~F~
F2F ~ finger2
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
F2F
adv. Short for face-to-face. In person, rather than over the Internet. The term is used in e-mail.
face time
n. Time spent dealing face-to-face with another person, rather than communicating electronically.
fail-safe system
n. A computer system designed to continue operating without loss of or damage to programs and data when part of the system breaks down or seriously malfunctions. Compare fail-soft system.
failure
n. The inability of a computer system or related device to operate reliably or to operate at all. A common cause of system failure is loss of power, which can be minimized with a battery-powered backup source until all devices can be shut down. Within a system, electronic failures generally occur early in the life of a system or component and can often be produced by burning in the equipment (leaving it turned on constantly) for a few hours or days. Mechanical failures are difficult to predict but are most likely to affect devices, such as disk drives, that have moving parts.
failure rate
n. The number of failures in a specified time period. Failure rate is a means of measuring the reliability of a device, such as a hard disk. See also MTBF.
family
n. A series of hardware or software products that have some properties in common, such as a series of personal computers from the same company, a series of CPU chips from the same manufacturer that all use the same instruction set, or a set of fonts that are intended to be used together, such as Times New Roman. See also central processing unit, font, instruction set.
fan1
n. The cooling mechanism built into computer cabinets, laser printers, and other such devices to prevent malfunction due to heat buildup. Fans are the main source of the continuous humming associated with computers and other hardware.
fan2
vb. To flip through a stack of printer paper to ensure that the pages are loose and will not stick together or jam the printer.
fanfold paper
n. Paper with pin-feed holes on both margins designed to be fed into the tractor-feed mechanism of a printer, page by page, in a continuous, unbroken stream. Also called z-fold paper.
fanzine
n. A magazine, distributed online or by mail, that is produced by and devoted to fans of a particular group, person, or activity. See also ezine.
FAQ
n. Acronym for frequently asked questions. A document listing common questions and answers on a particular subject. FAQs are often posted on Internet newsgroups where new participants ask the same questions that regular readers have answered many times.
farad
n. Abbreviated F. The unit of capacitance (the ability to hold a charge). A 1-farad capacitor holds a charge of 1 coulomb with a potential difference of 1 volt between its plates. In practical use, a farad is an extremely large amount of capacitance; capacitance is usually expressed in terms of microfarads (10-6) or picofarads (10-12).
Fast Ethernet
n. Ethernet capable of supporting 100 megabits per second. See also Ethernet (definition 1).
Fast SCSI
n. A form of the SCSI-2 interface that can transfer data 8 bits at a time at up to 10 megabytes per second. The Fast SCSI connector has 50 pins. Also called Fast SCSI-2. See also SCSI, SCSI-2. Compare Fast/Wide SCSI, Wide SCSI.
Fast/Wide SCSI
n. A form of the SCSI-2 interface that can transfer data 16 bits at a time at up to 20 megabytes per second. The Fast/Wide SCSI connector has 68 pins. Also called Fast/Wide SCSI-2. See also SCSI, SCSI-2. Compare Fast SCSI, Wide SCSI.
FAT
n. See file allocation table.
fatal error
n. An error that causes the system or application program to crash--that is, to fail abruptly with no hope of recovery.
fat client
n. In a client/server architecture, a client machine that performs most or all of the processing, with little or none performed by the server. The client handles presentation and functions, and the server manages data and access to it. See also client (definition 3), client/server architecture, server (definition 2), thin server. Compare fat server, thin client.
FAT file system
n. The system used by MS-DOS to organize and manage files. The FAT (file allocation table) is a data structure that MS-DOS creates on the disk when the disk is formatted. When MS-DOS stores a file on a formatted disk, the operating system places information about the stored file in the FAT so that MS-DOS can retrieve the file later when requested. The FAT is the only file system MS-DOS can use; OS/2, Windows NT, and Windows 95 operating systems can use the FAT file system in addition to their own file systems (HPFS, NTFS, and VFAT, respectively). See also file allocation table, HPFS, NTFS, OS/2, VFAT, Windows 95, Windows NT.
fault
n. A physical defect, such as a loose connection, that prevents a system or device from operating as it should.
fault tolerance
n. The ability of a computer or an operating system to respond to a catastrophic event or fault, such as a power outage or a hardware failure, in a way that ensures that no data is lost and any work in progress is not corrupted. This can be accomplished with a battery-backed power supply, backup hardware, provisions in the operating system, or any combination of these. In a fault-tolerant network, the system has the ability either to continue the system's operation without loss of data or to shut the system down and restart it, recovering all processing that was in progress when the fault occurred.
favorite
n. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, a user-defined shortcut to a page on the World Wide Web, analogous to a bookmark in Netscape Navigator. See also Favorites folder, hotlist. Compare bookmark (definition 2).
Favorites folder
n. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, a collection of shortcuts to Web sites that a user has selected for future reference. Other Web browsers refer to this collection by other names, such as bookmarks or hotlists. See also bookmark file (definition 1), Internet Explorer, URL. Compare bookmark (definition 2), hotlist.
fax
n. Short for facsimile. The transmission of text or graphics over telephone lines in digitized form. Conventional fax machines scan an original document, transmit an image of the document as a bit map, and reproduce the received image on a printer. Resolution and encoding are standardized in the CCITT Groups 1-4 recommendations. Fax images can also be sent and received by microcomputers equipped with fax hardware and software. See also CCITT Groups 1-4.
fax machine
n. Short for facsimile machine. A device that scans pages, converts the images of those pages to a digital format consistent with the international facsimile standard, and transmits the image through a telephone line. A fax machine also receives such images and prints them on paper. See also scan (definition 2).
fax modem
n. A modem that sends (and possibly receives) data encoded in a fax format (typically CCITT fax format), which a fax machine or another modem decodes and converts to an image. The image must already have been encoded on the host computer. Text and graphic documents can be converted into fax format by special software usually provided with the modem; paper documents must first be scanned in. Fax modems may be internal or external and may combine fax and conventional modem capabilities. See also fax, modem.
fax on demand
n. An automated system that makes information available for request by telephone. When a request is made, the system faxes the information to the telephone number given in the request. Acronym: FOD.
fax program
n. A computer application that allows the user to send, receive, and print fax transmissions. See also fax.
fax server
n. A computer on a network capable of sending and receiving fax transmissions to and from other computers on the network. See also fax, server (definition 1).
FCC
n. Acronym for Federal Communications Commission. The U.S. agency created by the Communications Act of 1934, which regulates interstate and international wire, radio, and other broadcast transmissions, including telephone, telegraph, and telecommunications.
F connector
n. A coaxial connector, used primarily in video applications, that requires a screw-on attachment.
FDDI
n. Acronym for Fiber Distributed Data Interface. A standard developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for high-speed fiber-optic local area networks. FDDI provides specifications for transmission rates of 100 megabits (100 million bits) per second on networks based on the token ring standard. FDDI II, an extension of the FDDI standard, contains additional specifications for the real-time transmission of analog data in digitized form. See also token ring network.
FDHP
n. Acronym for Full Duplex Handshaking Protocol. A protocol used by duplex modems to determine the source type of the transmission and match it. See also duplex1, handshake.
FDM
n. Acronym for frequency-division multiplexing. A means of loading multiple transmission signals onto separate bands of a single communications channel so that all signals can be carried simultaneously. FDM is used in analog transmissions, as on a baseband network or in communications over a telephone line. In FDM the frequency range of the channel is divided into narrower bands, each of which can carry a different transmission signal. For example, FDM might divide a voice channel with a frequency range of 1400 hertz (Hz) into four subchannels--820-990 Hz, 1230-1400 Hz, 1640-1810 Hz, and 2050-2220 Hz--with adjacent subchannels separated by a 240-Hz guard band to minimize interference.
feasibility study
n. An evaluation of a prospective project for the purpose of determining whether or not the project should be undertaken. Feasibility studies normally consider the time, budget, and technology required for completion and are generally used in computing departments in large organizations.
feature
n. A unique, attractive, or desirable property of a program or of a computer or other hardware.
Federal Information Processing Standards
n. A system of standards, guidelines, and technical methods for information processing within the U.S. federal government. Acronym: FIPS.
feed2
vb. 1. To advance paper through a printer. 2. To supply media to a recording device, as by inserting disks into a disk drive.
feedback
n. The return of a portion of system output as input to the same system. Often feedback is deliberately designed into a system, but sometimes it is unwanted. In electronics, feedback is used in monitoring, controlling, and amplifying circuitry.
female connector
n. A connector that has one or more receptacles for the insertion of pins. Female connector part numbers often include an F (female), an S (socket), a J (jack), or an R (receptacle). For example, a female DB-25 connector might be labeled DB-25S or DB-25F. (Note that although the letter F can denote a female connector, it does not have that meaning in F connector, which is a type of coaxial cable connector.) Compare male connector.
fiber optics
n. A technology for the transmission of light beams along optical fibers. A light beam, such as that produced in a laser, can be modulated to carry information. Because light has a higher frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum than other types of radiation, such as radio waves, a single fiber-optic channel can carry significantly more information than most other means of information transmission. Optical fibers are thin strands of glass or other transparent material, with dozens or hundreds of strands housed in a single cable. Optical fibers are essentially immune to electromagnetic interference. See also optical fiber.
field
n. 1. A location in a record in which a particular type of data is stored. For example, EMPLOYEE-RECORD might contain fields to store Last-Name, First-Name, Address, City, State, Zip-Code, Hire-Date, Current-Salary, Title, Department, and so on. Individual fields are characterized by their maximum length and the type of data (for example, alphabetic, numeric, or financial) that can be placed in them. The facility for creating these specifications usually is contained in the data definition language (DDL). In relational database management systems, fields are called columns. 2. A space in an on-screen form where the user can enter a specific item of information.
file
n. A complete, named collection of information, such as a program, a set of data used by a program, or a user-created document. A file is the basic unit of storage that enables a computer to distinguish one set of information from another. A file is the "glue" that binds a conglomeration of instructions, numbers, words, or images into a coherent unit that a user can retrieve, change, delete, save, or send to an output device.
file allocation table
n. A table or list maintained by some operating systems to manage disk space used for file storage. Files on a disk are stored, as space allows, in fixed-size groups of bytes (characters) rather than from beginning to end as contiguous strings of text or numbers. A single file can thus be scattered in pieces over many separate storage areas. A file allocation table maps available disk storage space so that it can mark flawed segments that should not be used and can find and link the pieces of a file. In MS-DOS, the file allocation table is commonly known as the FAT. See also FAT file system.
file attribute
n. A restrictive label attached to a file that describes and regulates its use--for example, hidden, system, read-only, archive, and so forth. In MS-DOS, this information is stored as part of the file's directory entry.
file conversion
n. The process of transforming the data in a file from one format to another without altering its contents--for example, converting a file from a word processor's format to its ASCII equivalent.
file format
n. The structure of a file that defines the way it is stored and laid out on the screen or in print. The format can be fairly simple and common, as are files stored as "plain" ASCII text, or it can be quite complex and include various types of control instructions and codes used by programs, printers, and other devices. Examples include RTF (Rich Text Format), DCA (Document Content Architecture), PICT, DIF (Data Interchange Format), DXF, TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), and EPSF (Encapsulated PostScript Format).
file fragmentation
n. 1. The breaking apart of files into small, separate segments for storage on disk. The condition is a natural consequence of enlarging files and saving them on a crowded disk that no longer contains contiguous blocks of free space large enough to hold them. File fragmentation is not an integrity problem, although it can eventually slow read and write access times if the disk is very full and storage is badly fragmented. Software products are available for redistributing (optimizing) file storage to reduce fragmentation. 2. In a database, a situation in which records are not stored in their optimal access sequence because of accumulated additions and deletions of records. Most database systems offer or contain utility programs that resequence records to improve efficiency of access and to aggregate free space occupied by deleted records.
file handle
n. In MS-DOS, OS/2, and Windows, a token (number) that the system uses to identify or refer to an open file or, sometimes, to a device.
file maintenance
n. Broadly, the process of changing information in a file, altering a file's control information or structure, or copying and archiving files. A person using a terminal to enter data, the program accepting the data from the terminal and writing it to a data file, and a database administrator using a utility to alter the format of a database file are all forms of file maintenance.
file manager
n. A module of an operating system or environment that controls the physical placement of and access to a group of program files.
file recovery
n. The process of reconstructing lost or unreadable files on disk. Files are lost when they are inadvertently deleted, when on-disk information about their storage is damaged, or when the disk is damaged. File recovery involves the use of utility programs that attempt to rebuild on-disk information about the storage locations of deleted files. Because deletion makes the file's disk space available but does not remove the data, data that has not yet been overwritten can be recovered. In the case of damaged files or disks, recovery programs read whatever raw data they can find, and save the data to a new disk or file in ASCII or numeric (binary or hexadecimal) form. In some instances, however, such reconstructed files contain so much extraneous or mixed information that they are unreadable. The best way to recover a file is to restore it from a backup copy.
file retrieval
n. The act of transferring a data file from a storage location to the machine where it is to be used.
file server
n. A file-storage device on a local area network that is accessible to all users on the network. Unlike a disk server, which appears to the user as a remote disk drive, a file server is a sophisticated device that not only stores files but manages them and maintains order as network users request files and make changes to them. To deal with the tasks of handling multiple--sometimes simultaneous--requests for files, a file server contains a processor and controlling software as well as a disk drive for storage. On local area networks, a file server is often a computer with a large hard disk that is dedicated only to the task of managing shared files. Compare disk server.
file sharing
n. The use of computer files on networks, wherein files are stored on a central computer or a server and are requested, reviewed, and modified by more than one individual. When a file is used with different programs or different computers, file sharing can require conversion to a mutually acceptable format. When a single file is shared by many people, access can be regulated through such means as password protection, security clearances, or file locking to prohibit changes to a file by more than one person at a time.
file size
n. The length of a file, typically given in bytes. A computer file stored on disk actually has two file sizes, logical size and physical size. The logical file size corresponds to the file's actual size--the number of bytes it contains. The physical size refers to the amount of storage space allotted to the file on disk. Because space is set aside for a file in blocks of bytes, the last characters in the file might not completely fill the block (allocation unit) reserved for them. When this happens, the physical size is larger than the logical size of the file.
file structure
n. A description of a file or group of files that are to be treated together for some purpose. Such a description includes file layout and location for each file under consideration.
file system
n. In an operating system, the overall structure in which files are named, stored, and organized. A file system consists of files, directories, and the information needed to locate and access these items. The term can also refer to the portion of an operating system that translates requests for file operations from an application program into low-level, sector-oriented tasks that can be understood by the drivers controlling the disk drives. See also driver.
file transfer
n. The process of moving or transmitting a file from one location to another, as between two programs or over a network.
File Transfer Protocol
n. See FTP1 (definition 1).
file type
n. A designation of the operational or structural characteristics of a file. A file's type is often identified in the filename. With MS-DOS, a file's type is usually reflected in the filename extension. See also file format.
fill
n. In computer graphics, to "paint" the inside of an enclosed figure, such as a circle, with color or a pattern. The portion of the shape that can be colored or patterned is the fill area. Drawing programs commonly offer tools for creating filled or nonfilled shapes; the user can specify color or pattern.
filter
n. 1. A program or set of features within a program that reads its standard or designated input, transforms the input in some desired way, and then writes the output to its standard or designated output destination. A database filter, for example, might flag information of a certain age. 2. In communications and electronics, hardware or software that selectively passes certain elements of a signal and eliminates or minimizes others. A filter on a communications network, for example, must be designed to transmit a certain frequency but attenuate (dampen) frequencies above it (a lowpass filter), those below it (a highpass filter), or those above and below it (a bandpass filter). 3. A pattern or mask through which data is passed to weed out specified items. For instance, a filter used in e-mail or in retrieving newsgroup messages can allow users to filter out messages from other users. See also e-mail filter, mask. 4. In computer graphics, a special effect or production effect that is applied to bitmapped images; for example, shifting pixels within an image, making elements of the image transparent, or distorting the image. Some filters are built into a graphics program, such as a paint program or an image editor. Others are separate software packages that plug into the graphics program. See also bitmapped graphics, image editor, paint program.
FilterKeys
n. A Windows 95 accessibility control panel feature that enables users with physical disabilities to use the keyboard. With FilterKeys, the system ignores brief and repeated keystrokes that result from slow or inaccurate finger movements. See also accessibility. Compare MouseKeys, ShowSounds, SoundSentry, StickyKeys, ToggleKeys.
Finder
n. The standard interface to the Macintosh operating system, allowing the user to view the contents of directories (folders); to move, copy, and delete files; and to launch applications. Items in the system are often represented as icons, and a mouse or similar pointing device is used to manipulate these items. The Finder was the first commercially successful graphical user interface, and it helped launch a wave of interest in icon-based systems. See also MultiFinder.
finger1
n. An Internet utility, originally limited to UNIX but now available on many other platforms, that enables a user to obtain information on other users who may be at other sites (if those sites permit access by finger). Given an e-mail address, finger returns the user's full name, an indication of whether or not the user is currently logged on, and any other information the user has chosen to supply as a profile. Given a first or last name, finger returns the logon names of users whose first or last names match.
finger2
vb. To obtain information on a user by means of the finger program.
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