List of computing and IT abbreviations

 1GL—First-Generation Programming Language

 286—Intel 80286 processor
 2GL—Second-Generation Programming Language
 3GL—Third-Generation Programming Language
 386—Intel 80386 processor
 486—Intel 80486 processor
 4GL—Fourth-Generation Programming Language
 5GL—Fifth-Generation Programming Language

A
 AAL—ATM Adaptation Layer
 ABI—Application Binary Interface
 AC—Alternating Current
 ACL—Access Control List
 ADSL—Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
 ALU—Arithmetic and Logical Unit
 AMD—Advanced Micro Devices
 AoE—ATA over Ethernet
 API—Application Programming Interface
 ARP—Address Resolution Protocol
 ARPA—Address and Routing Parameter Area
 ARPANET—Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
 ASCII—American Standard Code for Information Interchange
 ATA—Advanced Technology Attachment
 ATAPI—Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface
 ATM—Asynchronous Transfer Mode
 AVC—Advanced Video Coding
 AVI—Audio Video Interleaved

B
 BAL—Basic Assembly Language
 BASIC—Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
 BCD—Binary Coded Decimal
 BEEP—Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol
 BER—Bit Error Rate
 BGP—Border Gateway Protocol
 BINAC—Binary Automatic Computer
 BIOS—Basic Input Output System
 BMP—Basic Multilingual Plane
 BOM—Byte Order Mark
 BOOTP—Bootstrap Protocol
 BPDU—Bridge Protocol Data Unit
 BPL—Broadband over Power Lines
 BT—Bluetooth

C
 CAD—Computer-Aided Design
 CAE—Computer-Aided Engineering
  CAID—Computer-Aided Industrial Design
 CD—Compact Disc
 CDMA—Code Division Multiple Access
 CDP—Continuous Data Protection
 CD-R—CD-Recordable
 CD-ROM—CD Read-Only Memory
 CD-RW—CD-Rewritable
 CDSA—Common Data Security Architecture
 CG—Computer Graphics
 CLI—Command Line Interface
 CMOS—Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor
 COBOL—Common Business-Oriented Language
 COMPUTER-Common Operating Machine Particularly Used for Trade, Education, and Research
 CPU—Central Processing Unit
 CRM—Customer Relationship Management
 CRT—Cathode Ray Tube

D
 DAP—Directory Access Protocol
 DAT—Digital Audio Tape
 DB—Database
 DBA—Database Administrator
 DBMS—Database Management System
 DCL—Data Control Language
 DDL—Data Definition Language
 DDR—Double Data Rate
 DEC—Digital Equipment Corporation
 DHCP—Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
 DHTML—Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language
 DL—Download
 DLL—Dynamic Link Library
 DLP—Digital Light Processing
 DMA—Direct Memory Access
 DMCA—Digital Millennium Copyright Act
 DMI—Direct Media Interface
 DND—Drag-and-Drop
 DNS—Domain Name System
 DOS—Disk Operating System
 DP—Dot Pitch
 DRAM—Dynamic Random Access Memory
 DSL—Digital Subscriber Line
 DSLAM—Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer
 DSP—Digital Signal Processor
 DTP—Desktop Publishing
 DVD—Digital Versatile Disc
 DVD-ROM—DVD-Read Only Memory
 DVD-RW—DVD-Rewritable

E
 EDI—Electronic Data Interchange
 EDSAC—Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator
 EDVAC—Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer
 EEPROM—Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
  E-mail—Electronic mail
 EGP—Exterior Gateway Protocol
 EIGRP—Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
 ENIAC—Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer
 EPROM—Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

F
 FAT—File Allocation Table
 FAQ—Frequently Asked Questions
 FDD—Floppy Disk Drive
 FDDI—Fiber Distributed Data Interface
 FDMA—Frequency-Division Multiple Access
 FIFO—First In First Out
 FTP—File Transfer Protocol
 FQDN—Fully Qualified Domain Name

G
 GDI—Graphics Device Interface
 GIF—Graphics Interchange Format
 GIGO—Garbage In, Garbage Out
 GUI—Graphical User Interface

H
 HAL—Hardware Abstraction Layer
 HDD—Hard Disk Drive
 HCL—Hardware Compatibility List
 HP—Hewlett-Packard
 HTML—Hypertext Markup Language
 HTTP—Hypertext Transfer Protocol

I
 IBM—International Business Machines
 IC—Integrated Circuit
 ICMP—Internet Control Message Protocol
 IE—Internet Explorer
 IEEE—Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
 IGMP—Internet Group Management Protocol
 IGRP—Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
 IMAP—Internet Message Access Protocol
 I/O—Input/output
 IP—Internet Protocol
 IPsec—Internet Protocol security
 IPTV—Internet Protocol Television
 IRQ—Interrupt Request
 IS—Information Systems
 ISDN—Integrated Services Digital Network
 ISO—International Organization for Standardization
 ISP—Internet Service Provider
 IT—Information Technology
 ITIL—Information Technology Infrastructure Library
 ITU—International Telecommunication Union
J
 JDK—Java Development Kit
 JEE—Java Enterprise Edition
 JPEG—Joint Photographic Experts Group
 JRE—Java Runtime Environment
 JVM—Java Virtual Machine

K
 KDE—K Desktop Environment

L
 L2TP—Layer two Tunneling Protocol
 LAN—Local Area Network
 LCD—Liquid Crystal Display
 LDAP—Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
 LED—Light-Emitting Diode
 LIB—LIBrary

M
 MAC—Media Access Control
 MAN—Metropolitan Area Network
 MICR—Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
 MIDI—Musical Instrument Digital Interface
 MPEG—Motion Pictures Experts Group
 MPLS—Multiprotocol Label Switching
 MS—Microsoft
 MS-DOS—Microsoft DOS
 MTU—Maximum Transmission Unit

N
 NAT—Network Address Translation
 NetBIOS—Network Basic Input/Output System
 NFS—Network File System
 NIC—Network Interface Controller
 NOC—Network Operations Center
 NOS—Network Operating System
 NTFS—NT Filesystem
 NVR—Network Video Recorder
 NVRAM—Non-Volatile Random Access Memory

O
 ODBC—Open DataBase Connectivity
 OLAP—Online Analytical Processing
 OLTP—Online Transaction Processing
 OMR—Optical Mark Recognition
 OOP—Object-Oriented Programming
 OS—Operating System
 OSI—Open Systems Interconnection
 OSPF—Open Shortest Path First

P
  P2P—Peer-To-Peer
 PAN—Personal Area Network
 PC—Personal Computer
 PC DOS—Personal Computer Disk Operating System
 PCI—Peripheral Component Interconnect
 PDP—Programmed Data Processor
 PNG—Portable Network Graphics
 PoE—Power over Ethernet
 POP3—Post Office Protocol v3
 POST—Power-On Self Test
 PPP—Point-to-Point Protocol
 PPPoA—PPP over ATM
 PPPoE—PPP over Ethernet
 PVR—Personal Video Recorder
Q
 QA—Quality Assurance
 QoS—Quality of Service
R
 RADIUS—Remote Authentication Dial In User Service
 RAID—Redundant Array of Independent Disks
 RAM—Random Access Memory
 RARP—Reverse Address Resolution Protocol
 RDBMS—Relational Database Management System
 RF—Radio Frequency
 RGB—Red, Green, Blue
 ROM—Read Only Memory
 ROM-DOS—Read Only Memory - Disk Operating System
 RTOS—Real-Time Operating System
S
 SAN—Storage Area Network
 SATA—Serial ATA
 SDN—Service Delivery Network
 SDRAM—Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
 SFTP—Simple File Transfer Protocol
 SLIP—Serial Line Internet Protocol
 SME—Subject Matter Expert
 SMBIOS—System Management BIOS
 SMS—Short Message Service
 SMTP—Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
 SNMP—Simple Network Management Protocol
 SNTP—Simple Network Time Protocol
 SQL—Structured Query Language
 SRAM—Static Random Access Memory
 SVGA—Super Video Graphics Array
T
 TCP—Transmission Control Protocol
 TCP/IP—Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
 TFT—Thin Film Transistor
 TFTP—Trivial File Transfer Protocol
 TTL—Time To Live
U
  UDP—User Datagram Protocol
 UPS—Uninterruptible Power Supply
 URL—Uniform Resource Locator
 USB—Universal Serial Bus
 UTP—Unshielded Twisted Pair
V
 VGA—Video Graphics Adapter
 VLAN—Virtual Local Area Network
 VLSI—Very-Large-Scale Integration
 VoIP—Voice over Internet Protocol
 VPN—Virtual Private Network
 VSAT—Very Small Aperture Terminal
W
 WAN—Wide Area Network
 WFI—Wait For Interrupt
 WiMAX—Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
 WLAN—Wireless Local Area Network
 WPAN—Wireless Personal Area Network
 WUSB—Wireless Universal Serial Bus
 WWAN—Wireless Wide Area Network
 WWW—World Wide Web
X
 XML—eXtensible Markup Language
Y
 Y2K—Year Two Thousand

Z
 ZMA—Zone Multicast Address
 ZPL—Z-level Programming Language