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29-letter words containing e, n, t, r

  • department of the environment — government ministry for ecological matters
  • desktop management task force — (body)   (DMTF) The industry consortium that develops, supports, and maintains standards for systems management of PC systems and products, to reduce total cost of ownership. These include the Desktop Management Interface (DMI), the most-widely used management standard today. The DMTF is participating in an industry effort to create a standard for management over the Internet. They are defining an object-oriented Common Information Model (CIM).
  • digital equipment corporation — (company, hardware)   (DEC) A computer manufacturer and software vendor. Before the killer micro revolution of the late 1980s, hackerdom was closely symbiotic with DEC's pioneering time-sharing machines. The first of the group of hacker cultures nucleated around the PDP-1 (see TMRC). Subsequently, the PDP-6, PDP-10, PDP-20, PDP-11 and VAX were all foci of large and important hackerdoms and DEC machines long dominated the ARPANET and Internet machine population. The first PC from DEC was a CP/M computer called Rainbow, announced in 1981-82. DEC was the technological leader of the minicomputer era (roughly 1967 to 1987), but its failure to embrace microcomputers and Unix early cost it heavily in profits and prestige after silicon got cheap. However, the microprocessor design tradition owes a heavy debt to the PDP-11 instruction set, and every one of the major general-purpose microcomputer operating systems so far (CP/M, MS-DOS, Unix, OS/2) were either genetically descended from a DEC OS, or incubated on DEC hardware or both. Accordingly, DEC is still regarded with a certain wry affection even among many hackers too young to have grown up on DEC machines. The contrast with IBM is instructive. Quarterly sales $3923M, profits -$1746M (Aug 1994). DEC was taken over by Compaq Computer Corporation in 1998. In 2002 Compaq was in turn acquired by Hewlett-Packard who sold off parts of Digital Equipment Corporation to Intel and absorbed the rest. The Digital logo is no longer used.
  • direct broadcasting satellite — a satellite used to transmit television broadcasts intended for home reception
  • distributed logic programming — (language)   (DLP) A logic programming language similar to Prolog, combined with parallel object orientation similar to POOL. DLP supports distributed backtracking over the results of a rendezvous between objects. Multi-threaded objects have autonomous activity and may simultaneously evaluate method calls.
  • doggett's coat and badge race — an annual rowing race held on the River Thames to commemorate the accession of George I: the winner is presented with a coat bearing an embroidered badge
  • dot the i's and cross the t's — If you say that someone dots the i's and crosses the t's, you mean that they pay great attention to every small detail in a task; often used to express your annoyance because such detailed work seems unnecessary and takes a very long time.
  • double-system sound recording — a system in which picture and sound are taken simultaneously and the sound is recorded separately on magnetic tape
  • drink someone under the table — If someone drinks you under the table, they drink more alcohol than you are able to on a particular occasion.
  • eastern washington university — A university 20 miles southwest of Spokane, WA on the edge of the rolling Palouse Prairie. Address: Cheney, Washington, USA.
  • edinburgh multi access system — (operating system)   (EMAS) One of the first operating systems written in a high-level language (IMProved Mercury autocode), apparently predating Unix.
  • electromagnetic compatibility — (hardware, testing)   (EMC) The extent to which a piece of hardware will tolerate electrical interference from other equipment, and will interfere with other equipment. There are strict legal EMC requirements for the sale of any electrical or electronic hardware in most countries, although the actual standards differ. See, for example, EMCNet. See also Electrostatic Discharge, Radio Frequency Interference.
  • employee stock ownership plan — a programme offered to employees that enables them to buy stocks in the company and thus play a role in its management
  • enhanced small disk interface — (storage, hardware)   (ESDI) An obsolete hard disk controller standard, first introduced by Maxtor in 1983, and intended to be the successor to the original ST-506/ST-412. ESDI was faster and more reliable, but still could not compete with IDE and SCSI. EDSI used two cables: a 20-pin data cable to each drive and a single 34-pin control cable daisy chain with the controller at one end and a terminator at the other. In PCs, it supported up to two drives at 1-2MB/s with drives up to 2GB.
  • 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.
  • extended video graphics array — (hardware, graphics)   (EVGA) A display standard introduced by VESA in 1991. It offers a maximum resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels (non-interlaced) and a 70 Hz refresh rate. EVGA should not be confused with the older EGA (Enhanced Graphics Array) or XGA (eXtended Graphics Array).
  • 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
  • federation of the west indies — West Indies (def 2).
  • fibre channel-arbitrated loop — (hardware, standard)   (FC-AL) A fast serial bus interface standard intended to replace SCSI on high-end servers. FC-AL has a number of advantages over SCSI. It offers higher speed: the base speed is 100 megabytes per second, with 200, 400, and 800 planned. Many devices are dual ported, i.e., can be accessed through two independent ports, which doubles speed and increases fault tolerance. Cables can be as long as 30 m (coaxial) or 10 km (optical). FC-AL enables self-configuring and hot swapping and the maximum number of devices on a single port is 126. Finally, it provides software compatibility with SCSI. Despite all these features FC-AL is unlikely to appear on desktops anytime soon, partly because its price, partly because typical desktop computers would not take advantage of many of the advanced features. On these systems FireWire has more potential.
  • 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.
  • floating-point representation — the representation of numbers by two sets of digits (a, b), the set a indicating the significant digits, the set b giving the position of the radix point. The number is the product arb, where r is the base of the number system used
  • french revolutionary calendar — Revolutionary calendar.
  • full-duplex switched ethernet — (networking)   (FDSE) A Switched Ethernet link which can carry data in both directions simultaneously, doubling transmission capacity from the usual 10 to 20 megabits per second.
  • general purpose interface bus — IEEE 488
  • generic routing encapsulation — (networking, protocol)   (GRE) A protocol which allows an arbitrary network protocol A to be transmitted over any other arbitrary network protocol B, by encapsulating the packets of A within GRE packets, which in turn are contained within packets of B. Defined in RFC 1701 and RFC 1702 (GRE over IP).
  • 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.
  • get one's knickers in a twist — Also, knickerbockers [nik-er-bok-erz] /ˈnɪk ərˌbɒk ərz/ (Show IPA). loose-fitting short trousers gathered in at the knees.
  • give something your best shot — If you give something your best shot, you do it as well as you possibly can.
  • 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.
  • hang it (or them or 'em) up — to retire or quit
  • hardware description language — (language)   (HDL) A kind of language used for the conceptual design of integrated circuits. Examples are VHDL and Verilog.
  • have one's feet on the ground — to be practical and reliable
  • 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
  • hewlett-packard interface bus — IEEE 488
  • hot swapable routing protocol — (spelling)   Incorrect spelling of incorrect expansion of HSRP - Hot Standby Routing Protocol.
  • in a corner/in a tight corner — If you are in a corner or in a tight corner, you are in a situation which is difficult to deal with and get out of.
  • 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.
  • in character/out of character — If someone's actions are in character, they are doing what you would expect them to do, knowing what kind of person they are. If their actions are out of character, they are not doing what you would expect them to do.
  • 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 accounting package — all-in-one software that enables businesses to carry out accounting procedures
  • 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.
  • interface definition language — (IDL) 1. An OSF standard for defining RPC stubs. 2. Part of an effort by Project DOE at SunSoft, Inc. to integrate distributed object technology into the Solaris operating system. IDL provides the standard interface between objects, and is the base mechanism for object interaction. The Object Management Group's CORBA 1.1 (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) specifies the interface between objects. IDL (Interface Definition Language) is the base mechanism for object interaction. The SunSoft OMG IDL CFE (Compiler Front End) version 1.2 provides a complete framework for building CORBA 1.1-compliant preprocessors for OMG IDL. To use it you write a back-end. A complete compiler of IDL would translate IDL into client side and server side routines for remote communication in the same manner as Sun's current RPCL compiler. The IDL compiler front end allows integration of new back ends which can translate IDL to various programming languages. Several companies including Sunsoft are building back ends to the CFE which translate IDL into target languages, e.g. Pascal or C++, in the context of planned CORBA-compliant products. IDL requires C++ 2.1. Not to be confused with any of the other IDLs. E-mail: <[email protected]>. Telephone: Mache Creeger, SunSoft, Inc. +1 (415) 336 5884.
  • intermedia interchange format — A Standard Hypertext Interchange format from IRIS.
  • international code of signals — a system of maritime signals adopted by many of the maritime nations of the world, using flag, semaphore, and Morse codes in which letters or letter combinations are given arbitrary designations readily understood without requiring translation.
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