de facto standard
A format, language, or protocol that has become a standard not because it has been approved by a standards organization but because it is widely used and recognized by the industry as being standard. Some examples of de facto standards include:
Hayes command set for controlling modems
Kermit Communications Protocol
Xmodem Communications Protocol
Hewlett-Packard Printer Control Language (PCL) for laser printers
PostScript page description language for laser printers
The QWERTY system for typewriters and keyboards
Read Also:
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(ded kē) (n.) A key on a computer’s keyboard that when pressed by itself produces no output character but only works in conjunction with another key, effectively changing the output of the key that is pressed immediately after the dead key. For example, dead keys commonly are used when inputting characters with accent marks; the […]
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A pixel on an LCD monitor that remains unlit, or black, when it should be activated and displaying a color. Each pixel on an LCD screen is made from three separate subpixels-one red, one green and one blue-that when combined form the colors that the users see on the monitor. A dead pixel occurs when […]
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On many blogs including Typepad, Blogger, Live Journal, Moveable Type, and WordPress, the words “Digg This” may appear below a blog post as a hyperlink which readers can click to submit the post to the Digg Web site.
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A community-based Web site where users submit content and rate that content by “Digging” what they see and like best. A submission that earns a larger number of Diggs, and therefore is more popular with users, is moved the Digg homepage for the category of content it belongs in. The Digg Web site was founded […]
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Deathmatch, or DM, is a type of gameplay mode found in first-person-shooter games. The objective of a deathmatch is to frag as many players in the game as possible while keeping yourself from being fragged. When the game ends either by gamers reaching the end of the level or a preset time or frag count […]