Descriptor

2 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  descriptor
       n 1: the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a
            word that can be used to describe or identify something;
            "the inflected forms of a word can be represented by a
            stem and a list of inflections to be attached" [syn: {form},
             {word form}, {signifier}]


       2: a piece of stored information that is used to identify an
          item in an information storage and retrieval system

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

  descriptor
       
           An integer, string or other small data
          value which refers to one of several objects allocated to a
          program by the {operating system}, usually the {kernel}.  A
          common example is a {Unix} {file descriptor} which is a small
          integer that identifies an I/O channel.  Another example is a
          reference to an area of memory (e.g. {shared memory}).
       
          Compare {capability}.
       
          (1998-02-06)