Website Design and Development Glossary

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V

Vector Graphics

In computer graphics, a technique for representing a picture as points, lines and other geometric entities. Vector graphics typically take up considerably less file space, because they are a mathematical representation of the elements of the image, rather than a matrix of pixels. All computer-aided design (CAD), drawing and diagramming programs create vector graphics formats.

Source: TechWeb.com

Virus

A program or piece of code written by a cracker that "infects" one or more other programs by embedding a copy of itself in them, so that they become Trojan horses. When these programs are executed, the embedded virus is executed too, thus propagating the "infection". This normally happens invisibly to the user.

A virus has an "engine" - code that enables it to propagate and optionally a "payload" - what it does apart from propagating. It needs a "host" - the particular hardware and software environment on which it can run and a "trigger" - the event that starts it running.

Unlike a worm, a virus cannot infect other computers without assistance. It is propagated by vectors such as humans trading programs with their friends. The virus may do nothing but propagate itself and then allow the program to run normally. Usually, however, after propagating silently for a while, it starts doing things like writing "cute" messages on the terminal or playing strange tricks with the display (some viruses include display hacks). Viruses written by particularly antisocial crackers may do irreversible damage, like deleting files.

By the 1990s, viruses had become a serious problem, especially among IBM PC and Macintosh users (the lack of security on these machines enables viruses to spread easily, even infecting the operating system). The production of special antivirus software has become an industry, and a number of exaggerated media reports have caused outbreaks of near hysteria among users. Many lusers tend to blame *everything* that doesn't work as they had expected on virus attacks. Accordingly, this sense of "virus" has passed into popular usage where it is often incorrectly used for a worm or Trojan horse.

Source: Dictionary.com

Visual Basic (VB)

A popular event-driven visual programming system from Microsoft Corporation for Microsoft Windows. VB is good for developing Windows interfaces, it invokes fragments of BASIC code when the user performs certain operations on graphical objects on-screen. It is widely used for in-house application program development and for prototyping. It can also be used to create ActiveX and COM components.

Source: Dictionary.com

Visual Basic Script (VBScript)

Microsoft's scripting language which is an extension of their Visual Basic language. VBScript can be used with Microsoft Office applications and others. It can also be embedded in web pages but can only be understood by Internet Explorer.

Visual Basic is a BASIC variant with object-oriented features. Objects include applications, windows and selections.

Source: Dictionary.com

Visual C++

A {C} and C++ programming environment sold by Microsoft Corporation.

Source: Dictionary.com

VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language)

A draft specification for the design and implementation of a platform-independent language for virtual reality scene description.

Source: Dictionary.com

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