Glossary
face
A single polygon in a mesh.
faceplate
A hardware device that provides direct, physical control over an automotive computing device. A faceplate contains a color screen for visual output, a keypad, arrow keys, and several special purpose keys for user output.
factory default reset
A process that returns your HP Jornada to its original state by removing all power, thereby erasing all files and data you have saved.
factory update
An operating system image update mechanism, provided by the dial-up bool loader, that is designed to program the Windows CE operating system on the factory floor. The operating system image is downloaded using a high-speed parallel connection.
falloff
Light attenuation that occurs between a spotlight's inner and outer cones.
fax software
A program that lets you fax notes or spreadsheets directly from your digital assistant.
feature
Any logical grouping of OS components. For example, the Clipboard is a feature that could consist of eight APIs spread across two OS components. Its functionality is a logical grouping of OS components that a customer might select.
feature group
In Platform Builder, a feature group defines a general type of feature without specifying a specific implementation. A feature group is resolved when you select an implementation and thus specify the functionality.
field
Data for half of a single video frame within a video stream. Each field contains data for every other scan line. Fields are sent and received in odd field, even field order.
Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
A gate array with a logic network that can be developed after it has been included in a target device.
File Allocation Table (FAT)
A table or list maintained by some operating systems to manage disk space used for file storage. Files on a disk are stored, as space allows, in fixed-size groups of bytes (characters) rather than from beginning to end as contiguous strings of text or numbers. A single file can thus be scattered in pieces over many separate storage areas. A file allocation table maps available disk storage space so that it can mark flawed segments that should not be used and can find and link the pieces of a file. In MS-DOS, the file allocation table is commonly known as the FAT.
file filter
A Windows CE dynamic-link library (DLL) that controls the transfer of data between a desktop computer and a Windows CE-based device.
file handle
A token, or number, that the operating system uses to identify or refer to an open file or, sometimes, to a device.
file pointer
The offset in an open file that the operating system maintains internally. It points to the starting location from where data is read or written to when a read or write operation is performed on an open file. The file pointer can be moved to any location within the file by a seek operation.
file system
In an operating system, the overall structure in which files are named, stored, and organized. A file system consists of files, directories, and the information needed to locate and access these items. The term can also refer to the portion of an operating system that translates requests for file operations from an application into low-level, sector-oriented tasks that can be understood by the drivers controlling the disk drives.
file system application interface
A subset of the standard Win32 file system functions. These functions let you create directories and data files, read and write file data, and retrieve file and directory information.
file system driver (FSD)
A user-written DLL that the operating system loads to interface to a user-created installable file system. The functions that access an installable file system are implemented in the DLL.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
The protocol used for copying files to and from remote computer systems on a network using a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), such as the Internet. This protocol also allows users to use FTP commands to work with files, such as listing files and directories on the remote system.
FileView
A tab in the Project Workspace window that displays the files associated with a Platform Builder project. The files are organized in expandable folders according to categories such as source files and header files.
firmware
Software routines stored in read-only memory (ROM). Unlike random access memory (RAM), read-only memory stays intact even in the absence of electrical power. Startup routines and low-level input/output instructions are stored in firmware. It falls between software and hardware in terms of ease of modification.
firmware monitor
An optional boot loader element used to debug a boot loader. A firmware monitor supports dumping memory contents, disassembling code, and downloading images. You can add additional diagnostic commands for low-level hardware tests.
first order clock correction
A measurement of how much the atomic clock on a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite drifts over time.
first time power up
A power state that indicates the very first time that an automotive computing device is powered up.
flash memory
Semiconductor memory that can operate as ROM but, on an activating signal, can rewrite its contents as though it were RAM.
flash release directory
The location where the make image process gets all the files that go into an image. The environment variable _FLATRELEASEDIR is set by PB to the correct location.
flash time
The elapsed time, in milliseconds, required to display, invert, and restore the caret display. This value is twice as much as the blink time.
Flat Release Directory
The location where the Make Image process gets all the files that go into an image. The environment variable _FLATRELEASEDIR is set by PB to the correct location.
flat-panel display
A very thin display screen used in portable computers. Nearly all modern flat-panel displays use LCD technologies. Most LCD screens are backlit to make them easier to read in bright environments.
flimmering
A shimmering appearance on 3-D primitives that results from a poor separation of z values when doing decaling. Some pixels from the back texture are rendered onto the front texture and visa versa.
flip
The process of swapping the addresses associated with the back and front buffers. This effectively swaps the image in the back buffer to the front buffer, thereby displaying the image.
flipping chain
A series of surfaces, attached to each other, that can be flipped.
flipping surface
Any piece of memory that can be flipped.
floating mode
One of the operational states of a dockable window. In floating mode, a window can appear anywhere on your screen and has a thin title bar. A floating window is always on top of all other windows.
focus
1. A temporary property of a user interface object, such as a window, view, dialog box, or button, that permits the object to receive keyboard input from the user.
2. One of the two points that determine the shape of an ellipse. The sum of the distances between any point on the ellipse and each of the foci is constant.
focus free
An interaction state for a GUI control in which the control does not have to receive GUI focus before the user can interact with it. Also applies to forms in which no controls on the form have to receive GUI focus before the user can interact with them.
focus window
The window that is currently receiving keyboard input. The focus window is always the active window, a descendant of the active window, or NULL.
font mapping
The process of matching an application-defined description of a font with a font that is physically stored on a device or in an operating system. An application-defined font is called a logical font and a font on a device or in an operating system is called a physical font.
foreground audio source
An audio source that is controlled entirely by the operating system, such as speech recognition tones and text-to-speech (TTS). Depending on user settings, a foreground audio source can partially or fully mute background audio sources while they play.
foreground source
An audio source that can be mixed with other foreground audio sources and a single background audio source before being sent to a destination. Foreground audio sources include system sounds, speech synthesis, and communications audio, such as a cell phone.
foreground thread
The thread used to create the window with which the user is currently working.
foreground window
The window with which the user is currently working. The system assigns a slightly higher priority to the thread used to create the foreground window than it does to other threads.
form
An ActiveX control container that you customize to create a user interface for your application. A form contains a collection of controls, such as speech controls, power list boxes, audio controls, and tabber controls. A form displays information on a screen.
forms manager
An ActiveX control container that manages forms, providing focus management, menus, help, and event sinks.
fragmentation
The process of separating a datagram into smaller pieces for routing between networks.
frame of reference
An invisible box that provides a frame of reference for an object in a 3-D scene.
free threading model
A model in which an object can be used on any thread at any time.
front buffer
The first buffer in a flipping chain. In many cases, this will be the visible primary surface. In other cases, such as a flipping chain of textures, the front buffer is the surface from which the 3-D engine will get the texture, but it is not the primary surface and is not displayed. In the case of flipping overlay surfaces, the front buffer is displayed, but it is only a surface overlaid on the primary surface.
front clipping plane
The near boundary of a viewing frustum. Any object closer to the camera than the front clipping plane is not rendered. The height of the front clipping plane defines the field of view.