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Glossary
The following list defines or identifies technical terms, abbreviations, and acronyms used in your system
documents.
adapter card
An expansion card that plugs into an expansion-card
connector on the system's system board. An adapter
card adds some specialized function to the system by
providing an interface between the expansion bus and
a peripheral device. Examples of adapter cards include
network cards, sound cards, and SCSI adapters.
ANSI
Abbreviation for American National Standards
Institute.
API
Abbreviation for application program interface, which
is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building
software applications that act as an interface between
the operating system and application programs.
Argument
The value supplied with an option, such as in the
following command line instance:
utilname --option=argument
ARP
Acronym for Address Resolution Protocol, which is a
method for finding a host's Ethernet address from its
Internet address.
ASCII
Acronym for American Standard Code for Information
Interchange. A text file containing only characters from
the ASCII character set (usually created with a text
editor, such as Notepad in Microsoft
called an ASCII file.
asset tag code
An individual code assigned to a system, usually by a
system administrator, for security or tracking purposes.
autoexec.bat file
The autoexec.bat file is executed when you boot your
system (after executing any commands in the
config.sys file). This start-up file contains commands
that define the characteristics of each device connected
to your system, and it finds and executes programs
stored in locations other than the active directory.
backup
A copy of a program or data file. As a precaution, you
should back up your system's hard drive on a regular
basis. Before making a change to the configuration of
your system, you should back up important start-up
files from your operating system.
baud rate
A measurement of data transmission speed. For
example, modems are designed to transmit data at one
or more specified baud rate(s) through the COM
(serial) port of a system.
binary
A base-2 numbering system that uses 0 and 1 to
represent information. The system performs
operations based on the ordering and calculation of
these numbers.
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Glossary
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