Computer

An algorithm is a number of procedures, formulas, or instructions employed to fix a problem.  They are employed daily by people around the world to solve a variety of problems.  For instance, an algorithm can be employed to analyze a person’s emails to decide whether incoming mail is legitimate or just spam.  The first person to create an algorithm for a machine was Ada Lovelace.

In CSS, algorithms are defined for presenting all elements in a document.  The two main types of layout in CSS are block-level and inline-level layout; they manifest contrasting behaviors from one another. 

A containing block is a rectangular shape in which lies an element. The size and placement of the boxes of an element are frequently defined in relation to a containing block.   The containing block varies in regards to what it includes.  For example: 1) If  a containing block contains the root element it is called an initial containing block. 2) If the element’s position is either static or relative, the containing block is created by the edge of the content closest to the block container ancestor block. 3) If the element’s position is fixed, the viewport creates the containing block in regards to continuous media or, in the case of paged media, it is established by the page area. 4) If the element is positioned absolutely (position: absolute) the containing block is created by the closest ancestor with a position of fixed, relative or absolute.  A) The containing block is the bounding box that surrounds the padding boxes of the last and first inline boxes created for that particular element when the ancestor is an inline element. B) If this is not the case, then the containing block is created by the padding edge of the ancestor. And if there is no ancestor, then the containing block is the initial containing block.  Also, an absolutely positioned element is placed relative to the block that contains it without regard to page breaks.  And the element may be broken amid many pages.  

CSS comments are notes or code made  a programmer in a stylesheet that do not affect the rest of the code in a stylesheet.  Comments are created in CSS by opening the comment with /* and closing the comment with */.  Multiple lines of comments are allowed and can be inserted at any location in a stylesheet with the exception of being placed within a property name or value.  

When a task or program ends unexpectedly, an “abend” occurs.  When this happens, the computer program should automatically create an error message to show what the program just did, the file that caused the error or indicate the location of the error in the memory.

An absolute address is an exact memory address.  The term may also be called a “real address,” “machine address” or “direct address.”  

Absolute coding is a kind of computer programing in which the computer programmer uses absolute addressing, rather than indirect addressing.  For instance, an exact memory address may be used to store data rather than use an indirect address by a computer programmer in an assembly language.  

Absolute positioning is one way that an element can be positioned with CSS. If an element is positioned absolutely, the box of an element is taken out completely from the document’s flow; it is placed in relation to its containing block.  This containing block can be the original containing block or another element.  The area the element would have occupied in the document is taken over as if the element were never there.  The positioned element creates a block box despite the kind of box it would have created had it been in the regular flow of the documen 

In computer programming, an action statement is a command that completes actions such as copying and pasting text.

ActiveX is a branch of Microsoft’s COM and OLE technologies that is incorporated in applications and on the Internet.  A browser can perform more tasks with one’s computer than what is possible with just HTML with the use of ActiveX.  For example, people using ActiveX can easily check for Windows updates.

Ada (known previously as DoD-1) is a high-level Pascal-based programming language named after Augusta Ada Byron.  It was created by the United States Department of Defense.  

The term “aggregate” can refer to a number of things, including data that is made up of smaller segments of information that come together to create a greater whole.  The term may also refer to a software program created to gather data from several sources.  For instance, a computer user could employ a RSS aggregator that gathers common web pages RSS gives and immediately view all the latest details on the pages without needing to go to every site individually.  In computer programming, the term “aggregate” refers to a kind of object composition in which only some of the containing objects will be eradicated when the owning object is eradicated.  

An alert box (also known as an alert window or alert dialog) is a small window that pops up on the computer screen that gives information to a user. Frequently an alert box contains a cancel button and an OK button.  

ALGOL (an abbreviation for ALGOrithmic Language) is a portable language for scientific computations.  It broke into the public scene in the late 1950’s as ALGOL 58 and was later developed into ALGOL 68 in the 1960’s.  

An algorithm is a number of procedures, formulas, or instructions employed to fix a problem.  They are employed daily by people around the world to solve a variety of problems.  For instance, an algorithm can be employed to analyze a person’s emails to decide whether incoming mail is legitimate or just spam.  The first person to create an algorithm for a machine was Ada Lovelace.

AOP (an abbreviation for Aspect-Oriented Programming) was created by Xerox PARC.  It aids a computer programer in determining how a program will be compiled.  The term may also refer to Auto OP - a chanserv IRC chat feature that allows a user immediate access to OP in a chat channel they can use once they are registered with nickserv.

API (an abbreviation for application program interface) is a number of tools, routines and protocols for creating software applications.  APIs permit programmers to access other company’s services and programs with greater ease.  For example, Twitter permits website developers/programmers to more easily take part in their services through the use of APIs.  

A applet is a small program that can complete a task that a bigger program is not capable of doing.  An example of an applet is Sun Java applet - it is a file located on the Internet that administers more functions not possible through the use of HTML.  

Also known as an “arg,” an argument in computer programming or when referencing the command line, is a value that is placed into a routine, command or function.  

Arithmetic operators refer to the symbols that act as the arithmetic math operations.  The addition operator is +, the subtraction operator is -, the multiplication operator is *, and the division operator is /.

ASPI is an abbreviation for Advanced SCSI Programming Interface - an interface specification.  It sends commands to a SCSI host adapter created by Adaptec.  It is now the unofficial standard for computer programmers who desire to make drivers that operate with all ASPI-compatible SCSI adapters.  

Refers to a table layout method of using CSS that  resembles a long-used model by authors to create HTML tables.  This method can be used in the following matter: 1) The minimum and maximum cell width for each cell in a column is calculated. 2) The minimum width needed to view the content is determined.  If a cells contains a width value bigger than the minimum possible width, a value of width is set for the minimum cell width.  And the minimum cell width is set to the minimum content width if the cell’s width value is auto.  3) Calculate the width needed to show the content minus any line-breaking for the maximum width.  The maximum cell width is this value.  4) Determine both the minimum and maximum column width.  5) The total of the minimum column widths needs to be equal to the minimum cell width for the spanning cell.  Moreover, the total of the maximum column widths needs to be equal to the spanning cell’s maximum width.  Any differences in the column widths should be divided equally amid the spanned columns.  Also, one needs to take into consideration that when a column width has a % value for the width, the % is determined as it relates to the table’s width - though the width may not be given.  This percentage value needs to be used in the next part of the algorithm.  A user agent can determine the width of a width once he/she has figured out how narrow or wide each column may be.  This process is figured out in the following manner:  A) The computed table width is contrasted to the total of all the column widths, as well as any cell-spacing or borders.  The bigger of the two values is chosen as the width of the table.  All the widths of the columns are expanded by an equal measurement so they take up the width of the table if the table’s computed width is bigger than the total of the column’s cell-spacing, borders and widths.  However, if the computed width of the table is auto, then a table’s width is found by totaling the cell-spacing, borders and column widths.  So, like traditional HTML tables, this signifies that a table will remain as wide as possible to have its content viewed - but no more as necessary.  After these steps are completed, a user agent can commence with laying out the table.  

 A block-level box is one in which an element box takes over the full width of a parent’s content area and pushes other elements away from its sides.  A break exists before and after a block-level element.  A div is an example of a block-level element.  Display values that make block-boxes include all CSS Advanced Layout templates and: block, list-item, table-caption, table-cell, table-column-group, table-row, table-footer-group, table-header-group, table-row-group, table, list-item, and block.

In CSS, a block-level box in CSS creates an “element box” - a rectangular box.  The box designates the degree of space surrounding an element.  The content, padding and border areas of an element make up the background area.  Any transparency of the border (such as if it was dashed) will be seen through those sections.  The margin area is not included in the background portion of an element.  Important to note is that just the width, height and margins of an element box can be set to auto.  Margins may contain negative values.  The default of an element box for its border and padding widths are none and 0 (zero).  Also, the property width determines just the width of the content area if the box-sizing is content-box.  The property width determines the full width of the content, borders and padding if the box-sizing is border-box.  If there are margins, they are placed in addition to it.  This same principle applies to the height in regards to the height of the element.

A declaration block is the second part of a CSS rule.  It consists of one or more declarations made up of a CSS property and a value associated with that particular property.  Each declaration ends with a semi-colon with the last semi-colon of the last declaration being optional.  

Elements can be classified into two main CSS groups; these two groups are replaced and non-replaced.  Elements can differ substantially in how they are presented depending on which group they belong to.  Most HTML and XHTML elements belong to the nonreplaced group; in this group, an element’s content is viewed by the user agent within a box created by the element itself.   Most elements in HTML and XHTML are nonreplaced elements, such as paragraphs, lists, table cells and headings.  

There are two main kinds of element display roles in CSS3; inline-level and block-level.  Every CSS3 display values land in either one of these two types.  Because not all properties are applied to both types of roles, it is essential to learn which role a box is associated with.  

Refers to the equation that governs the horizontal layout of absolutely positioned elements.  The equation that determines the width of the containing block is as follows: vertical scrollbar width + left + margin-left + border-left-width + width + padding-right + padding-left + border-right-width + margin-right + right.   

Refers to the equation that governs the vertical layout of absolutely positioned elements.  The equation that determines the height of the containing block is as follows: horizontal scrollbar height + top + margin-top + border-top-width + height + padding-bottom + padding-top + border-bottom-width + margin-bottom + bottom.  

Fixed positioning is one way that an element can be positioned with CSS. If an element is in a fixed position, the box of the element acts like it is set to absolute; however the element’s box container is actually the viewpo 

Refers to a quick type of table layout using CSS that is not reliant on the contents of table cells.  This type of layout relies instead on the width values of the cells, columns and table located in the 1st row of the table.   This layout uses these steps: 1) A column element with a width property set to any value except to auto creates a width for itself.  2) A cell creates the width for its column if it has a width value other than auto, and the column contains an auto width.  If the cell spans several columns, the width is separated evenly amidst the columns.  3) All the columns that remain auto-sized are sized so their widths are evenly sized as much as possible.  4) The table width is fixed at the table’s width value or the total value of the column widths, depending on which value is greater.  If the column widths are less than the table width, then the amount between them is divided by the number of columns and added to each one.  

Floating an element in CSS allows the element to be positioned to the right or left of its containing block and for other content to flow around it with respect to its edges.  Each floated element creates a block box despite any kind of box that would have been created if it was not floated.  A floated element is positioned depending on certain rules such as:  1) The right outer edge (or left) can not be to the right inner edge (or left) of the element’s containing block.  2) The top of a floating element can not be above the top of any previous block-level or floating element. 3) The top of a floating element can not be higher than the inner top of the element’s block container. 4) An element that is floated needs to be positioned as high as it can be placed.  5) An element that is floated left needs to be placed to the left as much as it can be (and the same principle applies to a right floated element).   

A document’s elements create a hierarchy with the root element located at the top and the remaining document parts sprawled out beneath it.  Within an HTML document, the body and head elements are located beneath the html element.  Ancestor elements are located higher in the tree-like structure and their descendents are located below them.  CSS refers to the document structure to determine inheritance (refers to how a style is inherited by the descendents of an element).  Inheritance can be overruled by a style rule that is immediately applied to an element.  Values that are inherited do not possess specificity.  It is important to realize that some elements are not inherited.  A property will define if it is inherited; examples of elements that are not inherited include such elements such as background, margin, border and padding.  

In CSS, inline boxes are rectangular boxes created from an inline-level box. The height and width are not applicable to nonreplaced inline boxes.  Any value of auto is changed to 0 (zero) for the following properties: margin-right, margin-top, margin-left, top, bottom, left and right.  

An inline-level box is one in which an element’s box is created in a line of text and keeps the flow of the line.  Span, em and a are all examples of inline-level elements.  They do not cause a line break before or after their code, so they never disrupt the flow of content they are inserted into.  Display values that make inline boxes include: ruby, inline-table, inline-block and inline.   

The use of inline styles is one method in which  HTML and XHTML can be stylized with CSS.  The style information can be designated for an element through the use of the style attribute.  A style attribute’s value is a declaration block minus the curly braces.  Just the content of a single declaration can be applied to a style attribute value; an entire style sheet may not be inserted into a style attribute.

Link aggregation in networking is connecting several network connections to allow more data to be dispatched or create a backup connection in the event there is a connection failure.  

An element can be classified as either a nonreplaced element or a replaced element.  A nonreplaced element is an element whose content is viewed by the user agent within a box created by the element itself. Most elements in HTML and XHTML are nonreplaced elements, such as paragraphs, lists, table cells and headings.  

Packet aggregation in networking is the combining of several packets together in the efforts to reduce the number of server requests by the transmission of packets.  

Elements may be positioned several ways in CSS, and several rules are enforced that govern the containing block of the element and how it is presented in that element.  There are 4 kinds of positioning, including: 1) static positioning 2) relative positioning 3) absolute positioning and 4) fixed positioning 

Relative positioning is one way that an element can be positioned with CSS.  If an element is positioned relatively, the box of an element is offset by some measurement.  The space the element would take over if it was not positioned is thought of as its containing block.  The element keeps the space it would have possessed if it had not been positioned, and the area is retained that the element would usually occ 

An element can be classified as either a nonreplaced element or a replaced element.  Replaced elements are elements whose content is replaced by an item not immediately portrayed by the content of the document.  In other words, the element does not contain any content - just the element’s name and attributes are present.  Such an element can only be presented by inserting content through other methods since no content is contained in the element.  The img element is an example of a replaced element; it contains no content, but by inserting an external image through the use of a src attribute the image can be viewed by the user.  

Route aggregation in networking is the creating of two or more networks combined into a single routing prefix.

Rule structure is the correct syntax of how to apply styles to HTML and XHTML with CSS. Each rule contains two distinct parts; these parts include the selector and the declaration block.  p {color:black; font-family:serif;} is an example of the rule structure.  P is called the selector.  The other items are part of the declaration block.  Color is the property and black is the value of that property.  And font-family is the property and serif is the value of that property.  

In CSS, a run-in creates either an inline box or block box, and this is determined by the circumstances.  It is defined by display: run-in.  The outcome is determined by the rules of: 1) If the run-in includes a block-box, the run-in will create a block box. 2) If a sibling block box directly follows a run-in and it is not absolutely positioned or  floated, then the run-in box turns into the sibling block box’s first inline box. 3) The run-in will create a block box if both conditions are not applicable.  

 Shrink-to-fit refers to a method of laying out absolutely positioned elements.  It closely resembles figuring out a table cell’s width through the use of automatic table layout algorithms.  Frequently, the user agent tries to discover the minimum element width that will envelop the content and wrap several lines only if the wrapping is unavoidable.  

Specificity refers to the weight of a selector ( its importance), along with the declarations related to the selector.  The values of specificity are cumulative with the values organized from right-to-left in importance.  A declaration is given more weight with the !important directive as opposed to non-important declarations.  The declaration keeps the specificity of its selectors; it is taken into account only as it relates to other important declarations.  

 Static position refers to one type of layout of absolutely positioned elements.  If an element is in a ‘static position’ it is placed where its edge would normally be positioned.

Static positioning is one way that an element can be positioned with CSS.  If an element is positioned statically, the box of the element is created as normal.  Block-level elements create a rectangular box that is part of the flow of the document.  Inline-level boxes create one or multiple line boxes that flow inside the element’s of their par 

Style precedence refers to the determination of which styles are ultimately selected and applied to the html elements of a website.  An XHTML or HTML document may include inline styles, import and link to several external style sheets, and include embedded stylesheets.  Rules from all these style sources may differ from one another, thus CSS uses the method of the cascade to determine which style takes precedence among these rules.  Specificity and inheritance are the main parts of the cascade system that determine style precedence.  

Refers to the rules that determine how a table is arranged using CSS.  Usually a table in CSS is created based on the following rules: 1) A row group’s box surrounds the exact grid cells as the row boxes inside of it.  2) Every row box includes an individual row of grid cells.  And every row box in a table makes up the table from top to bottom following the order they occur in the source document.  Therefore, there are as many row elements as there are grid rows.  3) A column box surrounds one or multiple columns of grid cells.  These column boxes are positioned by one another following the order they occur. The 1st column box is positioned on the left side for languages that are left-to-right (and right for right-to-left languages).  4) The box of a column group surrounds the exact grid cells as the column boxes it surrounds.  5) The document language defines the spanning of cells of rows or columns.  6)  The box of a cell may not go past the last row box of a row group or table.  A cell needs to be cut short to fit in the row group or table that surrounds it if the table structure causes a cell box to reach past the last row box.  

The cascade refers to how CSS determines which styles are used in a website when styles conflict with one another.  To determine the case 1) Locate the declarations that include a selector that pairs up with an element 2) Organize by weight (importance) the declarations associated to the element 3) Remember that rules containing !important are weighted more than rules that are not marked with it.  Therefore organize by origin the declarations associated with the element.  The three origins are user agent, reader and author.  Typically an author’s styles overrule the reader’s styles.  However, !important reader styles overrule !important author styles.  A user agent’s default styles are overruled by both author and reader styles.  3) Organize by specificity the declarations associated to the element.  Elements with a lower specificity have less weight than those elements with a higher specificity.  4) Lastly, organize by order the declarations associated with the element.  A declaration has more weight when it is located further down in a stylesheet.  If declarations are located in an imported style sheet, they are given the status of coming before other declarations in the style sheet that imports.  They therefore do not possess as much weight as other rules in the stylesheet that imports them.

A vertical scrollbar is a bar that can be manipulated to go up or down to reveal content not otherwise seen on a webpage.  The width of a vertical scrollbar is not affected by CSS and is defined by the user agent.