1.1 Glossary

This document uses the following terms:

ASCII: The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is an 8-bit character-encoding scheme based on the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that work with text. ASCII refers to a single 8-bit ASCII character or an array of 8-bit ASCII characters with the high bit of each character set to zero.

assembly: A collection of one or more files that is versioned and deployed as a unit. An assembly is the primary building block of a .NET Framework application. All managed types and resources are contained within an assembly and are marked either as accessible only within the assembly or as accessible from code in other assemblies. Assemblies also play a key role in security. The code access security system uses information about an assembly to determine the set of permissions that is granted to code in the assembly.

Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF): A modified version of Backus-Naur Form (BNF), commonly used by Internet specifications. ABNF notation balances compactness and simplicity with reasonable representational power. ABNF differs from standard BNF in its definitions and uses of naming rules, repetition, alternatives, order-independence, and value ranges. For more information, see [RFC5234].

base64 encoding: A binary-to-text encoding scheme whereby an arbitrary sequence of bytes is converted to a sequence of printable ASCII characters, as described in [RFC4648].

binary large object (BLOB): A discrete packet of data that is stored in a database and is treated as a sequence of uninterpreted bytes.

calculated column: A column in a table that contains a formula that is copied automatically to each record in the column.

character set: A mapping between the characters of a written language and the values that are used to represent those characters to a computer.

cube: A set of data that is organized and summarized into a multidimensional structure that is defined by a set of dimensions and measures.

cyclic redundancy check (CRC): An algorithm used to produce a checksum (a small, fixed number of bits) against a block of data, such as a packet of network traffic or a block of a computer file. The CRC is a broad class of functions used to detect errors after transmission or storage. A CRC is designed to catch random errors, as opposed to intentional errors. If errors might be introduced by a motivated and intelligent adversary, a cryptographic hash function should be used instead.

data source: A database, web service, disk, file, or other collection of information from which data is queried or submitted. Supported data sources vary based on application and data provider.

globally unique identifier (GUID): A term used interchangeably with universally unique identifier (UUID) in Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the value. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] must be used for generating the GUID. See also universally unique identifier (UUID).

hash: A fixed-size result that is obtained by applying a one-way mathematical function, which is sometimes referred to as a hash algorithm, to an arbitrary amount of data. If the input data changes, the hash also changes. The hash can be used in many operations, including authentication and digital signing.

hierarchy: A logical tree structure that organizes the members of a dimension such that each member has one parent member and zero or more child members.

hybrid compression: A type of data compression that uses a combination of run length encoding and bit-wise compression.

intrinsic hierarchy: A hierarchical data structure that is automatically formed from every single column of data in a spreadsheet and contains one node for every unique data value within each column.

language code identifier (LCID): A 32-bit number that identifies the user interface human language dialect or variation that is supported by an application or a client computer.

little-endian: Multiple-byte values that are byte-ordered with the least significant byte stored in the memory location with the lowest address.

measure group: A collection of related measures in a cube that derive from a single fact table, typically in a data source view.

Multidimensional Expressions (MDX): A syntax that is used for defining multidimensional objects, and for querying and manipulating multidimensional data.

OLAP cube: A data structure that aggregates Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) measures by OLAP levels and OLAP hierarchies. An OLAP cube combines several OLAP hierarchies, such as time, geography, and product lines, with OLAP measures, such as sales or inventory figures.

OLE DB: A set of interfaces that are based on the Component Object Model (COM) programming model and expose data from a variety of sources. These interfaces support the amount of Database Management System (DBMS) functionality that is appropriate for a data store and they enable a data store to share data.

Online Analytical Processing (OLAP): A technology that uses multidimensional structures to provide access to data for analysis. The source data for OLAP is stored in data warehouses in a relational database. See also cube.

partition: An area within a shared services database, such as an area that isolates different tenants within a service, or the process of creating such an area in a shared services database.

segment map: A data structure that specifies which particular segment contains each individual range of data in a spreadsheet.

table: A list that is defined in a workbook.

tabular data model: A representation of tables, data, and relationships. It must contain at least one table, and can contain definitions for relationships between the table's columns, hierarchical relationships between columns, or calculated columns. It can also contain data values, or connection information to retrieve data values from external locations.

Unicode: A character encoding standard developed by the Unicode Consortium that represents almost all of the written languages of the world. The Unicode standard [UNICODE5.0.0/2007] provides three forms (UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32) and seven schemes (UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-16 BE, UTF-16 LE, UTF-32, UTF-32 LE, and UTF-32 BE).

universally unique identifier (UUID): A 128-bit value. UUIDs can be used for multiple purposes, from tagging objects with an extremely short lifetime, to reliably identifying very persistent objects in cross-process communication such as client and server interfaces, manager entry-point vectors, and RPC objects. UUIDs are highly likely to be unique. UUIDs are also known as globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) and these terms are used interchangeably in the Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the UUID. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] must be used for generating the UUID.

value encoding: A method of converting data into decimal numbers greater than zero by assigning each data item a unique numeric identifier. The identifier is then used in place of the data item in the data stream or storage medium.

XML document: A document object that is well formed, as described in [XML10/5], and might be valid. An XML document has a logical structure that is composed of declarations, elements, comments, character references, and processing instructions. It also has a physical structure that is composed of entities, starting with the root, or document, entity.

XML element: An XML structure that typically consists of a start tag, an end tag, and the information between those tags. Elements can have attributes and can contain other elements.

XML schema definition (XSD): The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard language that is used in defining XML schemas. Schemas are useful for enforcing structure and constraining the types of data that can be used validly within other XML documents. XML schema definition refers to the fully specified and currently recommended standard for use in authoring XML schemas.

MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.