IEEE Computer Society Style Guide

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S

s: SI abbreviation for second (for example when part of a compound 30 s, 30 ns); see sec.

S.: “south” in addresses

SAE: Society of Automotive Engineers

safety: in some computing contexts, a technical term meaning the quality of making sure that nothing bad happens. Safety, for example, ensures that a calculation is performed, but not that the results of the calculation are actually returned to a user or program module. Do not use this term without an explanation; compare with liveness.

SAGE: Semi-Automatic Ground Environment

SAML: Security Assertion Markup Language; an OASIS standard

SAN: storage area network; system area network

SATAN: Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks; do not lowercase the acronym

SAX: Simple API for XML

scalable: Microsoft Word’s spell-check dictionary suggests scaleable, but we spell it without the internal e.

ScaLapack: a benchmarking package; see also Lapack

scan-in; scan-out (n)

scan line (n): one of the lines that make up a graphics display

Scene: Scientific Computation Environment for Numerical Experimentation, a scientific visualization environment developed at Rutgers

schema: term used in artificial intelligence and in modeling to represent an approach, scheme, or relation precisely and usually diagrammatically. Ensure that the generic scheme is inappropriate before using schema. Plural is schemas, not the Greek schemata.

Scheme: an artificial intelligence language

Schrödinger equation: spell with umlaut, not oe

SCI: scalable coherent interface

SCO Group: formerly the Santa Cruz Operation (company)

scratch pad (n), scratch-pad (adj): a fast auxiliary computer memory, usually used for temporary data storage

screen dump (n), screenshot (n), screensaver (n)

scroll bar (n)

SCS: Society for Computer Simulation International

SCSI: Small Computer System Interface; pronounced “skuzzy” and takes a as its article

SDI: serial digital interface

SDK: software developer’s kit

SDRAM: synchronous DRAM (dynamic random access memory)

SE: “southeast” in addresses

sec: nontechnical abbreviation for second when it stands alone (or spell it out, especially in feature articles)

second sourcing (n): in manufacturing, the practice of using an alternate company to produce something that the original manufacturer designed and produces itself—for example, when the original manufacturer cannot make enough to meet demand

SEI: Software Engineering Institute, a US Defense Dept. research arm (managed by the US Navy) based at Carnegie Mellon University

Semantic Web: an extension of the current Web using standards such as RDF along with ontologies and other mechanisms to define meaning for abstract data to facilitate machine-machine communication

semi-: prefix; do not hyphenate

September 11, 2001 (9/11)

Serial ATA

Series 1000: but the 1000 series

servocontroller: servo by itself is not sufficient

servomechanism: an automatic feedback system that monitors an operation and makes necessary adjustments; servo is not sufficient

set-top box: an interactive television device that sits on top of the television

setup (n), set up (v)

SGI: formerly Silicon Graphics Inc.

SGML: Standard Generalized Markup Language

SGMP: Simple Gateway-Monitoring Protocol

shar: shell archive; a file combination protocol

shrink-wrapped

SI: acronym for the French version of International System of Units, a scientific method of expressing the magnitude or quantity of seven specific natural phenomena

SIA: Semiconductor Industry Association

SIAM: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

SID: Society for Information Display

SIG: special-interest group; see ACM

Siggraph

Sigma: a project to develop a software-development workstation environment, staffed by a consortium of companies working under the direction of Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) through the Information-Processing Technology Agency (IPA)

Sigmod conferences:

see http://www.informatik.unitrier.de/~ley/db/conf/sigmod/index.html

signs: see the Numbers and Symbols section

SIIA: Software Information Industry Assoc.

Sim: benchmark

SIMD: single instruction, multiple data—the simplest form of parallel architecture; pronounced “sim-dee” and takes a as its article. Spell out on first use if necessary for contextual clarity. Use hyphens when written out and used as a modifier/adjective.

*SIMM: single, in-line memory module

Simox: separation by implanted oxygen

single-sign-on

single-stuck-at fault model: see stuck-at

SIP: Session Initiation Protocol

SITA: Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques

sizeable: Webster’s also uses sizable

SkinnyDIP: trademark name for thin-packaged DIP chips (DIP stands for dual in-line package)

Slim: Software Life-Cycle Management, a project-estimation system developed by Lawrence Putnam

SLP: Service Location Protocol

small-scale (adj)

smart card (n)

SMD: surface-mount device

SME: Society of Manufacturing Engineers

SMIL: Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language; use a before acronym—pronounced “smile”

S/MIME: secure MIME

SMS: short message service

SMT: surface-mount technology

SMTP: Simple Mail-Transfer Protocol

SNAP: scalable networks and platforms; phrase coined by Gordon Bell and Jim Gray at University of California, Berkeley

SNMP: Simple Network-Management Protocol

SNR: signal-to-noise ratio

SOA: service-oriented architecture

*SOAP: a Web services messaging protocol; originally the acronym for Simple Object Access Protocol, the term is no longer defined in common use

SOC: service-oriented computing

SoC: system-on-chip (adj); system on chip (n); plural of noun form is SoCs

soft copy (n), soft-copy (adj)

software-hardware development (n)

softwire

soho: small office/home office

SOJ: small-outline, J-lead

solid modeling (n), solid-modeling (adj): okay to omit hyphen in graphics or visualization publications

son: one of several family words used to describe relationships among nodes in databases; the term is legitimate—don’t edit it out

Sonet: Synchronous Optical Network; a Bellcore standard

Sony PlayStation

source code: no hyphen for n or adj

SPA: Software Publishers Association, now part of SIIA (see entry above); also scratchpad area (from IEEE)

spam: junk e-mail

Sparc: Sun Microsystems’ scalable processor architecture; a RISC-based CPU used primarily in engineering workstations

Sparcstation: examples are Sparcstation IPX and Sparcstation 2

SPC: Software Productivity Consortium, a research group

SPEC: System Performance Evaluation Cooperative; a vendor-sponsored source of the SPEC benchmark; examples are the SPECint92 and SPECfp92

speedup (n)

spreadsheet (n)

Spice: simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis

SPIE: Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers; the organization now styles itself “SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering”

*SQL: Structured Query Language

squash-and-stretch (n): function that enlarges and reduces, not necessarily in proportion to all dimensions; also called rubberbanding

SRAM: static RAM

SRI: Stanford Research Institute

SSH: Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell; a security protocol

SSI: small-scale integration, typically from one to four circuits

SSL: Secure Sockets Layer; a security protocol

stand-alone (adj)

Staran

Stars: Software Technology for Adaptable, Reliable Systems; a US Defense Dept. project

Star Tap

StartTLS

start-up (n, adj)

state of the art (n), state-of-the-art (adj): represents the highest level of available technology (as compared with “state of the practice,” which is the highest level in general use). It is an overworked phrase; consider substituting “current technology.”

state-transition (adj)

stereo pair (n): two pictures that produce a 3D image

stuck-at (adj), stuck-at fault (n): a type of circuit defect in which a gate can be stuck at either 1 or 0: stuck-at-1 fault, stuck-at-0 fault; can also be abbreviated as SA1 and SA0

stuck-open fault (n): not synonymous with stuck-at fault

stylesheet (n, adj)

Styrofoam: use foam or plastic foam when referring to generic consumer or packaging products; capitalize when used as a trademark

subsystem (n)

Sun OS: Sun Microsystems’ version of the Unix operating system

SunSoft: division of Sun Microsystems that provides system software

Sun workstation: initial capital on “Sun”; from Sun Microsystems

Sunmos: Sandia/University of New Mexico operating system; an OS for the Intel Paragon parallel supercomputer

super-: no hyphen when used to form a compound word (supercomputer)

supercomputer (n): no fixed processing speed definition; changes with advances in technology

supermini: short for superminicomputer, which is the preferred usage

surface: Do not use as a transitive verb in the sense of “bringing to the top.” A whale surfaces, but a speaker does not surface an idea. If you must give buoyancy to ideas, float them. However, surface can be used as a transitive verb in the sense of “refining or smoothing a physical surface,” as in surfacing lumber.

surface-mount device, surface-mount technology: board manufacturing method in which chips are “glued” to boards

SW: “southwest” in addresses

SWEBOK Guide: Preferred abbreviated format to use when referring to the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge

SWIG: amplified wrapper and interface generator

symbols and mathematical signs: see the Numbers and Symbols section

system-on-chip (SoC) (adj)

systemwide

T

*2D: two-dimensional, no hyphen

*3D: three-dimensional, no hyphen

3DES: (say: “triple DES”)

T1: digital transmission at 1.544 Mbits per second; T3 is a faster line

tape out

tar: tape archive; file combination protocol

task ID: use the one-word form, taskid, only in program statements

task type: use the one-word form, tasktype, only in program statements

Tbyte: terabyte; one billion bytes

TC: technical committee; spell out on first use

Tcl/Tk: a computer language developed by John Ousterhout of UC Berkeley; can also be separate—Tcl and Tk

*TCP: Transmission Control Protocol

TCPA: Microsoft’s Trusted Computing Platform Architecture, formerly known as Palladium

TDM: time-division multiplexing

TDMA: time-division multiple access

telephone numbers: see the Numbers and Symbols section; also CMS 6.82

teletext: a noninteractive (broadcast) text/graphics communications system

Teletype: use only when describing Teletype Corp. equipment; generic word is teletypewriter

teletypewriter: see above; abbreviated TTY

telex: acronym for teletype exchange, a service that permits the transmission of data using commercial telecommunication facilities comprised of a network of teletypewriters

Tell-A-Graf: graphics software by Computer Associates International

Telenet (n): Terminal Emulation Protocol; US Sprint’s switching network originally developed for Arpanet

testbed (n): an environment containing all the components necessary for testing a system

tests (statistical): F-test; t-test, chi-square test; P value; Wilcoxon rank sum test

TeX: see LaTeX; pronounced “tech”

Tflops: teraflops; one billion flops

TFT: thin-film transistor

the: When referring to an academic institution’s name that starts with the (such as the University of Texas), lowercase “the” or delete it. Always delete “the” in a byline. This rule stands regardless of the format on university stationery, seals, and so forth. When referring to a corporate entity whose name begins with “the” (such as the Irvine Company), lowercase or delete “the.”

ThinDIP: trademark name for thin-packaged DIP chips; “DIP” stands for dual in-line package

three-space, three-dimensional space: a mathematical term; also 3-space; can be written as S³ or R³

Thomas J. Watson Research Center, T.J. Watson Research Center: an IBM facility; refer to as IBM T.J. Watson Research Center on first use

Thomas J. Watson: when referring to the persons, distinguish between Jr. and Sr.

throughput

tif: an electronic file format

*TIFF: tagged image-file format; graphics-file format; even though the filename extension is .tif, the acronym is TIFF

tiling: a nonoverlapping approach to window management

time frame

time line: description of events during a particular historical period; timeline: a schedule of events or procedures

time-multiplexed (adj)

time-out (n), time out (v)

time-shared (adj)

time-sharing (n): simultaneous use of a central computer by many users at remote locations

time sheet (n)

time stamp (n)

time step (n), time-step (adj)

TIP: terminal interface processor

TLB: translation look-aside buffer

TLS: Transport Layer Security

TMS32010, TMS34010: no space between letters and numbers; processors from Texas Instruments

toolbox (n), toolkit (n), toolset (n): one word when used in computer contexts

TOP: Technical Office Protocol; see MAP/TOP

top-down design

touch pad (n): a touch-sensitive user interface

touch screen (n): a touch-sensitive user interface

TP0-TP4: Transport Protocol Class 0 to 4; a set of transmission protocols in the ISO protocol suite

traceable; traceback; traceroute

trackball (n)

trademark: The registered trademark (®) symbol indicates that the trademark is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office; (™) indicates the trademark is pending. Avoid using trademark symbols in text. However, oblige an author who owns a trademark and insists upon its use. In this case, use the company’s name before the product on first reference to establish ownership, for example, Sun’s Sbus; thereafter, use the product name by itself.

trade-off (n); trade off (v): Some publications use tradeoff for the noun form.

transition: Do not use as a verb.

transputer (n) (transister computer): a microprocessor with local memory and communication links. It’s both an Inmos product and a generic term.

troff: text run-off; pronounce “tee-roff”; a Unix text-format front-end (coding) and output (printing) processor; variations include nroff and ditroff (device-independent troff)

Trojan horse

TRON: The Real-Time Operating-System Nucleus, a Japanese computer project to develop hardware and software technology to run household systems that are independent but communicate with each other for smart homes and the like; modules include MTRON, BTRON, ITRON, CTRON, and ITRON

TSR: terminate-and-stay-resident

TTL: transistor-transistor logic

TTS (adj): text-to-speech

t-test: a statistical test that deals with the problems associated with inference based on small samples

-tuple: suffix for a set <<of so many>> elements

turnaround

turnkey (adj): describes a system delivered ready to run without adding any hardware or software; synonym for off the shelf

TWAIN: technology without an interesting name—programming interface that lets a graphics application activate a scanner or other image-capturing device

U

UBE: unsolicited bulk e-mail

UCE: unsolicited commercial e-mail

UCS: universal character set

*UDDI: universal description, discovery, and integration

UDP: User Datagram Protocol

UI: unit interval; a measure of time

UIMS: user-interface management system; UIMSs (plural)

UIP: user-interface presentation

UIST: user-interface software and technology

UK: United Kingdom (no periods), comprising England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales; not synonymous with Britain. Do not use UK if the country name is sufficient.

ULSI: ultralarge-scale integration; can be used as a stand-alone noun when referring to the concept but not to physical objects, for example: ULSI circuit, ULSI chip

Ultracomputer: IBM and New York University’s supercomputer

Ultranet

ultrawideband (adj.): See also UWB.

UML: Unified Modeling Language

UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

UN: United Nations (no periods)

uni-: not hyphenated as a prefix (uniprocessor)

unicode

UniForum

Univac: Universal Automatic Computer

University X at Y, or University X, Y, or University X-Y: Follow the specific institution’s usage. Although some universities capitalize the and consider it part of the university’s name, Computer Society style either deletes or lowercases the word. Thus, it is Ohio State University (not The Ohio State University) and the University of Kansas (not The University of Kansas). See also the. It’s University of California at Santa Barbara, but all other UC campuses use this format: University of California, Berkeley. A resource for the correct format of university names is http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/cdemello/univ.html.