G l o s s a r y

Absolute pathname

A pathname that begins with the backslash character. An absolute pathname tells MS-DOS how to find its way to a given directory, starting at the root directory. See also Relative

pathname.

Address

A number or name that identifies the location where information is stored in a computer’s memory.

Application program

A software program designed to perform a specific task, such as a word processing or spreadsheet program.

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standardized coding system for representing characters, such as numbers, letters, and graphic symbols. An ASCII character occupies one byte of storage. Files transmitted in ASCII code can be used by many different computers, printers, and programs.

Asynchronous

A method of data transmission in which one machine sends data one character at a time to another, without either machine preparing for the transmission.

AUTOEXEC.BAT file

The batch file that is executed automatically when you load MS-DOS. See also Batch file.

G l o s s a r y 1