ANSI X3.172-1990 ADOPTED FOR USE BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Wirt? PUB 11-3 SEE NOTICE ON INSIDE for Information Systems - Dictionary for Information Systems X3.172-1990 ANSI American National Standards Institute 1430 Broadway New York , New York 10018 American APProval of an American National Standard requires verification by ANSI . that the requirements for due process, consensus, and other criteria for National approval have been met by the standards developer. Standard Consensus is established when, in the judgment of the ANSI Board of Standards Review, substantial agreement has been reached by directly and materially affected interests. Substantial agreement means much more than a simple majority, but not necessarily unanimity. Consensus requires that all views and objections be considered, and that a concerted effort be made toward their resolution. The use of American National Standards is completely voluntary; their existence does not in any respect preclude anyone, whether he has approved the standards or not, from manufacturing, marketing, purchasing, or using products, processes, or procedures not conforming to the standards. The American National Standards Institute does not develop standards and will in no circumstances give an interpretation of any American National Standard. Moreover, no person shall have the right or authority to issue an interpretation of an American National Standard in the name of the American National Standards Institute. Requests for interpretations should be ad¬ dressed to the secretariat or sponsor whose name appears on the title page of this standard. CAUTION NOTICE: This American National Standard may be revised or withdrawn at anytime. The procedures of the American National Standards Institute require that action be taken periodically to reaffirm, revise, or withdraw this standard. Purchasers of American National Standards may receive current information on all standards by calling orwriting the American National Standards Institute. Published by American National Standards Institute 11 West 42nd Street, New York, New York 10036 Copyright © 1991 by American National Standards Institute All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, in an electronic retrieval system or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America BBIM491/45 ANSI® m3 X3.172-1990 t&tGf / American National Standard for Information Systems - Dictionary for Information Systems Secretariat Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association Approved July 19, 1990 American National Standards Institute, Inc. This DICTIONARY has been adopted for Federal Government use as a basic reference document to promote a common understanding of information processing terminology. Details concerning the specific use of this DICTIONARY are contained in Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 11-3, Guideline: American National Dictionary for Information Systems. For a complete list of the publications available in the Federal Information Processing Standards Series, write to the Standards Processing Coordinator (ADP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. Foreword (This Foreword is not part of American National Standard X3.172-1990.) The communication of facts and ideas depends upon a mutual understand¬ ing of terminology. This is particularly true in the rapidly growing field of information processing systems, in which there is a continuing need for a comprehensive source of agreed-upon technical terms and definitions. By direction of the American National Standards Institute - Accredited Standards Committee on Information Processing Systems, X3, the Techni¬ cal Committee on Vocabulary, X3K5, prepared this American National Standard Dictionary for Information Systems (ANSDIS). The dictionary is based on the American National Dictionary for Information Processing Systems, X3/TR1-82 and its predecessors, the American National Dictio¬ nary for Information Processing, X3/TR-1-77, and the American National Standard Vocabulary for Information Processing, ANSI X3.12-1970. The dictionary was developed by studying the use of terms throughout the field of information systems including computers, data communications, data processing, text processing, and related fields. The ANSDIS also includes terms and definitions from the ISO Vocabulary - Information Systems, developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1/TC 97/SCI: Technical Committee 97 (Infor¬ mation Processing Systems), Sub-committee 1 (Vocabulary) of Joint Tech¬ nical Committee 1 of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. Advances in the field of information systems usually require changes in terminology. Requests for interpretation, suggestions for improvement or addenda, or defect reports are welcome. They should be sent to the X3 Secretariat, Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Associa¬ tion, 311 First Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20001-2718. The ANSDIS is intended to define terms in a way that is appropriate and useful for the layman. The dictionary is not in any way intended to supplement or supersede definitions of the same or similar terms that may appear in other ISO or ANSI standards. For definitions specific to particular areas of information systems technology, refer to the applicable ANSI or ISO standards. This standard was processed and approved for submittal to ANSI by the Accredited Standards Committee on Information Processing Systems, X3. Committee approval of this standard does not necessarily imply that all committee members voted for its approval. At the time it approved this standard, the X3 Committee had the following members: Richard Gibson, Chair Donald C. Loughry, Vice-Chair Jean-Paul Emard, Administrative Secretary Organization Represented Name of Representative Allen-Bradley Company.Ronald H. Reimer American Library Association.Paul Peters American Nuclear Society.Geraldine C. Main AMP, Inc.Edward Kelly Patrick Lannon (Alt) Apple Computer, Inc...Karen Higginbottom Michael J. Lawler (Alt) Apple Professional Users Exchange (APUE).Ira Wilson Association of the Institute for Certification of Computer Professionals (AICCP).Kenneth Zemrowski Eugene M. Dwyer (Alt) II Organization Represented Name of Representative AT&T.Thomas F. Frost Paul D. Bartoli (Alt) Boeing Company.Catherine Howells Gail Dohmen (Alt) Compaq Computer Corporation.James Barnes Control Data Corporation.Ernest Fogle Cooperating Users of Burroughs Equipment.Donald Miller Digital Equipment Computer Users Society.James Ebright Joseph Sciuto Digital Equipment Corporation.Gary S. Robinson Delbert L. Shoemaker (Alt) Eastman Kodak.James D. Converse Michael Nier (Alt) Electronic Data Systems Corporation.Jerrold S. Foley Mark Charette (Alt) GUIDE International.Frank Kirshenbaum Hewlett-Packard.Donald C. Loughry Hitachi.Kei Yamashita Honeywell Bull.David M. Taylor IBM Corporation.Robert H. Follett Mary Anne Gray (Alt) Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.David F. Stevens Robert L. Fink (Alt) MAP/TOP.Rajan Rathnasabathy Mike Kaminski (Alt) Moore Business Forms.DelmerH. Oddy National Communications Systems.Thomas J. Drury Dennis Bodson (Alt) National Institute of Standards and Technology.Robert E. Rountree Michael Hogan (Alt) NCR Corporation.Thomas Kern A. R. Daniels (Alt) OMNICOM.Harold C. Folts Cheryl Slobodian (Alt) Prime Computer, Inc.Maryann Patriarca Phil Cieply (Alt) Recognition Technology Users Association.Herbert F. Schantz SHARE, Inc.Thomas B. Steel Gary Ainsworth (Alt) Sun Microsystems, Inc.Scott Jameson 3M Company.Paul D. Jahnke UNISYS.Steven Oksala John L. Hill (Alt) U.S. Department of Defense.William C. Rinehuls Thomas H. Kurihara (Alt) U.S. General Services Administration.Douglas K. Arai Larry L. Jackson (Alt) US WEST.Gary Dempsey Sue Capraro (Alt) VIM.Chris Tanner John Ulrich (Alt) Wang Corporation.J. J. Cinecoe Sarah Wagner (Alt) Wintergreen Information Services.John L. Wheeler Xerox Corporation.Roy Pierce Technical Committee ASC X3K5 - US Vocabulary, which developed this standard, had the following members: Name of Representative Organization Represented John R. Wood, Chair. IBM Corporation Josephine L.Walkowicz, CDP, Past Chair National Bureau of Standards Martin Weik, Past Chair. Dynamic Systems, Inc Helmut E. Thiess, CDP, Vice Chair. Towson State University Stefan B. Langsner, Past Vice-Chair. U.S. Department of the Navy Saul A. Zaveler, Secretary. U.S. Department of the Air Force Name of Representative Organization Represented Roy P. Mullinax, CPD, Past Secretary Richard W. Batey, International Representative Unisys Corporation Lionel A. Difford. Unisys Corporation Rollin P. Mayer. The MITRE Corporation Albrecht J. Neumann (deceased) Wallace R. Reed. IBM Corporation Gerald A. Rollins. U.S. Department of the Army Douglas K. Weik. U.S. Department of the Army Others who contributed to the work of this standards: Saul Gorn.University of Pennsylvania Donald J. McCaffrey, X3H4 Vocabulary Representative X3K5 wishes to express its appreciation to all those persons, too numerous to mention, who have made contributions to the ANSDIS. Special apprecia¬ tion is extended to Josephine L. Walkowicz of the National Bureau of Standards and past Chair of X3K5 for producing and editing the manuscript for this edition, and to John R. Wood of IBM for production of computer art and camera-ready copy. Introduction Sequence of Entries The sequence of entries in this dictionary is determined alphabetically on a letter-by-letter