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Zeus Lexicon

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F

F - 1. the sixth letter of the alphabet. 2. a drive letter on a PC following the drive designated E. 3. n. a single hexadecimal digit used to represent the decimal number 15.

FALSE - 1. a Lingo constant with a value of zero (0). See TRUE. 2. See TCIITM.

FAQ - (usually pronounced "Eff-Ay-Cue", but occasionally "fack") a list of Frequently Asked Questions and (hopefully) the corresponding answers. FAQs are the best place to learn the basics about a product or service. Zeus Productions strives to answer questions well beyond the scope of most FAQs in our FUQs. Visit FAQ/FUQ Central. See FDT.

FAT - File Allocation Table, a hidden component of the DOS directory structure that stores information about where each file is located on the disk. 2. see Fat Binary.

Fat Binary - a "Fat Binary" or "Fat" executable is one that contains both native PowerPC instructions and also 680x0 instructions in a single file. This makes the file somewhat larger, but allows it to run optimally on either type of Macintosh. The Mac OS automatically runs the correct "half" of a Fat executable.

Fat Mac - 1. nickname for the second Macintosh model released, with 512 KB of RAM, which followed the original 128 KB Mac. 2. A Big Mac with extra cheese and special sauce.

Fat Xtra - an Xtra that will work with both 68K Macs and PowerMacs. See Fat Binary.

FDT - Frequently Debated Topics. See FAQ.

feature - a bug that will never be fixed.

Fed Ex - 1. v. to ship something overnight with a high degree of reliability. Fed Ex delivery of any Zeus Productions software is available for an extra charge. See TCIITM, snail mail, USPS, UPS, e-mail, MIME. 2. n. Federal Express, Inc..

Federal Express, Inc. - a highly reliable overnight delivery company, commonly known as Fed Ex.

Finder - 1. party allowed to keep something. 2. the Macintosh application responsible for the Mac OS's look-and-feel, including the desktop. See System, System Folder, GUI.

File Explorer - a file browser in Windows 95 which lets you view files on a local or remote machine. Not the same as Microsoft Internet Explorer.

file format - the nature of a file, including any relevant header information and the data contained in the file, such as ASCII, PICT, TIFF, BMP.

file I/O - reading and writing data to/from a file. See I/O.

FileIO - the FileIO XObject or FileIO Xtra.

FileIO XObject - an XObject from Macromedia that comes with Director and allows you to read and write external text files. Replaced by the FileIO Xtra.

FileIO Xtra - an Xtra from Macromedia that comes with Director and allows you to read and write external text files. The Xtra replaces the FileIO XObject.

File Transfer Protocol - the standard protocol for transferring files from one computer to another over the Internet. Commonly referred to as FTP. See ftp, ftp site.

File Type - all Macintosh files include a four-character File Type which indicates the format of the file. This allows a document to be properly interpreted by an application, or in the case of an application, alerts the Mac OS that it is an executable file. See extension, APPL, Creator Code and Desktop Database. Refer to the TechNote, "File Types, Creator Codes and Extensions".

fka - as in "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince". See aka.

flame - to debate with great emphasis and vigor.

Flaming Pie - an album by Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, whose name is taken from a quote by John Lennon.

float - 1. n. a floating-point number with a precision determined by the operating system. See integer, variable, string, list, array. 2. n. the Lingo float function. See the floatPrecision. 3. v. to hover or be otherwise buoyant.

floating-point - a number with a fractional portion, expressed as a decimal, such as 6.9. See float, integer.

floppy disk - a low-cost removable diskette used with floppy drives. The 5.25" variety was once prevalent, but now most drives use 3.5" diskettes. Even though the plastic shell of a diskette is hard, the internal medium is flexible, hence the name "floppy". See hard drive.

floppy drive - a low-cost storage device featuring removable floppy disks. Floppy drives have been largely supplanted by higher capacity CDs and Zip drives. See hard drive, IWM.

floptical disk - a removable re-writable floppy optical disk that stores a lot of data cheaply, but is not particularly fast.

Florentine - 1. adj. served or prepared with spinach 2. n. a cookie made with orange peels and almonds, coated in chocolate. 3. adj. from Florence Italy.

F.O.B. - Free On Board, without charge to the buyer for merchandise placed aboard a carrier at the point of shipment.

FOL - Fact Of Life, uncommon e-mail abbreviation usually indicating that you wish something were not true, but accept it as inevitable, such as a bug. (Also Furry Otter Laughing, Falopian Ovarian Laproscopy, Figurative On-line Liason, Facetious Orgasmic Liturgist, Fugitive Oblong Lutist, or FiOna appLe).

font - 1. a family of typefaces, such as Helvetica. See Fontographer, FONTMAP.TXT, TrueType. 2. font of wisdom, a knowledgable person.

FONTMAP.TXT - a configuration file which instructs Director regarding cross-platform font substitution.

Fontographer - a font creation tool from Macromedia.

font substitution - the process of choosing an alternate font, font size or type style if the requested font is not available in the requested size and type style. Font substitution is controlled via the FONTMAP.TXT file in Director.

food - chocolate, cookies and Cheetohs(R)

format - 1. v. to prepare a floppy or hard disk for use under a particular operating system. Formatting a drive ordinarily destroys all the data on the drive, so be careful. 2. n. a DOS utility which formats disks. 3. n. the type of operating system for which a disk has been prepared, see Macintosh format, DOS format. 4. the type of data contained in a file, as in, "What's this file's format?".

FORTRAN - FORmula TRANslator, a programming language noted for its mathematical precision, and not much else. See float, C, Basic, Lingo.

forum - a public area where users may obtain information on a particular topic, often run by a company offering a product. The Macromedia forum on AOL is accessible via Keyword: Macromedia. See message board.

fragment - to split up. Computers deal with blocks of information often of a fixed size. Some files are too large to fit into a single block and therefore span multiple blocks. If the blocks associated with a file are not contiguous, the file is said to be "fragmented". Fragmentation is a result of the repeated allocation and deallocation of blocks for use by various programs, and generally slows down the operation of the computer. A fragmented hard drive is remedied with a de-fragging utility. Rebooting your computer will de-fragment RAM. See the freeBlock.

frame script - a Lingo script present in one or more frames in the frame channel. Frame scripts are executed when the playback head enters the associated frame.. See movie script, sprite script, frame script, score script.

Freehand - 1. n. a graphics program from Macromedia, formerly Aldus Freehand. 2. adj. drawing without the aid of templates or similar assistance.

freeware - software that is given away for free. Ordinarily you may not include freeware on commercial products without the expressed consent of the copyright holder. Often confused, intentionally or otherwise, with shareware or piracy.

Frequently Asked Questions - see FAQ.

front-end - an interface that provides the visible face for a larger back-end entity. The front-end ordinarily does not perform substantial processing, but rather directs or controls the processing. zLaunch, zScript and zOpen allows you to use Director as a front-end in software samplers, or other projects requiring external applications.

frown - a common emoticon which looks like a frowning face when viewed sideways :( used to indicate that you are sad or that your computer-related problem is not solved. See smiley.

FTD - a way to deliver flowers via a phone call.

ftp - a keyword used as part of a URL to instruct the server to download a file, such as ftp://www.zeusprod.com/ftp/order.pdf. See File Transfer Protocol, http.

FTP - see File Transfer Protocol.

ftp address - the URL pointing to an ftp server, as in "Do you have an ftp address from which I can download the file?" See FTP, ftp.

ftp client- a program which supports FTP, and allows you to upload data to or download data from an ftp site. See Anarchie, Fetch.

ftp server - a computer which provides ftp services. See anonymous ftp.

ftp site - the collection of files at a given ftp address. Sometimes used synonymously with ftp address, as in "Can I download it from your ftp site?". See ftp, FTP.

FUQ - Frequently Unasked/Unanswered Questions. (usually pronounced "Eff-You-Cue", but occasionally pronounced "Phuque") Zeus Productions strives to answer questions well beyond the scope of most FAQs in our FUQs. Our FUQs include in-depth answers to both Pre-Sales and Technical questions, and including questions you didn't even know you had! Visit Zeus's FAQ/FUQ Central for a list of FUQs on this site. The terms "FAQ" and "FAQ" interchangeably on this site, but have no fear, All Our FAQs Are FUQed&#153.

FWIW - For What It's Worth, common e-mail abbreviation indicating a gently-offered or off-topic opinion. See FYI, IMO, IMHO, IMNSHO.

FYI - For Your Information, common e-mail abbreviation alerting the reader to sincere and/or timely information, not used sarcastically as is common in the spoken form. See FWIW, IMO, IMHO, IMNSHO.

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