The Interop Glossary
An evolving vocabulary for the law of interoperability governing electronic data format and communication protocol technical specifications, standards, and technical regulations.
- CDF
- Compound Document Formats. A set of World-Wide Web Consortium candidate recommendations (standards) for generating and rendering compound documents. It includes a markup language-neutral interoperability framework (CDRF + CDIF) and WICDprofiles for different combinations of XML-derived markup languages. See How Does Compound Document Framework Benefit Us? and W3C CDF Working Group public home page.
- CDIF
- Compound Document by Inclusion Framework. An interoperability framework and markup profile under development by the W3C Compound Document Formats Working Group. Using CDIF, compound documents will be created by direct inclusion of copied content rather than by reference. CDIF is planned as a layer paralleling that of WICD Core profile between CDRF and the WICD Mobile profile. Planned version 2.0 WICD profiles must integrate with both CDRF and CDIF. See W3C CDIF Draft.
- CDRF
- Compound Document by Reference Framework. An interoperability framework specification that is one of the W3C CDF recommendations. CDRF addresses interoperability issues not addressed by individual markup languages incorporated in a compound document such as the propagation of events across namespaces, the combination of rendering, and the user interaction model. CDRF is designed for the interoperability of implementations of the various Web Integration Compound Document (WICD) profiles and integration of the forthcoming CDIF. The Compound Document Framework is language-independent. While CDRF is clearly meant to serve as the basis for integrating W3C's family of XML formats within its Interaction Domain (e.g., MathML, SMIL, SVG, VoiceXML, XForms, XHTML, XSL) with each other, together with CSS and the W3C Document Object Model, it can also be used to integrate non-W3C formats with W3C formats or to integrate non-W3C formats with other non-W3C formats. See latest CDRF specification.
- communications protocol
- A common signaling language used for communications purposes. Such protocols predate the advent of electronic computing, e.g., viewed broadly, speech, writing systems, smoke signals, semaphore code, sign language, and telegraphy codes are all communications protocols. In the ICT context, the signals making up a communication may be transmitted by any of numerous methods such as copper wire, electrical circuits, radio frequencies, microwave, fiber optic cable, quantum mechanics, etc. See also definition in State of New York v. Microsoft, pp. 35-36. The line between communications protocol and data formats is difficult to draw in a consistent fashion. E.g., TTS is unmistakably both.
- compatibility
- In the information technology context, the qualitative degree to which one information technology system can properly process information provided by another IT system. Compatibility involves consideration of fidelity and is not a synonym for interoperability.
- composite application
- a perspective of software engineering that defines an application built by combining multiple existing functions into a new application. People often compare composite applications to mashups. However, composite applications leverage enterprise and enterprise-ready sources (e.g., existing modules or even enterprise web services) of information, while mashups usually rely on web-based, and often free, sources. -- Wikipedia. The creation of composite applications may be considered one method of achieving interoperability.
- compound document
- A document that combines multiple electronic document formats in a single document.
- conformance
- Fulfilment by a product, process, or service of specified requirements, e.g., as required by a standard, technical regulation, or procurement specification.
- conformance assessment
- Any procedure used, directly or indirectly, to determine that relevant requirements in a technical regulation, standard, or procurement specification is fulfilled. Such procedures include, inter alia, procedures for sampling, testing and inspection; evaluation, verification and assurance of conformity; registration, accreditation and approval as well as their combinations. See ATBT Article XVII § 3; ISO/IEC JTC 1 Directives, pp. 11, 83-84, 145. Validation is only one conformity assessment procedure that will often be insufficient by itself to ensure full conformity because of rules that cannot be expressed in a markup language's grammar.
- convert
- In the ICT context, conversion is the process of translating data or a carrier to another data format or carrier.
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