| 1GL | first-generation (programming) language |
| 2GL | second-generation (programming) language |
| 3GL | third-generation (programming) language |
| 4GL | fourth-generation (programming) language |
| AC | alternating current |
| ACH | automated clearinghouse |
| ADC | analog-to-digital converter |
| AFK | away from keyboard |
| AGP bus | Accelerated Graphics Port bus |
| AI | artificial intelligence |
| Ajax | Asynchronous JavaScript and XML |
| ALU | arithmetic/logic unit |
| AOL | America Online |
| ARPA | Advanced Research Projects Agency |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
| ASP | application service provider |
| ATA | analog telephone adapter |
| ATM | automated teller machine |
| AUP | acceptable use policy |
| B2B | business-to-business |
| B2C | business-to-consumer |
| BASIC | Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code |
| BBS | bulletin board system |
| BCPL | Basic Combined Programming Language |
| BI | business intelligence |
| BINAC | Binary Automatic Computer |
| BIOS | basic input/output system |
| bit | binary digit |
| BMP | bitmap |
| BPL | Broadband over Powerline |
| bps | bits per second |
| BSA | Business Software Alliance |
| CAD | computer-aided design |
| CAM | computer-aided manufacturing |
| CAN-SPAM Act | Controlling the Assault of Non-solicited Pornography and Marketing Act |
| CASE | computer-aided software engineering |
| CAVE | computer automatic virtual environment |
| CCD | charge-coupled device |
| CCDA | Cisco Certified Design Associate |
| CCIP | Cisco Certified Internetworking Professional |
| CCNA | Cisco Certified Network Associate |
| CCSP | Cisco Certified Security Professional |
| CD | compact disc |
| CD-R | compact disc–recordable |
| CD-RW | compact disc–rewritable |
| CERN | Centre Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire |
| CF | CompactFlash |
| CFR | computerized facial recognition |
| CG FX | computer graphic special effects |
| CGI script | Common Gateway Interface script |
| CIM | computer-integrated manufacturing |
| CIPA | Children’s Internet Protection Act |
| CIS | computer information systems |
| CNA | Certified Novell Administrator |
| CNE | Certified Novell Engineer |
| COBOL | COmmon Business-Oriented Language |
| COM | Component Object Model |
| CompTIA | Computing Technology Industry Association |
| COPPA | Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 |
| CP/M | Control Program for Microcomputers |
| cps | characters per second |
| CPU | central processing unit |
| CRM | customer relationship management |
| CRT | cathode ray tube |
| CTP | Convergence Technologies Professional |
| DBA | database administrator |
| DBMS | database management system |
| DBS | direct broadcast satellite |
| DC | direct current |
| DDR SDRAM | Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic random access memory |
| DDR3 SDRAM | third generation Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic random access memory |
| DES | Data Encryption Standard |
| DHS | Department of Homeland Security |
| DHTML | Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language |
| DLP | digital light processing |
| DMCA | Digital Millennium Copyright Act |
| DMD | digital micromirror device |
| DNA | deoxyribonucleic acid |
| DOM | document object model |
| DoS attack | denial of service attack |
| DOS | disk operating system |
| dpi | dots per inch |
| DRAM | Dynamic random access memory |
| DSL | digital subscriber line |
| DSS | decision support system |
| DTP | desktop publishing |
| DVD | digital versatile (or video) disc |
| DVD-R | digital versatile disc–recordable |
| DVD-ROM | digital versatile disc–read-only memory |
| DVD-RW | digital versatile disc–rewriteable |
| DVR | digital video recorder |
| DWDM | dense wave division multiplexing |
| EBCDIC | Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code |
| EDI | electronic data interchange |
| EDP | electronic data processing |
| EFT | electronic funds transfer |
| ENIAC | Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer |
| EOUSA | Executive Office for United States Attorneys |
| EPS | encapsulated PostScript |
| ESA | Entertainment Software Association |
| ESN | Enhanced Security Network |
| ESS | executive support system |
| EUCD | European Union Copyright Directive |
| FAA | Federal Aviation Administration |
| FAT file | file allocation table file |
| FBI | Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
| FDDI | Fiber Distributed Data Interface |
| FEDI | financial electronic data interchange |
| FISMA | Federal Information Security Management Act |
| FMD | fluorescent multi-layer disc |
| FORTRAN | FORmula TRANslator |
| FPGA | field programmable gate array |
| FTC | Federal Trade Commission |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
| Gbps | gigabit per second |
| GIF | graphics interchange format |
| GIGO | garbage in, garbage out |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| GUI | graphical user interface |
| GUID | Global Unique Identifier |
| HD-DMD | High Definition Digital Multilayer Disc |
| HDTV | high-definition television |
| HIPAA | Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act |
| HTML | Hypertext Markup Language |
| HTTP | Hypertext Transfer Protocol |
| ICANN | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers |
| IDSA | Interactive Digital Software Association |
| IDVL | Informedia Digital Video Library |
| IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| IETF | Internet Engineering Task Force |
| IIS | Internet Information Services |
| IM | instant messaging |
| IMAP | Internet message access protocol |
| IOS | International Organization for Standardization |
| IP | intellectual property |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| IRC | Internet relay chat |
| IRS | Internal Revenue Service |
| IS | information system |
| ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network |
| ISP | Internet service provider |
| IT | information technology |
| JIT | just-in-time |
| JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group |
| JVM | Java Virtual Machine |
| Kbps | kilobit per second |
| LAN | local area network |
| LCD | liquid crystal display |
| LD | link death; your Internet connection failed |
| M2M | machine-to-machine |
| MAN | metropolitan area network |
| Mbps | megabit per second |
| MCAD | Microsoft Certified Applications Developer |
| MCDBA | Microsoft Certified Database Administrator |
| MCP | Microsoft Certified Professional |
| MCSA | Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator |
| MCSD | Microsoft Certified Solution Developer |
| MCSE | Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer |
| MFD | multifunction device |
| MIDI | Musical Instrument Digital Interface |
| MIS | management information system |
| MIT | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| MMC | MultiMediaCard |
| MMO | massively multiplayer online |
| MMORPG | massively multiplayer online role-playing games |
| MOS | Microsoft Office Specialist |
| MP3 | Moving Pictures Expert Group Layer III |
| MPEG | Moving Picture Experts Group |
| MSN | Microsoft Network |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NET Act | No Electronic Theft Act |
| NFB | National Federation of the Blind |
| NIC | network interface card |
| NIST | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| NLP | natural-language processing |
| NOS | network operating system |
| NRAM | nonvolatile random access memory |
| NSA | National Security Agency |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| NSFnet | National Science Foundation Network |
| NTSC | National Television System Committee |
| OCAD | Oracle Certified Application Developer |
| OCDBA | Oracle Certified Database Administrator |
| OCR | optical character recognition |
| OIS | office information system |
| OLAP | online analytical processing |
| OLE | object linking and embedding |
| OLTP | online transactional processing |
| OOP | object-oriented programming |
| OPA | Online Privacy Alliance |
| OS | operating system |
| OSI model | Open System Interconnection model |
| OSHA | Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
| P2P | peer-to-peer |
| P3P | Platform for Privacy Preference |
| PAN | public access network |
| PARC | Palo Alto Research Center |
| Pbps | petabit per second |
| PC | personal computer |
| PCI bus | Peripheral Component Interconnect bus |
| PCMCIA | Personal Computer Memory Card International Association |
| PDA | personal digital assistant |
| PDF | portable document file |
| perl | practical extraction and report language |
| PGP | pretty good privacy |
| PIM | Personal Information Manager |
| PIN | personal identification number |
| PLC | programmable logic controller |
| PNG | Portable Network Graphics |
| POD | print-on-demand |
| POP | Post Office Protocol |
| POST chip | power-on self test chip |
| POST | power-on self test |
| ppm | pages per minute |
| PPTP | Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol |
| PvP | player versus player; an area that allows players to harm one another |
| QA | quality assurance |
| QBE | Query by Example |
| QDOS | quick-and-dirty operating system |
| RAD | rapid application development |
| RAM | random access memory |
| RDRAM | rambus DRAM |
| RF | radio frequency |
| RFID | radio frequency identification |
| RFP | request for proposal |
| RISC | reduced instruction set computing |
| RL | real life |
| ROM | read-only memory |
| RPG | Report Program Generator |
| RSA | Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman |
| SCSI | small computer system interface |
| SD | Secure Digital |
| SDLC | software development life cycle |
| SDRAM | Synchronous Dynamic random access memory |
| S-HTTP | Secure HTTP |
| SIM | subscriber information module |
| SLDRAM | SyncLink DRAM |
| SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol |
| SNA | Systems Network Architecture |
| SOP | standard operating procedure |
| SPA | Software Publishers Association |
| SQC | statistical quality control |
| SQL | Structured Query Language |
| SRAM | Static random access memory |
| SSL | Secure Sockets Layer |
| SSO | single sign-on |
| Tbps | terabit per second |
| TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol |
| TCPA | Telephone Consumer Protection Act |
| TFT | thin-film transistor |
| TIA | Telecommunications Industry Association |
| TIFF | tag image file format |
| TLS | Transport Layer Security |
| TOS | trusted operating system |
| UAC | User Access Control |
| UDDI | universal description, discovery, and integration |
| UNIVAC | Universal Automatic Computer |
| UPC | Universal Product Code |
| UPS | uninterruptible power supply |
| UPS | United Parcel Service |
| URL | Uniform (or Universal) Resource Locator |
| USA PATRIOT Act | Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act |
| USB | Universal Serial Bus |
| VAN | value added network |
| VB | Visual Basic |
| VCR | video cassette recorder |
| VMS | variable message signs |
| VoIP | Voice over Internet Protocol |
| VPN | virtual private network |
| VR | virtual reality |
| W3C | World Wide Web Consortium |
| WAN | wide area network |
| WAP | Wireless Application Protocol |
| WEP | Wired Equivalent Privacy |
| WIPO | World Intellectual Property Organization |
| WLAN | wireless local area network |
| WML | Wireless Markup Language |
| WORM | write once, read many |
| WoW | World of Warcraft |
| WSP | wireless service provider |
| WWW | World Wide Web, or Web |
| WYSIWYG | what you see is what you get |
| XHTML | Extensible Hypertext Markup Language |
| XML | Extensible Markup Language |
