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Three-Letter Acronyms, and Abbreviations (aka TLA)

General Computer Acronyms

Text version

ANSI=American National Standards Institute
BLOB=Binary Large Object
CISC=Complex Instruction Set Computer, such as VAX or original HP 3000
CRT=Cathode Ray Tube, generally any display terminal
CRC=Cyclic Redundancy Check, detect/correct transmission errors
DBA=Data Base Administrator
DCE=Distributed Computing Environment (OSF)
DSP=Digital Signal Processing
EDI=Electronic Data Interchange
FUD=Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
GUI=Graphical User Interface
IDE=Integrated Development Environment or Integrated Drive Electronics
IEEE=Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, creators of 802.x standards
IPC=Inter-Process Communication
ISO=International Standards Organization
ISV=Independent Software Vendor
LCD=Liquid Crystal Display
PCL=Printer Control Language
RISC=Reduced Instruction Set Computer, as in Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC
RTFM=Read The Fine Manual
SCSI=Small Computer System Interface
SMP=Symmetric Multiprocessor
SQL=Structured Query Language, as in relational database
TLA=Three Letter Acronym

MPE Acronyms

ACD=Access Control Definition, like UNIX ACL
AIF=Architected Interface Facility
CCTL=Carriage Control
CM=Compatiblity Mode
JCW=Job Control Word
MR=Multiple RIN or Multi-Record (as in NOBUF/MR)
NM=Native Mode
MPE=Multi-Programming Executive, as in MPE/iX, MPE/V, MPE/XL
NS/VT=Network Services/Virtual Terminal, HP 802.3 protocol
OCT=Object Code Translator
PID=Protection ID
PM=Privileged Mode capability
RIN=Resource Identification Number, used for locking
SD=Self-Describing, as in SD-file
TLB=Translation Lookaside Buffer
TPI=Third-Party Indexing, database interface to Omnidex and Superdex
UDC=User Defined Command
WUD=What's Up, DOCumentation?, newsletter from Robelle

UNIX Acronyms

ACL=Access Control List, user-specific security
BSD=Berkeley Software Distribution, a flavor of UNIX
HFS=Hierarchical File System
NFS=Network File System
OSF=Open Systems Foundation
UUCP=UNIX-to-UNIX-Copy-Program, networking with only serial modems

DOS and PC Acronyms

BIOS=Basic Input/Output System
ECS=Extended Character Set
FAT=File Allocation Table
IDE=Integrated Drive Electronics
PCMCIA=Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
TSR=Terminate and Stay Resident
VESA=Video Electronic Standards Association

Windows Acronyms

API=Application Programming Interface
DDE=Dynamic Data Exchange
DLL=Dynamic Link Library
MDI=Multiple Document Interface
OCX=OLE Control eXtension
ODBC=Object DataBase Connectivity
OLE=Object Linking and Embedding
RTF=Rich Text Format
SDK=Software Development Kit
VBX=Visual Basic Control
VxD=Virtual Device Driver

DataComm and Networking Acronyms

ATM=Asyncronous Transfer Mode, or Automated Teller Machine
AUI=Attached Unit Interface
BNC=Bayonet-Neill-Concelman, connector for coaxial LAN cables
BPS=Bits Per Second
CCITT=Consultative Committee for International Telephony and Telegraphy
CSMA/CD=Carrier Sense, Multiple Access with Collision Detection, i.e., Ethernet
IPX=Internetwork Packet Exchange, low-level protocol of Novell Netware, on top of SPX
LAN=Local Area Network
LSL=Link Support Layer, Novell spec for multiple stacks
NDIS=Network Driver Interface Specification, interface between NIC and transport protocol
NIC=Network Interface Card
NOS=Network Operating System
ODI=Open Datalink Interface, Novell protocol-to-driver interface
OSI=Open Systems Interconnection, 7-layer model of ISO
RPC=Remote Procedure Call
SPX=Sequenced Packet Exchange, Novell proprietary protocol
UART=Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
WAN=Wide Area Network, like the Internet

Internet Acroynms

ARPANet=Advanced Research Project Agency Network, precursor to Internet
CGI=Common Gateway Interface
DARPA=Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, creators of ARPANET
DNS=Domain Name System
FAQ=Frequently Asked Questions
HTML=HyperText Markup Language, used to create Web pages
ICCM=Inter-client Communications Conventions Manual, for X-clients
IMHO=In My Humble Opinion
ISP=Internet Service Provider
MIME=Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension
NIC=Network Information Center, as in Internic
NIS=Network Information Service, aka Yellow Pages
POP=Point of Presence, also Post Office Protocol
PGP=Pretty Good Privacy
RFC=Request For Comments, like a specification
RPC=Remote Procedure Call
TIA=Thanks In Advance
URL=Universal Resource Locator, a way to find anything on WWW
WAIS=Wide Area Information Services
WWW=World Wide Web, hypertext access to the Internet

Internet Protocols

ARP=Address Resolution Protocol, maps Ethernet to TCP/IP
BOOTP=BOOT Protocol
FTP=File Transfer Protocol
IP=Internet Protocal, often seen in TCP/IP
HTTP=HyperText Transport Protocol, used in the World Wide Web
ICMP=Internet Control Message Protocol, low-level of TCP/IP
NNTP=Network News Transport Protocol
NTP= Network Time Protocol
POP=Post Office Protocol, also Point of Presence
PPP=Point-to-Point Protocol
RARP=Reverse ARP, find IP address from physical
SLIP=Serial Line Internet Protocol
SMTP=Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SNAP=SubNetwork Access Protocol, use of IP datagrams and ARP on IEEE networks
SNMP=Simple Network Management Protocol
TCP=Transmission Control Protocol
TELNET=Remote Terminal Protocol
TFTP=Trivial File Transfer Protocol
UDP=User Datagram Protocol


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