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---+ Technical Terms & Acronyms

This is a document intended for deployers of VO services. This is also a document in progress. IVOA members help to keep this glossary of technical terms used in the VO current and correct. We thank you for your contribution!
<table cellspacing="0" id="table1" cellpadding="0" rules="rows" border="1"> <tbody> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">ADQL:</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Astronomical Data Query Language) is the language used by the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) to represent astronomy queries posted to VO services. ADQL is based on the Structured Query Language (SQL), especially on SQL 92. The VO has a number of tabular data sets and many of them are stored in relational databases, making SQL a convenient access means. A subset of the SQL grammar has been extended to support queries that are specific to astronomy.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">agent</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Software that acts or works on behalf of a user.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">AJAX</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Asynchronous Javascript + XML) A framework for adding dynamic interactions within web pages.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">Aladin</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">An interactive tool that allows the user to visualize digitized images and catalogs from many sources.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">ant</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A _Java_ -based software build tool, similar to Unix "make".</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">API</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Application Programming Interface) The documentation of the interface to a software library or tool.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">applet</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A small program that runs in a larger _client_ context, often _Java_ programs embedded in Web pages.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">architecture</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">The overarching design of a computer, network, or software system.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">array</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A data structure for software _elements_ where each element has a unique identifying index number.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">ASCII</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(American Standard Code for Information Interchange) Formally, an encoding of common alphanumeric symbols. Often used to mean a human readable representation with no &lsquo;special&rsquo; characters or formatting.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">ASP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Active Server Pages) A technology that enables dynamic web pages using _server_ -side scripting.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">asynchronous services</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Web services where there may be a delay between the request for a resource (or service) and the response where the _client_ is not expected to wait for the _server_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">attributes</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">1. In _XML_, characteristics of an _element_ that are specified within the '&lt;', '&gt;', brackets after the name of the _element_, e.g. <element attr1="a" attr2="b">. <br /> 2. In _database management systems_, the term attribute is sometimes used as a synonym for field (i.e. column). </element></td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">bindings</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Associations between defined web _interfaces_ and the services that provide them.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">authentication</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">In computer security, verification of the identity of a user and/or the user's eligibility to access a service.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">C#</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">An _object-oriented_ programming language from Microsoft that is based on _C++_ with elements from Visual Basic and Java.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">C++</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">An _object-oriented_ version of the C programming language.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">callbacks</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Routines that are automatically invoked when some event occurs or situation is encountered.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">Carnivore</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"> _Open source_ _registry_ developed at Caltech, supporting publishing, searching, and harvesting. Primarily intended for use by data providers who want to set up their own _registry_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">certificate</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">An electronic document that verifies the owner of a public key, issued by a certificate authority.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">CGI</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Common Gateway Interface) A protocol that defines how data is passed to server applications using _HTTP_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">client</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A computer program or terminal that requests information or services from another computer (a _server_) on the network.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">code stubs</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Code, usually generated by software tools, which defines the _interfaces_ to some component but typically does not include any implementation of its functionality.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">cone search</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A VO _protocol_ that requests information near a specified location in the sky.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">container</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">An _element_ that acts as a parent and contains child _elements_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">CORBA</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Common Object Request Broker Architecture) An open, vendor-independent _architecture_ and infrastructure that computer applications use to work together over networks.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">crossmatch</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Find objects from two or more datasets that are near each other in the sky.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">cyberinfrastructure</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A research environment in which advanced computational services are available to researchers through high-performance networks.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">daemon</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A program or process that runs in the background unattended and may be invoked by another process to perform its function.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">DAL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Data Access Layer) The VO _protocols_ that define how VO applications access data resources.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">data model</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A formal description of how data may be structured and used.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">database management system</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A collection of programs that enables storage, modification, and information extraction from a database. Also see _RDBMS_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">DataScope</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A web-based VO tool that finds information from many VO sources near a specified point in the sky.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">distributed database</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A database where the underlying data is stored on multiple _servers_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">distributed computing</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Spreading the workload for processing tasks over multiple machines.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">DCOM</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Distributed Common Object Model) A _protocol_ that allows communication and manipulation of objects over a network connection.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">DHCP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) A _protocol_ that automatically manages IP addresses for a set of nodes in a network.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">DOM</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Document Object Model) A _W3C_ standard in which a structured document such as an _XML_ file is viewed as a tree of _elements_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">.NET</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Microsoft's language-independent application development platform for creating web applications and web services.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">element</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">1. A single item in an _array_. <br /> 2. In _XML_, a node in document. Each element starts with a <element> and ends with </element> .</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">federation</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">The dynamic combination of information from separate sources of information.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">FITS</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Flexible Image Transport System) The IAU-approved standard format for astronomical data.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">FTP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(File Transfer Protocol) A _protocol_ used to exchange files over the internet.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">footprint</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">The region of the sky that has been observed by one or more telescopes.\</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">GPL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(GNU Public License) A software license which allows for redistribution but requires both original and modified _source code_ to be made available.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">Grid</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Massive distributed computing capabilities currently available on the Internet.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">grid computing</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Applying the resources of many computers in a network to a single problem at the same time.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">GUI</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user _interface_ that incorporates movable windows, icons and a mouse.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">GWS</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Grid and Web Services)</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">HPC</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(High Performance Computing) Typically refers to supercomputers used in scientific research.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">HTML</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Hypertext Markup Language) A standard document format used on most web pages which makes it easy for one document to refer to another.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">HTTP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Communications _protocol_ used to access most web pages.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">HTTPS</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A secure version of the _HTTP_ _protocol_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">HTTP GET</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">An _HTTP_ request where any parameters of the request are included in the _URL_ itself.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">HTTP POST</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">An _HTTP_ request where data is sent to the _server_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">IDL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Interactive Data Language) A popular data analysis programming language used by scientists.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">instance document</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">An XML document that conforms to a _schema._ </td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">interface</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A structured interaction between two entities, often a _client_ and a _server_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">interoperability</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">The ability of software and/or hardware on different machines from different vendors or sources to share data or collaborate without special effort on the part of the user.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">interpreted language</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A programming language that is _parsed_ and executed without needing any explicit compilation.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">IRAF</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Image Reduction and Analysis Facility) A software system for astronomical data analysis including both tools, libraries and languages developed primarily at the National Optica Astronomy Observatories (NOAO).</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">IVOA</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(International Virtual Observatory Alliance) An international collaboration formed in June 2002 to coordinate Virtual Observatory activities worldwide.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">IVORN, IVOA identifier</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A standardized, unique ID used in a number of contexts within the VO.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">Java</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">An object-oriented, platform-independent programming language, developed by Sun, and modeled after C++.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">JDBC</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Java Database Connectivity) The standard _Java_ _interface_ for access to _SQL_ -based _DBMS_ &rsquo;s.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">KDIG</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Knowledge Discovery Interst Group)</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">markup language</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A language for annotating a document to enable each component to be appropriately formatted, displayed, or used.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">metadata</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Information or labels that describe data.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">middleware</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">An intermediate level of computer software typically used to provide a common _interface_ to heterogeneous lower level components.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">MIME</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) The most common _protocol_ for encoding, transmitting, and decoding non-text files via e-mail.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">Mirage</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">VO-enabled tool for exploratory analysis and visualization of images and multi-dimensional numerical data.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">mosaic, mosaicking</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A virtual observation made by combining multiple observations at different positions resulting in a combination of images that abut and/or overlap into a single larger image.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">MySQL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">An _open source_ _SQL_ _relational database_ management system ( _RDBMS_).</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">name resolver</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A service that translates object names into astronomical coordinates.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">namespace</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">1. The set of names in a naming system.<br /> 2. In _XML_, a collection of names, identified by a _URI_ reference, that are used in _XML_ documents as _element_ types and _attribute_ names.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">NED</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(NASA Extragalactic Database) An astronomical resource containing extensive information on extragalactic objects. NED also provides a _name resolver._ </td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">NESSSI</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(NVO Extensible Scalable Secure Service Infrastructure) A VO _web service_ that runs secure, _asynchronous_ services on the _Grid_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">OAI</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Open Archive Initiative) A _protocol_ that defines an interface for the sharing of _metadata_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">OASIS</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(On-line Archive Science Information Services) A VO Tool to access and display astronomical image and catalog data.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">object-oriented</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Programming based on the concept of an &ldquo;object&rdquo;, a data structure associated with specific routines that define the behavior of the object.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">ontology</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A formal description of the vocabulary used in a field, especially describing the relationships between various concepts within that subject.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">open source</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Software, usually free, created by a development community where the _source code_ is distributed as well as compiled code.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">OpenSkyQuery</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A VO Service that enables _crossmatching_ of astronomical catalogs and selection of catalog subsets.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">operating system</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">The program framework in which all other programs run on a computer, e.g. Windows XP, MacOS<a href="http://vao-twiki.stsci.edu/twiki/bin/edit/Main/MacOS?topicparent=Main.VAOGlossaryofTerms" rel="nofollow" title="Create this topic">?</a> X, Linux, etc.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">parameters</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Inputs to or elements in a system which can be varied.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">parse</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">To separate into more easily understood parts.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">peer-to-peer</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Communication between two or more computers where the _protocol_ is symmetric between the participants so that each participant can make the same requests or give the same responses. This contrasts with client-server protocols</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">Perl</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A programming language frequently used for web scripts and to process data passed via _HTML_ forms.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">PHP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(PHP [personal home page] Hypertext Preprocessor) A scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">PLASTIC</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(PLatform for AStronomical Tool InterConnection<a href="http://vao-twiki.stsci.edu/twiki/bin/edit/Main/InterConnection?topicparent=Main.VAOGlossaryofTerms" rel="nofollow" title="Create this topic">?</a> ) A _protocol_ that allows collaboration between multiple processes running on the user&rsquo;s desktop.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">platform</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">The combination of a computer&rsquo;s _operating system_ software and hardware.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">portal</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A web site that serves as a starting point to other destinations or services on the web.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">protocol</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A set of rules that define the interactions between two or more components.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">proxy</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A piece of software that acts on behalf of a user or another piece of software. An _agent_ is a _client_ proxy.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">proxy certificate</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A _certificate_ that is used in the place of another, typically with a limited lifetime.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">query</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">To interrogate a collection of data such as records in a database.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">RDBMS</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Relational DataBase<a href="http://vao-twiki.stsci.edu/twiki/bin/edit/Main/DataBase?topicparent=Main.VAOGlossaryofTerms" rel="nofollow" title="Create this topic">?</a> Management System) A _DBMS_ that uses represents data using a _relational database_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">RDF</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Resource Description Framework) A recommendation from the _W3C_ for creating _metadata_ structures that define data on the web.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">registry</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">The &ldquo;yellow pages&rdquo; for the VO. Collects and stores basic information about archives, data collections, databases, and other resources.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">relational database</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A database that stores data in a structure consisting of one or more tables (aka relations) of rows and columns, which may be interconnected.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">resource metadata</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">The _metadata_ that describes services and data resources available in the VO.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">REST</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Representational State Transfer) An approach to _web services_ that uses the standard _HTTP_ GET and POST protocols.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">RMI</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Remote Method Invocation) A _Java_ protocol for distributed computing.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">ROME</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Request-Object Management Environment) A VO tool to manage the execution of a task that requires many subtasks.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">RPC</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Remote Procedure Call) Protocols for distributed computing where the interaction is represented as the _client_ computer invoking discrete services/calls on the _server_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">RSS</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Rich Site Summary). An _XML_ format for sharing content among different Web sites such as news items.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">Ruby</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">An object-oriented programming language.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SAX</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Simple API for XML) A standardized _interface_ for _parsing_ _XML_ documents using _callbacks_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">schema</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">1. A description of the structure and rules an _XML_ document must satisfy.<br /> 2. In _SQL_, a description of the tables and columns in the database.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">script</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A simple program usually written in an _interpreted language_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">semantics</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">The expression of the meaning of symbols or names. In the VO, the actual scientific meaning of data and services.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">serialization</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">The process of converting an object into a format that can be stored or transmitted across a network.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">server</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A computer system in a network whose services may be invoked by one or more _clients_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">servlet</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A program, typically _Java_, that runs on a web server in response to a web request.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SESAME</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A _web service_ _interface_ to the _SIMBAD name resolver._ </td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">sexagesimal</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Numeral system with number 60 as the base.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SExtractor</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Source Extractor) A tool that detects sources in astronomical images.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SIA, SIAP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Simple Image Access Protocol) A VO _protocol_ thatsupports queries for images available in a given data collection near a given position on the sky.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SIMBAD</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Set of Identifications, Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) An astronomical database provides extensive information on both galactic and extragalactic objects. SIMBAD also provides a _name resolver._ </td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">Simple Spectral Access</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">See _SSAP._ </td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SkyNode</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A VO _protocol_ (and the services that implement it) that provides an _ADQL_ _interface_ to astronomical databases.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SkyPortal</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A web site that supports translation of a user _ADQL_ query into queries of one or more _SkyNodes_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SkyServer</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"> _Web service_ that presents data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SkyView</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Web site and VO-enabled distributable tool that generates images from survey data.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SMTP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) A _protocol_ used to send and receive email.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SOA</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Service Oriented Architecture) An approach to distributed computing that focuses on services that communicate with each other.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SOAP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Simple Object Access Protocol) A _protocol_ for invoking remote services by exchanging _XML_ -based messages.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">socket</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">The low-level software _element_ that makes a connection to the network. Normally a _client_ connects to a socket on a _server._ </td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">source code</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">The version of a program normally written or edited by a programmer and either compiled into an executable program, or run directly using an interpreter (see _interpreted languag_).</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SQL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Structured Query Language) The standard language used to communicate with _RDBMS_ s</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SQL Server</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Microsoft&rsquo;s _RDBMS_ software.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SRB</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Storage Resource Broker) _Middleware_ developed at the San Diego Supercomputing Center that provides standardized access to a number of very large data resources.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SSAP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Simple Spectral Access Protocol) A _protocol_ that returns a set of spectra in a specified region of the sky. Similar to _SIA_ but has many more options.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SSDL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(SOAP Service Description Language) SSDL is a _SOAP_ -centric description language for _web services_ that enables _protocol_ -based integration.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">SSL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Secure Sockets Layer) A _protocol_ for managing the security of a message transmission over the Internet.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">standalone application</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A computer program capable of operating without external resources.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">STC</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Space-Time Coordinates) An _IVOA_ standard for describing a region or position in both space and time.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">STILTS</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(STIL Tool Set) A set of VO tools for processing of tabular data based on the UK Starlink Tables Infrastructure.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">TLA</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Three Letter Acronym) A tribute to the use of acronyms in the computer field.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">token</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">An item in a string of text that can be separated out by a _parser_, such as a single word in a sentence or a number in a comma-delimited list.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">TOMCAT</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">An _HTTP_ server that can run _Java_ _servlets_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">TOPCAT</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Tool for OPerations on Catalogs And Tables) An interactive graphical viewer and editor for tabular data, designed for but not limited to astronomical tables.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">Treeview</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A VO-enabled viewer for hierarchical file structures.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">UCD</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Unified Content Descriptors) A formal vocabulary for astronomical data that is controlled by the _IVOA_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">URI</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(Uniform Resource Identifier) An address standard for a resource available on the Internet.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">URL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Uniform Resource Locator) The global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. The first part of the address specifies the _protocol_ to be used when accessing the resource, the remainder describes its network location.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">validator</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A tool that checks some element of a system for conformance to a standard.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">virtual data</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">Data product that is dynamically generated when needed.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">VOClient</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A software suite callable from many languages which implements data access in the VO.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">VOEvent</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A VO standard for representing, transmitting, publishing and archiving the discovery of a transient celestial event.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">VOEventNet</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A peer-to-peer _cyberinfrastructure_ to enable rapid and _federated_ observations of the dynamic night sky.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">VOPlot</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A VO Tool for visualizing astronomical data from _VOTable_ sources.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">VOSpace</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">A distributed storage concept for the VO.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">VOStat</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A VO and web-enabled statistics package.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">VOTable</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">An _XML_ -based encoding scheme for astronomical tables and catalogs, established by the _IVOA_ in order to provide an unambiguous way to transmit tables between computer programs</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">W3C</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(World Wide Web Consortium) An international consortium where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop web standards.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">WCS</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(World Coordinate System) A detailed specification of the conversion between coordinates within a file and physical coordinates, especially between pixel and celestial coordinates in an image.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">WCS Fixer</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A VO _web service_ that corrects the _WCS_ information in a given _FITS_ image.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">web service</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Software available over the web using a standardized _XML_ messaging system.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">WESIX</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A VO _web service_ to the standard astronomical image analysis package _SExtractor_ together with a _crossmatching_ service.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">wget</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Free software package for retrieving files using _HTTP_, _HTTPS_ and _FTP_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">workflow</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A sequence or network of tasks and associated information needed to pass from one task to another to accomplish some goal.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">WS</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">see _web service_ </td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">WSDL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(Web Services Description Language) An _XML_ document that describes and locates a _web service_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">XMatch</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">see _crossmatch_ </td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">XML</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(eXtensible Markup Language) A markup language that provides a file format for representing data.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">XML-RPC</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(XML-Remote Procedure Call) A _web service protocol_ that utilizes _XML_ technology to implement an _RPC_ _protocol_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">XOP</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(XML Binary Optimized Packaging) A standard specifying how binary data should be represented in _XML_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">XPath</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(XML Path Language) a language that describes how to locate specific content within an _XML_ document.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">XQuery</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">A standard language for querying _XML_ data.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">XSL</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(eXtensible Stylesheet Language) A standard for describing how to transform _XML_ documents into other documents in either XML or other formats.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">XSLT</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#edf4f9" valign="top">(eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) A conversion tool that implements _XSL_.</td> </tr> <tr> <th valign="top"> <span style="color: #ffffff;">YAML</span> </th> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">(YAML Ain&rsquo;t Markup Language) A data serialization language based on _XML_ and other languages.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
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Topic revision: r8 - 2022-03-29 - GiuliaIafrate
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