysts, though there is often little difference in what they do."

Business Analytics 
A term used to describe the ‘emerging’ market of database querying tools. Past names have included querying tools and decision support tools. Perhaps the emphasis on doing this via the web justifies the new name.

Business Continuity 
A term used to capture the issue of considering how your business will continue to operate in the event of a serious problem or even a disaster. This could include issues from network failure through to terrorist attack.

Business Intelligence 
A collective term to describe the tools that enable users to analyse the data held in their data stores. Often these tools provide a means of displaying the data in a user-friendly format such as a chart or map.

Business Logic 
The business rules behind the programming code. The data processing part of the application.

Business Process Outsourcing 
"A growing branch of the service sector where the supplier takes full responsibility for one or more of a client’s business processes, eg. HR or Sales. The vendor is often an IT supplier who uses the BPO offering as a way to get the attention of the boardroom rather than just the IT department."

C 
A general purpose programming language.  Was very popular because of its close association with the Unix operating system.

C # 
"Microsoft’s ‘kill off Java’ programming language, based on C++ and Java. Microsoft has relinquished control of C# and so today it is an open standard. Microsoft has its own version called Visual C#."

C
Sharp See C #.

C++ 
A general purpose programming language based on C.  It is simply a version of C that has been enhanced to support object orientation.

C2B 
Consumer to business. An e-business term for transactions from consumers to businesses over the Internet. As a concept it highlighted the power of the Internet to put the consumer in the driver’s seat. Somewhat passé term.

C2C 
Consumer to consumer. An e-business term for transactions between consumers over the Internet. E-Bay would be an example. Somewhat passé term.

Cache memory 
"Computer memory used to store data, which is likely to be used again by the same or another user sometime in the foreseeable future."

CAN 
See Campus Area Network.

Campus Area Network 
"A variant of LAN, where the network extends beyond one building to a group of buildings that are in reasonable proximity. A campus being a good example of this."

Case 
Computer Aided Software Engineering. A collective term for tools used to develop software. In practice such tools are more associated with analysis and design than programming.  See ALM.

Case Tool 
See Case.

CCO 
Chief Customer Officer. This is a role associated with organisations that like to think of themselves as customer –centric. Hasn’t really taken off.

CDMA 
A cellular technology that allows several voice/data channels to multiplexed into one. There is overlap with GSM and so can be considered a 2G technology. Qualcomm pioneered the use of this technology. Used in Global Positioning System applications.

CDMA 2000 
"The latest version of CDMA, which is being used in some parts of the world for the next generation of wireless computing commonly known as 3G."

Centralised architecture 
"A computing architecture where all the processing takes place on one device, e.g. standalone PC, Mainframe. Compare with Client-server or n-tier architecture."

Certificate Authority 
"Certificate authorities exist to manage security with respect to e-business. Specifically they manage credentials and encryption/decryption. They form part of the security architecture known as the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI),"

CGI 
"Common Gateway Interface. This is a web programming language standard.  It is associated with the production of server based Web applications.  A typical server based Web application may accept a request from a user, which requires extracting data from a server-based database. Perl is often the programming language used in CGI programming."

CICS 
Customer Information Control System.  A transaction management software package that operates on IBM’s family of systems and provides database and data communications support for transaction based programs. Old school.

CIO 
Chief Information Officer. Equivalent to IT Director. Some say it also stands for career is over. Ideally it should stand for Chief Innovation Officer.

Circuit switching 
"A telecoms term used to describe the mechanism by which data travels across the network. When mentioned in conversation, the suggested facial expression is – frown, as this is essentially an old technology. See packet switching."

Cisco 
A very popular networking product company. Best known for its routers.

CL 
Control Language.  It is a job control language associated with the AS/400. Old school.

Clicks and mortar 
"A dotcom era e-business expression for an organisation with real assets (bricks and mortar) and thus a real world presence, coupled with a viable e-business infrastructure and strategy. Initially .brks were seen to be in danger from the .coms. Increasingly organisations are using the strengths of both styles of business, i.e. the innovation and speed to market of the. coms and the proven track record of the .brks. A passé term nonetheless."

Client Server 
"Conceptual application software architecture where common resources are shared.  The shared resource resides on the server e.g. database server. The software requesting the service is called the Client. Multi-user applications are all client-server in design. Thus client-server is not in itself particularly interesting. However its variants, Fat and Thin client, are of significant interest."

Clustering 
An approach to enhancing the processing available by integrating the power of individual processors such that they act as one large virtual processor.

Cobol 
A programming language developed for commercial data intensive systems.  There are probably more lines of Cobol written than any other programming language. Regarded by most people these days as legacy technology.

Code 
See software. 

Cold Fusion 
A product for building and running dynamic web sites. Now owned by Adobe. Similar in function to Microsoft ASP.

.com (dot com) 
Is a term used to describe a business where the Web is its only route to market. A somewhat passé term.

Com 
"Component Object Model – This is a Microsoft architecture that defines how software objects communicate with each other. It embraces OLE, COM+ and DCOM. Now superseded by .NET."

Com + 
Component Object Model with a plus on the end (sorry!) – This is the latest version of Microsoft’s com and dcom architectures. Now old hat.

Command Line Interface 
"A term used to describe pre-GUI user interfaces. Users have to type what they want the computer to do via a command line. Very much associated with old school terms such as ‘green screen’, dumb terminal and DOS."

Commodore 64 
One of the first generation of personal computers. Characterised by a command line interface and no hard disk (thus requiring a cassette recorder to store data and software). Today it enjoys a certain degree of retro chic. Not used in business.

Comparative shopping 
The ability to compare products on different web pages by utilising the features provided by XML and other languages. Shopbots make this possible.

Compiler 
Software tool that converts the language written by the programmer (source code) into a language understandable by the computer (machine code).

Construction 
"The build phase of an application development life-cycle, where the software is written."

Corba 
Common Object Request Broker Architecture.  This is a middleware standard created by the Object Management Group to enable objects to communicate across multiple platforms.  NB.  The platforms are not restricted to Windows.  So Cobol objects running on an AS/400 could talk to Java objects running on an HP9000. Past its peak.

Cracker 
A serious hacker who manipulates firewall software so that they can pass freely through whenever it suits them. A kind of covert hacker.

CRM 
"Customer Relationship Management. A philosophy, which focuses on making all departments in an organisation customer facing, so to speak. In recent years it has manifested itself as a form of enterprise application software. Despite the wisdom of keeping track of customers and their behaviour there is a niggling feeling that CRM systems have not lived up to their promise. "

CRAMM 
A risk analysis and management methodology created by the CCTA. Often found on the CVs of heavyweight project managers.

CRUD 
"An acronym used in database circles for the four fundamental functions associated with a database, i.e. Create, Read, Update, Delete."

CTO 
Chief Technology Officer. The top technical person in the IT department.

Cyber Sourcing 
Outsourcing a business’s IT needs via the Internet. Very much associated with the application service provision  / web services.

Cyber Warrior 
A malicious type of hacker who derives pleasure from causing damage to organizations by defacing their websites and/or making the organization’s computing resources unavailable.