Alternating Current. Alternating current differs from direct current (DC) in that its direction is reversed 60 times per second (50 times per second in some countries). The electricity in ordinary home or office outlets is AC.
accelerator
A key combination which substitutes for a mouse command, and makes certain operations faster.
ACM
Association for Computing Machinery, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036,
212/869-7440. Since 1947, the Association for Computing Machinery has been advancing information technology throughout the world. ACM offers chapters and activities, special interest groups, conferences and events, journals, magazines and films. ACM has SIGs in programming languages, software engineering, graphics, computer-human interaction, and more. Publications include Computing Reviews and the ACM Guide to Computing Literature, available online, and cover such topics as object technology, participatory design, internetworking, software project management, hypermedia, and wireless computing. ACM also recognizes important contributors in the field of computing.
Association for Computing Machinery
ACM, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036,
212-869-7440. http://info.acm.org/ Since 1947, the Association for Computing Machinery has been advancing information technology throughout the world. ACM offers chapters and activities, special interest groups, conferences and events, journals, magazines and films. ACM has Special Interest Groups (SIGs) in programming languages, software engineering, graphics, computer-human interaction, and more. Publications include Computing Reviews and the ACM Guide to Computing Literature, available online, and cover such topics as object technology, participatory design, internetworking, software project management, hypermedia, and wireless computing. ACM also recognizes important contributors in the field of computing.
Acrobat
Document exchange software from Adobe Systems, Inc. Acrobat provides a platform-independent means of creating, viewing, and printing documents. Acrobat can convert a DOS, Windows, UNIX or Macintosh document into a Portable Document Format (PDF) which can be displayed on any computer with an Acrobat reader. The Acrobat reader can be downloaded free from the Internet.
acronym
A word formed from some of the letters (usually the initials) of a phrase, such as RAM (Random-Access Memory). Computer terminology is rich in acronyms.
active matrix display
LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, used for computer screens, in which there is a transistor for each pixel, which prevents losing image quality between scans. Contrast with passive matrix display.
ACTOR
An object-oriented programming language for Microsoft Windows written by Charles Duff of The Whitewater Group Inc., Evanston, IL. It has a Pascal/C-like syntax.
