Computing terms

Computing has many specific products, tools and terms.

Programs and programming languages

Capitalise the first letter of computer programs and applications (including web applications, add-ins, toolbars and extensions that can be added to applications), and follow manufacturer (or owner, if open source) usage:

Sometimes these names change with time. Mac OS X became OS X and then macOS. In general, choosing the current usage and providing adequate ancillary information (e.g. version numbers or names), if needed, gives a good balance between consistency of appearance and accuracy.

Capitalise the first letter of programming languages:

Remember that sometimes (e.g. for compatibility reasons) a version or range of versions must be indicated. Be as specific as necessary:

Protocols are written in lower case because they are essentially descriptions:

Names of established standards are rarely written out in full, but should follow the usual rules for capitalisation of international and national standards:

Note that unicode is short for universal coded character set (see Abbreviations and contractions), and is written in lower case unless in a formal title (referring to the Unicode Consortium or similar).

Some terms begin with a lower-case letter or number, and this cannot be changed because it is an important part of the name. Do not use these terms at the start of a sentence – recast the sentence if necessary:

In formal writing, do not use a program or command name as a verb:

File types

Files can be referred to in several ways:

• by description (e.g. Microsoft Word document)
• by accepted abbreviation (e.g. PDF)
• by file extension (e.g. .docx in document.docx).

Which is best depends on what is being communicated. A generic term (e.g. bitmap image) may not be specific enough; many bitmap image file formats exist. Giving the acronym (e.g. BMP, PNG) is more precise.

In general discussions, it may be best to use the description followed by the acronym on first use, unless the format is familiar to the audience:

Treat the abbreviation in this way whether the extension is a genuine acronym or initialism (e.g. PDF – portable document format) or not (e.g. XLSX – Excel spreadsheet).

In some contexts – for example, when giving detailed instructions about commands to be typed – the file extension is a useful way to identify file types. This is because it is what would be typed in an actual command. When referring to the file extension, use lower case and the full stop. If the discussion includes code listings or examples of program output (see Code and Instructions for programs, websites and apps), consider using the same monospaced font for all file names, parts of names, output and code:

Be aware that the same file type can take different extensions (e.g. .jpg versus .jpeg). Make sure the reader knows precisely which files you are talking about.

Specific computing terms

Because the computing and internet landscape evolves quickly and is very variable, style guides and manuals dealing with computing terms vary significantly. The overall trend is the same as for other words – terms often begin as 2 or more words, perhaps capitalised, and merge, and lose capitals. You may see:

Within a document, always strive for consistency.

Note the style and usage for these common computing terms:

• dialog not dialogue – use dialogue except when referring to dialog boxes and similar

• disc versus disk
  • disc – compact disc, digital versatile disc
  • disk – hard disk drive, floppy disk
• DVD – digital versatile disc (not video disc)

• ‘e-words’

  • the most common e-words are generally set solid – check your chosen dictionary

  email     ebook     ecommerce    ezine

  • less common terms tend to retain the hyphen

  e-learning     e-journal     e-publish

• hard disk drive – no hyphens (but solid-state drive)
• internet – lower case
• login, logon, logoff, logout – do not use login to mean username or password

• markup – as an adjective in a computing context, the word is set solid

• online, offline – in a computing context, the words are set solid

• program – always use program when discussing computer programs, even when the style otherwise mandates programme
• solid-state drive – hyphen (but hard disk drive)
• webpage, website – set solid
• world wide web – lower case, no hyphens.