| ISP Dictionary - ISP Glossary Definitions for 'e' |
| e- (prefix) - A prefix meaning electronic for current jargon terms, such as e-commerce, e-business, and so on. |
| e-mail - Electronic mail. One of the earliest standard Internet protocols which enables people with different computers and operating systems to communicate with... |
| Easter egg - A hidden, undocumented program sequence built into a program that only activates when you press the right keys. They are often funny, and they are often... |
| EAX - A hardware and software audio standard developed by Creative Labs. It was originally used in SoundBlaster sound boards, and is supported by other companies... |
| EBCDIC - A way of encoding 256 characters in binary, much like ASCII, but used mainly on mainframes. Most of the time EBCDIC is only mentioned in translations... |
| EBIOS - This translates between the partition table limitations of a standard computer BIOS and the IDE limitations to provide up to 8 GB of storage space using... |
| ECC - This generally refers to memory chips or motherboards that support the checking for, and possibly correcting of, memory errors in full-parity memory chips.... |
| Edge Effect - A term used in the semiconductor industry. Square chips are made on silicon wafers that are round. Because of this, there is a certain amount of silicon... |
| EDO RAM - The successor to standard fast page DRAM. It's a conceptually faster RAM chip that has small bits of SRAM cache built into it. It still runs at slow DRAM... |
| EEPROM - This type of storage is not as fast as DRAM, but maintains data through power loss. It is very similar to Flash memory, except EEPROMs are normally written... |
| EGA - The standard that came after CGA and before VGA. It allowed resolutions up to 640x350 pixels and 16 colors from a palette of 64. It was soon replaced by... |
| EIDE - This standard allowed for two IDE channels that can each support two devices in peaceful coexistence. It also allowed for hard drives up to 8 GB in size... |
| EISA - This is the 32-bit extension of the 16-bit ISA expansion slot. It was generally used only in server machines, and it never caught on for consumers because... |
| Electromagnetic Field - A form of radiation given off by all electrical devices. Most notably for computer users, CRT computer monitors used to give off potentially dangerous... |
| Electromigration - This is when metal atoms wander into the dividing layers on a microprocessor. It is caused by the combination of electricity and heat. Processors are designed... |
| Electronic signature - Any form of electronic identifier, including a digital signature. |
| Electronically Erasable PROM - This type of storage is not as fast as DRAM, but maintains data through power loss. It is very similar to Flash memory, except EEPROMs are normally written... |
| EMACS - A popular and powerful text editor used primarily on Linux/UNIX systems. It was written around 1975 in the MIT labs by Richard Stallman. EMACS is often... |
| Embedded Memory - This is memory that is built directly onto a processor. For example, a graphics chip may have embedded memory instead of using separate memory chips. Use... |
| Embedded Processor - A microprocessor used in an embedded system. Typically these processors are smaller, consume less power, and utilize a surface mount form factor, as opposed... |
| Embedded System - A system that is located entirely on a processor. All logic is contained in a single chip and has a single purpose. New cars have many embedded systems... |
| EMF - A form of radiation given off by all electrical devices. Most notably for computer users, CRT computer monitors used to give off potentially dangerous... |
| emoticon - See smiley face. |
| Emoticons - These are groups of text characters that, when viewed sideways, look like facial expressions. For example, the most common one is the happy face :) --... |
| Emulate - The act of mimicking the behavior of one computer program, operating system, or piece of hardware with a computer program. Emulation is almost always slower... |
| Emulation - The process of using a computer program to mimic the behaviors of another computer program, operating system, or piece of hardware. |
| Emulator - This is usually a program that performs the same operation of another program or a piece of hardware. For example, there are programs that allow a PC to... |
| Encrypt - The act of making data unreadable in an orderly fashion so that it can be decrypted later. |
| Encryption - The act of altering data to make it unreadable unless you know how to decrypt it. |
| End User License Agreement - The contract found in most software packages that describes the rights to which the user of the software is entitled. Typically, it will explain how many... |
| Enhanced BIOS - This translates between the partition table limitations of a standard computer BIOS and the IDE limitations to provide up to 8 GB of storage space using... |
| Enhanced Graphics Adapter - The standard that came after CGA and before VGA. It allowed resolutions up to 640x350 pixels and 16 colors from a palette of 64. It was soon replaced by... |
| Enhanced IDE - This standard allowed for two IDE channels that can each support two devices in peaceful coexistence. It also allowed for hard drives up to 8 GB in size... |
| Enhanced Metafile - A temporary file created by an operating system before data is sent to a printer. The EMFs are created so that control is returned to the program that... |
| Enhanced Parallel Port - An enhanced version of the parallel port specification for PCs. Nowadays most parallel ports (and printers) support EPP mode, and EPP mode should be used... |
| Enhanced SDRAM - A type of SDRAM that includes a small amount of SRAM cache memory for lower latency. It is compatible with SDRAM, but you will not get better performance... |
| Enhanced Small Device Interface - This was a popular form of hard drive and controller interface before IDE took over the PC market. |
| Enterprise - The entirety of an organization that uses computers. Typically it refers to very large corporations, or software or hardware solutions designed for large... |
| Enterprise Resource Planning - The daunting task of planning and organizing business functions in the enterprise. It also refers to a class of software designed to help organizations... |
| Environment - Normally this is your surroundings. Inside your computer, the environment is the settings of a group of variables. Think of it as the surroundings or boundaries... |
| EPIC - This is Intel and Hewlett-Packard's invention, designed to be used on Intel's Itanium processor. It is a method for arranging instructions so that they... |
| EPOC - A 32-bit operating system designed by Symbian and written in C++. It is used in mobile phones and PDAs, including PDAs manufactured by Psion. And yes,... |
| EPP - An enhanced version of the parallel port specification for PCs. Nowadays most parallel ports (and printers) support EPP mode, and EPP mode should be used... |
| EPROM - This is normally read-only memory that retains its information until it is exposed to ultraviolet light. You can often tell a chip is an EPROM by the small... |
| Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory - This is normally read-only memory that retains its information until it is exposed to ultraviolet light. You can often tell a chip is an EPROM by the small... |
| ERP - The daunting task of planning and organizing business functions in the enterprise. It also refers to a class of software designed to help organizations... |
| Errata - Minor errors in microprocessor design that are corrected with a new stepping of the processor. The difference between errata and a serious defect is really... |
| Error - This occurs in a program when it encounters a situation that it was not programmed to deal with. If errors are trapped properly, they can be dealt with... |
| Error Checking and Correcting - This generally refers to memory chips or motherboards that support the checking for, and possibly correcting of, memory errors in full-parity memory chips.... |
| ESCD - Setup data that is stored in a Plug-and-Play-compatible system BIOS. It consists of the system resource requirements of legacy (non-PNP) devices, and the... |
| ESDI - This was a popular form of hard drive and controller interface before IDE took over the PC market. |
| ESDRAM - A type of SDRAM that includes a small amount of SRAM cache memory for lower latency. It is compatible with SDRAM, but you will not get better performance... |
| ethernet - A LAN protocol developed by DEC, Intel, and Xerox as an outgrowth of Harvard graduate student Bob Metcalfe's dissertation on packet networks. Computers... |
| EULA - The contract found in most software packages that describes the rights to which the user of the software is entitled. Typically, it will explain how many... |
| evil twin - a home-made wireless access point (hot spot) that masquerades as a legitimate one to gather personal or corporate information without the end-user's knowledge. |
| Exabyte - This is 2^60 bytes or 1024 petabytes. See also petabyte. |
| Execution Unit - The part of a microprocessor pipeline that actually follows and runs the instructions that are sent to the CPU after the instructions are decoded. |
| Expansion Card - This is generally a printed circuit board that can be plugged into a computer, and is designed to increase the functionality of that computer. |
| Expansion Slot - Any type of slot in a computer into which you can plug an expansion card. Examples include ISA, EISA, PCI, and PCMCIA, but there are other types and there... |
| Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing - This is Intel and Hewlett-Packard's invention, designed to be used on Intel's Itanium processor. It is a method for arranging instructions so that they... |
| Exploit - A means of gaining access to a computer system, typically through a known bug in a program or operating system. Many webservers on the Internet that are... |
| Export - When you export data you are taking that data from a program, database, or file and saving it in another format that is generally easier to manipulate... |
| Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code - A way of encoding 256 characters in binary, much like ASCII, but used mainly on mainframes. Most of the time EBCDIC is only mentioned in translations... |
| Extended Data Out RAM - The successor to standard fast page DRAM. It's a conceptually faster RAM chip that has small bits of SRAM cache built into it. It still runs at slow DRAM... |
| Extended partition - A type of partition that is an extension of a primary partition. It's possible to have many extended partitions on a hard drive. |
| Extended System Configuration Data - Setup data that is stored in a Plug-and-Play-compatible system BIOS. It consists of the system resource requirements of legacy (non-PNP) devices, and the... |
| Extensible Markup Language - A standard created by the W3C. It is a language with many similarities to HTML. What XML adds is the ability to define custom tags, such as , and define... |
| Extension - DOS, Windows, and, to a lesser extent, UNIX and Linux use the last three characters of a filename, after a period, to signify what type of file a file... |
| extranet - A network that supplements a closed intranet by providing access to customers, suppliers, subcontractors, and others outside the organization who have... |