Glossary
Glossary
3GL A third-generation language such as C, C++, C#, JavaTM, Cobol and Visual Basic.
4GL A fourth-generation language such as ProgressTM or PL/SQL.
Anchor The corner or midpoint of an edge to which a cell's component is attached when the cell is larger than the component. In the GridBag Layout, anchors are described by compass directions: North, Northeast, East, etc. with north defined as "up".
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A 7-bit coded character set representing 128 characters, of which 33 are control (non-displaying) characters.
ASP 1. Application Service Provider. A third-party
software distribution and/or management service. Generally provides software via
a wide area network from a centralized data center. Allows companies to
oursource and more efficiently upgrade software.
2. Active Server Page. A
specification for a Web page that is dynamically created by the Web server and
contains both HTML and scripting code.
Attribute In XML, an attribute is a named property that can be assigned a value and that is associated with an element.
AWT An abbreviation for Abstract Windowing Toolkit, which is a set of Java classes used for graphical user interface (GUI) development.
Button A rectangular object with a border and either a text caption, an image, or both. Buttons are subclasses of the Abstract Button Class.
Card Panel A container object (a specialized panel) containing a set of one or more panels stacked "on top" of each other. Only one of the panels is visible at any one time.
Checkbox An object with a small square box at the left which is either checked or empty, and with either a text caption (label), an image, or both to the right.
Class A software definition of a particular kind of object. A class contains the data and method definitions for objects created as instances of it.
Combobox An object which combines the properties of a textfield and a listbox. A combobox has a textfield plus a "down arrow" button on the right side which, when clicked, "drops down" a listbox of choices from which one can be selected and displayed in the text area.
COM Component Object Model. A component software architecture from Microsoft, which defines a structure for building program routines (objects) that can be called up and executed in a Windows environment. COM provides the interfaces between objects, and Distributed COM (DCOM) allows them to run remotely. Microsoft first used the term OLE to refer to its COM-based architecture, then later dropped that designation in favor of ActiveX. Since both OLE and ActiveX are based on COM, the term COM is also used. As a result, any combination of the words COM, OLE and ActiveX followed by the words control, object and component may mean the same thing, or they may not, depending on context.
Component A generic name for an object. Normally used to refer to objects, like buttons and textfields, which are not containers. However, in some contexts (and in other products or documents), "component" is sometimes broadly used to mean any object of any kind.
Constraint A parameter of an object which defines its size, shape, appearance, contents, or other graphical features or behavior.
Container An object, such as a frame or panel, which is normally only used to contain other components, not data values.
Cursor A Cursor is a structure, created from a database table, which represents a subset of that table. When performing an SQL query on a database, the results of the query are returned as a Cursor.
Data Type The kind of values that a data object can hold. In Jargon Writer, valid data types for textfields are: character, integer, decimal, date and logical (boolean). Within Java and similar object-oriented languages, there are a number of other data types, including object handles.
Document Object Model (DOM) An object-oriented software model for abstract HTML or XML documents, including a generic API for accessing and modifying the element tree, element attribute values, and other rendering-specific element properties.
DTD (Document Type Definition or Document Type Declaration, depending on the context). An optional file containing markup declarations which define and constrain the logical structure and valid element and attribute contents of an XML document.
ECMAScript. A standard Internet scripting language formally known as ECMA-262 (ECMAScript), sanctioned by the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA). ECMAScript is the standard on which JavaScript and JScript are based.
Element The basic logical unit in the structure of an XML document. Elements in a document are organized as a tree, with the document element as the root node. XML uses start/end tags or empty-element tags to specify the structure of elements within a document. An element may have an associated set of attribute values.
Event A user-initiated or system-initiated action of some kind which can be detected by an "event listener" object. Low-level events are physical actions such as pressing a key, moving the mouse, clicking the left mouse button, etc. Semantic events are higher-level concepts associated with the meaning of one or more different actions which are intended to have the same effect, such as selecting a radio button, which can be done with either mouse or keyboard low-level events.
Fill A property of a component which can be used to make a component grow to fill its cell boundaries horizontally, vertically or both, when the cell is larger than the component.
Focus A concept referring to the object to which any keystrokes will be applied when the user operates the keyboard. When an object such as a textfield has focus, some type of cursor is usually displayed. If a button has focus, it may change color or display an outline of some kind.
Frame A rectangular container object which has a border at the top with an optional title, plus buttons in the upper right corner to minimize, maximize and close the frame.
FTP File Transfer Protocol, an Internet communications
protocol designed for file transfers of binary or text files.
GridBag Layout Manager The most powerful of the various Java Layout Managers.
GUI Graphical User Interface (as opposed to "ChUI", a Character-based User Interface).
Host Animator An object which displays an image that is in motion while a host task is executing, and otherwise displays a motionless version of the same image.
HTML HyperText Markup Language, a markup language used by Web pages to instruct browsers how to display the page contents. HTML is formally defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and is an SGML document type.
HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol, an Internet communications protocol designed for use with Web pages, as defined in RFC 2068.
Inset A distance, measured in pixels, between the edge of a component and the nearest edge of its cell.
ISO 8859-1 An 8-bit coded character set developed by the International Organization for Standards (ISO). Represents 256 characters, of which the first 128 are the same as US ASCII, and the final 128 are additional control characters and a large collection of accented and other characters commonly used in Western European languages.
ISO 10646 A 2-byte (16-bit) coded character set, developed as a universal character set for international use for all the world's languages. Equivalent to Unicode.
ISO Latin-1 Equivalent to ISO 8859-1.
Jargon A specialized vocabulary used by those in the same profession or line of work. Often refers to terminology that contains many abbreviations, acronyms and multi-syllabic words and phrases. Sometimes used in a mildly derogatory manner. Also: gibberish, unintelligible language.
Jargon Software A company dedicated to helping software developers by simplifying the jargon.
JavaTM An object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems, similar to C++ but with important differences.
JavaScript A popular scripting language that is widely supported in Web browsers and other Web tools. It was originally developed by Netscape and later became the basis for ECMAScript.
JFC An abbreviation for a set of Java classes called the Java Foundation Classes.
Label A display-only object which consists of a text caption, an image, or both. Normally used to label other components such as textfields. A label may also be used by itself to display images.
Layout Manager A set of Java classes which allow developers to design screen contents by using logical abstractions instead of hard-coded pixel coordinates. Java offers several layout managers, including GridLayout and GridBagLayout.
Listbox A rectangular object which displays a list of choices in a vertical list. The currently selected choice is highlighted.
Menubar A horizontal list of menu choices, with shortcut (accelerator) keys underlined within the choice. A horizontal separator line is displayed beneath the choices. When a choice is selected, it "drops down" a vertical menu list of menu items and/or submenus.
Message Box A rectangular, modal dialog box (like a frame), which has a title, an icon, a message, and an OK button.
Metal Look and Feel A standard for the visual representation and user interface behavior of a set of graphical objects, developed by Sun Microsystems for use as a generic Java standard.
Method Invocation A specification of a target object, a method to be invoked on the target object, and any parameters required by the signature (interface definition) of the method.
Motif Look and Feel A standard for the visual representation and user interface behavior of a set of graphical objects, originally used with Unix workstations and XTerminals.
Object A software "bundle" that combines a set of related data elements, called variables, with the procedures that can operate on these variables, called methods. An object is an instance of a class, which defines the contents of the object.
ODBC Open DataBase Connectivity. An interface that makes it possible to access different database systems with a common language.ODBC is based on CLI (Call Level Interface); there are ODBC drivers and development tools for Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, and OS/2.
Package A set of related Java classes grouped together in a common naming and directory structure.
Padding An optional border, measured in pixels, added to the inside edges of a component to make it larger.
Panel A rectangular container object which normally contains other objects. A panel may contain other panels, to any level of nesting. Panels are also the first-level components of cardpanels and tabpanels.
PDA A Personal Digital Assistant (handheld device) such as PalmOS and Pocket PC devices.
Pixel The smallest possible display element of a screen, basically a dot which can have various colors. Screen resolutions on PCs are measured in pixels, such as 800 (pixels wide) by 600 (pixels high).
Progress Bar A graphical object which displays a colored bar which grows from left to right while a file is being loaded or during other lengthy activities, meant to show a user the relative percentage of completion of the activity.
Radio Button An object with a round box at the left which is either checked or empty, and with either a text caption (label), an image, or both to the right.
SGML Standard Generalized Markup Language. A standard for describing markup languages. Both HTML and XML are defined as instances of SGML
SQL Structured Query Language (pronounced SQL or Sequel).A language used to create, maintain, and query relational databases.It is an ISO and ANSI standard.SQL uses regular English words for many of its commands, which makes it easy to use.It is often embedded within other programming languages.
Swing A set of Java classes used for GUI development. The Swing classes are one part of the JFC.
Tab Panel A container object (a specialized panel) containing a set of one or more tabbed panels stacked "on top" of each other. Only one of the panels is visible at any one time. The tabs of each panel may contain a text caption, an image, or both.
Table A rectangular object with multiple rows and columns. Each row/column cell can contain a textfield or other component. Rows are numbered starting with zero for the top row. Columns are numbered starting with zero for the left column, and may have column labels at the top of the table. Both horizontal and vertical scrollbars are automatically added as needed. Columns may be designated as editable or not. Rows may be designated as view-only, single-selection, or multi-selection.
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol. One of the basic communication protocols of the Internet, which allows many different types of computers to "speak the same language" when exchanging information. Other protocols such as HTTP (for Web pages) and FTP (for file transfers) are built on top of TCP/IP.
Text Area A rectangular object in which one or more rows of text may be entered or displayed. A textarea can be created with any specified number of rows and columns, and can use horizontal and vertical scrollbars if needed. Word wrap may also be specified.
Text Field An object in which one line of text may be entered or displayed. Text fields may be specified as various data types: character, integer, decimal, date and logical (boolean). A text field is always one row in height, and may be of any width.
Text Pane An object, somewhat like a text area, in which text is displayed but in which no user entries are allowed. Used for display of static information and does not look like a data entry field.
Toolbar A rectangular object with a line border which contains buttons. The buttons are normally image-only and of equal size.
Tree A visual object used to represent objects that have a hierarchical relationship, such as containers and their components. Trees start with the "root" at the top, and branches beneath. Each branch "node" can be expanded to show sub-branches, down to the final nodes or "leaves".
Unicode A 2-byte (16-bit) coded character set, developed by the Unicode Consortium as a universal character set for international use for all the world's languages. Equivalent to ISO 10646.
URL Uniform Resource Locator, the addressing scheme used on the World Wide Web. A URL consists of several parts which specify the protocol, domain name or IP address, port number, path, and resource details needed to access a particular resource from a particular computer system. Example: "http://www.jargonsoft.com:80/scripts/jsihttp.dll/demo/sample.p?Custnum=1002"
Weight A GridBag property of a component which controls the relative change in height or width of a component's cell, compared to its siblings, when its container is resized. If a component also has a fill other than "none", the component will also grow or shrink.
Windows Look and Feel A standard for the visual representation and user interface behavior of a set of graphical objects, originally used with Microsoft WindowsTM operating systems.
WPDA A Wireless Personal Digital Assistant (handheld device), such as Palm and Pocket PC devices, that provides Internet connectivity via a wireless modem and cellular telephone networks.
XML (EXtensible Markup Language) A document format for the Web that is more flexible than the standard HTML format. While HTML uses only predefined tags to describe elements within the page, XML allows tags to be defined by the developer of the page. The definition of these tags can optionally be provided in a Document Type Definition (DTD).