AA
Development name for the AGA chipset.
AA+
Development name for the low-end chipset originally designed to replace the AGA chipset in future years. It is assumed that this chipset will not be produced at the current time and may never be developed.
AAA
Development named for the newest generation Advanced Amiga Architecture chipset, presumed to be released in the Amiga 5000. Supports 4 custom chips, including 24 bit graphics and 16 bit audio.
abort
The process of halting an event from occuring due to an error or user interrupt. Aborting processes and events may cause data to be only partially stored on disks or in memory.
A/B roll
A video editing technique that uses two video inputs directed into the recording device, such as a video cassette recorder. Special effects and transitions are often performed on the two input sources. One input source is commonly used as the ending to the previous scene, while the second is often the beginning of the following scene.
absolute value
The distance of a value from 0. Positive numbers remain unmodified, while negative numbers become positive. ˇ When counting from 0 to +100, you will have counted a total of 100 times. Likewise, when counting from 0 to -100, you also will have counted 100 times, yet in the opposite direction of the numerical scale. This gives both +100 and -100 an absolute value of 100.
accelerator
A hardware device that increases the speed at which a computer operates and decreases the time required for software to operate a given task. Some accelerator cards include hard drive controllers, RAM expansion, serial ports, and parallel ports.
accent
šA mark placed above some characters, such as in various foreign languages, to identify which syllables are stressed or how characters are pronounced. ˛ A highlight reflected upon a three dimensional object or painted image to give the impression that the surface is highly reflective or that the light source is strong. May also be used to improve the illusion of a three dimensional object on a two dimensional screen.
access
The ability to use a file or device. Access may be given various priorities and user priviledges.
access time
The amount of time required to access a device, such as a hard drive or memory. Often used to measure the time required to search and locate information on the device.
accumulator
A CPU register that contains one of the two operands available for the current instruction.
acoustic modem
A modem that transfers data over a telephone line by emitting audible tones and receiving them through the speaker of the headset of the phone. These modems are generally 2400 BAUD or slower.
active file
A file which is currently being used by the file system or an application. Most active files require a file lock by the file system before being accessed by a program.
active screen
The screen that has control of the user input window. This is often the frontmost screen, although it may also be one of the back screens. To activate a screen, click on it with the mouse or access on of its windows.
active window
The window that has control of the user input. This is often identified by highlighting the titlebar or dragbar of the window. Any window with a cursor where text is entered is generally also the input window. To activate a window, click on it with the mouse or access on of its gadgets.
ADA
A programming language developed by the United States Department of Defense.
addbuffers
An AmigaDOS command used to modify the cache size of a device, hard drive, or floppy drive.
address
A location in memory, signified by a serial number used to access that memory location.
address bus
The part of the system bus that is used to transfer an address location to main memory or input and output devices.
address space
The entire range of memory that may be accessed by the CPU and its supporting hardware.
Advanced Graphics Architecture
CBM's high end custom chipset, used in the A1200, A4000, A4000T, and CD32 systems.
AGA
Advanced Graphics Architecture Chip Set, as found in the Amiga 1200, Amiga 4000, and CD32, supporting modes such as HAM8 and 8 bitplanes per screenmode. Released in 1992.
Akiko
An AGA chip, found in the CD32 console, designed to handle CIA functions as well as chunky pixel to planar graphics conversions. Useful in converting IBM games to comparable Amiga equivalents. Originally known as the Arizona chip.
alert object
The module of the operating system that reports a GURU Meditation Error.
algorithm
A method used to solve a problem. Often listed in plain English as opposed to a programming language. ˇ A recipe is an example of an algorithm for cooking a particular type of food.
alias
A word used to abbreviate another command along with any desired parameters. This allows any of the AmigaDOS commands to be used in creating new commands using only specific options.
aliasing
The process by which graphical images are smoothed to have jagged edges removed. This removes the staircase effect caused by lines drawn diagonally across the screen.
allocate
Reserving memory for specific operations, programs, or variables. Data structures that require pointers often require that memory be allocated to ensure that it will not accidentally be overwritten.
alpha channel
An image that contains information regarding how another image is to be composited on a third image. Most alpha channels use greyscale alpha images or techniques based on brightness. A portion of an alpha image with a higher value will permit a larger intensity of the composting image to be merged with the third image.
alphanumeric
Any characters that are part of the alphabet, numerals, or any related characters.
alpha test
The first round in testing software before it is made available to beta testers. Software at this stage is not yet ready for use by the general public.
ALT key
A key used to produce special characters, which are defined by the current keymap. There are two ALT keys, located next to the Amiga keys on the keyboard, on either side of the SPACE bar. These keys may also be used as qualifiers for hotkeys.
alternate character set
A character set which is not part of the 7-BIT ASCII set of characters, and is not shown on a typical keyboard layout. These characters can be displayed by pressing the ALT key on the keyboard.
AMAL
AMOS' animation scripting language.
ambient light
Light which is cast upon all surfaces. In the natural world, ambient light is cast by the Sun. Since the Sun is such a large source of light, light rays are bounced off various surfaces, allowing surfaces to be lit which are not facing the Sun. Without ambient light, shadows would totally blacken out surfaces that they are cast upon.
American National Standards Institute

American Standard Code for Information Interchange

Amiga
Spanish for "friend". English for "best computer ever made".
AmigaDOS
The Amiga's disk based command set, accessible via the CLI or Shell. Supports resident and internal commands, command line history, output redirection, and parameter passing.
AmigaGuide
Commodore's hypertext application, using a point and click interface to search through textual applications containing nodes which may be interlinked using gadgets. The Amiga Online Reference Manual uses the AmigaGuide reader.
Amiga Guy
The short lived cartoon character in many of CBM's magazine ads, appearing from mid-1992 to early 1993.
Amiga Vision
Commodore's multimedia presentation software, using a graphical icon based interface to arrange animations, video, images, audio, and music into arranged presentations and applications.
AMOS
A software design package, similar to BASIC, using integrated construction editors, such as a sprite editor and 3D object editor, for creating distributable programs and games.
ampersand
The "&" character, printable by pressing SHIFT-7 on the Amiga keyboard. Used in C programming to represent the address of a pointer.
amplitude
The measure of the height of a waveform.
amplitude modulation
Using one channel to modify the amplitude of another and produce special effects.
analog
Storing information using a varying range of information, and reading that information based upon the measure of the range. This allows more information to be stored in a data transmission at the expense of precision.
anamorphic squeeze
A type of elongated lens flare technique that causes lens flares to appear wider.
anamorphic streaks
A type of elongated lens flare technique that causes lens flares to appear wider with blue streaks.
animation
A sequence of still pictures stored in one file designed to give the illusion of motion when displayed rapidly in a sequential order. Most animations are identified by the FORM ANIM, FLI, MPEG, or other similar specification. Animations are frequently played at 30 frames per second.
anonymous FTP
A method of using FTP that allows a user to log into a computer without having an account on that computer. The FTP site must have a guest account available for users to use, and follows a generally accepted practice of making the account name and password available. ˇ Many FTP sites allow anonymous FTP logins using the login ID "anonymous" or "ftp" and a password of "guest" or the email address of the caller.
answer mode
A modem setting which causes the modem to answer the phone in the event that it rings. This requires the S0 register to be set to the number of rings that it will answer on. The ATA command is used to enter auto-answer mode.
antialiasing
The process of smoothing a jagged line or curve by merging the colors gradually.
append
This write mode allows a file to have new information added to the end of the file without destroying any of the old data.
appicon
An icon, located on the Workbench, that represents a program or application currently residing in memory. Double clicking on an appicon will open any screens or windows of the application that owns the appicon.
AppleTalk
A very slow networking system.
application
A software program that is used directly by a user as opposed to a file that is accessed mainly by other software, such as a device driver.
Aquarium
A database for searching through Fred Fish Disks, using a point and click interface. All disks are grouped by number, subject, and search keys.
archie
A UNIX program designed to find files over the Internet. Files may be located on any machine in Archie's database, and will be reported whenever a match is found. Archie is not capable of retrieving files, yet is capable of directing the user to them.
architecture
The term used for the design mechanics of a computer motherboard, including processors, external ports, and design theory.
archive
A file that contains another file or group of files, often compressed. Archives are created with programs such as ARC, LHARC, LHA, or DMS.
archiving
Placing a file or group of files into another file, often reducing its size, for temporary storage.
ARCNet
Modified token-passing scheme, while sending messages, as a networking protocol.
ARexx
A script based programming language for communication within programs, the CLI, or the Shell.
argument
A variable or value that may be passed to a routine. Used in programming, AmigaDOS, ARexx, and data entry.
arithmetic logic unit

Arizona
Development name for the Akiko chip in the CD32 console.
array
A data storage technique that stores similar data types in a sequential memory unit with random memory access.
arrow keys
The keys located on the right side of the keyboard, next to the numeric keypad, used to control the position of the cursor or mouse pointer on the screen. These 4 keys are identified by the arrow symbols drawn on the screen, pointing in all 4 directions.
ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. The most commonly used code on microcomputers for storing numbers, alphanumeric characters, and control codes.
ASCII character set
The set of characters that have corresponding ASCII codes.
ASCII file
A file containing characters described by the ASCII standard character set. No binary characters are included.
Ask
An AmigaDOS scripting command used to receive input from a user.
aspect ratio
The ratio of pixels displayed onscreen for a monitor or screenmode, estimating the actual shape of the pixels. A screenmode of 640x400 pixels has an aspect ratio of 1.6:1, with 1.6 horizontal pixels for every vertical pixel. A screen with 1:1 aspect ratio has an equal number of pixels horizontally and vertically.
assembler
A program that compiles assembly language source code, or any program that creates machine language codes in realtime.
assembly language
A language dependent on the processor it is running under, capable of instructing the processor to perform the most simple instructions possible by a programming language.
assign
A label given to a directory, volume, or device, used to access that directory or volume by the newly assigned name.
assignment
The process of defining a label for a variable or directory.
asynchronous
A scheduling technique which causes an event to occur only when another event has caused it to occur or finished using a shared bus.
AT command set
The set of commands used by Hayes compatible modems, all of which are preceeded by the code "AT".
authoring package
A program used to develop other applications.
auto answer mode
A mode used by a modem to determine whether to respond to an income call after the number of rings specified in the S registers at the specified BAUD rates.
automatic backup
Any file backups which occur at predetermined times without the user requesting the backup. This is often used by word processors to save documents every few minutes, or by BBS systems running crons.
auto reliable mode
Allows a modem to make the best possible connection.
auto repeat key
A key which will continue to send its raw key code to the keyboard buffer when the key is held down on the keyboard after a specified delay period.
Avail
An AmigaDOS command used to determine the amount of free memory available on the system.
AVL tree
A balancing tree whose leaves are always at the same height in the tree or off balance by a height of only 1.