Beta definition

Beta





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5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Beta \Be"ta\, n. [Gr. bh^ta.]
     The second letter of the Greek alphabet, B, [beta]. See {B},
     and cf. etymology of {Alphabet}.
  
     Note: Beta (B, [beta]) is used variously for classifying, as:
     (a) (Astron.) To designate some bright star, usually the


         second brightest, of a constellation, as, [beta]
         Aurig[ae].
     (b) (Chem.) To distinguish one of two or more isomers; also,
         to indicate the position of substituting atoms or groups
         in certain compounds; as, [beta]-naphthol. With acids, it
         commonly indicates that the substituent is in union with
         the carbon atom next to that to which the carboxyl group
         is attached.
         [Webster 1913 Suppl.] Betacism

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  beta
       adj 1: second in order of importance; "the candidate, considered a
              beta male, was perceived to be unable to lead his
              party to victory"
       2: preliminary or testing stage of a software or hardware
          product; "a beta version"; "beta software"
       n 1: the 2nd letter of the Greek alphabet
       2: beets [syn: {genus Beta}]

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  beta /bay't*/, /be't*/ or (Commonwealth) /bee't*/ n.1. Mostly working,
     but still under test; usu. used with `in': `in beta'. In the {Real
     World}, hardware or software systems often go through two stages of
     release testing: Alpha (in-house) and Beta (out-house?). Beta releases
     are generally made to a group of lucky (or unlucky) trusted customers.
     2. Anything that is new and experimental. "His girlfriend is in beta"
     means that he is still testing for compatibility and reserving judgment.
     3. Flaky; dubious; suspect (since beta software is notoriously buggy).
  
     Historical note: More formally, to beta-test is to test a pre-release
     (potentially unreliable) version of a piece of software by making it
     available to selected (or self-selected) customers and users. This term
     derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints,
     first used at IBM but later standard throughout the industry. `Alpha
     Test' was the unit, module, or component test phase; `Beta Test' was
     initial system test. These themselves came from earlier A- and B-tests
     for hardware. The A-test was a feasibility and manufacturability
     evaluation done before any commitment to design and development. The
     B-test was a demonstration that the engineering model functioned as
     specified. The C-test (corresponding to today's beta) was the B-test
     performed on early samples of the production design, and the D test was
     the C test repeated after the model had been in production a while.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  beta
       
          /bay't*/, /be't*/ or (Commonwealth) /bee't*/
       
          See {beta conversion}, {beta test}.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
       

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  BETA
       
          Kristensen, Madsen , Moller-Pedersen &
          Nygaard, 1983.  Object-oriented language with block structure,
          coroutines, concurrency, {strong typing}, part objects,
          separate objects and classless objects.  Central feature is a
          single abstraction mechanism called "patterns", a
          generalisation of classes, providing instantiation and
          hierarchical inheritance for all objects including procedures
          and processes.
       
          Mjolner Informatics ApS, Aarhus, implementations for Mac, Sun,
          HP, Apollo.
       
          E-mail: .
       
          Mailing list: .
       
          ["Object-Oriented Programming in the BETA Programming
          Language", Ole Lehrmann et al, A-W June 1993, ISBN
          0-201-62430-3].
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1995-10-31)
       
       

















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