29-letter words containing c, o, p, l
- obsessive-compulsive disorder — If someone suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, they cannot stop doing a particular thing, for example washing their hands.
- on-line analytical processing — (database) (OLAP) A category of database software which provides an interface such that users can transform or limit raw data according to user-defined or pre-defined functions, and quickly and interactively examine the results in various dimensions of the data. OLAP primarily involves aggregating large amounts of diverse data. OLAP can involve millions of data items with complex relationships. Its objective is to analyze these relationships and look for patterns, trends, and exceptions. The term was originally coined by Dr. Codd in 1993 with 12 "rules". Since then, the OLAP Council, many vendors, and Dr. Codd himself have added new requirements and confusion. Richard Creeth and Nigel Pendse define OLAP as fast analysis of shared multidimensional information. Their definition requires the system to respond to users within about five seconds. It should support logical and statistical processing of results without the user having to program in a 4GL. It should implement all the security requirements for confidentiality and concurrent update locking. The system must provide a multidimensional conceptual view of the data, including full support for multiple hierarchies. Other aspects to consider include data duplication, RAM and disk space requirements, performance, and integration with data warehouses. Various bodies have attempted to come up with standards for OLAP, including The OLAP Council and the Analytical Solutions Forum (ASF), however, the Microsoft OLE DB for OLAP API is the most widely adopted and has become the de facto standard.
- optical character recognition — the process or technology of reading data in printed form by a device (optical character reader) that scans and identifies characters. Abbreviation: OCR.
- optimal flexible architecture — (database) (OFA) Recommendations for logical and physical allocation of database files to disks. The OFA principles can be summarised as: isolate redo, rollback, temp, data and index files as much as possible. OFA can be combined with SAME (Stripe And Mirror Everything).
- professional graphics adapter — (graphics, specification) (PGA) A computer video display standard produced by IBM for early CAD applications. It had a resolution of 640x400 pixels.
- programmable logic controller — (hardware) (PLC) A device used to automate monitoring and control of industrial plant. Can be used stand-alone or in conjunction with a SCADA or other system.
- rapid application development — (programming) (RAD) A loose term for any software life-cycle designed to give faster development and better results and to take maximum advantage of recent advances in development software. RAD is associated with a wide range of approaches to software development: from hacking away in a GUI builder with little in the way of analysis and design to complete methodologies expanding on an information engineering framework. Some of the current RAD techniques are: CASE tools, iterative life-cycles, prototyping, workshops, SWAT teams, timebox development, and Re-use of applications, templates and code.
- receivables collection period — A receivables collection period is a measure of cash flow that is calculated by dividing average receivables by credit sales per day.
- resource reservation protocol — (protocol) (RSVP) A protocol that supports quality of service.
- roll out the red carpet (for) — to welcome and entertain in a grand and impressive style
- royal canadian mounted police — Canadian police on horseback
- scanning tunneling microscope — a device that uses a moving needle and the tunnel effect to generate a maplike image of the atomic surface structure of matter, thereby achieving even greater magnification than the scanning electron microscope.
- secure file transfer protocol — SSH File Transfer Protocol
- serial line internet protocol — (communications, protocol) (SLIP) Software allowing the Internet Protocol (IP), normally used on Ethernet, to be used over a serial line, e.g. an EIA-232 serial port connected to a modem. It is defined in RFC 1055. SLIP modifies a standard Internet datagram by appending a special SLIP END character to it, which allows datagrams to be distinguished as separate. SLIP requires a port configuration of 8 data bits, no parity, and EIA or hardware flow control. SLIP does not provide error detection, being reliant on other high-layer protocols for this. Over a particularly error-prone dial-up link therefore, SLIP on its own would not be satisfactory. A SLIP connection needs to have its IP address configuration set each time before it is established whereas Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) can determine it automatically once it has started. See also SLiRP.
- simple mail transfer protocol — (messaging) (SMTP) A protocol defined in STD 10, RFC 821, used to transfer electronic mail between computers, usually over Ethernet. It is a server to server protocol, so other protocols are used to access the messages. The SMTP dialog usually happens in the background under the control of the message transfer agent, e.g. sendmail but it is possible to interact with an SMTP server using telnet to connect to the normal SMTP port, 25. E.g. telnet mhs-relay.ac.uk 25 You should normally start by identifying the local host: HELO wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk You can then issue commands to verify an address or expand an alias: VRFY [email protected] VRFY postmaster or expand a mailing list: EXPN c-help You can even send a message: MAIL From:<[email protected]> RCPT To:<[email protected]> DATA What is the point? . QUIT This is useful if you want to find out exactly what is happening to your message at a certain point. See also Post Office Protocol, RFC 822, sendmail.
- simple object access protocol — (protocol) (SOAP) A minimal set of conventions for invoking code using XML over HTTP.
- single edge processor package — (hardware) (SEPP) The caseless daughterboard containing Intel's Celeron processor. A SEPP fits into a Slot 1 connector.
- suppressed carrier modulation — an amplitude-modulated wave in which only the sidebands are transmitted, the carrier being removed
- take a person to the cleaners — to rob or defraud a person of all of his or her money
- the exception proves the rule — the exception tests the rule
- the five heads of predicables — five Aristotelian classes of predicates namely genus, species, difference, property, and relation
- the royal shakespeare company — a British theatre company based mainly in Stratford-upon-Avon
- to invade sb's personal space — to come too close to somebody, so that they feel uncomfortable
- to make someone's flesh creep — If something makes your flesh creep or makes your flesh crawl, it makes you feel disgusted, shocked or frightened.
- to pay cash on the barrelhead — to pay at the time of purchase
- transmission control protocol — (networking, protocol) (TCP) The most common transport layer protocol used on Ethernet and the Internet. It was developed by DARPA. TCP is the connection-oriented protocol built on top of Internet Protocol (IP) and is nearly always seen in the combination TCP/IP (TCP over IP). It adds reliable communication and flow-control and provides full-duplex, process-to-process connections. TCP is defined in STD 7 and RFC 793.
- variational graphics extended — (software) (VGX) Software developed by SDRC for use in 3D CAD solid modelling.
- visual basic for applications — (programming) (VBA) Microsoft's common language for manipulating components of its Microsoft Office suite. It is used as the macro language for these applications and is the primary means of customising and extending them. A VBA program operates on objects representing the application and the entities it manipulates, e.g. a spreadsheet or a range of cells in Microsoft Excel.
- wireless application protocol — (protocol, standard) (WAP) An open international standard for applications that use wireless communication, e.g. Internet access from a mobile phone. The official body developing WAP is the WAP Forum.
- yet another compiler compiler — (tool, language) (yacc) The LALR parser generator found on most Unix systems. Also, the language used to describe the syntax of another language to yacc (the program). Implementations: ayacc, YAY, perln-byacc, SASL-Yacc - "Yacc in SASL - An Exercise in Functional Programming", Simon Peyton-Jones, Software Prac & Exp 15:807-820 (1985). Mentions also a BCPL implementation. Yacc++ - 1990. An object-oriented rewrite of yacc, supports regular expressions, produces an LR1 grammar parser. Chris Clark, Compiler Resources Inc, +1 (508) 435-5016. MLYACC - Implementation and output in SML/NJ. ftp:research.att.com/dist/ml/75.tools.tar.Z. A version, by David Poole at Montana University has been retargeted to Turbo Pascal. See also Bison, yet another, Yet Another Yacc.