THE COMPUTER GLOSSARY Eighth Edition
"May be the best
one-volume dictionary of computing terminology." -- New
York Public Library
"The Glossary is simple, thoughtful, and
easy. It delivers." -- Associated Press
The
'Rolls-Royce of computer dictionaries' is back -- bigger and better
than ever. The reference of choice for computer users for nearly a
decade is now completely updated with even more useful information,
including new Internet and Web terminology.
With over 6,000
entries, The Computer Glossary is perfect for wet-behind-the-ears Web
surfers, for technology experts, and for everyone in between.
ALAN
FREEDMAN (Point Pleasant, NJ) is president of The Computer Language
Company, an organization dedicated to computer education and training
for business and non-technical people. He is also the author of The
Computer Desktop Encyclopedia (also Amacom).
With each new technological development, a new vocabulary springs up and makes most computer lexicons go out of date before you can say "pre-emptive multitasking." The Computer Glossary, now in its eighth edition, has managed to stay as up-to-date as possible, as evidenced by the rate at which the number of pages in this handy reference work have multiplied since it was published as a 92-page booklet in 1981. Now close to 500 pages, Freedman's tome continues to rank very highly among computer dictionaries rated by PC Magazine. Unfortunately, no definition is given for "SHTML" (server-parsed HTML), which can be found in one of the Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing websites around the world (). This is, however, a minor omission considering the rest of Freedman's coverage. This edition comes with a CD-ROM version of its content, handy for performing keyword searches of more elusive terms. Freedman teamed up with computer experts Alfred and Emily Glossbrenner to produce The Internet Glossary and Quick Reference Guide, an extensive guide to a proliferating Internet vocabulary. Who says techie dictionaries have to be dull? These authors were able to inject some fun into their work with entries like "Easter egg," an undocumented, usually whimsical surprise hidden in a computer program by its creators, often without the knowledge of management. The glossary lists some of the key stroke sequences and mouse clicks required to view these little goodies, usually names of the product developers accompanied by interesting graphics. (Examples can be found at ). The acronym "SHTML" was not found in this compilation either, and there was neither an entry for "PDF" nor a cross reference to "Acrobat" as there was in The Computer Glossary. However, The Internet Glossary uses the correct definition for PDF ("portable document format") in its "Acrobat" entry, while The Computer Glossary defined it incorrectly as "portable data format," another minor oversight. Despite these glitches, both books are worthwhile additions to most reference collections.?Joe J. Accardi, Northeastern Illinois Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
