cipher-through-Clipper Chip
A/B Switch box ~ America On-line AMI BIOS ~ Arithmetic Operation ARP ~ AVI Backbone ~ Bit Image Bit Map ~ Boot Disk Boot Drive ~ Bytes Per Inch C++ ~ Carrier Frequency carrier system ~ certification CGI ~ Chooser extension cipher ~ Clipper Chip clock ~ color color bits ~ communications satellite communications server ~ computer security CON ~ copy copy program ~ cycle time daemon ~ defragmentation demand paging ~ digitize DikuMUD ~ disk disk buffer ~ Document Style Semantics and Specification Language document window ~ dynamic Web page Easter egg ~ erase erase head ~ ezine F2F ~ finger2 firewall ~ font suitcase footer ~ FYI Game Control Adapter ~ GUI HAL ~ hot key1 hot key2 ~ Hz i486DX ~ internal modem internet ~ ISO 9660 ISO/OSI model ~ just-in-time K1 ~ knowledge base L1 cache ~ LU luggable computer ~ LZW compression MAC ~ MILNET mime ~ msec MTBF ~ MYOB named anchor ~ network drive Network File System ~ number crunching object ~ overwrite mode P5 ~ PC/XT keyboard PDA ~ pipeline processing piracy ~ preventive maintenance preview ~ pwd quasi-language ~ QWERTY keyboard R&D ~ registration marks Registry ~ RFI RF shielding ~ run-time library SAA ~ server error server push-pull ~ soft return software ~ style sheet stylus ~ System T1 ~ ToggleKeys token ~ typography UART ~ uupc V.120 ~ view2 viewer ~ VxD w3 ~ WinG WINS ~ WWW X.25 ~ X Windows Yahoo! ~ yotta- Z39.50 standard ~ Zulu time
cipher
n. 1. A code. 2. An encoded character. 3. A zero.
circuit
n. 1. Any path that can carry electrical current. 2. A combination of electrical components interconnected to perform a particular task. At one level, a computer consists of a single circuit; at another, it consists of hundreds of interconnected circuits.
circuit analyzer
n. Any device for measuring one or more characteristics of an electrical circuit. Voltage, current, and resistance are the characteristics most commonly measured. Oscilloscopes are circuit analyzers.
circuit board
n. A flat piece of insulating material, such as epoxy or phenolic resin, on which electrical components are mounted and interconnected to form a circuit. Most modern circuit boards use patterns of copper foil to interconnect the components. The foil layers may be on one or both sides of the board and, in more advanced designs, in several layers within the board. A printed circuit board is one in which the pattern of copper foil is laid down by a printing process such as photolithography. See also board, printed circuit board.
circuit breaker
n. A switch that opens and cuts off the flow of current when the current exceeds a certain level. Circuit breakers are placed at critical points in circuits to protect against damage that could result from excessive current flow, which is typically caused by component failure. Circuit breakers are often used in place of fuses because they need only to be reset rather than replaced. Compare surge protector.
CISC
n. Acronym for complex instruction set computing. The implementation of complex instructions in a microprocessor design so that they can be invoked at the assembly language level. The instructions can be very powerful, allowing for complicated and flexible ways of calculating such elements as memory addresses. All this complexity, however, usually requires many clock cycles to execute each instruction. Compare RISC.
class
n. In object-oriented programming, a generalized category that describes a group of more specific items, called objects, that can exist within it. A class is a descriptive tool used in a program to define a set of attributes or a set of services (actions available to other parts of the program) that characterize any member (object) of the class. Program classes are comparable in concept to the categories that people use to organize information about their world, such as animal, vegetable, and mineral, that define the types of entities they include and the ways those entities behave. The definition of classes in object- oriented programming is comparable to the definition of types in languages such as C and Pascal. See also object-oriented programming.
Class A network
n. An Internet network that can define a maximum of 16,777,215 hosts. Class A networks use the first byte of an IP address to designate the network, with the first (high-order) bit set to 0. The host is designated by the last 3 bytes. Class A addressing currently allows for a maximum of 128 networks. Class A networks are best suited for sites with few networks but numerous hosts and are usually designated for use by large government or educational institutions. See also host, IP address.
classless interdomain routing
n. An address scheme that uses aggregation strategies to minimize the size of top- level Internet routing tables. Routes are grouped with the objective of minimizing the quantity of information carried by core routers. The main requirement for this scheme is the use of routing protocols that support it, such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Version 4 and RIP Version 2. See also Border Gateway Protocol, communications protocol, RIP, router. Acronym: CIDR.
clean boot
n. Booting or starting a computer using the minimum system files in the operating system. The clean boot is used as a troubleshooting method for isolating problems associated with software that may be calling on the same system resources at the same time, causing conflicts that lower the performance of the system, make some programs inoperable, or crash the computer. See also boot1, crash2 (definition 1), operating system.
clean install
n. Reinstallation of software in a manner that ensures that no application or system files from a previous installation will remain. The procedure prevents "smart" installer programs from skipping file installations where a file already exists, which could potentially keep a problem from being removed.
Clear key
n. A key in the upper left corner of the numeric keypad on some keyboards. In many applications, it clears the currently selected menu choice or deletes the current selection.
click
vb. To press and release a mouse button once without moving the mouse. Clicking is usually performed to select or deselect an item or to activate a program or program feature. See also right click. Compare double-click, drag.
click speed
n. The maximum interval between the first and second time a user presses a button on a mouse or other pointing device that will still identify these actions as a double-click to the computer as opposed to two single-clicks. See also double-click, mouse, pointing device.
client
n. 1. In object-oriented programming, a member of a class (group) that uses the services of another class to which it is not related. See also inheritance (definition 1). 2. A process, such as a program or task, that requests a service provided by another program--for example, a word processor that calls on a sort routine built into another program. The client process uses the requested service without having to "know" any working details about the other program or the service itself. Compare child (definition 1), descendant (definition 2). 3. On a local area network or the Internet, a computer that accesses shared network resources provided by another computer (called a server). See also client/server architecture, server.
client error
n. A problem reported by the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client module as the result of difficulty in interpreting a command or the inability to connect properly to a remote host.
client/server architecture
n. An arrangement used on local area networks that makes use of distributed intelligence to treat both the server and the individual workstations as intelligent, programmable devices, thus exploiting the full computing power of each. This is done by splitting the processing of an application between two distinct components: a "front-end" client and a "back-end" server. The client component is a complete, stand-alone personal computer (not a "dumb" terminal), and it offers the user its full range of power and features for running applications. The server component can be a personal computer, a minicomputer, or a mainframe that provides the traditional strengths offered by minicomputers and mainframes in a time-sharing environment: data management, information sharing between clients, and sophisticated network administration and security features. The client and server machines work together to accomplish the processing of the application being used. Not only does this increase the processing power available over older architectures but it also uses that power more efficiently. The client portion of the application is typically optimized for user interaction, whereas the server portion provides the centralized, multiuser functionality. See also distributed intelligence.
client-side image maps
n. A Web page user selection device whereby regions of an image can be clicked with the mouse to indicate user selections from a presented collection of options, comparable to clicking an icon of the desired item on a menu. Unlike the earliest Web implementation of image maps (circa 1993), client-side image maps do not transmit the mouse click coordinates to the Web server for processing but perform the processing completely within the client program (i.e., Web browser) itself, generally improving the speed of response to the user. See also image map.
clip
vb. 1. To cut off the portion of a displayed image that lies beyond a certain boundary, such as the edge of a window. Certain graphics programs also support clipping as a means of masking everything but a certain object so that painting tools, for example, can be applied to the object alone. 2. To cut a photograph, drawing, or other illustrations from a clip art collection--either in a book or on a disk. See also clip art. 3. To cut off the peaks of a signal in an electronic circuit.
clip art
n. A collection--either in a book or on a disk--of proprietary or public-domain photographs, diagrams, maps, drawings, and other such graphics that can be "clipped" from the collection and incorporated into other documents.
clipboard
n. 1. A special memory resource maintained by windowing operating systems. The clipboard stores a copy of the last information that was "copied" or "cut." A "paste" operation passes data from the clipboard to the current program. A clipboard allows information to be transferred from one program to another, provided the second program can read data generated by the first. Data copied using the clipboard is static and will not reflect later changes. See also cut and paste, DDE. Compare scrap. 2. A computer that uses a pen as the primary input device. See also clipboard computer, pen computer.
Clipper Chip
n. An integrated circuit that implements the SkipJack algorithm, an encryption algorithm created by the National Security Agency that encrypts 64-bit blocks of data with an 80-bit key. The Clipper is manufactured by the U.S. government to encrypt telephone data. It has the added feature that it can be decrypted by the U.S. government, which has tried unsuccessfully to make the chip compulsory in the United States. See also encryption.
A/B Switch box ~ America On-line AMI BIOS ~ Arithmetic Operation ARP ~ AVI Backbone ~ Bit Image Bit Map ~ Boot Disk Boot Drive ~ Bytes Per Inch C++ ~ Carrier Frequency carrier system ~ certification CGI ~ Chooser extension cipher ~ Clipper Chip clock ~ color color bits ~ communications satellite communications server ~ computer security CON ~ copy copy program ~ cycle time daemon ~ defragmentation demand paging ~ digitize DikuMUD ~ disk disk buffer ~ Document Style Semantics and Specification Language document window ~ dynamic Web page Easter egg ~ erase erase head ~ ezine F2F ~ finger2 firewall ~ font suitcase footer ~ FYI Game Control Adapter ~ GUI HAL ~ hot key1 hot key2 ~ Hz i486DX ~ internal modem internet ~ ISO 9660 ISO/OSI model ~ just-in-time K1 ~ knowledge base L1 cache ~ LU luggable computer ~ LZW compression MAC ~ MILNET mime ~ msec MTBF ~ MYOB named anchor ~ network drive Network File System ~ number crunching object ~ overwrite mode P5 ~ PC/XT keyboard PDA ~ pipeline processing piracy ~ preventive maintenance preview ~ pwd quasi-language ~ QWERTY keyboard R&D ~ registration marks Registry ~ RFI RF shielding ~ run-time library SAA ~ server error server push-pull ~ soft return software ~ style sheet stylus ~ System T1 ~ ToggleKeys token ~ typography UART ~ uupc V.120 ~ view2 viewer ~ VxD w3 ~ WinG WINS ~ WWW X.25 ~ X Windows Yahoo! ~ yotta- Z39.50 standard ~ Zulu time