| 1GL | first generation programming language |
| 2GL | second generation programming language |
| 3GL | third generation programming language |
| 4GL | fourth generation programming language |
| 5GL | fifth generation programming language |
| ACH | automated clearinghouse |
| AGP | accelerated graphics port |
| AI | artificial intelligence |
| ALU | arithmetic/logic unit |
| ARPA | Advanced Research Projects Agency |
| ARPANet | Advanced Research Projects Agency Network |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
| ASP | application service provider |
| ATM | automated teller machine |
| 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 |
| BIOS | basic input/output system |
| bit | binary digit |
| BMP | bitmap |
| bot | a shopping agent (short for robot) |
| bps | bits per second |
| CAD | computer-aided design |
| CAM | computer-aided manufacturing |
| CASE | computer-aided software engineering |
| CAVE | computer automatic virtual environment |
| CCDA | Cisco Certified Design Associate |
| CCDP | Cisco Certified Design Professional |
| CCIP | Cisco Certified Internetworking Professional |
| CCNA | Cisco Certified Network Associate |
| CCNP | Cisco Certified Network Professional |
| CD | compact disk |
| CDC | Centers for Disease Control |
| CDE | Certified Directory Engineer |
| CD-R | compact disk, recordable |
| CD-ROM | compact disk, read-only memory |
| CD-RW | compact disk, rewritable |
| CERN | Centre Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire |
| CFR | computerized facial recognition |
| CG FX | computer graphics special effects |
| CGI | Common Gateway Interface |
| CIM | computer-integrated manufacturing |
| CNA | Certified Novell Administrator |
| CNE | Certified Novell Engineer |
| CNI | Certified Novell Instructor |
| COBOL | Common Business-Oriented Language |
| COPPA | Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act |
| CP/M | Control Program for Microcomputers |
| CPU | central processing unit |
| CRM | customer relations management |
| CRT | cathode ray tube |
| DBMS | database management system |
| DBS | direct broadcast satellite |
| DES | Data Encryption Standard |
| DHTML | Dynamic HTML |
| DMCA | Digital Millennium Copyright Act |
| DNA | deoxyribonucleic acid |
| DOM | document object model |
| DoS | denial of service |
| DOS | Disk Operating System |
| dpi | dots per inch |
| DRAM | Dynamic RAM |
| DSL | Digital Subscriber Line |
| DSP | development service provider |
| DSS | decision support system |
| DTP | desktop publishing |
| DVD | digital video disk |
| DVD-ROM | digital video disk-ROM |
| DWDM | dense wave division multiplexing |
| EBCDIC | Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code |
| EDI | electronic data interchange |
| EDP | electronic data processing |
| EFT | electronic fund transfer |
| EPS | Encapsulated PostScript |
| ESN | Enhanced Security Network |
| ESS | executive support system |
| E-time | execution time |
| FAA | Federal Aviation Administration |
| FAT | file allocation table |
| FAX | facsimile |
| FBI | Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| FCC | Federal Communications Commission |
| FDDI | Fiber Distributed Data Interface |
| FEDI | financial electronic data interchange |
| FMD | Fluorescent Multi-Layer Disc |
| FORTRAN | FORmula TRANslator |
| FTC | Federal Trade Commission |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol |
| GB | gigabytes |
| GHz | gigahertz |
| GIF | Graphic Interchange Format |
| GIGO | garbage-in/garbage-out |
| GUI | graphical user interface |
| GUID | Global Unique IDentifier |
| HDTV | high-definition television |
| HiFD | High Capacity Floppy Disk |
| HTML | Hypertext Markup Language |
| HTTP | Hypertext Transfer Protocol |
| ICANN | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers |
| IDSA | Interactive Digital Software Association |
| IEEE | Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers |
| IM | instant messaging |
| IMAP | Internet Message Access Protocol |
| IOS | International Organization for Standardization |
| IP | Internet Protocol |
| IRC | Internet relay chat |
| IRS | Internal Revenue Service |
| IS | information systems |
| ISA | Industry Standard Architecture |
| ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network |
| ISP | Internet service provider |
| IT | Information Technology |
| I-time | instruction time |
| JIT | just-in-time |
| JPEG | Joint Photographic Experts Group |
| K | kilobyte |
| LAN | local area network |
| LCD | liquid crystal display |
| M2M | machine-to-machine |
| MAN | metropolitan area network |
| MB | megabyte |
| m-commerce | mobile commerce |
| MCDBA | Microsoft Certified Database Administrator |
| MCP | Microsoft Certified Professional |
| MCP + I | Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet |
| MCP + SB | Microsoft Certified Professional + Site Building |
| MCSA | Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator on Windows 2000 |
| MCSD | Microsoft Certified Solution Developer |
| MCSE | Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer |
| MCSE + I | Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer + Internet |
| MFD | multifunction device |
| MHz | megahertz |
| MIDI | Musical Instrument Digital Interface |
| MIS | management information systems |
| MOUS | Microsoft Office User Specialist |
| MP3 | Motion Picture Experts Group Layer III |
| MPEG | Motion Picture Experts Group |
| MSN | Microsoft Network |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| Net | the Internet |
| NIC | network interface card |
| NLP | natural-language processing |
| NOS | network operating system |
| NSA | National Security Agency |
| NSF | National Science Foundation |
| NSFnet | National Science Foundation Network |
| 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 |
| OSHA | Occupational Safety and Health Administration |
| OSI | Open Systems Interconnection |
| P3P | Platform for Privacy Preference |
| PAN | public access network |
| PARC | Palo Alto Research Center |
| PC | personal computer |
| PCI | Peripheral Component Interconnect |
| PCMCIA | Personal Computer Memory Card International Association |
| PDA | personal digital assistant |
| PDF | portable document file |
| Perl | practical extraction and reporting language |
| PGP | Pretty Good Privacy |
| PICT | PICTure |
| PIM | personal information management |
| PIN | personal identification number |
| POP | Post Office Protocol |
| POST | power-on self test |
| PPTP | Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol |
| QA | quality assurance |
| QBE | Query by Example |
| QDOS | Quick and Dirty Operating System |
| RAD | Rapid Application Development |
| RAM | random-access memory |
| RDRAM | Rambus DRAM |
| RFP | request for proposal |
| RGB | Red, Green, Blue [monitors] |
| RISC | reduced instruction set computing |
| ROM | read-only memory |
| RPG | report program generator |
| RSA | Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman |
| SCSI | small computer system interface; pronounced “scuzzy” |
| SDLC | software development life cycle |
| SDRAM | Synchronous DRAM |
| SIM | subscriber information module |
| SLDRAM | SyncLink DRAM |
| SMTP | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol |
| SNA | Systems Network Architecture |
| SPA | Software Publishers Association |
| SQC | Statistical Quality Control |
| SQL | Structured Query Language |
| SRAM | Static RAM |
| SSL | Secure Sockets Layer |
| TB | terabyte |
| TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol |
| TFT | thin-film transistor |
| TIFF | Tag Image File Format |
| TOS | trusted operating system |
| UDDI | Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration |
| UPC | Universal Product Code |
| UPS | uninterruptible power supply |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator |
| USB | Universal Serial Bus |
| VAN | value added network |
| VB | Visual Basic |
| VBscript | Visual Basic Script |
| VCR | video cassette recorder |
| VMS | variable message signs |
| 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 |
| WORM | write once, read many |
| WSP | wireless service provider |
| WWW | World Wide Web |
| WYSIWYG | “what you see is what you get” |
| XHTML | eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language |
| XML | eXtensible Markup Language |
