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Lists of Things | Error Messages >

Here is a list of abbreviations including initialisms and acronyms¹. Also included are some words commonly misunderstood to be abbreviations.

1.  Numbers

1.1  4g

4g is a lie used by the U.S. cellular industry to trick people into buying new handsets. Currently, no U.S. cellular carrier actually offers a network which even remotely meets the extravagantly advanced requirements of an actual fourth-generation network. The required technology may not exist for years.

2.  A

2.1  AGP

Accelerated Graphics Port. A port for attaching, usually aftermarket, graphics cards directly to a motherboard.

2.2  AJAX

Asynchronous Javascript and XML. A method and specific technique for combining Javascript with XML to allow webpages to make calls back to the server without reloading the entire page. AJAX allows websites to behave like desktop computer programs.

2.3  ATSC

American Television Standards Committee. A U.S. TV industry trade group and the (color) digital television standard that it produced. ATSC can be broadcast at a huge variety of framerates and resolutions and can be broadcast both progressive-scan and interlaced at numerous frequencies. The only formats actually to see use are 720p and 1080i. See also NTSC2, the system it replaced.

3.  B

3.1  BIOS

Basic Input/Output System. A system and specialty computer chip on X86 computer hardware that detects and performs the "bootstrap" mechanism which loads the O.S. and initializes hardware.

3.2  BSD

Berkley Software Distribution. Any of several UNIX operating systems based on extensions to the original Bell Labs "Unics-TSS" system done by University of California, Berkley's Computer Science Research Group. In modern usage refers primarily to three extant operating systems based on the so-called Net/2 tape produced by CSRG.

4.  C

4.1  CCD

Charge Coupled Device. A device which converts light to electronic impulses. A CCD is to video what a microphone is to audio.

4.2  ccTLD

Country Code Top Domain Level. For example .uk, .au, etc.

4.3  CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access. An obnoxious 2g/3g cellular technology used almost exclusively in the U.S. by Verizon and Sprint as well as part of Canada and by some smaller U.S. subregional carriers.

4.4  CLI

Command Line Interface. A computer user interface driven by entering text commands at a prompt. DOS, UNIX shell, etc.

4.5  CMOS

Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor. A basic type of integrated circuit. CMOS chips are also used for digital imaging.

4.6  CSH

C Shell. Also known as TCSH (TENEX C Shell, "Tenex" referring to the Digital Equipment Corp TOPS-20 mainframe operating system.) A controversial shell for UNIX environments with a syntax derived from the C programming language.

4.7  CSS

Cascading Style Sheets. A language used to express style and formatting information for webpages (their structure is written in HTML, see below). "Cascading" refers to the manner in which style rules override each other.

4.8  CUPS

Common UNIX Printing System. A standard print daemon on UNIX and Mac OS X which facilitates almost all print functionality. CUPS is now owned by Apple, Inc.

5.  D

5.1  DNS

Domain Name System

6.  E

6.1  EFI

Extensible Firmware Interface. A specification of the interface between software and hardware, intended as a replacement to BIOS (see above).

6.2  EXT

EXT 2, 3, 4 etc. Second, Third, Fourth Extended Filesystem. A family of filesystems on Linux

7.  F

7.1  FSCK

File System Check. A program that checks filesystems and disks for integrity on UNIX. Analogous to the program CHKDSK on DOS (until version 6), SCANDISK on DOS-7 and Chkdsk on modern MS Windows.

7.2  FTP

File Transport Protocol. An older protocol for uploading and downloading files to a remote server. FTP is gradually becoming obsolete.

8.  G

8.1  GIF

Graphics Interchange Format. A limited and obsolete graphics format still in occasional misuse on the world wide web. GIF files used LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) coding. See LZ.

8.2  GSM

Global System for Mobiles. The proper 2g/3g mobile technology that the whole world except Verizon and Sprint use. Verizon and Sprint use the obnoxious CDMA standard.

8.3  GUI

Graphical User Interface. A Point and Click or similar interface primarily driven by nontextual abstract interaction..

9.  H

9.1  HTML

Hypertext Markup Language. The structural markup language that websites are written in. HTML contains no style information, that task is assigned to CSS, and no programming, that task belongs to Javascript.

9.2  HTTP

Hypertext Transport Protocol. (Or Transfer). The Internet protocol for transferring webpages from client to server and vice versa. HTTP is now widely used for downloading general files as well.

10.  I

10.1  IANA

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. A part of ICANN that administers IP numbers.

10.2  ICANN

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. A controversial QUANGO that administers highly technical details of internet functioning, primarily the DNS root.

10.3  IP

1. Internet Protocol - often IP number, a routing code.
2. Intellectual Property (a propaganda term for Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks)

10.4  IPP

Internet Printing Protocol, a HTTP based protocol for remotely communicating with printers.

10.5  IM

Instant Messaging

11.  J

11.1  JPEG

Joint Photographic Experts Group. A committee and the standard it produced for lossy compression of photographic digital images. Files of such images are also called JPEG files and have that extension but are actually JPEG File Interchange Format files. (JFIF)

12.  K

12.1  KDE

K Desktop Environment, see KDE.

12.2  KMS

Kernel Mode Setting. A system on Linux and X11 whereby certain graphics functions are moved from the X11 server directly into the kernel.

13.  L

13.1  LAMP

Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. An acronym which is used to excuse the unnecessary misuse of databases in professionally designed websites.

13.2  LAN

Local Area Network

13.3  LTE

Long Term Evolution. A name given to certain 4G cellular communication technologies.

13.4  LZ

Lempel-Ziv. A highly influential set of papers on Data Compression published by computer scientists of the same name. Many modern compression techniques are based on LZ and thus there are a huge number of compression specifications that begin with the letters, "LZ".

13.5  LZMA

Lempel-Ziv Markov [Chain] Algorithm. An emerging high-performance compression scheme primarily used in File Archiving, particularly the 7-Zip (7z) format.

14.  M

14.1  MLM

Multilevel Marketing. A common Spam-Email get-rich-quick scam.

14.2  MPEG

Motion Picture Experts Group. A group which produced various video encoding standards

14.3  MPEG-LA

MPEG Licensing Authority. A commercial company which seeks to extract money from patents relating to video standards such as Mpeg-4/AVC/h.264, etc. MPEG-LA is not related to the Motion Picture Experts Group. MPEG-LA has been accused of patent misuse and monopolistic behavior.

15.  N

15.1  NT

New Technology. Term used by Microsoft to distinguish enterprise versions of Microsoft Windows from consumer versions based on DOS. This term fell into disuse by the time Windows 2000 and Windows XP rolled around as both were based on Windows NT and both had versions marketed to consumers and enterprises. For a short time Windows 2000 was billed as "based on NT technology".

15.2  NTFS

New Technology File System. See NT

15.3  NTSC/NTSC2

National Television System Committee. Committee and the standard it produced for analogue color television broadcasts used in the Americas and Japan among some other countries. To maintain compatibility with monochrome sets, NTSC tacks-on red and blue color information on a sub-carrier channel an re-purposes the existing black and white signal as luminosity information; green is matrixed out of the red and blue. Incompatible equipment simply ignores the color information. Although clever, this technique causes enormous problems. NTSC is broadcast at 29.97 frames per second, with 480 visible lines, interlaced at 59.94Hz. (Hence video in this format is sometimes called 480i even though there are technically 525 scan-lines, of which the remainder carry non-visual information

16.  O

16.1  OS

Operating System

17.  P

17.1  P2P

Peer to Peer. Any networking protocol in which there are no clients or servers and "peers" communicate directly with each other. Bittorrent is a common example. Studios, TV Networks and recording labels PR departments have successfully made the term synonymous with illegal file downloading, however there are numerous non-infringing P2P technologies, such as Internet telephony.

17.2  PAL

Phase Alternating Line. A European color television standard. PAL is broadcast at 25 frames-per-second, 576 visible lines, interlaced, 50hz. PAL is superior to NTSC in many ways.

17.3  PDF

Portable Document File. A format for preserving the design and layout of complex, formatted documents. See Pdf.

17.4  PHP

PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. (A recursive acronym). A language and processing program for creating dynamic web pages. The server-side-software that drives the Vistua Hub is written in this language.

17.5  PNG

Portable Network Graphic. A ubiquitous losslessly compressed image file format. Replaces most functions of GIF. Many images on this page are PNG images.

17.6  PPP

Point To Point Protocol. A protocol through which dial-up and some types of high-speed internet are delivered.

18.  Q

18.1  QoS

Quality of Service

18.2  QT

1. QuickTime, an Apple multimedia program and format.
2. QT Toolkit. A GUI toolkit for X11

18.3  Quango

Quasi-Nongovernment-Organization. An organization which is usually formed as a nonprofit or a private corporation which is associated with the government, may have regulatory powers and is not technically an agency, department, subsidiary or ministry of the government. Well known examples are the British Broadcasting Corporation, ICANN, Fanny-Mae/Freddy Mac, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Federal Reserve Banking System. Quangoes are not quite the same thing as parastatals such as TVA or Amtrak or nationalized business entities such as AIG and General Motors.

19.  R

19.1  RPN

Reverse Polish Notation. A system for entering mathematical expressions.

20.  S

20.1  SECAM

Séquentiel couleur à mémoire (Sequential Color with memory) a exceedingly complex analogue television system used in France and Russia and several countries formerly or presently under their hegemony.

20.2  SFTP

Secure File Transport Protocol. A subsystem of SSH that allows uploading and downloading of files from remote servers with strong encryption for privacy and security.

20.3  SGML

See XML

20.4  SIM

Subscriber Identity Module. A small removable card used to store network settings such as a phone number in the GSM standard. The network identifies the SIM, not the phone so moving a SIM card to another phone causes the new phone to answer when the number is rung, etc. Since normally only the inexpensive SIM is tied to the network, SIMs also allow customers to easily move between networks, taking their expensive phones with them.

20.5  SIP

Session Initiated Protocol. A standard for Internet Telephony

20.6  SMB

Server Message Block. A standard used to network computers on a LAN

20.7  SMS

Simple Messaging Service. The technical term for "text messages".

20.8  SSH

Secure Shell. An encrypted communication standard for remotely accessing UNIX shell accounts.

20.9  SVR4

System Five, Release Four. A historic, landmark Unix operating system. It was highly influential and had characteristics that differed from BSD. Modern Unices such as Linux often include a disturbing mèlange of SVR4 and BSD style characteristics.

21.  T

21.1  TCP

Transmission Control Protocol. A core internet protocol. It is often written TCP/IP as it works together with Internet Protocol.

21.2  TDMA

Time Division Multiple Access. An obsolete cellular system.

21.3  TK

1. ToolKit, the TCL GUI Toolkit
2. Telecine, the process of converting film-frames to video fields. TC was already used in the industry to refer to "time-code"
3. The ccTLD for Tokelau
4. Turnkey

21.4  TLD

Top level Domain, such as .com .net .info, etc. See ccTLD

21.5  TMI

Too Much Information. An internet subcultural expression used when a person makes inappropriately personal disclosures.

21.6  TTL

1. Time To Live. The duration of time a piece of data should be regarded as valid before it is discarded
2. Transistor to Transistor Logic

22.  U

22.1  UDP

User Datagram Protocol. A protocol related to TCP and IP which is used when reduced latency is more important than reliability.

22.2  UFS

UNIX File System. A confusing term used by FreeBSD to refer to its native filesystem. It's actually a variant on the Berkley Fast File System so BFFS would be a better term. It's related to the heirloom² Unix version 7 filesystem also called UFS but is incompatible with it.

22.3  UNIX

This is not an abbreviation in spite of widespread belief that it is. UNIX is a pun, it was named after Multics, a previous operating system of antiquity. MULTICS means "Multiplex Information and Computing Service". Historically the two main branches of UNIX were System 5 and BSD. See BSD and SVR4.

22.4  USB

Universal Serial Bus. A connector standard which is intended to replace most other types of connectors such as RS-232 and "Parallel" Port, which it mostly has. USB has gained huge success as a connection standard for small peripherals such as mice and keyboards. Flash memory sticks with USB connectors have totally displaced most other forms of portable storage.

23.  V

23.1  Vi

1. A classical UNIX text editor. Derived from the word "visual" as Vi was one of the first editors to allow editing of pages of text at a time, instead of only one line. Vi is notorious for is arcane command syntax and difficult to use "modal" interface.
2. The number four in roman numerals.

23.2  VIM

Vi Improved. A newer version of Vi

24.  W

24.1  W3C

World Wide Web Consortium. A group comprised mainly of large corporations, universities and nonprofits that specifies standards for how the World Wide Web and HTTP protocol should work. W3C is responsible for HTML, CSS, XML and numerous other standards and recommendations.

24.2  WWW

World Wide Web

25.  X

25.1  XHTML

See HTML

25.2  XML

Extensible Markup Language. A simplification of SGML, Standardised General Markup Language. XML is a language for expressing languages. Modern versions of HTML are written in XML.

25.3  XP

1. Experience, as in the former Microsoft slogan "Experience the best, experience Windows XP."
2. Experience, a characteristic of gameplay units in many combat/war-based video games.
3. Expansion Pack
4. Extreme Programming
5. Cross Platform

26.  Z

26.1  ZFS

Zettabyte File System. An advanced File System developed by Sun Microsystems

26.2  ZSH

The Z SHell?. ZSH is notorious because the first line in the manpage is "Because zsh contains many features, the zsh manual has been split into a number of sections" and then goes on to list 17, in contradistinction to all other shells.

27.  Notes

¹ Initialisms cannot be pronounced as words which is how they are different from acronyms. The term abbreviation includes these as well as contractions, etc. It is now standard style to not use periods. For example "F.B.I." would normally be written "FBI"

² This term is used to refer to ancient unices that are primarily of historical interest and no longer used, many heirloom unices have dramatically different properties from modern ones

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