set REFWords to list(["accelerator card", "a means of speeding up an old PC by replacing the on board graphics with a faster graphics card"], ["access time", "the time it takes a device to acces data, quoted in milliseconds. The smaller the number the faster the machine"], ["account", "If you use a bulletin board or electronic mail system, then you have a personal account. Rather like your bank account, this has a password and an account name that identifies you"], ["acronym", "These form most of the technobabble which has been refined over many years to confuse you, the user, and keep us, the writers, in business. Try to take as little notice as possible of it:the computer industry is littered with TLAs (Three-letter acronyms)"], ["adapter card", "Card that plugs into an expansion bus in a PC and adds a new function to the computer, or allows it to communicate with another device"], ["address", "A number which identifies a particular storage location in a computer's memory. Each location can store one byte of data (that's eight bits)"], ["ANSI", "Stands for American National Standards Institute. An organisation that produces various formal standards for the computer industry."], ["application", "a program dedicated to a specific task ie. word processing or graphics"], ["ASCII", "American standard for text"], ["backup", "A second, safe copy of a file, letter or data. You should always do regular backups of your important work in case something goes wrong and you erase it"], ["backward compatible", "Compatibility of hardware or software to older versions of the product or standard"], ["baud rate", "The amount of data that can be sent along a communicatios channel every second. In common usage it is often confused with bits per second. These days modem speeds are normally measured in bits per second"], ["BASIC", " Stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. BASIC is a simple programming language that uses instructions that sound like English words"], ["beta software", "An early version of a software product that is being tested and is not yet working properly. Avoid using beta software regularly, since it's not 100 per cent reliable. When all the problems have been found and fixed, the software is then released"], ["binary", "The common name for base two maths. In binary, the smallest unit is a bit (short for a binary digit). This can have one of just two values: 0 or 1."], ["bit", "Binary digit, the basic binary unit for storing data. It can either be 0 or 1. A kilobit (kbit) is 1024 bits; and a megabit is just over a million buts.These units are often used for data transmission.For data storage, megabytes are more generally used."], ["BMP", "The three letter file-name extension that's given to files that store bitmap image data. If you use the Paint utility in Windows, you can save or open BMP files created in any other paint program."], ["boot", "Short for bootstrap. Refers to the process of a computer loading its operating system into memory. Reboot means to restart your computer after a crash, either with a warm reboot (Ctrl Alt Del) or a cold reboot where you switch the computer off and back"], ["boot disk", "Disk containing the operating system that is loaded when a PC is switched on. The boot up instructions tell the hardware to read in the operating system software"], ["browser", "a program used for viewing content from the Internet"], ["buffer", "A holding area in memory thatΓÇÖs used for temporary storage of information. If you type very fast, the word processor software might not be able to display the letters as quickly as you type them, so the keystrokes are stored in a buffer."], ["cpu", "Central processing unit. Normally, refers to the main processor or chip inside a PC. (see processor)"], ["crash", "Common term for when your computer freezes. Can be caused by a power surge, a bug, which is a fault in software or a General Protection Fault"], ["DOS (Disk Operating Sys.)", "Once the standard operating system for PCs, it is now being replaced by Windows 95 and Windows NT."], ["DPI (Dots per inch)", "Common measure of the resolution of a printer, a scanner or a display."], ["drivers", " Pieces of software that 'drive' a peripheral. They interpret between the computer and a device such as a CD-Rom."], ["EISA", "Extended Industry Standard Architecture. A bus standard designed to computer with MCA but is now being replaced by PCI."], ["Email (electronic mail)", "This is a means for an internet user to send messages via the internet to other internet users."], ["floppy disk drive", "Practically all PCs come with a floppy disk drive 3.5in HD (high density) 1.44Mb are now the standard. They come in hard plastic cases and have replaced the older, literally floppy 5.25in disks."], ["fonts", "Different typefaces that you can use to make letters on the screen and on paper appear different. Modern TrueType and Type1 fonts are stored as shape descriptions scalable to any size."], ["format", "To prepare a floppy or hard disk to accept data."], ["GUI", "Graphical User Interface (See Windows)"], ["hard disk", " Sometimes called a fixed disk, hard disks are hermetically-sealed rigid disks able to store data and programs. Disk capacities increase all the time. The standard is now 1Gb but disks of up to 9Gb are available."], [" HTML", "Hypertext mark-up language. The standard development language used on the World Wide Web."], ["IDE", "Integrated drive electronics. A control system to allow the computer and device to communicate. Once the standard for PC hard disks but now being replace by EIDE (enhanced IDE). EIDE can support four external devices including hard disks and CD-Rom drives"], [" ISDN", "Integrated Services Digital Network. A digital voice and data telephone network which looks set to replace the current analogue one. ISDN adaptors are already starting to replace modems as a fast way of accessing the Internet and transferring data."], ["KBit", "See Bit"], ["LAN", " Local Area Network (See Network)"], ["maths co-processor", "A specialised chip that handles mathematical calculations (floating point operations) for the processor. Modern processors like the Pentium have a co-processor built into them."], ["MCA", "A kind of bus designed by IBM to beat EISA. Although, it was faster, it never became popular because every machine that used it had to pay a royalty to IBM, and because it was not compatible with ISA."], ["memory", "The term normally refers to RAM(Random Access Memory). This is the kind that disappears whenever you turn your computer off"], ["modem", " The word is a contracted version of 'modulator/demodulator', which means that a modem is a box (or, less commonly, an expansion card) that lets your computer talk over phone lines to other computers. They are commonly used for accessing the internet."], ["motherboard", " The main printed circuit board which houses the processor, the memory and various other components."], ["MPEG", "A standard for compressing video available in several flavours: MPEG 1, MPEG 2 and MPEG 4. JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) is a standard for still image compression."], ["network", " A group of computers linked together with a cable. The most common form is a LAN. Files and email can be sent to other users without using floppy disks. Printers and other peripherals can be shared over a network."], ["operating system", " The operating system communicates with the hardware and provides services and utilities to applications while they run, such as saving and retrieving files."], ["parallel ports", " Used by your PC to communicate with the outside world, usually via a printer. Information can travel in parallel along a series of lines, making it faster than serial ports which can only handle one piece of information at a time."], ["pixel", "Picture element. The smallest possible addressable dot displayed on a monitor."], ["public domain software", " Software that is absolutely free. The author usually retains copyright, but you can make as many copies as you want and pass them to other people. It is often confused with shareware"], ["RAM", "Random Access Memory (See Memory)"], ["QWERTY", " The name of a standard English language keyboard, derived from the first six letters on the top row. The French equivalent is AZERTY."], ["SCSI", " Small Computer System Interface is a bus that comes as standard in a Macintosh and is starting to rival EIDE on PCs. It is commonly used for connecting devices such as hard disk drives and CD-ROM drives"], ["serial port", " The serial port, of which there are sometimes two (com1 and com2), is used by your PC to communicate with the outside world. They are predominantly used by modems and similar devices, which communicate quite slowly. Some mice also use them."], ["SIMM", " (Single Inline Memory Module)The standard modules for memory expansion on PCs. Older 30-pin SIMMs have now been replaced by the 72-pin variety available in capacities of up to 16Mb."], ["tape streamer", " Magnetic tape recorder designed for backing up data from your hard disk."], ["UART", "(Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter)"], [" V34,V32", "V34, the new standard for 28.800bps modems (see Baud). Don't buy a modem that doesn't comply with one of these standards."], [" VGA", " Video Graphics Array is the name given to a popular display. VGA graphics have 640 pixels horizontally and 480 vertically,and can display 16 colours.SuperVGA/(SVGA) graphics can display 800 x 600 or 1024 x 768 in as many colours as the computer will allow"], ["Windows", "GUI (Graphical User Interface) developed by Microsoft. Windows is supposed to make programs easier to use by giving them a standard, mouse-driven interface."], ["Windows 95", "Major improvement to Windows 3.11, with a completely redesigned interface. Now less prone to crashes and easier to use, but requires more memory."], ["WYSIWIG", "An acronym for What You See Is What You Get, an over-used but useful word to describe much modern software. What you see on the screen is exactly what you see when you print your work out."], [" ZIP", "Better known as Pkzip, this is a widely used shareware utility that compresses files i.e. makes them smaller."])
repeat with g = 30 to 34
set the castNum of sprite g to getAt(getAt(REFA2ZSPriteInfo, g - 29), 1)
set the locH of sprite g to getAt(getAt(REFA2ZSPriteInfo, g - 29), 2)
set the locV of sprite g to getAt(getAt(REFA2ZSPriteInfo, g - 29), 3)
set the ink of sprite g to getAt(getAt(REFA2ZSPriteInfo, g - 29), 4)
end repeat
put EMPTY into field "TheWordBox"
put EMPTY into field "TheDefBox"
set the textSize of field "TheWordBox" to 24
set the textSize of field "TheDefBox" to 14
updateStage()
REFOpenDatabase()
set REFWordList to []
set DBCount to 1
REFFillWordBox()
end
on REFOpenDatabase
global REFNumDataRecords, ffXobj, DBCount, REFWordList, REFWords
set REFNumDataRecords to count(REFWords)
end
on REFFillWordBox
global REFNumDataRecords, ffXobj, openFile, DBCount, REFWordList, REFA2ZActive, REFTheWord, REFTheDef, REFWords
set REFTheWord to getAt(getAt(REFWords, DBCount), 1)
set REFTheDef to getAt(getAt(REFWords, DBCount), 2)
put REFTheWord into field "TheWordBox"
put REFTheDef into field "TheDefBox"
end
on REFCloseDatabase
global REFNumDataRecords, ffXobj, DBCount, REFWordList
