Glossary

application program

Any software program designed to carry out a particular task. For example, word processing or graphics packages are application programs.

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standardized way of ‘assigning numerical codes to characters and control codes. The system is widely used by manufacturers of computers, printers, and software.

baud rate

A measure of the speed of data transmission. It is used when setting up a serial interface on a computer and printer.

binary

See number systems.

bit

A binary digit (0 or 1), which is the smallest unit of information used by a printer or computer. See also number systems.

bitmap font

A font that has already been defined with specific attributes such as size and weight. See outline font.

bold

A print enhancement that produces darker than normal characters and is typically used to add emphasis to text. See weight.

buffer

See memory.

Glossary GL-1