Product Description

In the quickly changing world of computing, staying current is essential. The Dictionary of Computing has been fully revised by a team of computer specialists, making it the most up-to-date and authoritative guide to computing on the market today. With expanded coverage of networking and databases, addition of biographical entries, and feature spreads on key topics such as XML, it is a comprehensive reference work containing over 6,500 entries that is as useful for home and office users as it is indispensable for students of computing. This edition now features recommended web links for many entries, found on the regularly updated Dictionary of Computing companion website, which provides further valuable and up-to-date information. The Dictionary offers wide coverage of computer terms in industry, school, work, education, and the home, including the Internet, multimedia, networks and databases, and security. Terms are defined in a clear and concise manner with helpful examples where relevant. This dictionary is ideal not only for students of computing but for those studying the related fields of IT, mathematics, physics, media communications, electronic engineering, and natural sciences.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #843044 in Books
• Published on:
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 7.76" h x 1.38" w x 5.12" l, .95 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Amazon.com Review
This very complete dictionary features a list of approximately 6,000 words and defines everything from basic computer concepts to complex network and programming terminology. The reference also includes information on Internet terms, industry leaders, legal issues, security issues, and historical data and lists entries for products, companies, and trademarks. This dictionary is a great reference tool for new computer users, students, teachers, and computer professionals.

Review

Praise for previous ediitons:
"Useful for students and teachers of computer science and related disciplines, owners of personal computers, and anyone who uses a computer."--Sci-Tech News

Language Notes
Text: Russian (translation)
Original Language: English

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Thorough and technical
By Declan Moran

For advanced users with a mathematical bent or computer scientists, this is probably an excellent reference.It covers a very wide range of topics many of them purely mathematical (eg group theory,algebra), and defines terms precicely.

For the average user however, who wants things explained a bit more and defined a bit less, its probably not a great book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Slightly outdated, yet a solid informational resource
By Network man
As other reviewers mentioned, some content is outdated and new terminology may be missing. I still see this book as an excellent source for reference on a wide variety of terminology in all disciplines of computing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Good, but rapidly falling behind
By Jerry Saperstein
Because of the nature of my work, I often need to provide definitions of technical computing terms from authoritative sources. The online computing terms dictionaries simply don't carry much authority in a courtroom.

The problem is that most major printed dictionaries don't revise often enough to keep pace with the technology. For example, Oxford Dictionary made pretty big news recently when it added "tweet" to its online dictionary. But in this 2008 6th edition of the Oxford Dictionary Of Computing, "tweet" is just one of dozens of words of recent vintage that are missing. Reflecting the volatility of the industry, the dictionary defines Sun Microsystems as a major supplier of non-PC computers.

Is this a bad dictionary? No. It is simply limited because it is a walloping four or five years since its last edition. (It was published in hard-cover in 2006.) Some of the definitions are a bit loopy, but it does carry the Oxford name and is thus considered authoritative.

For the money, a good, if not particularly current, addition to my shelf of technical dictionaries. At this point, though, I think subscribing to online Oxford may be the best way to go.

Jerry