These days, any attempt to write a full-blown encyclopedia or dictionary of computer terminology would be an exercise in futility. New terms and buzzwords appear every day, and information technology fi elds overlap with so many other fi elds it can be hard to determine if a word is IT, telecommunications, or graphics arts, and so on. It’s hard to specialize in a fi eld that has absorbed so many other techonologies.

This book is intended to be a portable guide, not a full-blown dictionary. The intent of the author was to provide a tool that the average PC hardware technician or network specialist could use to look up the occasional word or acronym that temporarily vacated the brain cells. It is a cross between a dictionary and an encyclopedia. Some terms get full treatment with mini-articles written. Others are used so commonly that a simple oneor two-line description seemed suffi cient.

Because the idea was for a compact book and not one that required a dedicated shelf in the library, a great deal of selectivity was employed. Common words and acronyms, protocols, and a few signifi cant company names are included. With very few exceptions, people are not.