21-letter words containing o, g, n

conway's game of life — (simulation) The first popular cellular automata based artificial life simulation. Life was invented by British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970 and was first introduced publicly in "Scientific American" later that year. Conway first devised what he called "The Game of Life" and "ran" it using plates placed on floor tiles in his house. Because of he ran out of floor space and kept stepping on the plates, he later moved to doing it on paper or on a checkerboard and then moved to running Life as a computer program on a PDP-7. That first implementation of Life as a computer program was written by M. J. T. Guy and S. R. Bourne (the author of Unix's Bourne shell). Life uses a rectangular grid of binary (live or dead) cells each of which is updated at each step according to the previous state of its eight neighbours as follows: a live cell with less than two, or more than three, live neighbours dies. A dead cell with exactly three neighbours becomes alive. Other cells do not change. While the rules are fairly simple, the patterns that can arise are of a complexity resembling that of organic systems -- hence the name "Life". Many hackers pass through a stage of fascination with Life, and hackers at various places contributed heavily to the mathematical analysis of this game (most notably Bill Gosper at MIT, who even implemented Life in TECO!; see Gosperism). When a hacker mentions "life", he is more likely to mean this game than the magazine, the breakfast cereal, the 1950s-era board game or the human state of existence.
coordination language — (networking, protocol) A language defined specifically to allow two or more parties (components) to communicate in order to accomplish some shared goal. Examples of coordination languages are Linda and Xerox's CLF (STITCH).
cornella de llobregat — a city in N Spain.
cosmological argument — one of the arguments that purport to prove the existence of God from empirical facts about the universe, esp the argument to the existence of a first cause
cosmological constant — a term introduced by Einstein into his field equations of general relativity to permit a stationary, nonexpanding universe: it has since been abandoned in most models of the universe.
cross-cousin marriage — marriage between the children of a brother and sister.
cultural anthropology — the branch of anthropology dealing with cultural as opposed to biological and racial features
cut-through switching — (networking) The application of wormhole routing to packets in a packet switching system so that forwarding of a packet starts as soon as its destination is known, before the whole packet has arrived. Compare store and forward.
data set organization — (operating system, storage) (DSORG) An IBM term for file structure. These include PS physical sequential, DA direct access, IS indexed sequential, PO partitioned (a library). This system dates from OS/360, and breaks down beginning with VSAM and VTAM, where it is no longer applied. Sequential and indexed data sets can be accessed using either a "basic" or a "queued" "access method." For example a DSORG=PS file can use either BSAM (basic sequential access method) or QSAM (queued sequential access method). It can also be processed as a direct file using BDAM. Likewise a library can be processed using BPAM (basic partitioned access method), BSAM, QSAM, or BDAM. DSORG and access method are somewhat, but not completely, orthogonal. The "basic" access method deals with physical blocks rather than records, and usually provides more control over the specific device. Each I/O operation using the "basic" access method reads or writes a single block. A "basic" read or write starts an asynchronous I/O operation, and the programmer is responsible for waiting for completion and checking for errors. The "queued" access method deals with logical records and provides blocking and deblocking services. It is "queued" because it provides read-ahead and write-behind services. While a program is processing records in one input block, for example, QSAM may be reading one or more blocks ahead. Queued "get" or "put" operations are synchronous as far as the programmer is concerned. The operation is complete when the next logical record has been successfully processed. EXCP (Execute Channel Program) is a lower-level method of accessing data. IBM manuals usually named "Data Administration Guide", e.g. SC26-4505-1 for MVS/ESA DFP 3.1, provide more detail about data set organizations and access methods.
de-ontological ethics — the branch of ethics dealing with right action and the nature of duty, without regard to the goodness or value of motives or the desirability of the ends of any act.
degradation of energy — the principle that during any irreversible process the total energy available to do work decreases.
delusions of grandeur — If someone has delusions of grandeur, they think and behave as if they are much more important or powerful than they really are.
dendrochronologically — By the use of, or with reference to dendrochronology.
designated employment — (in Britain) any of certain kinds of jobs reserved for handicapped workers under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944
developmental biology — the study of the development of multicellular organisms, including the study of the earliest stages of embryonic structure and tissue differentiation
differential geometry — the branch of mathematics that deals with the application of the principles of differential and integral calculus to the study of curves and surfaces.
differential topology — the branch of topology that studies the properties of differentiable manifolds that remain invariant under diffeomorphisms.
disassortative mating — the reproductive pairing of individuals that have traits more dissimilar than would likely be the case if mating were random (contrasted with assortative mating).
disk operating system — DOS.
disruptive technology — A disruptive technology is a new technology, such as computers and the Internet, which has a rapid and major effect on technologies that existed before.
distinguished-looking — having a dignified and attractive appearance
divine right of kings — the doctrine that the right of rule derives directly from God, not from the consent of the people.
duccio di buoninsegna — c1255–1319? Italian painter.
dumfries and galloway — a region in S Scotland. 2460 sq. mi. (6371 sq. km).
earthmoving equipment — machines, such as bulldozers, that are used for excavating and moving large quantities of earth
ecological succession — succession (def 6).
ecological-succession — the coming of one person or thing after another in order, sequence, or in the course of events: many troubles in succession.
educational sociology — the application of sociological principles and methods to the solution of problems in an educational system.
electroencephalograms — Plural form of electroencephalogram.
electroencephalograph — A machine used for electroencephalography.
electromagnetic field — a field of force associated with a moving electric charge equivalent to an electric field and a magnetic field at right angles to each other and to the direction of propagation
electromagnetic pulse — a surge of electromagnetic radiation, esp one resulting from a nuclear explosion, which can disrupt electronic devices and, occasionally, larger structures and equipment
electronic publishing — Electronic publishing is the publishing of documents in a form that can be read on a computer, for example as a CD-ROM.
electronystagmography — A diagnostic test to record involuntary movements of the eye caused by a condition known as nystagmus. It can also be used to diagnose the cause of vertigo, dizziness or balance dysfunction by testing the vestibular system.
equiangular hyperbola — a hyperbola with transverse and conjugate axes equal to each other.
european space agency — an organization dedicated to space exploration with 18 European countries as members
faculty board meeting — a meeting of the governing body of a faculty
first-round financing — First round financing is the first time a new company raises money from investors.
flowering wintergreen — fringed polygala.
food standards agency — the full form of FDA
foreground processing — a type of processing that supports interaction between interactive and batch operations
foreign correspondent — a correspondent, as for a periodical, assigned to send back articles and news dispatches from a foreign country for publication.
foreign exchange rate — the rate that specifies how much the currency of a nation is worth in terms of the currency of another nation
forensic anthropology — the branch of physical anthropology in which anthropological data, criteria, and techniques are used to determine the sex, age, genetic population, or parentage of skeletal or biological materials in questions of civil or criminal law.
forward exchange rate — the exchange rate of a currency to be delivered at a later date
fragmentation grenade — a grenade with a heavy metal casing that shatters, on exploding, into fragments that travel at high speed and with great force.
framing specification — A specification of the "protocol bits" that surround the "data bits" on a communications channel to allow the data to be "framed" into chunks, like start and stop bits in EIA-232. It allows a receiver to synchronize at points along the data stream.
franco-belgian system — French system.
free alongside vessel — (of a shipment of goods) delivered to the dock without charge to the buyer, but excluding the cost of loading onto the vessel
free-floating anxiety — chronic anxiety occurring for no identifiable cause

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