IT Glossary - ITU Online IT Training
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IT Glossary

Showing terms starting with M (251 terms)

M-Commerce

Short for mobile commerce, it refers to the buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Commonly used in E-commerce, Mobile Computing

M-learning (Mobile Learning)

The delivery of learning, education, or learning support on mobile phones, PDAs or tablets. It’s an extension of e-learning.

Commonly used in General IT, Education

M2M Communications

Refers to the technologies that enable machines to communicate with each other without human intervention.

Commonly used in IoT, Networking

MaaS (Monitoring as a Service)

A delivery model that allows the monitoring of various cloud services by a third party or an internal IT department, providing a unified view of service performance and operational health.

Commonly used in Cloud Computing, Services

MAC Address

A unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on a network.

Commonly used in Networking

MAC Filtering

A security access control method whereby the 48-bit address assigned to each network card is used to determine access to the network.

Commonly used in Networking, Security

Machine Code

Low-level instructions that are directly executed by a computer’s CPU, typically represented in binary form.

Commonly used in General IT

Machine Identity Management

The practice of managing digital identities used by machines and applications (such as certificates, API keys, and service accounts) to enable secure communication and interactions in IT systems.

Commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Machine Learning

A subset of artificial intelligence that enables systems to learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed.

Commonly used in AI

Machine Learning Engineer

Designs and develops machine learning and deep learning systems and algorithms.

Commonly used in AI, Machine Learning

Machine Translation

Machine translation is the use of computer algorithms to translate text or speech from one language to another automatically, often leveraging techniques from natural language processing.

Commonly used in AI, Natural Language Processing

Machine Type

Refers to the classification of computers based on their architecture, operating systems, and processing capabilities.

Commonly used in General IT, Hardware

Machine Type Communication (MTC)

Refers to communication that occurs between machines without human intervention, often used in IoT contexts.

Commonly used in IoT, Networking

Machine Vision

Machine vision involves the use of cameras, sensors, and image processing algorithms to enable computers to interpret and understand visual information, similar to how humans perceive and interpret images.

Commonly used in AI, Robotics

Machine-to-Machine (M2M)

Refers to direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless.

Commonly used in Networking, IoT

macOS

An operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its Mac line of computers, known for its user-friendly interface.

Commonly used in General IT

Macro

A rule or pattern that specifies how a certain input sequence should be mapped to a replacement output sequence according to a defined procedure. Often used in software for automation.

Commonly used in Software Development, Productivity

Magnetic Disk

A storage device that uses magnetic storage to record and retrieve digital information using one or more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material.

Commonly used in Hardware, Storage

Magnetic Storage

Storage technology that uses magnetized material to store data, such as hard disk drives (HDDs) and magnetic tape.

Commonly used in General IT

Mail Relay

An email server that transfers email messages from one server to another. Often used to route emails from a client to a mail server or between mail servers.

Commonly used in Networking, Email

Mail Transfer Agent (MTA)

Software that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using a client-server application architecture.

Commonly used in Networking, Email Systems

Main Memory

The primary storage in a computer that holds the operating system, application programs, and data in current use for quick access by the computer’s processor.

Commonly used in General IT, Hardware

Mainboard

Also known as a motherboard, it’s the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems which holds many of the crucial electronic components.

Commonly used in Hardware

Mainframe

A powerful computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications, such as processing transactions and managing databases.

Commonly used in General IT

Mainframe Virtualization

The process of dividing a mainframe’s resources into multiple virtual machines, allowing for the efficient utilization and management of these powerful systems.

Commonly used in Virtualization

Maintenance Programming

The modification of a software product after delivery to correct faults, to improve performance or other attributes, or to adapt the product to a changed environment.

Commonly used in Software Development

Maintenance Release

A software update released to fix bugs, vulnerabilities, and minor performance issues without adding new features to the system.

Commonly used in Software Development, Maintenance

Makefile

A file containing a set of directives used by a make build automation tool to generate a target/goal.

Commonly used in Software Development, Automation

Malicious Software

Software that is intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, or computer network.

Commonly used in Cybersecurity

Malicious Software (Malware)

Any software intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, or computer network.

Commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Malware

Malicious software designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to a computer system.

Commonly used in Cybersecurity

Malware Analysis

The process of examining malware samples to understand their behavior, purpose, and potential impact.

Commonly used in Cybersecurity

Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attack

A cyber attack where a malicious actor intercepts and possibly alters communication between two parties without their knowledge.

Commonly used in Cybersecurity

Managed Code

Code that is executed by a virtual machine instead of directly by the CPU, providing features like garbage collection and type safety.

Commonly used in Software Development

Managed Hosting

A service model in which a hosting provider leases dedicated servers and associated hardware to a single client, with the provider managing those systems on the client’s behalf.

Commonly used in Web Hosting, Cloud Computing

Managed Object

In network management, a physical or virtual component of the network that can be managed or monitored.

Commonly used in Networking, Network Management

Managed Print Services (MPS)

A service offered by external providers to optimize or manage a company’s document output to certain objectives.

Commonly used in IT Management

Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP)

An IT service provider that specializes in providing security services such as cyber security monitoring and management.

Commonly used in Security, Cybersecurity

Managed Services

Managed services refer to the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining and managing certain IT functions and systems to a third-party service provider.

Commonly used in General IT, Outsourcing

Management Console

A graphical user interface or command-line tool that provides administrators and users with the ability to manage and monitor applications, services, or infrastructure.

Commonly used in General IT, Networking

Management Information System (MIS)

An organized collection of hardware, software, infrastructure, data, and policies designed to generate and disseminate useful information to managers and other personnel in an organization.

Commonly used in General IT, Data Management

Manifest File

A file in software development that contains metadata for a group of accompanying files that are part of a set or project.

Commonly used in Software Development

Manual Penetration Testing

A method of evaluating the security of a computer system or network by simulating an attack from a malicious source, conducted manually by security experts.

Commonly used in Cybersecurity

Manual Testing

The process of manually testing software for defects by a tester who plays the role of an end user to ensure that all the features of an application are working correctly.

Commonly used in Software Development, Testing

Manufacturing Execution System (MES)

A control system for managing and monitoring work-in-process on a factory floor to ensure the effective execution of manufacturing operations.

Commonly used in Industrial IT, Manufacturing

MapKit

A programming interface provided by Apple that allows developers to integrate mapping data and services into their applications.

Commonly used in Software Development, Mobile Apps

Mapping

Relates to various computing disciplines including data structures, data storage and retrieval, computer graphics, and networking, referring to the process of linking two or more disparate elements or datasets.

Commonly used in General IT, Data Management

MapReduce

A programming model and an associated implementation for processing and generating big data sets with a parallel, distributed algorithm on a cluster.

Commonly used in Big Data, Cloud Computing

Markdown

A lightweight markup language with plain-text-formatting syntax, designed so that it can be converted to HTML and many other formats.

Commonly used in Software Development, Documentation

Markdown Processing

The process of converting Markdown text (a lightweight markup language) into HTML or other formats, used to create formatted text using a plain-text editor.

Commonly used in Web Development, Documentation