Acronyms and Abbreviations

Many acronyms and abbreviations have been used throughout this site. Often no attempt has been made to explain or clarify them, with the onus left on the reader to understand the acronym or abbreviation and the context in which it is used.

Below is an incomplete list of acronyms and abbreviations used in this site.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

A/V

• Audiovisual or Audio/Video

ABC

• Australian Broadcasting Corporation

ADSL

• Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

AFL

• Australian Football League

AGM

• Annual General Meeting

AGP

• Accelerated Graphics Port (video card)

AM

• Ante Meridiem (period between midnight and noon) or Amplitude Modulation

ANSI

• American National Standards Institute and a character set defined by them

ANZAC

• Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

ASCII

• American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ATM

• Automated Teller Machine or Asynchronous Transfer Mode

AV

• Audiovisual or Audio/Video

AVR

• Atmel AVR®, 8-bit Reduced Instruction Set Computer microcontroller

Aus

• Australia

Aussie

• Australian

BBQ

• Barbecue

BIOS

• Basic Input Output System

BITS

• Bachelor of Information Technology Society (University of Queensland, Australia)

BSDE

• Brisbane School of Distance Education

BSOD

• Blue Screen Of Death (Microsoft Windows Critical Error Screen)

CD

• Compact Disc

CD-RW

• Compact Disc - ReWritable

CDDB

• CD Database

CDF

• Channel Definition Format (Microsoft) or Comma Delimited Format (filename extension)

CDR

• Compact Disc Recordable

CGI

• Common Gateway Interface (web scripting facility) or Computer-Generated Imagery (movie industry)

CISC

• Complex Instruction Set Computer

CMS

• Content Management System

COMP1500

• Intro to Programming

COMP1501

• Internet Interface Design

COMP1800

• Information Technology Project

COMP2301

• Systems Interface Programming

COMP2302

• Computer Organisation

COMP2500

• Programming in the Large

COMP2502

• Algorithms & Data Structures

COMP2801

• Software Engineering Studio

COMP3300

• Operating Systems

COMP3502

• Information Security

COMP3601

• Software Specification

COMS3200

• Computer Networks I

COMS4200

• Computer Networks 2

CPR

• Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

CPU

• Central Processing Unit (computer)

CSDE

• Cairns School of Distance Education

CSS

• Cascading Style Sheet

CSSE3004

• Advanced Information Technology Project

CT

• Computed Tomography (imaging technique)

CV

• Curriculum Vitae

CVS

• Concurrent Versioning System

DCC

• Direct Client Connection or Direct Client to Client

DDE

• Dynamic Data Exchange

DDoS

• Distributed Denial of Service (network attack)

DMA

• Direct Memory Access (mass storage interface)

DNS

• Domain Name Server/Service

DOM

• Document Object Model

DSL

• Digital Subscriber Line (as in xDSL)

DTD

• Document Type Declaration or Definition

DVD

• Digital Versatile or Video Disc

EFTPOS

• Electronic Funds Transfer Point Of Sale

EPSA

• Engineering,Physical Sciences and Architecture, department of (University of Queensland, Australia)

ER

• Entity Relationship

ESCD

• Extended System Configuration Data

EXIF

• Exchangeable Image File (Japan Electronic Industry Development Association, compressed image format used in digital cameras) or Extended Range Imaging File (file format; less common usage)

FAQ

• Frequently Asked Questions list

FM

• Frequency Modulation

FTP

• File Transfer Protocol

GB

• Giga-Byte (1024 megabytes) or Great Britain

GPA

• Grade Point Average

GPS

• General Purpose South (Building at University of Queensland (Australia)) or Global Positioning System

GUI

• graphical user interface

HDD

• Hard Disk Drive

HDTV

• High Definition Television

HECS

• Higher Education Contributions Scheme

HMAS

• His/Her Majesty’s Australian Ship

HMS

• Her/His Majesty's Ship (United Kingdom)

HTML

• HyperText Markup Language

HTTP

• Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (world wide web protocol)

I/O

• Input/Output

IBM

• International Business Machines Corporation

ICQ

• I Seek You (Internet chat protocol)

ID

• Identification/Identity/Identifier

IDE

• Integrated Drive Electronics (hard disk) or Integrated Development Environment

IE

• Internet Explorer Web Browser

IEEE

• Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers

IIRC

• If I Recall/Remember Correctly

IMHO

• In My Humble or Highest or Honest or Hesitating Opinion

INFS1200

• Intro to Information Systems

INFS2200

• Relational Database Systems

INFS3202

• Web Information Systems

IO

• Input/Output

IP

• Internet Protocol or Intellectual Property

IRC

• Internet Relay Chat

IRL

• In Real Life (as opposed to online or cyber-reality)

ISO

• Common name for the International Organization for Standardization, also a CD image format

ISP

• Internet Service Provider

IT

• Information Technology

ITEE

• Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, department of (University of Queensland, Australia)

ITS

• Information Technology Services

JCU

• James Cook University (Australia)

JSP

• Java Server Pages

Java

• [not an acronym] A general purpose, high-level, object-oriented, cross-platform programming language developed by Sun Microsystems

KB

• kilobytes

KFC

• Kentucky Fried Chicken (restaurant chain)

KG

• Kilo-Gram

LEGO

• Leg Godt (Danish: Play Good (toy system))

0

• Zero

LAPD

• Los Angeles Police Department

LCD

• Liquid Crystal Display (display technology)

LED

• Light Emitting Diode

LRP

• Lead Replacement Petrol, formerly “Super” and containing lead

MATH1050

• Mathematical Foundations

MATH1061

• Discrete Mathematics

MB

• megabyte

MODEM

• Modulator-Demodulator (digital/computer interface to analog telephone line)

MS

• Microsoft

MSN

• Microsoft Network and often Microsoft Network Messenger

MT

• Movable Type

Mac

• Macintosh

Mac OS

• Macintosh operating system

Moz

• Mozilla Web Browser

NBC

• National Broadcasting Company (United States radio and TV network)

NOC

• Network Operations Center

NTFS

• New Technology File System (Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP)

NYPD

• New York City Police Department (since 1845; New York City, NY, USA)

Oz

• Australia

Ozzie

• Australian

PC

• Personal Computer

PCI

• Peripheral Component Interconnect (personal computer bus)

PCI-X

• Peripheral Component Interconnect Express

PDA

• Personal Digital Assistant

PDF

• Portable Document Format

PERL

• Practical Extraction and Reporting Language

PHIL1000

• Introductory Philosophy

PHIL1020

• Introduction to Logic

PHP

• PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (server-side scripting language)

PIN

• Personal Identification Number

PIO

• Programmed Input/Output or Parallel Input/Output

PM

• Post Meridiem (period from noon to midnight) or Personal (Online Chat) Message

PNG

• Portable Network Graphics (graphic file standard/extension) or Papua New Guinea

POD

• Print on Demand (University of Queensland printing service)

POST

• Power On Self Test

PS/2

• Personal System/2 (IBM) and usually a type of plug for connecting a keyboard and mouse to a computer

PS2

• Personal System/2 (IBM) and usually a type of plug for connecting a keyboard and mouse to a computer

PSU

• Power Supply Unit

PSYC1020

• Introduction to Psychology: Physiological & Cognitive Psychology

PSYC1030

• Introduction to Psychology: Developmental, Social, & Clinical Psychology

QPAC

• Queensland Performing Arts Centre

QTAC

• Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre

QUT

• Queensland University of Technology

QoS

• Quality of Service

RACQ

• Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (Australia)

RAID

• Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks

RAM

• Random-Access Memory

RAR

• Roshal Archive (compressed file format; file extension)

RCA

• Radio Corporation of America (and an audio/video connector)

RFC

• Request For Comment

RISC

• Reduced Instruction Set Computer

RL

• Real Life (as opposed to online or cyber-reality)

RMO

• Resident Medical Officer

RSS

• Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication

RTA

• Residential Tenancies Authority (Queensland, Australia), Roads and Traffic Authority (New South Wales, Australia)

Rs

• Rupee, Rupees, Indian Rupee (Currency), officially INR, India Rupee, Indian National Rupee

SATA

• Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (hard disk interface)

SCSI

• Small Computer System Interface

SDK

• Software Development Kit

SEQEB

• South East Queensland Electricity Board

SES

• State Emergency Service

SHA1

• Secure Hash Algorithm Version 1.0

SHTML

• Server-Side Include Hypertext Markup Language

SMS

• Short Message Service (cellular phone text messaging)

SQL

• structured query language

SSH

• Secure Shell

SSL

• secure socket layer

TARDIS

• Time And Relative Dimension In Space (Doctor Who TV series)

TCL

• Tool Command Language or Taylor Control Language or Terminal Control Language

TFT

• Thin Film Transistor (Liquid Crystal Display technology)

TV

• Television

U.S.

• United States (of America)

UDMA

• Ultra Direct Memory Access (mass storage interface)

UFO

• Unidentified Flying Object

UHT

• Ultra Heat Treated (dairy products)

UML

• Unified Modelling Language

UNI

• University

UNIX

• Uniplexed Information and Computing System, it is a pun on MULTICS (Multiplexed Information & Computing Service)

UPS

• Uninterruptible Power Supply (or Source or System) or United Parcel (or Postal) Service

UQ

• University of Queensland (Australia)

URI

• Uniform Resource Identifier

URL

• Uniform Resource Locator (world wide web address)

US

• United States (of America)

USA

• United States (of America)

USB

• Universal Serial Bus

UTF-8

• Universal Transformation Format-8 (character encoding)

UTP

• Unshielded Twisted Pair (Cat 5 network cabling)

UV

• Ultraviolet

VB

• Visual Basic (Microsoft programming language)

VCR

• Videocassette Recorder

VGA

• Video Graphics Array (640 by 480 pixels; 1.33:1 aspect ratio)

VoIP

• Voice over Internet Protocol

W3

• World Wide Web Consortium

W3C

• World Wide Web Consortium

WYSIWYG

• What You See Is What You Get (What You So Intensely Wish You'd Gotten :-)

Win

• Windows

XHTML

• eXtensible HyperText Markup Language

XML

• eXtensible Markup Language

XP

• Experience (Microsoft Windows XP, computer operating system)

XSL

• eXtensible Stylesheet Language

XSLT

• eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation

ZIP

• Compressed File (file name extension)

carbie

• Carburettor

lab

• Laboratory

labs

• Laboratories

s-video

• Separated Video (same as Y/C, Luminance and Chrominance)

1

• One

2

• Two

3

• Three

4

• Four

5

• Five

6

• Six

7

• Seven

8

• Eight

9

• Nine

Other Acronyms and Abbreviations

There is an online acronym finder that will return meanings for a large collection of acronyms and abbreviations. Any acronym used in this site that is not listed here will most likely be listed there. Feel free to contact me with any questions, or if you find an acronym or abbreviation on this site that is not clear and not explained here.

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