Dictionary of PC Hardware and Data Communications Terms

Are you one of those people who wonders what the latest acronym means - PCMCIA, URL, and a T1 line? Don't worry. The author of this reference work feels the same. He is a data communications consultant who found he couldn't remember most of the articles he had been reading.

He started to record acronyms and their expansions, facts, and descriptions. Over a period of several years the list grew, and this book is the result. He modestly claims that it is "not meant to be the definitive or authoritative work on any of the topics inside". But what he has produced is an impressive dictionary which provides complete descriptions of terms in two of the most interesting areas of computers: personal computers and networks.


The book contains over 900 entries which relate to Data Communications APIs; Wireless Communications - voice and data; The Internet and TCP/IP; PC Hardware; Networks - LANs and WANs; and Multimedia. He mixes acronyms with phrases, because it isn't always clear when something is an acronym. For example, a frequently used search engine on the Internet is called Yahoo. This is, in fact, an acronym for 'Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle'. Another example is the PING diagnostic program that sends one or more echo packets to a user-specified IP address. This is useful to check network connectivity, that the destination IP address is operational, network loading and speed, and network errors. Ping, in fact, stands for Packet Internet Groper!

There's an online version, but my guess is that people still enjoy the feel of a book in their hands, and this one is amazingly good value at the price. A very useful work of reference, and one that will have a permanent place on my bookshelf.