29-letter words containing a, m, i, n
- esoteric programming language — (language, humour) (esolang) An intentionally unconventional computer programming language designed not for practical use but, rather, to experiment with weird ideas, to be hard to program in or as a joke.
- expanded memory specification — (storage) (EMS) An IBM PC memory paging scheme enabling access to memory other than conventional memory in real mode. In 8086 or 8088 based systems this is the only way to use memory beyond conventional memory. In systems based on 80286 or later, XMS and HMA provide alternative methods. EMS was developed jointly by Lotus, Intel, and Microsoft prior to 1988. Accordingly, this specification is sometimes referred to as LIM EMS. A complete discussion of EMS and programming examples can be found in ["PC System Programming for developers", 1989, ISBN 1-55755-035-2 (Book only) and ISBN 1-55755-036-0 (Book and diskette)]. See also upper memory block.
- extended memory specification — (storage) (XMS) The specification describing the use of IBM PC extended memory in real mode for storing data (but not executable code). Memory is made available by extended memory manager (XMM) software. The XMM functions are accessible through interrupt 2FH.
- extensible firmware interface — (specification) (EFI) A specification originating from Intel Corporation, defining the interface between an operating system and platform firmware, and aiming to reduce OS dependence on details of the firmware implementation.
- extraordinary general meeting — a meeting specially called to discuss a particular item of a company's business, usually one of some importance. The meeting may be called by a group of shareholders or by the directors
- filesystem hierarchy standard — (storage, standard) (FHS) A standard designed to be used by Unix distribution developers, package developers, and system implementors. FHS consists of a set of requirements and guidelines for file and directory placement under UNIX-like operating systems. The guidelines are intended to support interoperability of applications, system administration tools, development tools, and scripts. These systems should also be supported with greater documentation uniformity. The standard is primarily intended to be a reference and is not a tutorial on how to manage a Unix filesystem or directory hierarchy.
- genetically modified organism — genetically modified organism: an organism or microorganism whose genetic material has been altered by means of genetic engineering.
- geographic information system — (application) (GIS) A computer system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analysing and displaying data related to positions on the Earth's surface. Typically, a GIS is used for handling maps of one kind or another. These might be represented as several different layers where each layer holds data about a particular kind of feature (e.g. roads). Each feature is linked to a position on the graphical image of a map. Layers of data are organised to be studied and to perform statistical analysis (i.e. a layer of customer locations could include fields for Name, Address, Contact, Number, Area). Uses are primarily government related, town planning, local authority and public utility management, environmental, resource management, engineering, business, marketing, and distribution.
- gorno-altai autonomous region — an autonomous region in the Russian Federation, in the Altai territory bordering China and Mongolia. 92,000; 35,753 sq. mi. (92,600 sq. km). Capital: Gorno–Altaisk.
- hand, foot, and mouth disease — a usually mild disease, mainly affecting children under seven, in which the sufferers develop mouth ulcers accompanied by blisters or rashes on their hands and feet. Caused by the Coxsackie virus A16, it has no known cure
- hang it (or them or 'em) up — to retire or quit
- have mixed feelings about sth — If you have mixed feelings about something or someone, you feel uncertain about them because you can see both good and bad points about them.
- hawaii-aleutian standard time — a standard time used in the zone which includes Hawaii and the western Aleutian Islands, corresponding to the mean solar time of the 150th meridian west of Greenwich, England: it is ten hours behind Greenwich time
- in a majority/in the majority — If a group is in a majority or in the majority, they form more than half of a larger group.
- incremental constraint solver — A system in which a constraint solver is given constraints one at a time by an inference engine (as is found in Prolog). The solver adds the new constraint to an initially empty set of solved constraints. If the new constraint is consistent with the solved constraints it will be added to the set. If it was inconsistent, the inference engine backtracks. This is the basis of Constraint Logic Programming.
- individual retirement account — a savings plan that offers tax advantages to an individual depositor to set aside money for retirement. Abbreviation: IRA.
- information management system — (database) (IMS, IMS/VS, IMS/ESA) A database system from IBM consisting of IMS/Data Base and IMS/Data Communications.
- integrated systems laboratory — (company) A joint project of Control Data Corporation and NCR Corporation, established in 1973 and dissolved in 1976. Integrated Systems Laboratory developed Software Writer's Language. Address: Escondidio, California, USA.
- intermedia interchange format — A Standard Hypertext Interchange format from IRIS.
- international system of units — an internationally accepted coherent system of physical units, derived from the MKSA (meter-kilogram-second-ampere) system, using the meter, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela as the basic units (SI units) respectively of the fundamental quantities of length, mass, time, electric current, temperature, amount of substance, and luminous intensity. Abbreviation: SI.
- juvenile rheumatoid arthritis — rheumatoid arthritis that begins before puberty, often preceded by such symptoms as fever, patchy rash, and weight loss.
- keep something/someone at bay — If you keep something or someone at bay, or hold them at bay, you prevent them from reaching, attacking, or affecting you.
- law of independent assortment — the principle, originated by Gregor Mendel, stating that when two or more characteristics are inherited, individual hereditary factors assort independently during gamete production, giving different traits an equal opportunity of occurring together.
- like taking candy from a baby — very easy to accomplish
- lotus development corporation — (company) A software company who produced Lotus 1-2-3, the Symphony spreadsheet and Lotus Notes for the IBM PC. Disliked by the League for Programming Freedom on account of their lawsuits. Quarterly sales $224M, profits $10M (Aug 1994). Telephone: +1 (617) 225 1284.
- make a pitch/make one's pitch — If someone makes a pitch for something, they try to persuade people to do or buy it.
- make an exhibition of oneself — to behave so foolishly in public that one excites notice or ridicule
- make hay while the sun shines — grass, clover, alfalfa, etc., cut and dried for use as forage.
- management information system — a computerized information-processing system designed to support the activities and functions of company management. Abbreviation: MIS.
- mark-sweep garbage collection — Each cell has a bit reserved for marking which is clear initially. During garbage collection all active cells are traced from the root and marked. Then all cells are examined. Unmarked cells are freed.
- maximum likelihood estimation — a method of estimating population characteristics from a sample by choosing the values of the parameters that will maximize the probability of getting the particular sample actually obtained from the population.
- mechanical equivalent of heat — (in any system of physical units) the number of units of work or energy equal to one unit of heat, as 4.1858 joules, which equals one small calorie.
- mecklenburg-western pomerania — a state in NE Germany. 8842 sq. mi. (22,900 sq. km). Capital: Schwerin.
- metadata information partners — The Metadata Company
- methylenedioxymethamphetamine — The psychoactive drug MDMA or Ecstasy, an amphetamine that produces entactogenic, psychedelic, and stimulant effects.
- microelectromechanical system — (hardware) (MEMS) The integration of mechanical structures (moving parts) with microelectronics. MEMS devices are "custom" designed for a purpose which requires a mechanical action to be controlled by a computer. Applications include sensors, medical devices, process controls. See also nanotechnology.
- modified frequency modulation — (storage) (MFM, Modified FM, or sometimes "Multiple Frequency Modulation") A modification to the original frequency modulation scheme for encoding data on magnetic disks. MFM allows more than 1 symbol per flux transition (up to 3), giving greater density of data. It is used with a data rate of between 250-500 kbit/s on industry standard 3.5" and 5.25" low and high density diskettes, and up to 5 Mbit/s on ST-506 hard disks. Except for 1.44 MB floppy disks, this encoding is obsolete. Other data encoding schemes include GCR, FM, RLL. See also: PRML.
- monday-morning quarterbacking — wisdom after the event, esp by spectators
- monobasic potassium phosphate — potassium diphosphate. See under potassium phosphate.
- mordovian autonomous republic — an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation in Europe. 9843 sq. mi. (25,493 sq. km). Capital: Saransk.
- more trouble than it is worth — If you say that someone or something is more trouble than they are worth, you mean that they cause you a lot of problems or take a lot of time and effort and you do not achieve or gain very much in return.
- multics relational data store — (database) (MRDS) The first commercial relational database, implemented as part of Multics by Jim Weeldreyer and Oris Friesen of Honeywell Phoenix in about 1977. MRDS included a report writer called LINUS written by Jim Falksen.
- multimedia messaging services — (messaging) (MMS) A feature of some mobile telephones that allows them to send messages including text, sound, images and video.
- multiple personality disorder — psychiatric illness: split personality
- multiprotocol label switching — (networking) (MPLS) A packet switching protocol developed by the IETF. Initially developed to improve switching speed, other benefits are now seen as being more important. MPLS adds a 32-bit label to each packet to improve network efficiency and to enable routers to direct packets along predefined routes in accordance with the required quality of service. The label is added when the packet enters the MPLS network, and is based on an analysis of the packet header. The label contains information on the route along which the packet may travel, and the forwarding equivalence class (FEC) of the packet. Packets with the same FEC are routed through the network in the same way. Routers make forwarding decisions based purely on the contents of the label. This simplifies the work done by the router, leading to an increase in speed. At each router, the label is replaced with a new label, which tells the next router how to forward the packet. The label is removed when the packet leaves the MPLS network. Modern ASIC-based routers can look up routes fast enough to make the speed increase less important. However, MPLS still has some benefits. The use of FECs allows QoS levels to be guaranteed, and MPLS allows IP tunnels to be created through a network, so that VPNs can be implemented without encryption.
- ningxia hui autonomous region — an administrative division in N China. 25,640 sq. mi. (66,400 sq. km). Capital: Yinchuan.
- non-governmental organization — activism: independent group
- non-uniform rational b spline — (graphics, mathematics) (nurbs) A common term in Mechanical CAD. The NURBS has excellent continuity characteristics which make it useful for creating accurate models in 3D geometry generation and computer modelling.
- not with a bang but a whimper — If you say that something happens not with a bang but a whimper, you mean that it is less effective or exciting than was expected or intended.
- nuclear regulatory commission — an independent agency, created in 1975, that licenses and regulates the nonmilitary use of nuclear energy. Abbreviation: NRC.