FDDI
Fiber Distributed Data Interface. An emerging standard for network technology based on fiber optics that has been established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). FDDI specifies a 100-million bit per second data rate.

File
A collection of information on a disk, usually a document or a program, that's lumped together and called by one name.

File Permissions
When you place files on a UNIX system you can assign the files various levels of permission, specifying who can access them, and what type of access they can have.

File Server
A computer that shares its resources, such as printers and files, with other computers on the network. An example of this is a Novell NetWare Server which shares its disk space with a workstation that does not have a disk drive of its own.

Film Recorder
Used in reference to color transparency recording devices, and sometimes also to imagesetters.

Filter
A piece of software that an application uses for file-format conversion or special effects. PageMaker, for example, has a filter that lets it import Microsoft Word files, while Photoshop has dozens of filters for special effects (such as image blurring). Filters can be part of the main application or external programs called plug-ins.

Finger
A program that displays information about someone on the internet.

Firewall
A mechanism that isolates a network from the rest of the Internet, permitting only specific traffic to pass in and out.

Flaming/Flame War
Reacting to someone's newsgroup posting or e-mail in a hostile manner by publicly chastising the person or bombarding the person with nasty e-mail.

Flatbed Scanner
Any scanning device that incorporates a flat transparent plate, on which original images are placed for scanning. The scanning process is linear rather than rotational.

Floating-point Processor
A special chip that handles sophisticated calculations, such as those used in spreadsheets, CAD, and scientific programs.

Folder
An object that can hold other objects, such as other folders and files.

Font
The software that creates a typeface on a computer screen.

Format
To initialize a disk to prepare it for use. The disk is checked for errors and organized so that data can be recorded and retrieved. Formatting a used disk erases any previously stored information.

FPO
For Position Only. A low resolution image placed in a document to indicate where the final version is to be positioned.

Fragmentation
A condition where parts of a file are stored in different locations on a disk. When a file is fragmented, the drive's read/write head has to jump from place to place to read the data; if many files are fragmented, it can slow the drive's performance.

Frame-grabbing System
A combination of hardware and software, designed to capture individual frames from video clips for further digital manipulation, or consecutive replay on computer platforms.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol. The Internet standard high-level protocol for transferring files from one computer to another across the network.

FTP site
A computer which stores files that can be retrieved using FTP. FTP sites which allow anyone to retrieve files (without having an account on that computer) are known as Anonymous FTP sites.