Are you still in sleep mode ? Here's a book that gets you out of your wait state . . . and welcomes you to both personal computers and the Internet--a book that can tell you about the cells in your spreadsheets, about authoring tools for your Web pages, and whether your Document Object Model is compatible with your browser. This is the book for you. The Next Step. The shortcut key. Don't let the computer world confuse you. Whether you need to familiarize yourself with the basic vocabulary of computers or the latest item of tech talk, the Random House Webster's Computer & Internet Dictionary, Third Edition, explains computer terminology in clear, simple language. At last, a book that is easy to understand--but doesn't treat the reader like someone with fewer than 12 function keys on the keyboard. This is the computer dictionary that: not only understands the experienced hacker, but welcomes the newbie into cyberspace answers your FAQs explains the bells and whistles in your software upgrades you from plain ASCII to Unicode; from vanilla to true color; from crippled version to virtual reality and the World Wide Web With more than 3,000 essential computer terms, carefully linked with abundant cross references and illustrated with more than 75 clear line drawings, this book will comfort and charm you as it informs. Are you a computer novice, burdened with FAQs? Or maybe you know the difference between a mouse and a Gopher, but still feel overwhelmed by the number of technical terms? Even experienced users, fluent in "computerese," come across terms they don't understand. What's a half duplex? What's a command buffer? And what, pray tell, is pincushion distortion? As anyone who has ever read a "help manual" (surely a misnomer) knows, computerese is a separate language. Philip E. Margolis has used his 20 years of technical-writing experience to compile this helpful dictionary. This new edition reflects the changes in computerese caused by the explosion of the Net, with nearly 1,000 new entries. Each of the over 3,000 terms, from aliasing to Z-buffering and analog to zettabyte, is clearly defined in common English and thoroughly cross-referenced. Whether you're a newbie or an experienced phreaker, you'll learn something new. Though aimed at the advanced computer user--you don't really need to understand load balancing, command buffers, or object-oriented programming to check e-mail and surf the Net--the Computer & Internet Dictionary will be helpful to anyone who wants to know more about this rapidly changing technology. --C.B. Delaney Are you still in sleep mode ? Here's a book that gets you out of your wait state . . . and welcomes you to both personal computers and the Internet--a book that can tell you about the cells in your spreadsheets, about authoring tools for your Web pages, and whether your Document Object Model is compatible with your browser. This is the book for you. The Next Step. The shortcut key. Don't let the computer world confuse you. Whether you need to familiarize yourself with the basic vocabulary of computers or the latest item of tech talk, the Random House Webster's Computer & Internet Dictionary, Third Edition, explains computer terminology in clear, simple language. At last, a book that is easy to understand--but doesn't treat the reader like someone with fewer than 12 function keys on the keyboard. This is the computer dictionary that: not only understands the experienced hacker, but welcomes the newbie into cyberspace answers your FAQs explains the bells and whistles in your software upgrades you from plain ASCII to Unicode; from vanilla to true color; from crippled version to virtual reality and the World Wide Web With more than 3,000 essential computer terms, carefully linked with abundant cross references and illustrated with more than 75 clear line drawings, this book will comfort and charm you as it informs. Philip E. Margolis is president of Sandy Bay Software and creator of the highly successful PC Webopaedia Web site at www.pcwebopaedia.com  He is the author of a number of books, including the Random House Personal Computer Dictionary, 1st and 2nd Editions, and C: A Software Engineering Approach .  He lives in Massachusetts.