Overwhelmed with âgeek speakâ? Google can help you find the answers.
Specialized vocabularies remain, for the most part, fairly staticâwords donât suddenly change their meaning all that often. Not so with technical and computer-related jargon. It seems like every 12 seconds someone comes up with a new buzzword or term relating to computers or the Internet, and then 12 minutes later it becomes obsolete or means something completely differentâoften more than one thing at a time. Maybe itâs not that bad. It just feels that way.
Google can help you in two ways; by helping you look up words and by helping you figure out what words you donât know that you need to know.
Youâve just got out of the conference room and so many new words were slung at you your head is buzzing. The problem at this point is that you donât know if youâve been hearing slang, hardware/software specific terminology, or general terminology. How do you determine which is which?
As with any new vocabulary, youâre going to have to use contextual clues. In what part of the conversation was the term used? Was it used most often in relation to something? Did only one person use the term? It might just be slang [Hack #4]. Is it written down anywhere? Try to get all the information about it that you can. If there is no information about it availableâyour boss stuck her head in your cubicle and said, âWeâre thinking of spending $20 million on a project using X. What do you think?ââtreat it as general terminology.
Before you start your search at Google, check and see if Google Labs [Hack #35] is still offering the Google Glossary (http://labs.google.com/glossary/). Google Glossary provides definitions of terms both technical and nontechnical. If that didnât turn up anything useful, move on to Google.
First things first: for heavenâs sake, please
donât just plug the abbreviation into the query box!
For example, searching for XSLT
will net you
900,000 results. While combing through the sites Google turns up may
eventually lead you to a definition, thereâs simply
more to life than that. Instead, add "stands +for"
to the query if itâs an abbreviation or acronym.
"XSLT
stands
+for"
returns around 29 results, and the very
first is a tutorial glossary. If youâre still
getting too many results ("XML stands +for"
gives
you almost 1,000 results) try adding beginners
or
newbie
to the query. "XML stands +for" beginners
brings in 35 results, the first being
âXML for beginners.â
If youâre still not getting the results you want,
try "What is
X
?"
or
"
X
+is short +for"
or X
beginners FAQ
, where X
is the acronym or
term. These should be regarded as second-tier methods, because most
sites donât tend to use phrases like
âWhat is X?â on their pages,
âX is short forâ is uncommon
language usage, and X might be so new (or so obscure) that it
doesnât yet have an FAQ entry. Then again, your
mileage may vary and itâs worth a shot;
thereâs a lot of terminology out there.
If you have hardware- or software-specific terminologyâas opposed to hardware- or software-relatedâtry the word or phrase along with anything you might know about its usage. For example, DynaLoader is software-specific terminology; itâs a Perl module. That much known, simply give the two words a spin:
DynaLoader Perl
If the results youâre finding are too advanced,
assuming you already know what a DynaLoader is, start playing with
the words beginners
, newbie
,
and the like to bring you closer to information for beginners:
DynaLoader Perl Beginners
If you still canât find the word in Google, there are a few possible causes: perhaps itâs slang specific to your area, your coworkers are playing with your mind, you heard it wrong (or there was a typo on the printout you got), or itâs very, very new.
Despite your best efforts, youâre not finding good explanations of the terminology on Google. There are a few other sites that might have what youâre looking for.
- Whatis (http://whatis.techtarget.com)
A searchable subject index of computer terminology, from software to telecom. This is especially useful if youâre got a hardware- or software-specific word, because the definitions are divided up into categories. You can also browse alphabetically. Annotations are good and are often cross-indexed.
- Webopedia (http://www.pcwebopaedia.com/)
Searchable by keyword or browseable by category. Also has a list of the newest entries on the front page so you can check for new words.
- Netlingo (http://www.netlingo.com/framesindex.html)
This is more Internet-oriented. This site shows up with a frame on the left containing the words, with the definitions on the right. It includes lots of cross-referencing and really old slang.
- Tech Encyclopedia (http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/)
Features definitions and information on over 20,000 words. Top 10 terms searched for are listed so you can see if everyone else is as confused as you are. Though entries had before-the-listing and after-the-listing lists of words, I saw only moderate cross-referencing.
Geek terminology proliferates almost as quickly as web pages. Donât worry too much about deliberately keeping upâitâs just about impossible. Instead, use Google as a âready referenceâ resource for definitions.
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