There are two kinds of abbreviations that you may have to use in your writing, and the guidelines for these are somewhat different:
Abbreviations are useful in that they allow you to avoid repeating long technical terms in your writing. However, you should note these points:
Reliability-centred Maintenance (RCM) is becoming as fundamental ... The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was set up to ... ...with the emergence of technologies such as digital video broadcasting (DVB),.... .....Internet protocol cable communications (IPCablecom)......
Some abbreviations do not need to be spelled out because they are universally recognised. These include:
25 ml 14 kg 10 m 230 km 38oC BUT a few millilitres
Some abbreviations which originate from Latin or Greek may not be known to your reader, so it is normally better to use the full English equivalent. Use of the full form of the word also helps the text to flow better for the reader. Some of these, though, are useful in your references and bibliography.
abbreviation | comment + meaning |
c. / ca. / circa | use the English word: approximately, about |
cf. | use the English word: compare |
e.g. | normally better to use the English words: for example, for instance |
et al. | use after authors' names in your bibliography, but avoid in your text (= and others) |
etc. | try to avoid, as it implies lack of precision (= and so on, and the rest) |
ibid | only use in your list of references (= in the same place, that is in the book you have just mentioned) |
i.e. | normally better to use the English phrase: that is, in other words |
loc. cit. | only use in your references (= in the place mentioned before) |
NB | use the English word: Note |
op. cit. | only use in your references (= in the book mentioned before) |
q.v. | only use in your references (= see in another place, that is for a cross-reference |
v. / vs. | use the English word: against, versus |
viz. | use the English word: namely |
ABI | Application Binary Interface |
ACE | Advanced Computing Environment, Adverse Channel Enhancements |
ACK | Acknowledgment |
ACL | Access Control List |
ADR | Address |
AI | Analog Input, Artificial Intelligence |
ALINK | Active Link |
ALU | Arithmetic Logic Unit |
AOL | America Online |
ARPANET | Advanced Research Projects Agency Network |
ASAP | Automatic Switching And Processing, As Soon As Possible |
ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
ASIC | Application Specific Integrated Circuit |
ATTN | Attention |
AVG | Average |
BBS | Bulletin Board System |
BE | Below Or Equal |
BIT | Binary Digit |
CAD | Computer Aided Design |
CADE | Client/server Aplication Development Environment |
CAN | Cancel |
CC: | Carbon Copy |
CDL | Computer Design Language |
CHAT | Conversational Hypertext Access Technology |
CIA | Current Instruction Address |
CIS | Card Information Structure, Client/Customer Information System, Compuserve Information Service, Computer Information System |
CISC | Complex Instruction Set Computing |
CMP | Compare, Computer |
COBOL | Common Business Oriented Language |
CODE | Client-Server Open Development Environment |
COLD | Computer Output To Laser Disk |
COM | Commercial,Common Object Model (Microsoft),Config Configuration |
CP | Copy Protected |
CPE | Central Processing Element,Customer Premise/Provided Equipment |
C/S | Client/Server |
CTCP | Client-To-Client Protocol |
CTRL | Control |
CUP | Cursor Position |
D/A | Digital to Analogue |
DATACOM | Data Communications |
DB | Data Base, Data Buffer |
DBM | Data Base Manager |
DC | Data Collection, Data Communication, Data Control, Device Control, Direct Current |
Del | Delete |
Dev | Device |
DLL | Dynamic Link Library |
DOS | Disk Operating System |
DP | Data Processing |
DR | Data Received |
D/R | Direct/Reverse |
ECAL | Enjoy Computing And Learn |
EOF | End Of File |
EOR | End Of Run |
ETX | End Of Text |
FQDN | Fully Qualified Domain Name |
F/T | Full Time, Func Function |
Gb | Gigabit (1,024 megabits) |
GB | Gigabyte (1,024 megabytes) |
GPI | Graphics Programming Interface |
GSM | Global Shared Memory, Global System for Mobile Communications |
HBA | Host Bus Adapter |
HD | Hard Disk, High Density |
HDW | Hardware |
HIMEM | High Memory |
HP | Hewlett Packard (company) |
HS | High Speed |
HTML | Hypertext Markup language |
HTTP | Hypertext Transport Protocol |
HTTP-NG | Hypertext Transport Protocol Next Generation |
H/W | Hardware |
HWD | Heigh-Width-Depth |
IBM | International Business Machine |
IC | Input Circuit/ Integrated Circuit |
IE | Internet Explorer |
I/F | Interface |
I/O | Input/Output |
IP | Instruction Pointer, Internet Protocol |
IQL | Interactive Query Language |
IR | Infrared |
ISBN | International Standard Book Number |
ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network |
ISIS | Integrated Systems and Information Services |
ISOC | Internet Society |
ISO/OSI | International Standard Organization/Open System Interconnection |
ISP | Internet Service Provider |
IT | Information Technology |
IUAP | Internet User Account Provider |
JE | Jump if Equal |
JFIF | JPEG File Interchange Format |
JL | Jump if Less |
JMP | Jump |
JNS | Jump if No Sign |
JZ | Jump if Zero |
Kb | Kilobit |
KBD | Keyboard |
LAN | Local Area Network |
LBX | Local Bus Accelerator |
LCD | Liquid Crystal Display |
LN | Logarithm |
LNK | Link |
MB | Megabyte |
MEG | Megabyte |
MEM | Memory |
MFP | Multi-Function Peripheral/Product |
MIB | Management Information Base |
MICRO | One-millionth |
MSG | Message |
NC | Network Computer |
NCC | Network Control Center |
NCGA | Network Computer Graphics Association |
NFF | No Fault found |
NOS | Network Operating System |
NS | Nanosecond, National Semiconductor, Non Stop, Network Supervisor |
NTF | No Trouble Found |
OIS | Office Information Systems |
OLRT | On-line Real Time Operation |
OM | Object Manager |
OMNS | Open Network Management System |
ONU | Optical Network Unit |
OSI | Open Systems Interconnection |
PC | Personal Computer, Printed Circuit, Program Counter |
Package Definition File, Portable Document Format/File, Processor Defined Function, Program Development Facility | |
PI | Program Interruption |
PIN | Personal Identification Number |
PIXEL | Picture Element |
PNP | Plug and Play |
POS | Programmable Object Select, Positive, Point of Sale |
PPP | Point -to-Point Protocol |
PRE | Preformatted |
PROC | Procedure |
P/T | Part Time |
PW | Password |
PWR | Power |
QBE | Query by Example |
QBF | Query by Form |
QFA | Quick File Access |
RAID | Redundant Arrays of Independent Disk, Redundant Arrays of Independent Drives, Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks, Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Systems |
RAM | Random Access Memory |
RCL | Rotate Carry Left |
RCP | Remote Control Panel, Remote Copy, Restore Cursor Position |
RCR | Rotate Carry Right |
RFU | Reserved for Future Use |
RISC | Reduced Instruction Set Computer |
RMB | Right Mouse Button |
RMDIR | Remove Directory |
R-O | Read Only |
ROM | Read Only Memory |
RTV | Real Time Video |
R/W | Read/Write |
SBI | Sound Blaster Instrument |
SCRN | Screen |
SDA | Software Disk Array, Source Data Automation, System Display Architecture |
SEL | Select |
SN | Serial Number |
SOS | Standards and Open System, Sophisticated Operating System |
SOX | Sound Exchange |
SPEC | Systems Performance Evaluation Cooperative |
SQ | Squeezed (files) |
SVGA | Super Video Graphics Array |
SVR | Server |
S/W | Software |
TPC/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol |
TEMP/TMP | Temporary |
TOD | Time of Day |
T/R | Transmit/Receive |
UCL | Universal Communications Language |
UG | User Group |
UNI | User Network Interface |
UNIVAC | Universal Automatic Computer |
UPG | Upgrade |
URL | Uniform Resource Locator |
USERID | User Identification |
USQ | Un-squeezed (files) |
VA | Virtual Address |
VAM | Virtual Access Method |
VAN | Value Added Network |
VB | Visual Basic, Variable Block |
VHS | Very High Speed, Video Home System, Virtual Host storage |
VP | Virtual Path |
VPE | Virtual Programming Environment |
VS | Virtual Storage |
WWW | World Wide Web |
WYSBYGI | What You See Before You Get It |
WYSIWYG | What You See Is What You Get |
XCHG | Exchange |
XCOPY | Extended Copy |
XMIT | Transmit |
YTD | Year To Date |
ZDL | Zero Delay Lockout |
© Vysoké učení technické v Brně, 2005
Last update: 19-Dec-2005, 16:04