Resource Review: Babel
Too many TLAs in your day-to-day talk? Not sure whther the ASP being referred to is an Active Server Page, Application Service Provider, or perhaps a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals? Check out Babel.
Terms of Non-Endearment
Our world is completely cluttered with nomenclature, jargon, and TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) to the point of distraction. No doubt it has happened to you that someone will toss off a term that you need to get them to define, thereby seeming to give them the upper hand. (Vendors and VARs love to do this) Even worse, you may nod knowingly without being sure of what you just agreed with, lest you be considered a Luddite.
Irving and Richard Kind have come to the rescue with Babel -- a glossary of computer and networking terms that has been around for several years. It's assuredly not the only one out there, but it has the advantage of being concise, quick, easy to access and use, and non-commercial. Babel is updated thrice a year, and remains one of the fastest and most reliable ways to look up a term without drilling down through menus.
Babel shows up at a number of Web sites, but the most popular and up-to-date version appears to be the one at
www.geocities.com/ikind_babel/babel/babel.html.
Perhaps best of all, you can download Babel in HTML, text, or Palm format from
www.geocities.com/ikind_babel/ thereby making it portable.
Of course, for more comprehensive needs, there's our own Webopedia, complete with in-depth explanations and related articles.
