W

Wafer (computer)
Base material in chip making. It is a slice, approximately 1/30" thick, from a salami-like silicon crystal from 3 to 6 inches in diameter. The wafer goes through a series of photomasking, etching and implantation steps.

Wafer and Die Sorters (computer/microelectronics)
In microelectronics fabrication, equipment which automates the testing and sorting of semiconductor devices from wafer form.

Wafer Scale Integration (computer)
Next evolution in semiconductor technology. It builds a gigantic circuit on an entire wafer. Just as the integrated circuit eliminated cutting out thousands of transistors from the wafer only to wire them back again on printed circuit boards, wafer scale integration eliminates the cutting out of chips from the wafer only to connect them back again.

Wait State (computer)
Amount of time spent waiting for some operation to take place. It can refer to a variable length of time a program has to wait before it can be processed, or it may refer to a specific duration of time, such as a machine cycle.

Wallpaper (computer/Windows)
In Windows, a picture or bitmapped pattern that appears as the Windows Desktop.

Wand (computer)
Hand-held optical reader that is used to read typewritten fonts, printed fonts, OCR fonts and bar codes. The wand is waved over each line of characters or codes in a single pass.

Warm Boot (computer)
Bootstrap operation that is performed after the system has been running.

Wash Light (A/V)
In audio/visual production, a floodlight or spotlight placed so that its light falls on a background to provide separation of the subject from the background.

Wave (communications)
Shape of radiated energy. All radio signals, light rays, x-rays, and cosmic rays radiate an energy that looks like rippling waves. To visualize this wave, take a piece of paper and start drawing an up and down line while pulling the paper past the pencil/pen. What will be seen is a rendition of wave lengths on the paper.

Wave File (A/V, computer/Windows, M/M)
RIFF (Resource Interchange File Format) file containing PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) waveform audio data, usually with a WAV extension. Microsoft and IBM have adopted WAVE files as their standard format for multimedia sound applications.

Waveform (communications)
Pattern of a particular sound wave or other electronic signal in analog form. Also, the pictorial representation of the form or shape of a wave, obtained by plotting the amplitude of the wave with respect to time. There are an infinite number of waveforms.

Waveform Audio (A/V, computer, Windows, M/M)
Data type standard of Windows Multimedia. Waveform audio defines how digitally sampled sounds are stored in files and processed by Windows API functions. Also called WaveAudio.

Waveform Determination (communications)
Defining of a curve, or waveform, that represents the variation of the magnitude of a quantity with time. Waveform is determined either with oscillographs that display and record the waveform directly, or with wave analyzers that indicate the numerical values of amplitude, frequency, and sometimes phase angle of the harmonic components of a complex wave. Waveforms are of 2 types: (1) periodic or continuous waves; (2) aperiodic or transient waves.

Wavefront (communications/photonics)
Imaginary surface that connects all points in the cross-section of a light beam that have travelled an equal distance from the source: it fully describes the light beam.

Waveguide (communications/photonics)
Rectangular, circular or elliptical tube through which radio waves are transmitted. The waveguide constrains or guides the propagation of electromagnetic waves along a path defined by the physical construction of the guide. In a broad sense, devices such as a pair of parallel wires and a coaxial cable can be called waveguides. When used in a more restricted sense, however, the term waveguide usually means a metallic tube which can confine and guide the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the hollow space along the lengthwise direction of the tube. Hollow waveguides of convenient sizes and of short length are best adapted to the transmission of microwaves (device to antenna).

Wavelength (communications/photonics)
Distance between two consecutive points with the same phase in a wave (i.e. two consecutive crests): also, the distance the wave travels during one period.

Wavemeter (communications)
Device for measuring the geometrical spacing between successive surfaces of equal phase along an electromagnetic wave.

Wave-Shaping Circuits (communications)
Electronic circuits used to create or modify a specified time-varying electrical quantity, usually voltage or current, using combinations of electronic devices, such as vacuum tubes or transistors, and circuit elements including resistors, capacitors, and inductors.

Wavetable (A/V, computer, M/M)
Term describing the synthesis technique of simulating the sounds of musical instruments with short digitized recordings (PCM samples) of their sounds. The samples are usually stored in read-only memory chips but may also reside in disk files for loading into random-access memory. The samples are manipulated (for instance, looped or repeated) by an on-board microprocessor to create sounds of extended duration. Digital pitch shifting is used to create notes of different frequencies. Wavetable synthesis is the basic technology used by sample-playback synthesizers.

Web (computer/printing, internet)
Printing method in which paper is fed into the press in continuous rolls, rather than as individual sheets (a "web press"). Also, shortened name for the World Wide Web (www).

Wet (A/V)
Term used by audio engineers describing sound or a sound channel to which digital effects, such as reverberation, have been added (Contrast with Dry).

Wet-Process Benches (computer/microelectronics)
In microelectronics fabrication, benches or stations used for water processing.

Wheatstone Bridge (microelectronics)
Device used to measure the electrical resistance of an unknown resistor by comparing it with a known standard resistance.

White Balance (A/V)
In audio/visual production, the adjustment of a camera so that it will reproduce colors accurately in a given lighting condition. Each time the lighting condition changes, the camera must be white balanced again. The technique for white balancing will depend on the instructions that are provided, usually very specifically, with each camera model. White balance actually insures that white will be accurately reproduced in the scenes being photographed. Once white accuracy is achieved, the other colors will balance.

White Light (communications, photonics)
Light composed of all frequencies in a uniform distribution.

Whole Tone (A/V, music, M/M)
Pitch interval between two notes on the musical scale. Whole tone is represented by the interval between notes on a line and notes on a space between lines.

Wide Area Network (communications)
Network that interconnects geographical boundaries such as cities and states.

Wild Card (computer/DOS/Windows)
Character that substitutes for and allows a match by any character or set of characters in its place. The DOS ? and * wild cards are similarly used by Windows applications. In filenames, the user can use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard character to indicate any character or group of characters that might match that position in other filenames: for example *.EXE represents all files that end with the .EXE filename extension.

Window (computer/Windows)
Rectangular area on a screen in which the user can view an application or document.

Windows (computer)
Graphics-based operating environment from Microsoft.

Windows Application (computer/Windows)
Application that was designed especially for Microsoft's Windows and will not run without Windows. All Windows applications follow the same conventions for arrangement of menus, style of dialog boxes, use of the keyboard, use of the mouse.

Wind Screen (A/V)
In audio/visual production, a protective foam covering on a microphone to reduce or eliminate the sound of wind rushing over the microphone.

WIN.INI (computer/DOS/Windows)
In Windows, a file that records, among other things, most of the settings that the user specifies with Control Panel. Windows reads WIN.INI each time the user starts Windows, and sets up the user's system in accordance with its settings. Some Windows applications also record the user preferences in WIN.INI.

Wire Bond (computer/microelectronics)
Fastened union point between a conductor or terminal and the semiconductor die.

Wired "OR" (computer/microelectronics)
In microelectronics fabrication, externally connected separate circuits or functions arranged so that the combination of their outputs result in an "AND" function. The point at which separate circuits are wired together will be an "0", if any one of the outputs is an "0" (the same as a dot "A" ).

Wireless Microphone (A/V)
In audio/visual production, a microphone with a built-in, miniature transmitter that can transmit sound to a distant (up to several hundred feet) receiver. In some microphone models, the transmitter is an accompanying unit.

WMF (computer/Windows)
Windows Meta File - the standard vector-based image format for Windows and the only vector graphic format officially supported by OLE 1.0.

Word (computer)
Computer's internal storage unit - refers to the amount of data it can hold in its registers and process at one time. For example, a 32-bit computer processes four bytes in the same time it takes a 16-bit computer to process two bytes, providing all timing is equal.

Word Length (computer)
Number of bits in a computer word.

Word Processing (computer)
Term used to historically describe a standalone system for accomplishing office work, it now has come to represent one of the fundamental applications of a personal computer system. The actual function in an office has expanded somewhat to encompass business communications generated by an organization, including a full spectrum of office work. Although still commonly used, the term, which dates back to the early 1960's usually does not reflect the expansion of word processing functions into the storage, retrieval, manipulation, and distribution of information, with a growing interdependence with electronic data processing. As a result many new names are appearing such as information processing, administrative systems, office systems, and others.

Word Wrap (computer)
Word processing feature that automatically starts a word at the left margin of the next line if there is not enough room for it on the previous line (based on width of margins).

Work Area (computer/Windows)
In Windows, the area of an application window or document window where the end-user can enter data: also known as workspace.

Work Function (computer/microelectronics)
Term used in microelectronics defining a quantity with the dimensions of energy which determines the thermionic emission of a solid at a given temperature.

Work Group (communications, computer/Windows)
Two or more individuals who share files and databases. Local area networks are designed around work groups to provide for the electronic sharing of required, or selected data. In Windows Networking, a workgroup is a collection of computers that are grouped for viewing purposes. Each workgroup is identified by a unique name (see domain).

Workspace (computer/Windows)
In Windows, the area of a window that displays the information contained in the application or document the user is working with.

Workstation (A/V, communications, computer/Windows)
High-performance, single user microcomputer. In a local area network, a personal computer that serves a single user in contrast with a file server that supports everyone. For Windows Networking, computers running the Windows Networking operating system are called workstations, as distinguished from computers running Windows Networking Advanced Server, which are called servers (see server, domain controller).

Workstation Service (communications, computer)
Facility that provides network connections and communications.

WORM (computer)
Write Once, Read Many times - the original description of a writable Compact Disc (laser) that may be prepared in a special optical disc drive. CD-WO (Write-Once CD standard) is a special type of WORM format.

WOW (A/V)
In audio/visual production, a term used to describe a slow variation in the pitch of a reproduced sound (a component with excessive WOW sounds like a warped vinyl record).

Wraparound (A/V)
In audio/visual production, material such as narration preceding and following an audio or video segment: the former to introduce the segment, the latter to finish it.

Write (computer)
Process of storing data in a memory device.

WYSIWYG (computer)
What You See Is What You Get ("wizzy-wig") - refers to displaying text and graphics on screen the same way it will be printed.