Bandwidth
Bandwidth is a measurement for the rate at which data can be transferred, or in non-digital systems, the range of frequencies available for transmission.
BASIC
Acronym for Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, a very simple programming language originally designed only for instructing students in rudimentary programming, but occassionally used to build actual applications.
Baud
A term referring to the speed at which (usually analog) devices communicate, it refers to the number of transitions in an electronic signal each second. Often used incorrectly to mean BPS. From the scientist J. M. E. Baudot.
BBS
An acronym for Bulletin Board System, a type of computer service where people can read and post public messages, similar to Usenet News but on a much smaller scale.
BCV
Business Continuation Volume. Used by EMC^2 for filesystem mirroring. If you understand this concept, you can find plenty of employment in consulting with EMC^2's customers. (mskalski)
BGP
Border Gateway Protocol, a standard routing protocol, used primarily for routing between large, heterogenous networks with multiple gateways. BGB is defined in RFC 1771. Peer routers exchange routes using TCP port 179. See also AS, EBGP, IBGP, EIGRP.
Binary
'bI-"ner-E A system of base-2 arithmatic, binaries numbers have only two possible values, 0 (off, or false) or 1 (on or true). The true language of all digital computers.
BINHEX
'bI-n&'hek-s& Acronym for BINary HEXadecimal. A standard for converting 8-bit files into a 7-bit ASCII format for transmission over non-8-bit-clean mediums such as e-mail. BinHex is commonly used on Macintosh systems.
See also: uuencode, bit.
BIOS
bye-ose Acronym for Basic Input/Output System, generally the lowest level of the Operating System, defining the set of routines programs can use to interface with hardware.
bit
Acronym for BInary digiT. The smallest unit of space in computing, a bit contains a single binary value.
See also: byte.
BNC
A twist-lock connector for coaxial cables
bot
Shorthand for 'robot', generally used to refer to an automated program used to process data with minimal human intervention.
bps
Acronym for bits-per-second, a measurement of bandwidth.
See also: , T1, T3.
boot
To start a computer or other device by loading the Operating System. See also bootstrap
bootp
The protocol used to allow a machine to learn it's IP address and other configuration settings from remote server at boot time, as defined in RFC 951.
bootstrap
The ROM routine used to load the OS is often known as the 'bootstrap', from the old expression "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps".
bridge
A bridge is any device that connects two physically distinct network segments, usually at a lower network layer than would a router. (lawsona)
browser
Program used for accessing web, gopher and other internet sites. The most well-known browsers are Lynx, Mosaic, and Netscape.
BT
Acronym for British Telecom.
byte
A set of 8 bits, usually representing a single character in English and European languages.
See also: nybble.