22-letter words containing a, d, o, r, i
- c programmer's disease — (programming) The tendency of the undisciplined C programmer to set arbitrary but supposedly generous static limits on table sizes (defined, if you're lucky, by constants in header files) rather than taking the trouble to do proper dynamic storage allocation. If an application user later needs to put 68 elements into a table of size 50, the afflicted programmer reasons that he or she can easily reset the table size to 68 (or even as much as 70, to allow for future expansion) and recompile. This gives the programmer the comfortable feeling of having made the effort to satisfy the user's (unreasonable) demands, and often affords the user multiple opportunities to explore the marvellous consequences of fandango on core. In severe cases of the disease, the programmer cannot comprehend why each fix of this kind seems only to further disgruntle the user.
- cease-and-desist order — an order by a government agency to a person or corporation to terminate a business practice found by the agency to be illegal or unfair.
- centimeter-gram-second — designating or of a system of measurement in which the centimeter, gram, and second are the units of length, mass, and time, respectively
- central locking device — a small device that controls the central locking on a motor vehicle
- certificate of deposit — a negotiable certificate issued by a bank in return for a deposit of money for a term of up to five years
- chicago board of trade — a major exchange in the United States that deals in futures, notably of grains and metals. Abbreviation: CBT.
- chief academic officer — an official in a university, college, or medical school who usually reports directly to the president, chancellor, rector, or vice chancellor
- chorionic gonadotropin — Also called human chorionic gonadotropin. Biochemistry. a hormone, produced in the incipient placenta of pregnant women, that stimulates the production of estrogen and progesterone: its presence in blood or urine is an indication of pregnancy.
- color graphics adapter — (hardware, graphics) (CGA) One of IBM's earliest hardware video display standards for use in IBM PCs. CGA can display 80*25 or 40*25 text in 16 colors, 640*200 pixels of graphics in two colors or 320*200 in four colors (IBM PC video modes 0-6). It is now obsolete.
- command line interface — (operating system) A means of communication between a program and its user, based solely on textual input and output. Commands are input with the help of a keyboard or similar device and are interpreted and executed by the program. Results are output as text or graphics to the terminal. Command line interfaces usually provide greater flexibility than graphical user interfaces, at the cost of being harder for the novice to use. Consequently, some hackers look down on GUIs as designed For The Rest Of Them.
- communication disorder — any of a number of disorders, as autism or deafness, that partially or totally prevent verbal or written expression or comprehension.
- compass deviation card — a card, sheet, or the like, with two compass roses printed on it concentrically, for recording, on a given voyage, the amount of deviation for which the navigator must compensate in using the ship's compass to steer a magnetic course.
- complementary medicine — the treatment, alleviation, or prevention of disease by such techniques as osteopathy, homeopathy, aromatherapy, and acupuncture, allied with attention to such factors as diet and emotional stability, which can affect a person's wellbeing
- complete quadrilateral — a polygon consisting of four lines and their six points of intersection
- compulsory liquidation — the liquidation of a business in order to settle its debts
- concentration gradient — the gradual difference in concentration of a dissolved substance in a solution between a region of high density and one of lower density.
- congressional district — (in the US) an electoral division of a state, entitled to send one member to the US House of Representatives
- constructive dismissal — If an employee claims constructive dismissal, they begin a legal action against their employer in which they claim that they were forced to leave their job because of the behaviour of their employer.
- contextual advertising — a form of targeted advertising used on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers
- continuous welded rail — a long, continuous rail formed by welding many short rails.
- contradiction in terms — a term, phrase, or phenomenon containing self-contradictory parts
- coronary heart disease — any heart disorder caused by disease of the coronary arteries
- cross the great divide — to die
- curly-coated retriever — a strongly built variety of retriever with a tightly curled black or liver-coloured coat
- curriculum coordinator — a member of a teaching staff with a largely administrative function whose job is to ensure that a curriculum is effectively taught
- cyclic redundancy code — cyclic redundancy check
- cylindrical coordinate — Usually, cylindrical coordinates. a member of a system of coordinates for locating a point in space by its polar coordinates and its perpendicular distance to the polar plane.
- dalton's atomic theory — the theory that matter consists of indivisible particles called atoms and that atoms of a given element are all identical and can neither be created nor destroyed. Compounds are formed by combination of atoms in simple ratios to give compound atoms (molecules). The theory was the basis of modern chemistry
- dandie dinmont terrier — any of a breed of small terrier with short legs, drooping ears, and a generally rough coat with a mass of silky hair on top of the head
- database administrator — (job) A person responsible for the design and management of one or more databases and for the evaluation, selection and implementation of database management systems. In smaller organisations, the data administrator and database administrator are often one in the same; however, when they are different, the database administrator's function is more technical. The database administrator would implement the database software that meets the requirements outlined by the organisation's data administrator and systems analysts. Tasks might include controling an organisation's data resources, using data dictionary software to ensure data integrity and security, recovering corrupted data and eliminating data redundancy and uses tuning tools to improve database performance.
- database normalisation — (database) A series of steps followed to obtain a database design that allows for efficient access and storage of data in a relational database. These steps reduce data redundancy and the chances of data becoming inconsistent. A table in a relational database is said to be in normal form if it satisfies certain constraints. Codd's original work defined three such forms but there are now five generally accepted steps of normalisation. The output of the first step is called First Normal Form (1NF), the output of the second step is Second Normal Form (2NF), etc. First Normal Form eliminates repeating groups by putting each value of a multi-valued attribute into a new row. Second Normal Form eliminates functional dependencies on a partial key by putting the fields in a separate table from those that are dependent on the whole key. Third Normal Form eliminates functional dependencies on non-key fields by putting them in a separate table. At this stage, all non-key fields are dependent on the key, the whole key and nothing but the key. Fourth Normal Form separates independent multi-valued facts stored in one table into separate tables. Fifth Normal Form breaks out data redundancy that is not covered by any of the previous normal forms.
- days of wine and roses — a period of happiness and prosperity.
- de broglie wave length — the postulate of wave mechanics that a particle of mass m moving at a velocity v will have the properties of a wave of wavelength h / mv (de Broglie wavelength) where h is Planck's constant.
- decompartmentalization — the act of decompartmentalizing
- dehydroepiandrosterone — the most abundant steroid in the human body, that is involved in the manufacture of testosterone, oestrogen, progesterone, and corticosterone
- delaunay triangulation — (mathematics, graphics) (After B. Delaunay) For a set S of points in the Euclidean plane, the unique triangulation DT(S) of S such that no point in S is inside the circumcircle of any triangle in DT(S). DT(S) is the dual of the voronoi diagram of S.
- delayed-action shutter — a camera shutter that opens after an interval set by the photographer
- descriptive cataloging — the aspect of cataloging concerned with the bibliographic and physical description of a book, recording, or other work, accounting for such items as author or performer, title, edition, and imprint as opposed to subject content.
- developmental disorder — any condition, such as autism or dyslexia, that appears in childhood and is characterized by delay in the development of one or more psychological functions, such as language skill
- diachronic linguistics — historical linguistics.
- dicyclopentadienyliron — ferrocene (def 1).
- digital control system — (systems) (DCS) A digital computer used for real-time control of a dynamic system, usually in an industrial environment, possibly as part of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. A DCS samples feedback from the system under control and modifies the control signals in an attempt to achieve some desired behaviour. Analysis of such digital-analogue feedback systems can involve mathematical methods such as difference equations, Laplace transforms, z transfer functions, state space models and state transition matrices.
- digital radio mondiale — (communications) (DRM) A form of monaural digital broadcast using carrier frequencies below 30 MHz. DRM uses MPEG-4 AAC Main Profile and SBR at data rates of 16-25 kbps.
- digital video recorder — See DVR.
- dihydroxyphenylalanine — dopa.
- dilation and curettage — a surgical method for the removal of diseased tissue or an early embryo from the lining of the uterus by means of scraping.
- directional derivative — the limit, as a function of several variables moving along a given line from one specified point to another on the line, of the difference in the functional values at the two points divided by the distance between the points.
- directional microphone — a microphone that has a greater sensitivity to sounds coming from a particular area in front of it: used to eliminate unwanted sounds.
- director of admissions — a member of a university staff who is in overall charge of admissions to the university and its courses
- directory system agent — (DSA) The software that provides the X.500 Directory Service for a portion of the directory information base. Generally, each DSA is responsible for the directory information for a single organisation or organisational unit.