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AppleTalk A seven- layer protocol stack developed by Apple for communications
between its Apple Macintosh product range. Apple defines it in similar terms to the
functionality of the seven-layer OSI model
Application Layer The top layer in the OSI Reference Model comprising the interface
between the OSI environment and a user’s application. It does not contain
applications, but provides a link from application software on one system to
applications an another computer through the OSI environment. Several applications
layers support different user tasks such as e mail and file transfer and transaction
processing.
Architecture Refers to the way a system is designed and how the components are
connected with each other. There are computer architectures, network architectures
and software architectures.
Archive A copy of data on disk, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, optical disk, etc., for long
term storage and later possible access. Archived files are often compressed to save
storage space.
ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) A TCP/IP protocol for determining the hardware
address (or physical address) of a node on a local area network connected to the
Internet, when only the IP address (or logical address) is known. An ARP request is
sent to the network, and the node that has the IP address responds with its hardware
address. Although ARP technically refers only to finding the hardware address, and
RARP (for Reversed ARP) refers to the both senses.
ASCII The American Standard Code for Information Interchange developed by ANSI
to encode characters in seven bit units. These are normally padded out with an
eighth bit that can represent parity to make up an eight-bit byte. This eighth bit can
also be used to make ASCII support international character sets, extending the 128
possible seven-bit combinations to 256.
Asic (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) Pronounced A sick, it is a Very Large
Scale Integrated circuit, custom-designed to perform one or more particular functions.
Advantages include fewer discrete components, lower power consumption and
increased reliability.