The Internet Glossary and Quick Reference Guide - Softcover

Freedman, Alan; Glossbrenner, Alfred; Emily; Glossbrenner, Emily

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814479790 ISBN 13: 9780814479797

Publisher: Amacom Books, 1998

Synopsis

Definitions include slang and cultural phenomena, as well as terms likely to be encountered by system administrators and users of all levels

About this title

Review:

Computer lingo seems to be expanding about as fast as the Internet itself. The authors of this book provide an aid for those at risk of getting lost in the language. That includes everybody with a nontechnical background who suddenly has to do more than simply log on and check e-mail.

Those who find they must deal with their company's Internet sites or in-house intranets will find this work invaluable in communicating with technical people, whether on their own staff or from vendors. This is quite helpful when it's important to know that the techie talking about ATM isn't discussing getting money from the automated teller machine but making data move across the network in Asynchronous Transfer Mode.

But Freedman and the Glossbrenners do more than provide definitions of the terms an Internet user or administrator is likely to fall across. They explain the backgrounds of terms and phrases, making the work almost like a mini-encyclopedia. For example, they not only define the term "bus" ("a common pathway, or channel, between multiple devices"), but they also provide an illustration of the concept, clearly describe types of buses, and even explain why it's called a "bus" in the first place. They also conveniently divide the entries into alphabetic and numeric, eliminating any confusion as to where to find, for example, 32-bit processing (which is not a reference to a processor worth $4) or 6x86MX. --Elizabeth Lewis

From Library Journal:

With each new technological development, a new vocabulary springs up and makes most computer lexicons go out of date before you can say "pre-emptive multitasking."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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Amacom Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0814479790
• ISBN 13: 9780814479797
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 385