Wikipedia terms

N.B. This is basically a collection of terms sourced from Wikipedia: the goal is to identify which terms are harder to disambiguate for users. This list matches the list of SWE/VIM terms maintained on this wiki SWE_terms as well as the list of relevant MMI terms MMI_OntDev_terms

Actuator (Wikipedia) An actuator is a mechanical device for moving or controlling a mechanism or system. An actuator typically is a mechanical device that takes energy, usually created by air, electricity, or liquid, and converts that into some kind of motion.

Detector redirected to Sensor

Device (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Device may refer to: ...)

• Computing and electronics
  • Computer hardware
  • Peripheral, any device attached to a computer that expands its functionality
  • Information appliance, a device, such as a cell phone, that focuses on handling a particular type of information and related tasks
  • Display device, a device that graphically displays text or images
  • Electronic component
  • Integrated circuit
  • gadgets one can use in daily lives
• Other uses
  • Measuring instrument
  • Machine
  • Tool
  • Device (band)

Component (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Component may refer to: ...) but none which matches Component of a system

Determinand not found

Feature (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Feature may refer to: ...) but none which matches the OGC definition of a feature

Geographic feature (Wikipedia) Geographic features, are components of a planet that can be referred to as locations, sites, areas, or regions (and therefore may show up on maps).

There are natural geographic features, abstract geographic features, and on Earth there are also artificial geographic features. Natural geographic features include landforms and ecosystems. Landforms are terrain types and bodies of water. Ecosystems are natural units consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment. Ecosystems come in many types and sizes, including ecozones, biomes (natural habitats such as tundra and forests), ecoregions, and many others. Abstract geographic features include politically designated areas and cartographical features (such as the Equator). Artificial geographic features include settlements and engineered constructs (such as dams, highways, and bridges).

Indication (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Indication can refer to: ...)

Instrument (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Instrument may refer to: ...)

• Use instead Measuring instrument, a device used to measure or compare physical properties

Location (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Location may refer to: ...)

Location (geography) (Wikipedia) In geography, Location is a position or point in physical space that something occupies on the Earth's surfase the Solar System, or mankinds physically reachable universe. An Absolute location can often be designated using a specific pairing of latitude and longitude, a Cartesian coordinate grid (e.g.,a Spherical coordinate system, or an ellipsoid-based system (e.g., World Geodetic System).

Measure (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Measure can mean: ...)

Measurement (Wikipedia) In science, measurement is the process of obtaining the magnitude of a quantity, such as length or mass, relative to a unit of measurement, such as a meter or a kilogram. The term can also be used to refer to the result obtained after performing the process.

Measurement function not found

Measuring instrument (Wikipedia) In the physical sciences, quality assurance, and engineering, measurement is the activity of obtaining and comparing physical quantities of real-world objects and events. Established standard objects and events are used as units, and the measurement results in a given number for the relationship between the item under study and the referenced unit of measurement. Measuring instruments, and formal test methods which define their use, are the means by which this translation is made. All measuring instruments are subject to varying degrees of instrument error and measurement uncertainty. Physicists use a vast range of instruments to perform their measurements. These range from simple objects such as rulers and stopwatches to electron microscopes and particle accelerators. Virtual instrumentation is widely used in the development of modern measuring instruments.

Model (Wikipedia) A model (from V.L. *modellus, dim. of L. modulus "measure, standard," dim. of modus "manner, measure" - Online Etymology Dic.) is a pattern, plan, representation (especially in miniature), or description designed to show the main object or workings of an object, system, or concept.

Model may also refer to: ... long list!

Observation (Wikipedia) Observation is either an activity of a living being (such as a human), consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments.

The term may also refer to any datum collected during this activity.

Operation (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Operation may refer to: ...)

Phenomenon (Wikipedia) A phenomenon (from Greek φαινόμενoν, pl. φαινόμενα - phenomena) is any observable occurrence.[1] In popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. In scientific usage, a phenomenon is any event that is observable, however commonplace it might be, even if it requires the use of instrumentation to observe it. For example, in physics, a phenomenon may be a feature of matter, energy, or spacetime, such as Isaac Newton's observations of the moon's orbit and of gravity, or Galileo Galilei's observations of the motion of a pendulum.[2]

Platform (Wikipedia) The word platform is used in several different contexts, usually referring to some kind of standing surface used to support things, give them stability, or visibility:

Procedure redirected to Procedure (term)

Procedure (term) (Wikipedia) A procedure is a specified series of actions or operations which have to be executed in the same manner in order to always obtain the same result under the same circumstances (for example, emergency procedures). Less precisely speaking, this word can indicate a sequence of activities, tasks, steps, decisions, calculations and processes, that when undertaken in the sequence laid down produces the described result, product or outcome. A procedure usually induces a change. It is in the scientific method.

Process (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Process may refer to: ...) including:

• Process (science), a method or event that results in a transformation in a physical or biological object, a substance or an organism
• Process (computing), a computer program or an instance of a program running concurrently with other programs

Process (science) (Wikipedia) In science, a process is every sequence of changes of a real object/body which is observable using scientific method. Therefore, all sciences analyze and model processes.

Processes are always properties of dynamic systems, they are characterized by such system attributes as variables and parameters. Every process model has distinguished input and output variables, it can be autonomous or controlled.

The recognition of a process is an arbitrary subjective mental operation/event because it depends on different circumstances, observer's goal, perception and conceptualization tools.

There are numerous taxonomies of processes, roughly speaking, they are divided on: continuous and discrete, stable and not stable, convergent or not convergent, cyclic and not cyclic, linear and not linear, as well as they are grouped according to the name of the domain where they are analyzed.

Process (computing) (Wikipedia) In computing, a process is an instance of a computer program, consisting of one or more threads, that is being sequentially executed by a computer system that has the ability to run several computer programs concurrently.

A computer program itself is just a passive collection of instructions, while a process is the actual execution of those instructions. Several processes may be associated with the same program; for example, opening up several instances of the same program often means more than one process is being executed. In the computing world, processes are formally defined by the operating system (OS) running them and so may differ in detail from one OS to another.

Process method not found

Process chain not found

Position (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Position may refer to: ...) including:

• A location in a coordinate system, usually in two or more dimensions;

the science of position and its generalizations is topology

Property (disambiguation) (Wikipedia) (Property itself refers to an ownership interest in land or other resources)

• A property of an object is some intrinsic or extrinsic quality of that object, where the nature of the "object" in question will depend on the field, as, for example, indicated below.
• Material properties
• Chemical properties
• Physical properties
• Thermodynamic properties
• Mental properties

In information processing, properties are qualities of objects which are transmitted and then received by observers. Generally, properties allow an observer to distinguish one object from another

Quantity (Wikipedia) Quantity is a kind of property which exists as magnitude or multitude. It is among the basic classes of things along with quality, substance, change, and relation. Quantity was first introduced as quantum, an entity having quantity. Being a fundamental term, quantity is used to refer to any type of quantitative properties or attributes of things. Some quantities are such by their inner nature (as number), while others are functioning as states (properties, dimensions, attributes) of things such as heavy and light, long and short, broad and narrow, small and great, or much and little. One form of much, muchly is used to say that something is likely to happen. A small quantity is sometimes referred to as a quantulum.

Result (Wikipedia) A result is the final consequence of a sequence of actions or events expressed qualitatively or quantitatively. Possible results include advantage, disadvantage, gain, injury, loss, value and victory. There may be a range of possible outcomes associated with an event depending on the point of view, historical distance or relevance. Reaching no result can mean that actions are inefficient, ineffective, meaningless or flawed.

Some types of result are as follows: ... (long list)

• in general, the outcome of any kind of research, action or phenomenon
• in computer sciences, the return value of a function, state of a system or

list of records matching a query (e.g. web search). The result type is the data type of the data returned by a function.

Sample (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Sample may refer to: ...) including:

• (As a verb: to sample) The process of taking a specimen of something

Sampler (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Sampler may refer to: ...) including:

• Sampler (signal), a digital signal processing device that converts a continuous signal to a discrete signal

Sampler (signal) / Sampling (signal processing) (Wikipedia)

• In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous signal to a discrete signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave (a continuous-time signal) to a sequence of samples (a discrete-time signal).
• A sample refers to a value or set of values at a point in time and/or space.
• A sampler is a subsystem or operation that extracts samples from a continuous signal. A theoretical ideal sampler produces samples equivalent to the instantaneous value of the continuous signal at the desired points.

Scale (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Scale may refer to: ...)

Sensing (Wikipedia) Sensing is the present participle of the verb sense. It may also refer to:

• Sensor operation, that is, the detection of a physical presence and the conversion of that data into a signal that can be read by an observer or an instrument

Wikipedia also attach this definition to Sensing:

• Myers-Briggs sensing, a cognitive function (measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment) that focuses on the tangible and concrete over the abstract and theoretical

Sensor (Wikipedia) A sensor is a device that measures a physical quantity and converts it into a signal which can be read by an observer or by an instrument.

State observer (Wikipedia) In control theory, a state observer is a system that models a real system in order to provide an estimate of its internal state, given measurements of the input and output of the real system. It is typically a computer-implemented mathematical model.

System (Wikipedia) System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek σύστημα systēma) is a set of interacting or interdependent entities forming an integrated whole.

Transducer (Wikipedia) A transducer is a device that converts one type of energy to another. The conversion can be to/from electrical, electro-mechanical, electromagnetic, photonic, photovoltaic, or any other form of energy. While the term transducer commonly implies use as a sensor/detector, any device which converts energy can be considered a transducer.

Value (Wikipedia) Multiple definitions (Value can mean: ...) including:

• Value (computer science)

Value (computer science) (Wikipedia) In computer science, a value is a sequence of bits that is interpreted according to some data type. It is possible for the same sequence of bits to have different values, depending on the type used to interpret its meaning. For instance, the value could be an integer or floating point value, or a string.

Note: (Wikipedia licensing terms are Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License