From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Aug 17 11:42:11 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DBAE16A4CE for ; Tue, 17 Aug 2004 11:42:11 +0000 (GMT) Received: from kane.otenet.gr (kane.otenet.gr [195.170.0.27]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 907F243D2D for ; Tue, 17 Aug 2004 11:42:10 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from keramida@FreeBSD.org) Received: from orion.daedalusnetworks.priv (aris.bedc.ondsl.gr [62.103.39.226])i7HBg7Gg007935; Tue, 17 Aug 2004 14:42:08 +0300 Received: from orion.daedalusnetworks.priv (orion [127.0.0.1]) i7HBg20k042619; Tue, 17 Aug 2004 14:42:02 +0300 (EEST) (envelope-from keramida@FreeBSD.org) Received: (from keramida@localhost)i7HBg2pN042618; Tue, 17 Aug 2004 14:42:02 +0300 (EEST) (envelope-from keramida@FreeBSD.org) Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 14:42:02 +0300 From: Giorgos Keramidas To: Niclas Zeising Message-ID: <20040817114201.GC6960@orion.daedalusnetworks.priv> References: <200408161841.i7GIfVvZ033191@www.freebsd.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200408161841.i7GIfVvZ033191@www.freebsd.org> cc: freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: docs/70555: [diff] changes to freebsd-glossary X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 11:42:11 -0000 On 2004-08-16 18:41, Niclas Zeising wrote: > I have made some additions to freebsd-glossary. Hopefully i have got > at least some entries right... ;) Feel free to make changes if > something is wrong or send me a note to change it. Nice work! If you can tolerate my knit-picking we can probably get a lot of good glossary entries out of this. Let's see what we can do :) > + > + Application Programming Interface > + API > + > + A set of routines, protocols and tools to make it > + easier to develop applications. > + > + Does this look better as a description of "API" ? "A set of procedures, protocols and tools that specify the canonical interaction of one or more program parts; how, when and why they do work together, what data they share or operate on, etc." > Basic Input/Output System > BIOS > > - > + A ROM-chip with basic software to > + provide an interface between sofware and hardware. The term BIOS is some times used in an ambiguous manner, with the actual meaning depending on the context. For some "BIOS" is the ROM-chip itself, for others the set of routines that are contained there and help in bootstrapping the system. For others, it might even be the "text mode GUI" that the user can use to configure the bootstrapping process. The term is also very PC/x86-specific, so we might want to capture this in its definition too. > CPU > > - > + Also known as the prosessor. This is the brain of the computer > + where all calculations take place. This is also an oversimplification, but anyway :-) > DNS > > - > + The system that converst humanly readable hosts to ip addresses > + and vice versa. Please fix the typo s/converst/converts/. Perhaps we should add an example here too: "The system that converts host or domain names (i.e. mail.example.net) to IP addresses and vice versa." > - > + A protocol that dynamically assigns ip addresses to a cumputer > + (host) when it requests one from the server. The ip assignment is > + called a lease. Typo: s/cumputer/computer/. I would also prefer "ip assignment" written as: "The address assignment is called a lease." and IP capitalized when used to signify the Internet Protocol. > File Transfer Protocol > FTP > > - > + Protocol used to transfer files over a network. I'd probably write this with a bit more detail: "A member of the family of high-level protocols implemented on top of TCP, FTP can be used to transfer files over a TCP/IP network." This way the reader knows that FTP works only with TCP/IP networks; it's clear that it doesn't work (at least not without a TCP compatibility layer) with IPX networks :-) > IP Version 4 > IPv4 > > - > + The old IP protocol which uses 32 bits for addressing. I wouldn't call "old" something that is still so widely in use ;-) Since IPv4 has played such a major role in the development of what Internet is today, I'd probably like it a lot better if we expanded the description a bit. My network connectivity at work SUCKS today and I can't seem to be able to reach Google, but good idea if you're interested in expanding this a bit is probably to see how Sun, Cisco or others describe IP in their own glossaries. We can probably "borrow" ideas if not the text itself. > @@ -718,7 +739,8 @@ > Internet Protocol > IP > > - > + A packet transmitting protocol. The basic protocol on the > + internet. This should be a reference to "IPv4" since a lot of text that simply refers to "IP" implicitly means "IPv4". > ISP > + A company that gives access to the internet. Capitalize "Internet" please. > Kilo Bits Per Second > Kbps > > - > + Used to measure bandwith. The Kilo prefix can be changed to Mega, > + Giga, etc. as nessecary. ===> Mental note to myself: "Bandwidth" is probably a term that would need clarification for someone who doesn't know what Kbps means. Do we have a definition of teh term "bandwidth" in our glossary? > Local Area Network > LAN > > - > + Network used on a local area, eg office, home etc. Often refered > + to as network. I think that "eg" is not a real word and should be written either as "i.e." or removed as part of a sentence rewrite. "Referred" is also spelt with two r's. > Mail Transfer Agent > MTA > > - > + Application used to transfer e-mails. The most common and well > + known is SendMail. Ok, to transfer e-mails... but where and why? When referring to Sendmail it's probably a good idea to mention that an MTA has traditionally been part of a BSD system, that Sendmail is included in the base system for this reason and that there are countless alternative MTAs with Postfix, qmail and Exim being the most popular today. > Mail User Agent > MUA > > - > + Application used to display and write e-mails. Used by whom? > Operating System > OS > > - > + The underlying programs which controls the computer hardware, > + memory and so on. What you describe as "hardware, memory and so on" can collectively be described as "resources": A set of programs, libraries and tools that provide access to the hardware resources of a computer. Operating systems range today from simplistic designs that support only one program running at a time, accessing only one device to fully multi-user, multi-tasking and multi-process systems that can serve thousands of users simultaneously, each of them running dozens of different applications. Does this sound better? > Process ID > PID > > - > + A unik ID every process gets to distinguish it from all other > + processes. Typo: s/unik/unique/. ID cannot be used as an explanation of ID. We should probably rewrite this as: Process ID (identifier). &os; is a multiprocessing operating system. A lot of programs might be running "at the same time". Different programs or even the same program can be loaded multiple times. The kernel of &os; uses a unique process identifier (PID) to distinguish between each running program instance. > Request For Comments > RFC > > - > + A set of documents defining internet standards, protocols etc. > + Can be found here: RFC-editor > + . Also used if someone has suggestions on something and wants > + feedback. I don't like the way two different descriptions of the "RFC" acronym blend together. We definitely want to keep them separate; probably in different paragraphs. Regards, - Giorgos