| Glossary

### A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary. If the term you are looking for starts with a digit or symbol, choose the '#' link.

# - A -

acceptance test
  A test of a partition, usually performed by users to ensure that their requirements are met.

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# - B -

baseline
  In year 2000 testing, the test results obtained by running the distilled testbed against applications before year 2000 changes are implemented.
baseline test
  In year 2000 testing, testing to verify that modified code behaves the same as the original code.
black box test
  In year 2000 testing, the performance test of a partition that focuses on its external functions rather than on its internal operation. For example, the performance test of a bank's deposit application would evaluate only the elapsed time between initiating a deposit request and receiving verification that the transaction is complete. What nodes are part of the deposit transaction and their individual performance is not relevant.
  Contrast with white box test.
bridge
  A temporary program that translates dates between formats. A bridge either converts an old file format to a changed file format, called a forward bridge; or it converts a changed file format to an old file format, called a backward bridge. Interfaces that span partition boundaries require a bridge because early partitions will access dates in a different format than later partitions. Bridges may be required at external interfaces between applications and external entities as well as at internal interfaces between partitions. Every application is a member of one and only one partition.
bridging
  Translating valid values to another format to resolve transient differences between owners and users of the data. Use temporary bridge programs for bridging and permanent bridge programs for interfacing. The idea is the same; the lifetime differs.

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# - C -

century window
  A 100-year interval, usually crossing a century boundary, within which you assume all two-digit years lie.
compliancy testing
  In year 2000 testing, testing to verify unmodified applications claimed to be year 2000 ready are indeed ready.
compression
  The conversion of four-digit years to either hexadecimal or unsigned packed decimal to make them fit in two-digit year fields.
conversion
  Translating valid values to another format, such as two-digit years (YY) to four-digit years (CCYY) and/or VSAM to DB2 (for increased usability), on a one-time, permanent basis
critical event horizon
  The date on which a hardware or software component first fails to process dates properly. Each application can have a unique critical event horizon.

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# - D -

distilled testbed
  The refined test cases and test data used to test an application containing year 2000 fixes. These test cases and data are derived from those originally used to test the applications; test cases and data not relevant to testing the year 2000 fixes have been removed.

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# - E -

expansion
  The extension of date fields to contain the century information.

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# - F -

false positive
  A reported date impact that is not truly an impact.

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# - G -

GDG
  A Generation Data Group - a group is a group of data sets that are chronologically or functionally related. They are referred to by a name and a relative generation number with a maximum of 255 entries:
  DSN=TAX.DATA(0) is the current generation
  DSN=TAX.DATA(-1) is the previous generation
  DSN=TAX.DATA(+1) adds a new generation)

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# - H -

  (empty)

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# - I -

Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)
  A trade association composed of members representing a broad spectrum of the IT industry.
ITAA
  Information Technology Association of America
Interfacing
  Translating valid values to another format to resolve permanent differences between owners and users of the data. Use temporary bridge programs for bridging and permanent bridge programs for interfacing. The idea is the same; the lifetime differs.

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# - J -

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# - K -

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# - L -

  (empty)

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# - M -

Millennium Language Extensions (MLE)
  IBM's patent-pending technology that provides support for automated date windowing in its year 2000 ready COBOL and PL/I compilers. Conceptually, these extensions give you a mechanism to indicate to the compiler which dates should be windowed. It is a compiler-assisted solution for your windowed dates. MLE is fondly referred to as Emily.

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# - N -

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# - O -

  (empty)

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# - P -

partition
  A set of applications and data. Partitions divide the overall work effort into separately manageable units for purposes of funding, scheduling, staffing, and outsourcing. The defining characteristic of a partition is that all applications and data within a partition are put back into production at the same time.
performance test
  The testing of a modified application to assure that it meets its throughput, response time, and availability criteria.
post-fix test
  Using the distilled testbed to test an application after year-2000 changes are implemented. The purpose of this test is to assure that the application continues to run successfully after the changes are made: a regression test.
  Compare with: 199x test and 20xx test.

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# - Q -

  (empty)

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# - R -

retrofit testing
  In year 2000 testing, testing to verify that collateral changes made to production code function correctly with code modified for year 2000.

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# - S -

seed
  An initial specification or pattern of a program variable thought to be date related
seed file
  A packet of seeds in a file used as input to the Year 2000 Analysis Tool of VisualAge Redeveloper
seed list
  A list of seeds, generally contained in a file.
scrubbing
  Replacing invalid date values with valid values (such as 123299 with 12311999) or a missing value indicator (such as NULL in DB2).

standardization
  The enforcement of standard date formats, names, and routines.
subsystem
  A secondary or subordinate system, usually capable of operating independently of, or asynchronously with, a controlling system.

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# - T -

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# - U -

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# - V -

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# - W -

white box test
  In year 2000 testing, the performance test of a partition that studies and measures its internal operations in order to assess the partition's performance. For example, the performance test of a bank's deposit application might measure the time of each node in a deposit transaction in addition to the measuring the overall performance of the transaction.
  Contrast with black box test.

windowing
  The introduction of date routines that infer the correct century.

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# - X -

  (empty)

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# - Y -

year 2000 ready IBM product
  A year 2000 ready product is one that, when used in accordance with its associated documentation, is capable of correctly processing, providing, and/or receiving date data within and between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, provided that all products (for example, hardware, software, and firmware) used with the product properly exchange accurate date data with it.

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# - Z -

  (empty)

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# - # -

199x test
  Using a modified distilled testbed to test an application that contains year 2000 fixes. The testbed was modified by the addition of year 2000 data and test cases, but the system clock is current, not advanced to a date later than 1999. This test assures that the modified applications can handle year 2000 data.
  Compare with: post-fix test and 20xx test.

20xx test
  Using a modified distilled testbed to test an application that contains year 2000 fixes. This is the same testbed used in the 19xx test; it was modified by the addition of year 2000 data and test cases. Also, the system clock is advanced to dates later than 1999. This test assures that the modified applications can handle year 2000 data in the future.
  Compare with: post-fix test and 199x test.

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