32-letter words containing o, c, t, m, e
- reduced instruction set computer — (processor) (RISC) A processor whose design is based on the rapid execution of a sequence of simple instructions rather than on the provision of a large variety of complex instructions (as in a Complex Instruction Set Computer). Features which are generally found in RISC designs are uniform instruction encoding (e.g. the op-code is always in the same bit positions in each instruction which is always one word long), which allows faster decoding; a homogenous register set, allowing any register to be used in any context and simplifying compiler design; and simple addressing modes with more complex modes replaced by sequences of simple arithmetic instructions. Examples of (more or less) RISC processors are the Berkeley RISC, HP-PA, Clipper, i960, AMD 29000, MIPS R2000 and DEC Alpha. IBM's first RISC computer was the RT/PC (IBM 801), they now produce the RISC-based RISC System/6000 and SP/2 lines. Despite Apple Computer's bogus claims for their PowerPC-based Macintoshes, the first RISC processor used in a personal computer was the Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) used in the Acorn Archimedes.
- saint bartholomew's day massacre — a massacre of over 3000 Huguenots, instigated by Catherine de Médicis and begun in Paris on St. Bartholomew's Day, August 24, 1572.
- securities and investments board — (from 1986 to 1997) a British regulatory body that oversaw London's financial markets, each of which has its own self-regulatory organization: replaced by the Financial Services Authority
- single instruction multiple data — Single Instruction/Multiple Data
- standing settlement instructions — Standing settlement instructions are instructions that have been agreed in advance, and that are to be used every time a trade is made.
- sweep something under the carpet — to conceal (something, esp a problem) in the hope that it will be overlooked by others
- symbolic mathematical laboratory — (tool, mathematics) An on-line system under CTSS for symbolic mathematics. It used a display screen and a light pen.
- systems application architecture — (programming) (SAA) IBM's family of standard interfaces which enable software to be written independently of hardware and operating system.
- telecommunication display device — Telecommunications Device for the Deaf
- terminal oriented social science — (project) (TOSS) The Cambridge Project Project MAC was an ARPA-funded political science computing project. They worked on topics like survey analysis and simulation, led by Ithiel de Sola Pool, J.C.R. Licklider and Douwe B. Yntema. Yntema had done a system on the MIT Lincoln Labs TX-2 called the Lincoln Reckoner, and in the summer of 1969 led a Cambridge Project team in the construction of an experiment called TOSS. TOSS was like Logo, with matrix operators. A major feature was multiple levels of undo, back to the level of the login session. This feature was cheap on the Lincoln Reckoner, but absurdly expensive on Multics.
- the game is not worth the candle — If you say that the game is not worth the candle, you mean that something is not worth the trouble or effort needed to achieve or obtain it.
- time-of-flight mass spectroscopy — a technique for separating ions according to the time required for them to traverse a set distance.
- to nail your colours to the mast — If someone nails their colours to the mast, they say what they really think about something.
- to put the cat among the pigeons — If you put the cat among the pigeons or set the cat among the pigeons, you cause fierce argument or discussion by doing or saying something.
- to vanish from the radar screens — to go missing; to no longer be visible or able to be detected by anyone
- twente compiler generator system — (language, tool) (TCGS) A compiler generator developed at the University of Twente, The Netherlands.
- uniform code of military justice — the body of laws governing members of the U.S. armed forces: superseded the Articles of War in 1951
- united states employment service — the division of the Department of Labor that supervises and coordinates the activities of state employment agencies. Abbreviation: USES.
- united states information agency — an independent agency, created in 1953 and known from 1978 to 1982 as the International Communication Agency, that administers the government's overseas information and cultural programs. Abbreviation: USIA.
- virtual sequential access method — Virtual Storage Access Method
- volunteers in service to america — VISTA.
- workmen's compensation insurance — workers' compensation insurance.
- yet another scheme object system — (language) (YASOS) A system for object-oriented programming in Scheme. E-mail: Ken Dickey <[email protected]>