NonStop Server for Java 6.0 Programmer's Reference

Glossary
A
abstract class In Java, a class designed only as a parent from which subclasses can be derived, which is not
itself suitable for instantiation. An abstract class is often used to "abstract out" incomplete sets of
features, which can then be shared by a group of sibling subclasses that add different variations
of the missing pieces.
Abstract Window
Toolkit (AWT)
The package that implements graphical user interfaces for Java. For more information, see the
Sun Microsystems AWT Home Page
(http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/awt/index.html).
American National
Standards Institute
(ANSI)
The United States government body responsible for approving US standards in many areas,
including computers and communications. ANSI is a member of ISO . ANSI sells ANSI and ISO
(international) standards.
American
Standard Code for
Information
Interchange (ASCII)
The predominant character set encoding of present-day computers. ASCII uses 7 bits for each
character. It does not include accented letters or any other letter forms not used in English (such
as the German sharp-S or the Norwegian ae-ligature). Compare to Unicode.
ANSI See American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
API See application program interface (API).
application
program
A software program written for or by a user for a specific purpose.1.
2. A computer program that performs a data processing function rather than a control function.
application
program interface
(API)
A set of functions or procedures that are called by an application program to communicate with
other software components.
ASCII See American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII).
AWT See Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT).
B
BDK See JavaBeans Development Kit (BDK).
branded A Java virtual machine that Sun Microsystems, Inc. has certified as conformant.
browser A program that allows you to read hypertext . The browser gives some means of viewing the
contents of nodes and of navigating from one node to another. Internet Explorer, Netscape
Navigator, NCSA Mosaic, Lynx, and W3 are examples for browsers for the WWW . They act
as clients to remote servers.
bytecode The code that javac, the Java compiler, produces.
C
C language A widely used, general-purpose programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie of Bell Labs
in the late 1960s. C is the primary language used to develop programs in UNIX environments.
C++ language A derivative of the C language that has been adapted for use in developing object-oriented
programs.
CGI See Common Gateway Interface (CGI).
class path The directories where a Java virtual machine and other Java programs that are located in the
/usr/tandem/java/bin directory search for class libraries (such as classes.zip). You can set
the class path explicitly or with the CLASSPATH environment variable.
client A software process, hardware device, or combination of the two that requests services from a
server . Often, the client is a process residing on a programmable workstation and is the part of
a program that provides the user interface . The workstation client might also perform other
portions of the program logic. Also called a requester.
92 Glossary