The Techie Glossary
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Letter
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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 |
2nd |
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Ma   
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Machine
language
is the lowest level of communication recognized in a computer
by the processor. This language uses the
binary system represented by ones and
zeros and uses an abstract syntax. Macros
are stored lists of consecutive commands
or functions within a software
application that can be retrieved easily by for the user.
Mail
exploders
are part of an email delivery system which
allows a message to be delivered to a whole list of email addressees.
Mail exploders are used to implement multiple mailings or create spam.
Users send messages to a single address
and the mail exploder takes care of the delivery to the individual mailboxes
on the list. Mail
gateways
are computers that connects two or
more email systems and transfers messages
between them. To support multiple platforms
the email generally is translated before it is transmitted. Mailing
lists
are automated email mailing systems that
allow people to send email to first one address, where it is automatically
copied and distributed to all the other subscribers to the list. In this
allows users to participate in group discussions
through email. Mailing lists could be used to create spam,
but mail exploders are the preferred method.
Mainframes
were the IT name for large multi-user
computers which are now more commonly
referred to as computer servers. Martians
are network packets
that turn up unexpectedly because of false routing
entries. It is a humorous term also used as a name for a packet which
has a false or spoofed IP
address.
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MB
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MBPS
stands for Mega Bits Per Second. This is a measurement of data
speed for network transmissions. Mega
bits literally means a million bits. Some
broadband connections are measured
using this scale, for instance, a T1 connection
is approximately 1.45 MBPS.
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Me |
Mega
refers
to one million when used in terms of units of measurement for computers.
In general, mega used as a prefix can just mean a lot of something. In
the case of megabytes mega means one million,
but because computer measurements are in binary
numbers a megabyte is only approximately equal to one million bytes. Megabytes
are a unit of measurement in computer
memory that is just over just over one million
bytes. In this case mega
means one million. A megabyte is equal to exactly 1,045,576 bytes or 1024
kilobytes because computer measurements
are done with binary numbers. Memory
is a reference to different types of computer
storage. There is temporary memory storage such as RAM
and permanent memory storage such as on a hard
drive or on CD. Menu
in a GUI operating
system is a drop down box or dialog box
that has a list of items that can be selected
by the user.
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MH
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MHS
stands for Message Handling System. This system for email
provides message user agents, message
transfer agents, message stores, and access units to support OSI
email.
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MI |
MIB
stands for Management Information Base. A collection of objects
that can be accessed via a network management
protocol. Structure
of Management Information rules are used to define the network objects
available. Microchips
are tiny computer chips that
use miniaturized circuits made of silicon. They are used in computers
for processing or data
storage. Microcomputers
are computer systems with one integrated
circuit that contains one microprocessor.
Microprocessors
are tiny integrated circuits that contain
the logic and the control units for a computer.
MIDI
is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Instruments. It is a standard
communication protocol for exchanging
digital information between computers
and musical synthesizers. This allows a user
to transcribe a composition by playing it on the synthesizer which then
can be recorded with a sound card.
Some operating systems come with synthesizers,
a set of MIDI music files and a player
for the user. MIPS
stands for Million Instructions Per Second is a rate of measurement used
for testing benchmarks of computer
hardware and software.
Millisecond
is a rate of measurement used in several areas of information
technologies, but notably to measure the access time on computer
hard drives. It is equal to one thousandth
of a second and can be abbreviated MS. MILNET
stands for MILitary NETwork. Originally part of the ARPANET,
MILNET was created in 1984 to provide a reliable network
for military installations. This network is overseen by the DDN. MIME
is an acronym for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions.
Originally set for defining the types of files
attached to email messages the MIME standard
has come to be used in a more broad basis. It is utilized by the operating
system as a file identifier when one computer
programs needs to communicate with another
program about what kind of file is being received. For instance XML
files have a MIME-type text/xml and JPEG
files have a MIME-type image/jpeg. Mirror
sites
are web sites, or FTP
sites on the Internet that maintain
copies of material stored at another location on the
web in order to provide additional access to the resource. These sites
might update their content periodically to retain exact duplicate files
on the mirror site as the originating site.
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Mo |
Modem
stands for a MOdulator - DEModulator. This is a device that hooks to a
phone line or TV cable to allow for network
connectivity. Originally a modem allowed access to other computers,
BBSs, then to the Internet.
The highest speed modem peaked at a baud
rate of around 112 KBPS with broadband
connections like from a DSL or a cable
modem to the Internet are about 8 times faster. A phone modem is an
asynchronous communications device that
uses analog phone lines to provide connections
by dialing the number of another modem, to a BBS
or possibly an ISP. It can be installed
on a computer either connected externally
or internally. Module
as a programming term is a section of
a programming language that work independently
and performing tasks that can added as a useful part to a program.
Monitors
are the hardware display
interfaces for the user
of a computer system. It displays information
on the screen like a TV set. There are
different types of monitor screens, including LCD
and CRT. A monochrome monitor is a single
color display interface. The one color is displayed against a contrasting
black or white background. Mosaic
one of the first GUI web
browsers developed at the National Center
for Supercomputing Applications and was released in late 1993. The
source code to Mosaic was used as a foundation
to create other web browsers. It is still in use on the
web today but has been eclipsed by more popular web browsers. Motherboards
are the largest circuit boards in a
computer that houses the RAM
memory, microprocessors
and other chips. Motherboards also connect
all the other components of the computer together including IDE
buses to all the drives,
BIOS chips, input
devices, output devices, ports
and expansion slots for devices such as video
cards, network interface cards, sound
cards, etc. Mounting
is to either load a disk into a drive
or to prepare the computer operating
system to recognize a drive or a disk. The meaning varies depending
on the operating system in use. Mouse
refers to an ergonomic user input
device that rolls on a ball and usually has either two or three buttons.
The third middle button is usually programmable. Sometimes mice also have
a scroll wheel between the buttons to
scroll pages. A mouse is needed to operate efficiently in a GUI
environment. Mouse
button
refers to the dominant button on the mouse. There are usually two or three
buttons on a mouse and the user can set
the dominant button. The default is for the left button to be dominate
anticipating a right-handed user, but can
be set to the right button for a left-handed user. The mouse
pointer shows what the mouse will click
on when the mouse button is pressed. Mouse
pointer
displays the current relative position of the mouse
on the screen. The mouse pointer usually
defaults as an arrow. The tip of the arrow is where the mouse will click
when the mouse button is pressed. Moving
a file or directory
on a computer is to write
the file data to another directory while
removing the data from the original directory. Mozilla
is a popular open source web
browser that is available to download
from the Internet.
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MP
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MPEG
stands for Motion Pictures Entertainment Group. It is a standard format
for compressed digitized video, animation
and audio developed for the entertainment industry.
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MT |
MTA
stands for Message Transfer Agent. This is an OSI
application process
used to store and forward messages in a message
handling system. It is equivalent to an Internet
email agent.
MTU
stands for Maximum Transmission Unit. The largest possible unit of data
that can be sent on a given physical medium. This term is used in the
defragmentation processes.
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MU |
MUD
stands for Multi-User Dimension. MUD is a text based multi-user
simulation environment that can be used
for software development, but is mainly
used for gaming. It lets users create in
an interactive environment. Multi-boot
systems
are single computers that are capable
of running several different operating system
platforms. These platforms are each stored
separately on the formatted partitions
of the hard drives. When these systems
boot up they start a boot
loader program that allows the user
to chose which operating system to load. Multi-homed
host
refers to a server computer connected
to more than one network device at the
data link layer. The data
links may be connected to other networks. Multi-user
system
is a single computer system that allows
for more than one user to access software
applications and data at the same time. Multicast
refers to a special form of broadcast
where copies of the packet are delivered
to only a subset of all possible destinations. Multimedia
is a general term that refers to many aspects of presentation programs
and includes animation, audio and interactivity.
Multiplex
is the term for processes done on a local
access network to enable more than one computer
to get on the network simultaneously. It
does this by using a multiplexing process
of sending multiple messages at the say time on one channel. Multiplexing
is the process of sending multiple messages
at the say time on one channel. This can be done on a local
access network multiplex to enable
more than one computer to get on the
network simultaneously. Multipurpose
Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) are the original
set of extensions used for defining files
attached to email messages. The MIME standard
has come to be used in a more broad basis. It is now also utilized by
the operating system as a file identifier
when one computer program
needs to communicate with another program about what kind of file is being
received. For instance XML files have
a MIME-type text/xml and JPEG files
have a MIME-type image/jpeg. Multitasking
on a computer is where the user
is utilizing more than one software application
at the same time. This allows for easy exchange of objects
between applications. A computer operating
system that is capable of multitasking also allows for routines to
run in the background. MUSE
is an acronym for Multi-user Simulated Environment. This is a text based
MUD used for software
development.
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