A-B C-D E-F G-H I-J K-L M-N O-P Q-R S-T U-V W-X Y-Z
Definitions from the Sharpened Glossary
Queue
A queue is a list of jobs that are awaiting to be processed. When when a job is sent to a queue, it is simply added to the list of jobs.
Query
A word or a phrase used to pass instructions to a search engine or a directory in order to locate web pages.
QuickTime
This is a multimedia technology developed by Apple. It is a popular format for creating and storing sound, graphics, and movie (.mov) files. Though it is an Apple technology, QuickTime software is available for both the Mac and the PC.
QWERTY
This term is used to describe a standard (Latin alphabet-based) keyboard. Why? Because the first six keys in the upper-left part of the keyboard spell out Q-W-E-R-T-Y. I suppose you could call it a QWERTYUIOP keyboard, but QWERTY is a lot easier to say. In case you are wondering why the QWERTY keyboard is arranged like it is, the original reason was to reduce the jamming of typebars in typewriters as they moved to strike the paper. In 1932, August Dvorak developed what was intended to be a more efficient keyboard, in which he placed the vowels and the five most common consonants in the middle row, based on the idea that an alternating rhythm would be established between the right and left hands. Though the keys on the Dvorak keyboard are more efficienty arranged, it was and still is difficult for people to switch from the familiar QWERTY arrangement.
RAID (Newista having raid0 disks)
Stands for "Redundant Array of Independent Disks." RAID is a method of storing data on multiple hard disks. When disks are arranged in a RAID configuration, the computer sees them all as one large disk. However, they operate much more efficiently than a single hard drive. Since the data is spread out over multiple disks, the reading and writing operations can take place on multiple disks at once. This can speed up hard drive access time significantly. Multiple hard drives may not improve hard disk performace as much as multiple processors may enhance the CPU performance, but it is based on a similar logic.
The benefits of RAID come from a technique called "striping," which splits up the stored data among the available drives. The "stripes" of data are usually a couple of megabytes large and are interleaved between the drives. The striping system also increases the mean time between failure (MTBF), when reading data. This allows more data to be read accurately in a short period of time. The benefits of the RAID system are especially noticeable when storing large amounts of data. Therefore, many Web hosting and Internet Service Providers use RAID to store data for their clients.
RAM
Stands for "Random Access Memory," and is pronounced like the male sheep. RAM is made up of small memory chips that are connected to the motherboard of your computer. Everytime you open a program, it gets loaded from the hard drive into the RAM. This is because reading data from the RAM is much faster than reading data from the hard drive. Running programs from the RAM of the computer allows them to function without any lag time. The more RAM your computer has, the more data can be loaded from the hard drive into the RAM, which can help speed up your computer. In fact, adding RAM can be more beneficial to your computer's performance than upgrading the CPU.
Ranking
The relative location of a web page on the list of web pages generated by a search engine. A higher ranking is desirable because it places the page nearer to the top of the list making it more likely to be viewed by the person entering the search request.
Reciprocal Link
A return link on your site to a site that has linked to yours.
Referrer
The last web page your site visitor was before following a link to your site. Referrer information should be available as part of your online statistics program. Search engines and directories are common referrers.
Remote Access
Remote access is just what it sounds like -- the ability to access your computer from a remote location. Programs like PC Anywhere (Windows), Remote Access (Mac), and Timbuktu (Windows and Mac) allow users to control remote computers from their local machine. In order for a remote access connection to take place, the local machine must have the remote client software installed and the remote machine must have the remote server software installed. Also, a username and password is almost always required to authenticate the connecting user.
Relevancy
A measure of how closely your site matches the search terms, calculated according to the algorithm employed by that particular search engine.
Robot
A computer program (also known as a spider, bot or crawler) that travels the Internet to locate web pages. It indexes the documents in a database, which is then searched using a search engine. Each search engine uses a spider to build its database.
Robots Exclusion Protocol
A text file stored in the top level directory of a web site to deny access by robots to certain pages or sub-directories of the site. Only robots which comply with the Robots Exclusion Standard will read and obey the commands in this file.
Root
This computer term actually has nothing to do with trees or root beer. Instead, it is commonly used in reference to a computer's directory structure. The root directory is the top-level directory of a file system. For example, on a Windows-based PC, "C:\" would be the root directory of the C drive. On a Web server, the root directory is usually designated by just a forward slash ("/ "). So, on a Unix system, you would type "cd /" (change directory to root) to go to the root directory. Root is also the name of the user who has complete administrative privleges on a Unix or Linux server. While most users can only access their own directory (i.e. "/www/users/~fred/"), the root user can access any folder from the root directory down. This allows the root user to make system changes such as modifying the permissions of other users without telling them.
Runtime
When a program is running, or executing, it is said to be in runtime. The term is mostly used by software developers to specify when errors in a program occur. A "runtime error" is an error that happens while the program is executing. For example, if a program told you that 2 + 2 was 5000, that would be a runtime error. A memory leak, where the program sucks up excessive amounts of system memory is also a runtime error. The other major type of program error is a compile-time error, where the application will not even compile into an executable program. Examples of compile-time errors are syntax errors in the program code and file linking errors. Runtime is a good term to know, but you most likely won't hear it used very often unless you like to hang out with computer nerds.
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