Tech Talk Simplified: Common ICT Abbreviations You Should Know

The common ICT abbreviations for a computer system are simplified versions of words or phrases.

Abbreviations comprise a group of letters obtained from a phrase or expression. The abbreviation abbr can define the abbreviation itself, or abbrev.

In rigorous research, abbreviations should never be mistaken for contractions, crasis, acronyms, or initialisms, which share certain grammatical and phonetic functions.

However, all four are related by the word abbreviation in loose context.

List of Common ICT Abbreviations

The list includes the following:

A

• AM: Allied master computer
• ALU: Arithmetic and logic unit
• ASCII: American standard code for information
• AGP: Accelerated graphic port
• ATX: Advanced technology extended
• ACE: Advanced computing environment
• ACM: Association for Computing Machinery
• ADB: Apple desktop bus

B

• BASIC: Beginner all-purpose symbolic instruction code
• BIOS: Basic input and output system
• BINAC: Binary automatic computer
• BOINC: Berkeley open infrastructure for network computing

C

• CD: Compact disk
• CPU: Central processing unit
• CAN: Campus area network
• CMD: Command
• CEH: Certified ethical hacking
• CSS: Cascading style sheet
• CMOS: Complimentary meta oxide semiconductor
• CISCO: computer information system company
• CCNP: Cisco-certified network professionals
• COBOL: Common basic oriented language
• CCNA: Cisco certified network associate
• CA: Computer accountancy
• CAD: Computer-aided design
• CAE: Computer-aided engineering
• CAID: Computer-aided industrial design
• CAI: Computer-aided instruction
• CAM: Computer-aided manufacturing
• CAT: Computer-aided translation
• CAQ: Computer-aided quality assurance
• CASE: Computer-aided software engineering
• CC: Computer cleaning
• CDE: Common desktop environment
• CERT: Computer emergency response team
• CG: Computer graphics
• CGI: Computer-generated imagery
• CISC: Complex instruction set computer
• CNC: Computer numerical control
• CRS: Computer reservations system
• CS: Computer Science
• CSE: Computer Science and Engineering
• CT: Computerised tomography
• CTI: Computer telephony integration
• CAPTCHA: Completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart

D

• DVD: Digital versatile disc
• DIR: Directory
• DOC: Document
• DTP: Desktop publishing
• DBMS: Database management system
• DDOS: Distribution denial of service
• DIMMs: Dual in-line memory module

E

• ECMA: European computer manufacturers
• EDVAC: Electronic discrete variable automatic computer
• ENIAC: Electronic numerical integrator and computer
• EPIC: Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing
• EDSAC: Electronic dialogue storage automatic computer
• EBCDIC: Extended binary coded decimal interchange code
• EEPROM/EAPROM: Electrical erasable/alterable programmable read-only memory
• EPROM: Erasable programmable read-only memory

F

• FOLDOC: Free online dictionary of computing
• FORTRAN: Formular translator

G

• GHz: Gigahertz
• GUI: Graphic user interface
• GIGO: Gabbage in, gabbage out
• GPGPU: General-purpose computing on graphics processing units

H

• HDD: Hard disk drive
• HCI: Human-computer interaction
• HPC: High-performance computing
• HTC: High-throughput computing
• HTML: Hypertext markup language
• HTTP: Hypertext transfer protocol

I

• IC: Integrated circuit
• IP: Internet protocol
• ICT: Infomation communication technology
• IDE: Integrated drive electronics
• ISP: Internet service provider
• iSCSI: Internet Small Computer System Interface

J – L

• JDS: Java desktop system
• KDE: K desktop environment
• LAN: Local area network
• LSIC: Large-scale integrated circuit

M

• MAC: Media access control
• MAN: Metropolitan area network
• MOS: Metaoxide semiconductor
• MHz: Megahertz
• MCDST: Microsoft-certified desktop support

N – O

• NCSA: National center for supercomputing applications
• NGSCB: Next-generation secure computing base
• OS: Operating system

P

• PC: Personal computer
• PC DOS: Personal computer disc operating system
• PAN: Personal area network
• PCI: Peripheral component interconnect
• PHP: PHP hypertext preprocessor
• PDA: Personal digital assistance
• PDT: Parallel data transmission
• PCMCIA: Personal computer memory card
• PL/M: Programming language for microcomputers
• PROM: Programmable read-only memory

R

• RW: Re-writeable
• RD: Remote Desktop
• RFI: Remote file inclusion
• ROM: Read-only memory
• RAM: Random access memory
• RDC: Remote Desktop Connection
• RDP: Remote Desktop Protocol
• RISC: Reduced Instruction Set Computer

S

• SEO: Search engine optimization
• SDT: Serial data transmission
• SQL: Structured query language
• SLED: SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
• SCSI: Small Computer System Interface
• SIM: Subscriber identification module
• SIMMs: Single in-line memory module

T – U

• TCP: Transmission control protocol
• USB: Universal serial board
• URL: Universal resource locator
• UMPC: Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer
• UVC: Universal Virtual Computer
• UNIVAC: Universal automatic computer
• USSD: Unstructured supplementary service data
• UNIVAC: Universal Automatic Computer (By MKS)

V

• VGA: Visual graphic adaptor interchange
• VDU: Visual display unit
• VDI: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• VPN: Virtual private network
• VNC: Virtual Network Computing

W – Z

• WAN: Wide area network
• WWW: World Wide Web
• XXS: Cross-site scripting
• XML: Extensible mark-up language
• ZISC: Zero Instruction Set Computer