BKCMSTDC.RVW   990317

"Communications Standard Dictionary", Martin H. Weik, 1996,
0-412-08391-4, U$152.00/UK#85.95/NLG311.00
%A   Martin H. Weik
%C   115 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY   10003
%D   1996
%G   0-412-08391-4
%I   Chapman & Hall
%O   U$152.00/UK#85.95/NLG311.00 606-525-6600 800-842-3636
%O   fax: 606-525-7778 +1-212-254-9499 order@chaphall.com
%P   1192 p.
%T   "Communications Standard Dictionary"

Neither the preface nor the introduction give much definition about
the specific fields of communications being defined.  Video,
television, commercial broadcast, movie, telephony, and Internet terms
do not get much coverage.  (The lavaliere microphone, ubiquitous due
to its inclusion in IBM dictionaries, is absent.)  Military and
engineering vocabulary predominates.

Spaces are ignored in ordering definitions, which may create some
slight confusion for those more familiar with library ordering.  For
example, "C language" is not listed with "c" (the designation for
light speed), but follows "clamping circuit."  Cross references are
extensive.  Prepositional phrases, such as "index of refraction," are
reduced to modified nouns, in this case "refractive index."  Thus, the
definition may not be immediately found under the more commonly used
phrase, but, again, the one is cross referenced to the other.

Even given the enormous size, the work is not exhaustive.  Public and
private key encryption systems are defined (and rather well) but the
more accurate symmetric and asymmetric terms for the two systems are
not mentioned.  I would have been very interested to see what the
derivation of BNC (as in "BNC connector) was, except that it isn't
included.  The more mundane aspects of networks don't get much ink:
neither sniffer nor the more formal network protocol analyzer were
mentioned.  On the other hand, five variant abbreviations for "bits
per second" were defined in the table of acronyms.

The range of topics included does focus on communications, but not
exclusively.  Much material covers physics, where related to
communications technologies, and electronics.  Fiber optics provides a
great deal of the material for the book: in fact, "time domain
reflectometry" is defined merely as a synonym for "optical time domain
reflectometry," disregarding the use in coaxial and other non-optical
cable systems.  Fiber optics coverage is extensive, including a number
of relatively little known technologies such as "air-supported optical
fiber."  Digital electronics, including a number of gate level figures
and diagrams (I was a little sorry that flip-flops didn't make it),
gets fairly significant coverage.  Some items have a very tenuous
connection to technical communication, such as physiological elements
like the "accommodation" of the human eye.  The entries are fairly
heavily weighted towards terms used by official standards bodies.  (I
found it amusing that a note was included to the effect that neither
in the technical literature nor in standards and protocols was there
any consistency in the use of communication versus communications, or
telecommunication versus telecommunications.  Weik is absolutely
correct on this point.)  Some details, and also the general tone,
reflect the author's background with the military.  The Internet, for
example, is defined in correct, but very formal terms, with no
discussion of the social or cultural aspects.  (I wondered if the book
was getting a bit Dick Tracy-esque for a second before I realized what
was meant by a "radio watch.")  While data communications now play a
major role in communications overall, they are not, by any means, the
only components.  Radio technology is well represented in this volume.

(The material is generally formal and even turgid, but is there any
subversive humour?  I am not sure what to make of an illustration that
shows a "fiber optic cable that outshines a copper cable."  Another
such item is the definition for "spacecraft," and the discussion of
satellite.)

A number of the definitions included relate solely to computer use. 
For example, "absolute cell addressing" is defined only in terms of
personal computer spreadsheet software.  (Though less common,
spreadsheet software is also found on larger systems.)  On the other
hand, while "access control" is included and defined, access control
list is not and ACL doesn't make the acronym list.  Personal computers
have heavily influenced these entries, as is evidenced by the fact
that "backspace" refers only to the destructive backspace which is the
commonly understood meaning of the term in that environment.  Others
are simply odd, such as the assertion that on a "computer standard
keyboard" the symbol for British currency (pounds) moves the "pointer"
left by one screen or page.  (Note the trouble I had even specifying
the character: to the best of my recollection it has appeared on only
"genuine" VT 100 keyboards among those I have worked with, and I'm
quite certain it did not have any cursor movement function.) 
Occasionally it would be nice to have some kind of citation for
obscure usages, such as "rigid diskette."

Slang terms are not prevalent, but are not excluded, either.  There
are entries for both "cracker" and "hacker" (the latter unfortunately
defined for the dark side only), as well as "cybercop."  (There is no
listing for forensic computing and "free net" refers to radio networks
while there is no listing for Free-Net.)  "Worm" is poorly defined as
a type of computer virus, which is not defined at all.

Errors are very hard to find, and then tend to be subject to
interpretation, such as the difference in definition between
"cartridge" and "cassette" or the rather non-technical explanation for
"gel."  ("Refractive index matching gel" does a lot better.)  In
specialized realms there are more questionable entries.  A "firewall,"
for example, is said to provide "trusted network security for a
distributed computing and communications environment" where most
experts would say that it provides limited security for a confined
network.  In addition, the firewall entry seems to relate only to
selective routing and doesn't mention proxy service.  "Internet
Assistant" is not written in HyperText Markup Language, but helps to
produce a file properly encoded with it.  (The definition for
"HyperText Markup Language" is also a bit odd.)  And I hesitate to
contradict Dr. Weik, but everything I have ever read seems to indicate
that the 53 byte cell size for Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is
fixed.

In those areas it does cover extensively, the work is generally both
authoritative and helpful.  As the author implies, at times it
functions more like an encyclopedia than a glossary, with extensive
discussions rather than simple definitions.  For the average user or
manager, however, the areas of specialization are pretty esoteric, and
the gaps in common topics may be frustrating.  For the engineer,
particularly if dealing with the military, the text could be very
useful indeed.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999   BKCMSTDC.RVW   990317