Cheryl's Link
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- November 20, 1998
Are you new to UNIX and TCP/IP on MVS? Do you keep hearing terms like kernel, daemon, telnet, FTP, and hundreds more? If so, this site should prove both useful and entertaining.
Editor Denis Howe has compiled over 12,000 definitions of computing terms and jargon. This really isn't a mainframe site, even though you can find terms like MVS, OS/390, and TSO. (Most of the specific mainframe items like WLM aren't to be found.) In fact, if you want to see his bias against mainframes, look at the MAINFRAME entry! With that said, however, I think it's a very valuable site to acquaint mainframe users with the traditional UNIX terms.
The home page has buttons for the dictionary at the top of each page: Home, Contents, Feedback, Random, and Search. Use CONTENTS to see the scope of the Web site. From CONTENTS, you can get a description of the dictionary, the ability to start with a letter of the alphabet, or a selection of ENTRIES BY SUBJECT AREA (such as compilers, education, mathematics, humor). To search for a specific term, enter the term or acronym at the top of the page and hit enter (or search). For UNIX, you might start with terms like daemon or kernel and follow the additional links. If a term has multiple meanings, such as SAP, the initial search result will list multiple short definitions with pointers to the real definition. RANDOM gives you just that - a random entry. That's one way to learn! Be sure to click on "try other FOLDOC servers" if the site is slow to load.
This is a fun site too. Let yourself browse a bit and enjoy the humor and attitude. As examples, try MFTL, boat anchor, Bobo the Webmonkey, COBOL, feature creep, and shareware.
Back on the home page, click on the MISCELLANEOUS LINKS. Denis has compiled an excellent list of other resources. In REFERENCE WORKS, for example, some good sites are BABEL, John Bayko's CPU List (micros only), and History of Computing. There's even a Russian-English Computer dictionary. I really liked the pointer to the CMU On-Line Reference Works from the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. Look for the acronym search there.
Thanks, Denis, for a very useful site and service to the community!