buddy list
Often used in conjunction with AOL programs, a buddy list is a window that shows all your buddies (friends, family, coworkers, and others) who are signed on to AOL, CompuServe, or AIM. Whenever they sign on, their screen names appear in your “Buddy List” and you can communicate with them instantly. The buddy list represents the users who you have added as a contact in your client.
Read Also:
- Buffer
(n.) A temporary storage area, usually in RAM. The purpose of most buffers is to act as a holding area, enabling the CPU to manipulate data before transferring it to a device. Because the processes of reading and writing data to a disk are relatively slow, many programs keep track of data changes in a […]
- buffer credits
Formally called buffer-to-buffer credit (BBC) spoofing, and also called buffer-to-buffer credits, this is a technology that effectively removes limitations on data throughput for long-distance transmissions in a Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN). Usually Fibre Channel protocols limit the distance between the source and the destination network to within a few kilometers. Using buffer-to-buffer credits […]
- buffer overflow
The condition wherein the data transferred to a buffer exceeds the storage capacity of the buffer and some of the data “overflows” into another buffer, one that the data was not intended to go into. Since buffers can only hold a specific amount of data, when that capacity has been reached the data has to […]
- buffer underrun
A common problem that occurs when burning data into a CD. It happens when the computer is not supplying data quickly enough to the CD writer for it to record the data properly. Recording data to a CD-R is a real-time process that must run nonstop without interruption of the signal. A computer will typically […]
- Bug
An error or defect in software or hardware that causes a program to malfunction. Often a bug is caused by conflicts in software when applications try to run in tandem. According to folklore, the first computer bug was an actual bug. Discovered in 1945 at Harvard, a moth trapped between two electrical relays of the […]