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What Does Operational Support System (OSS) Mean? An operational support system (OSS) is a group of computer programs or an IT system used by communications service providers for monitoring, controlling, analyzing and managing a computer or telephone network system. OSS software is specifically dedicated to telecommunications service providers and mainly used for supporting network processes to maintain network inventory, configure network components, provision services and manage faults. With the growth of new broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems, OSS and network management are now applied to home networks....

What Does AppleTalk Address Resolution Protocol (AARP) Mean? AppleTalk Address Resolution Protocol (AARP) maps the AppleTalk node address used by the datagram delivery protocol to the underlying data link layer addresses. AppleTalk is a protocol suite with an open peer-to-peer architecture running on a variety of transmission media. The AARP resolves AppleTalk addresses to the physical layer, such as the mandatory address control (MAC). The AARP maps computers’ physical hardware addresses to their temporarily assigned AppleTalk network addresses....

What Does Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD) Mean? Aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) is a software design solution that helps address the modularity issues that are not properly resolved by other software approaches, like procedural, structured and object-oriented programming (OOP). AOSD complements, rather than replaces, these other types of software approaches. Techopedia Explains Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD) Considered a subset of post-object programming technologies Better software design support through isolating application business logic from supporting and secondary functions Provides complementary benefits and may be used with other agile processes and coding standards Key focus - Identification, representation and specification of concerns, which also may be cross-cutting Provides better modularization support of software designs, reducing software design, development and maintenance costs Modularization principle based on involved functionalities and processes Because concerns are encapsulated into different modules, localization of crosscutting concerns is better promoted and handled Provides tools and software coding techniques to ensure modular content support at the source code level Promotes reusability of code used for the modularization of cross-cutting concerns Smaller code size, due to tackling cross cutting concerns Reduced efficiency from increased overhead

What Does Cache Miss Mean? Cache miss is a state where the data requested for processing by a component or application is not found in the cache memory. It causes execution delays by requiring the program or application to fetch the data from other cache levels or the main memory. Techopedia Explains Cache Miss Cache miss occurs within cache memory access modes and methods. For each new request, the processor searched the primary cache to find that data....

What Does Collision Avoidance Mean? Collision avoidance techniques are used in telecommunications and computer networks to avoid resource contention. These techniques attempt to eliminate situations in which multiple nodes access the same resource. This ensures that any node in a network can transmit a signal without colliding with other traffic on the network. Techopedia Explains Collision Avoidance A few of the most commonly used collision avoidance methods include:

What Does Compressed Air Mean? Compressed air is a gas or mixture of gases that is pressurized to a degree greater than that of its surrounding environment. When used as a tool for the maintenance of computers (as well as other electronic devices) it is typically put into a container with a narrow output valve, which emits the gas with such strength that it can remove dust and other particles without applying direct pressure or force to any physical components....

What Does Configuration Management (CM) Mean? A configuration management (CM) system is used to keep track of an organization’s hardware, software and related information. This includes software versions and updates installed on the organization’s computer systems. CM also involves logging the network addresses belonging to the hardware devices used. Software is available for all of these tracking tasks. Configuration management may also be called configuratin control. Techopedia Explains Configuration Management (CM) The CM updating process must be done on an ongoing basis....

What Does Data as a Platform (DaaP) Mean? Data as a platform (DaaP) is a relatively new concept in the cloud computing paradigm where data itself - rather than applications - is the commodity being sold. Some analysts say that no longer will we simply view the cloud through applications, but that the concept has evolved to a point at which processing speeds, and quantity and distribution of data are key to a competitive business....

What Does Data-ism Mean? Techopedia Explains Data-ism In general, the concept of data-ism is useful in the business world, where many companies may not have gone much further than a big data approach to helping them aggregate or mine copious amounts of data for different applications and business processes. Experts talk about data for data’s sake and how this philosophy is not sufficient to craft very customized enterprise resource planning setups....

What Does Eggdrop Mean? Eggdrop is an open-source Internet Relay Chat bot that was originally designed to help IRC operators protect their channels from takeover attempts. Eggdrop can also network other Eggdrop bots into a botnet. It is written in C and offers extension capabilities in Tcl. It is designed to run on Unix-like systems. Techopedia Explains Eggdrop Eggdrop is one of the most popular bot programs on IRC. It was created by Robey Pointer in 1993 to protect the EFnet channel #gayteens from constant attacks in 1993....

What Does Finalize Mean? Finalize is an object method that contains the code required to free unmanaged resources and perform cleanup operations prior to garbage collection (GC). The finalize method is used to clean up resources not managed by .NET. Although the .NET framework is designed to release managed resources by implicitly performing memory management tasks, unmanaged application resources - like file handles and database connections - must be explicitly released....

What Does Laptop Security Mean? In general, laptop security is a term for the various products and techniques used to prevent the theft of laptop computers. Laptop security solutions can involve physical lock-and-key systems, locator devices, or other kinds of items that make it difficult for thieves to steal laptop computers. Techopedia Explains Laptop Security Laptop security is in some ways a response to a significant trend in IT-related theft. Some estimates from venues like PCMag estimate that over 12,000 laptops are stolen just from U....

What Does Modification (Mod) Mean? In gaming, modification (mod) refers to the process of editing or changing the structure, syntax or code of a game. Techopedia Explains Modification (Mod) Modification is performed to allow a gamer to play a game different from its original released version. It is generally performed by end users or developers, and the modded version is considered as an unofficial version of the game.

What Does Original Equipment Manufacturer Unbundling (OEM Unbundling) Mean? Original equipment manufacturer unbundling (OEM unbundling) involves dissembling the major components of the bundled software that usually accompanies OEM hardware.Software can be sold in conjunction with hardware. When it is, a notification to the consumer or retailer is present (a user license), explaining that the software is only to be used with the packaged hardware. Of course, the software may be installed on other machines, but this is a form of software piracy....

What Does Open Virtualization Format (OVF) Mean? Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is a specification that describes an open-standard, secure, efficient, portable and extensible format for packaging and distributing software for virtual machines. The OVF standard is independent of any particular hypervisor or processor architecture. With the increasing demand for virtualization technology software, there is a great need for an open standard way to package and distribute the virtual appliances that can be run on virtual machines....

What Does Terminal Adapter (TA) Mean? A terminal adapter (TA) is a device that connects a computer to an integrated services digital network (ISDN). The terminal adapter transmits digital data directly from the computer to the ISDN line without having to modulate and demodulate between analog and digital signals. Some manufacturers refer to a terminal adapter as an ISDN modem. This term is partially misleading because the modem does not perform the modulating and demodulating functions....

What Does Time Complexity Mean? Time complexity is a concept in computer science that deals with the quantification of the amount of time taken by a set of code or algorithm to process or run as a function of the amount of input. Techopedia Explains Time Complexity Time complexity is simply a measure of the time it takes for a function or expression to complete its task, as well as the name of the process to measure that time....

What Does Track Changes Mean? Track changes is a feature within most word processing applications that enables a user to keep track of the entire different types of alterations, changes or deletions made to a specific document. It records all changes made to the original copy of a document and provides the ability to restore the document to its original state. Techopedia Explains Track Changes Track changes is mostly a default feature within most modern word processing applications that enables recording changes to an original piece of document....

What Does XML User Interface Language (XUL) Mean? XML User Interface Language (XUL) is an interface markup language developed by Mozilla that enables developers to design applications that can run in both online and offline modes. XUL was introduced by Netscape in 1997 as part of what eventually became the Mozilla codebase. Techopedia Explains XML User Interface Language (XUL) XUL is based on the core existing web standards - CSS, DOM and JavaScript....

Bungie recently released a trailer for the upcoming Dreaming City location in the Forsaken expansion for Destiny 2. Already, many Destiny 2 players are excited about it. The Dreaming City itself, home of the Awoken race, is touted as “the biggest endgame experience” for the franchise. Here’s what we know so far. Destiny 2: Forsaken – The Dreaming City The Dreaming City gives us vibes from both Warhammer 40k and World of Warcraft....