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Welcome to our Glossary.
Here you can find the meaning of words and
expressions commonly used by computer-users.
Use the query form below to enter a word or part
of a word you are looking for. Click the "Search"
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You can also take a look at all the words starting
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Words in our glossary starting with "E" ... |
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E-Commerce
Collection of all kinds of ways of electronic shopping and banking. For example ordering products over the Internet, etc.
E-Mail
This stands for electronic mail. It is a service provided over the Internet that allows you to send information to another person or list of people.
E1
European Digital Signal 1. European communication standard for connections up to 2 Mbit/sec (for example a leased line).
E3
European Digital Signal 3. European communication standard for connections up to 34 Mbit/sec (for example a leased line).
EAN
European Article Numbering, a superset of UPC, used primarily in retail food or merchandise sales.
EAX (Environmental Audio)
This is a hardware and software audio standard developed by Creative Labs. It was originally used in SoundBlaster sound boards, and is supported by other companies as well now. EAX offers 3D positional audio and allows the manipulation of sounds so that they can appear to be heard in different listening environments. Downside is that EAX, used in combination with an older soundcard, can cause performance issues, since it needs a lot of horse power to keep running.
ECC (Error Checking and Correcting)
Generally refers to memory chips, or motherboards that support this type of behavior in full-parity memory chips. ECC memory uses some extra memory on the memory chips for parity information and checks to see whether a memory error has occurred. If a minor memory error occurs, the ECC logic will handle it. With full-parity memory (one step below ECC), you will be alerted of a memory error and your system will stop. With non-parity memory, you will experience random results, usually crashing, and possible data corruption.
ECP (Extended Capabilites Port)
This is an enhanced version of the parallel port specification for PCs. Nowadays, most parallel ports support ECP and/or EPP mode, and ECP mode has been added to offer enhanced data exchange between PC and for example printer, scanner or ZIP drive. The ECP option usually is being enabled in the PC's BIOS (usually ECP+EPP mode). See also EPP.
EDGE
Enhanced Data rates for Global/GSM Evolution. Addon for current GSM-networks, allowing the user to use higher transferrates up to 384 kbit/s. Using this feature requires a special mobile phone suitable for EDGE.
Edge Effect
This is 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 on which full chips cannot be constructed.
EDO RAM (Extended Data Out RAM)
This refers to the successor of DRAM. Most systems today support EDO RAM. It's a conceptually faster RAM chip that has small bits of SRAM cache built into it. It still runs at slow DRAM speeds ( <= 50 MHz), however.
EDTV
See 480p.
EEPROM (Electronically Erasable PROM)
Not as fast as RAM, but maintains data through power loss. Very similar to flash memory, except EEPROM is written to one byte at a time and flash memory is used in blocks. It's related to the EPROM, which can only be erased using UV-light. The EEPROM however can be erased using a current.
EFR
Enhanced Full Rate. Addon for the current GSM-networks, improving speech qulity. Most GSM networks are EFR enabled.
EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter)
Even better than the CGA card, but still a DOS-era graphics card. The resolution used to 320x200 up to 640x200 - 16 colors. See als (S)VGA and CGA.
EIDE (Enhanced IDE)
Allows for two IDE channels that can each support two devices in peaceful coexistence. It also allows for hard drives up to 8 GB in size and CD-ROM devices. See also ATA, IDE and ATAPI.
EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture)
16-bit ISA was extended to 32-bits and they called it EISA. Pretty creative. But, really, it's generally used only in server machines, and it never caught on because of VL-Bus and PCI. It beats out VL-Bus and PCI because you can have a ton of EISA slots in one machine without any complex wiring. I saw a server box that had 14 of them. VL-Bus and PCI generally support fewer than four slots, and that's a problem if you want to install seven network adapters and five RAID cards. EISA makes it possible.
Electronic Highway
An infrastructure offering highspeed data transfer (using fiber optics etc.). The electronic Highway has an economic position since it is responsible for fast data exchange. Often - wrongfully - the electronic Highway is seen as an alias for The Internet.
EMACS (Editor MACroS)
This is a popular and powerful text editor used primarily on Linux / UNIX systems. It was written around 1975 in the MIT labs by Richard Stallman.
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. Both costs and speed can gain from this.
Embedded Processor
This refers to a microprocessor used in an embedded system. Typically these processors are smaller, consume less power, and utilize a surface mount form factor, as opposed to more standard consumer processors. Embedded processors are sold to consumers only in embedded systems.
Embedded System
This refers to a system that is located entirely on a processor. All logic is contained in a single (or only a few) chip(s). They can be found in cars for the use of accurate motor-management.
EMF
To make back ups of many CDs, the writer you choose will have to be able to write regular bit patterns, which means the writer has to produce the same patterns. It uses a so-called 'EFM Encoder' for this. Regular bit patterns go through the EFM Encoder and are converted to a smaller value by converting bits to bytes (8 bit = 1 byte) in a pre-determined way. Protection schemes such as Safedisc 2 operate by trying to overload the EFM Encoder of the writer using ten sector groups, which causes the CDRW drive to lose synch and write the wrong (irregular) bit patterns.
EMF (Electromagnetic Field)
This is a form of radiation give off by all electrical devices. Most notably for computer users, computer monitors used to give off potentially dangerous amounts of EMF radiation - especially from the sides and rear. This radiation was blamed for causing miscarriages and even cancer. Newer monitors are heavily shielded and give off much lower levels of radiation. LCD monitors don't have this problem.
EMF (Enhanced Metafile)
This is 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 is printing more quickly. Then, the EMF is sent to the print spooler to be converted into language that the printer can understand.
Emoticons
These are a groups of text characters that, when viewed sideways, look like facial expressions. For example, the most common one is the happy face :) which is a colon and a close parenthesis. There's many, many more such as the semicolon wink ;) or the colon-p :P that looks like you are sticking your tongue out. The purpose of emoticons is to convey a feeling in a text based message that may or may not be obvious to the reader. They are typically used in informal communications, especially when using sarcasm, or trying to add extra feeling to the message.
EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse)
A pulse, caused for example after a nuclear explosion, causing all electronic devices to fail due to the strong EMF. This will be the biggest problem in a nuclear war: our lives depend on electronic gadgets which will not work anymore.
Emulator / Emulate
This is 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 than using hardware designed for a particular purpose. A well know emulator is VMWare which basically emulates a PC on a PC, allowing you to run Windows in a Linux environment and vice versa.
EM_EXEC
Logitech Mouseware driver. Needed to support some additional functionality of Logitech mice/trackballs such as "SmartMove". Logitech mice will work without this tool, but some extra functions might not be working.
Encoders
Software for encoding one format to the other format. For example used to convert audio (wav) to MP3.
Encoding
The proces of converting regular data (for example: Text, Music or Video) to a different format. Usually to compress or secure the data. Using the proces of DECODING brings the data back to it's original format.
Encrypt
To make data unreadable in an orderly fashion, so that it can be decrypted later.
Environment Mapping
Technique to use textures that reflect their environment.
EPG (Electronic Program Guide)
With digital satellite, DVB in particular, a electronic TV-guide is being broadcast as well. This makes it easier to search for a broadcast or see which broadcast your are viewing.
EPOC (Electronic Piece of Cheese)
Operating System for PDA's and mobile phones, developed by the SYMBIAN consortium. This OS is intended as a competing OS against Microsoft Windows CE / Pocket PC.
EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port)
This is an enhanced version of the parallel port specification for PCs. Nowadays, most parallel ports support EPP mode, and EPP mode should be used for maximum performance when frequent bidirectional communications are necessary through the parallel port.
EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory)
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 little window on it.
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
This refers to the daunting task of planning and organizing business functions in the enterprise. It also refers to a class of software designed to help organizations do this. ERP software can help companies manage everything from sales and marketing, to human resources.
Errata
This refers to minor errors in hardware, software and literature.
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 by the program.
ESCD (Extended System Configuration Data)
This is 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 last working configuration of Plug-and-Play-compliant devices. Plug-and-Play devices that have ESCD entries will use the same resources each time the system boots, as long as no new hardware has been added. This ensures a stable configuration. Plug-and-Play OSs have access to the ESCD.
ESDI (Enhanced Small Device Interface)
This was a popular form of hard drive and controller before IDE took over the PC market.
Ethernet
A specific LAN0-technique, working at 10 or 100 Mbit/sec. The standard has been defined at the IEEE. Ethernet is the most commonly used (and cheapest) standard for LAN.
ETSI
European Telecommunications Standards Institute. European institute for recording telecommunication equipment standards. For example GSM, SMS, etc.
EULA (End User License Agreement)
The contract found in most software packages that describes the rights that the user of the software is entitled to. Typically, it will explain how many people can use the software, whether it can be used on multiple machines, and whether it is transferable.
Extended partition
This is a type of partition that is an extension of a primary partition. It's possible to have many extended partitions on a hard drive. You cannot boot from an Extended Partition.
Extranet
An Extranet is an intranet that extends onto the Internet. Confusing? Yes. Extranets are external extensions of a company's intranet that allow certain people to interact from the Internet. Not all intranets are Extranets.
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