Quality - The totality of characteristics of a software product that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs.

TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The suite of communications protocols used to connect hosts on the internet and throughout the HU networks. Two applications that run on top of TCP are FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and Telnet.

Thread - Short for "Threads of Control", a timesharing option were several processes(methods) execute simultaneously within a single program.

Java Beans - JavaBeans components, or Beans, are reusable software components that can be manipulated visually in a builder tool. Beans can be combined to create traditional applications, or their smaller web-oriented brethren, applets. In addition, applets can bedesigned to work as reusable Beans.

Individual Beans will function quite differently, but typical unifying features that distinguish a Bean are:

       Introspection: enables a builder tool to analyze how a Bean works
       Customization: enables a developer to use an app builder tool to customize the appearance and behavior of a Bean
       Events: enables Beans to communicate and connect together
       Properties: enable developers to customize and program with Beans
       Persistence: enables developers to customize Beans in an app builder, and then  retrieve those Beans,
                          with customized features intact, for future use

Java Beanbox - A graphical design tool that supports visual bean manipulation.  IDE's such as Visual Cafe serve as beanboxes by providing GUI interfaces for bean manipulation.

Java Foundation Classes - Additional API containing components for building professional looking Graphical User Interfaces. The JFC contain components that allows developing GUI’s that look and feel like Mac, Windows or Motif. There is currently a huge battle over the JFC between Sun and Microsoft because the JFC allow building GUI’s that look like windows without using anywindows code.

Java Serialization - Writes the complete state of an object (including any objects it refers to) to an output stream, which  allows that object to be recreated at a later time by reading its serialized state from an input stream. It is necessary to implement the serializable interface for any object class that will be saved and restored as an object stream. A common use for serialization is to save user preferences and application state.

Java Reflection Class - The ability of Java classes to "look inside themselves" or reflect. The class java.lang.reflect contains methods that return the fields, methods, and constructors defined by a class.  Java beanboxes uses this capability to determine the properties, events and methods supported by a bean.

Alpha Testing - The first fully functional product version, that is used for extensive internal system testing.

Beta Testing - A fully functional product version made freely available to external organizations in return for their reporting all errors encounter during usage. Beta testing usually begins immediately after alpha testing is complete.

Application Binary Interface - The environment that an executing program sees at runtime. Every processor will have its own ABI. Compliance with an ABI allows clone makers to exist. A program that conforms to a system’s ABI will run on any processor that complies with the ABI, regardless of who manufactures the system. Java has the same ABI on all machine - namely, the Java Virtual Machine.

CORBA - Common Object Request Broker Architecture, an software framework that enables programs to communication with each other over various hosts regardless of their programming language implementation. Allows accessing C legacy systems.

Domain Analysis - The process of analyzing an application domain to identify areas of commonality.

Dynamic HTML - DHTML is a technology that enables Web authors to create interactive HTML documents that do not rely on server-side programs or complicated sets of HTML pages to achieve special effects. DHTML achieves these effects by modifying the current document and automatically reformatting and redisplaying the changes, employing the user's computer to calculate and carry out those changes, instead of reloading a document or loading a new document. Because every element of the Web page is changeable in real time on the client side, content can be changed on the fly—freeing the user from having to wait for text and data to make a round-trip to and from the server.

DHTML is made up of HTML 4.0, data binding, the Document Object Model, and Cascading Style Sheets.

Port - An abstraction of a physical place through which communication can proceed between a server and client. The server is said to have the port and the client connects to it.  Operating systems have processes assigned to specific ports.

PDF - Portable Document Format developed by Adobe Systems to be able to share hyperlinked documents using PDF viewer.

Persistent - Lasting between program sessions, or renewed when a new program session is started.

Persistent storage - Storage of a file or object in a medium such as a file system or database that enables the file to be closed and then re-opened at a later time. Data can be retrieved from the file until the underlying file is deleted.

Socket - A network software abstraction that supports communication in and out of an application program. A Java socket may be created with an IP address and valid port number.