Computer Society Standards Considered to Have the Most Impact
No.
1.
Standard
IEEE 802 refers to a family of
IEEE standards about local
area networks and
metropolitan area networks
2.
The IEEE Standard for
Binary Floating-Point
Arithmetic (IEEE 754)
Rationale/Background
More specifically, the IEEE 802 standards are restricted to networks carrying
variable-size packets. (By contrast, in cell-based networks data is transmitted
in short, uniformly sized units called cells. Isochronous networks, where data
is transmitted as a steady stream of octets, or groups of octets, at regular time
intervals, are also out of the scope of this standard.). The IEEE 802 family of
standards is maintained by the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee
(LMSC). The most widely used standards are for the Ethernet family, Token
Ring, Wireless LAN, Bridging and Virtual Bridged LANs. An individual
Working Group provides the focus for each area. The increasing need for
mobility has spawned the greatest growth in the use of wireless technology,
expanding from enterprise verticals, such as healthcare and retail, to general
use in corporations, schools, hotels, airports, coffee shops and more
The IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic (IEEE 754) is
the most widely-used standard for floating-point computation, and is followed
by many CPU and FPU implementations. The standard defines formats for
representing floating-point numbers (including ±zero and denormals) and
special values (infinities and NaNs) together with a set of floating-point
operations that operate on these values. It also specifies four rounding modes
and five exceptions (including when the exceptions occur, and what happens
when they do occur).
IEEE 754 specifies four formats for representing floating-point values: singleprecision (32-bit), double-precision (64-bit), single-extended precision (≥ 43bit, not commonly used) and double-extended precision (≥ 79-bit, usually
implemented with 80 bits). Only 32-bit values are required by the standard,
the others are optional. Many languages specify that IEEE formats and
arithmetic be implemented, although sometimes it is optional. For example,
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3.
Standard
IEEE 1284 Standards for
Parallel Interfaces
Rationale/Background
the C programming language, which pre-dated IEEE 754, now allows but
does not require IEEE arithmetic (the C float typically is used for IEEE
single-precision and double uses IEEE double-precision).
The full title of the standard is IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point
Arithmetic (ANSI/IEEE Std 754-1985), and it is also known as IEC
60559:1989, Binary floating-point arithmetic for microprocessor systems
(originally the reference number was IEC 559:1989).
IEEE 1284 is a standard that defines bi-directional parallel communications
between computers and other devices. In the 1970's, Centronics developed the
now familiar printer parallel interface that soon became a de facto standard.
The standard became non-standard as enhanced versions of the interface were
developed, such as the HP Bitronics implementation released in 1992. In
1991 the Network Printing Alliance was formed to develop a new standard. In
March of 1994, IEEE 1284 was released.
The IEEE 1284 standard allows for faster throughput and bidirectional data
flow with a theoretical maximum throughput of 4 megabits per second, with
actual around 2 depending on hardware. In the printer venue, this allows for
faster printing and back channel status and management. Since the new
standard allowed the peripheral to send large amounts of data back to the
host, devices that had previously used SCSI interfaces could be produced at a
much lower cost. This included scanners, tape drives, hard disks, computer
networks connected directly via parallel interface, network adapters and other
devices. No longer was the consumer required to purchase an expensive SCSI
card- they could simply use their built in parallel interface. These low cost
devices provided a platform to leapfrog the faster USB interface into its
present popularity, displacing the parallel devices. However, the parallel
interface remains highly popular in the printer industry with displacement by
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Rationale/Background
USB only in consumer models.
IEEE 1284 standards





IEEE 1284-1994: Standard Signaling Method for a Bi-directional
Parallel Peripheral Interface for Personal Computers
IEEE 1284.1-1997: Transport Independent Printer/System Interface- a
protocol for returning printer configuration and status
IEEE 1284.2: Standard for Test, Measurement and Conformance to
IEEE 1284 (not approved)
IEEE 1284.3-2000: Interface and Protocol Extensions to IEEE 1284Compliant Peripherals and Host Adapters- a protocol to allow sharing
of the parallel port by multiple peripherals (daisy chaining)
IEEE 1284.4-2000: Data Delivery and Logical Channels for IEEE
1284 Interfaces- allows a device to carry on multiple, concurrent
exchanges of data
Parallel Port Background
When IBM introduced the PC, in 1981, the parallel printer port was included
as an alternative to the slower serial port as a means for driving the latest high
performance dot matrix printers. The parallel port had the capability to
transfer 8 bits of data at time whereas the serial port transmitted one bit at a
time. When the PC was introduced, dot matrix printers were the main
peripheral that used the parallel port. As technology progressed and the need
for greater external connectivity increased, the parallel port became the means
by which you could connect higher performance peripherals. These
peripherals now range from printer sharing devices, portable disk drives and
tape backup to local area network adapters and CD ROM players.
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Rationale/Background
The problems faced by developers and customers of these peripherals fall into
three categories. First, although the performance of the PC has increased
dramatically, there has been virtually no change in the parallel port
performance or architecture. The maximum data transfer rate achievable with
this architecture is around 150 kilobytes per second and is extremely software
intensive. Second, there is no standard for the electrical interface. This causes
many problems when attempting to guarantee operation across various
platforms. Finally, the lack of design standards forced a distance limitation of
only 6 feet for external cables.
In 1991 there was a meeting of printer manufacturers to start discussions on
developing a new standard for the intelligent control of printers over a
network. These manufacturers, which included Lexmark, IBM, Texas
Instruments and others, formed the Network Printing Alliance. The NPA
defined a set of parameters that, when implemented in the printer and host,
will allow for the complete control of printer applications and jobs.
While this work was in progress it became apparent that to fully implement
this standard would require a high performance bi-directional connection to
the PC. The usual means of connection, the ordinary PC parallel port, did not
have the capabilities required to meet the full requirements or abilities of this
standard.
The NPA submitted a proposal to the IEEE for the creation of a committee to
develop a new standard for a high speed bi-directional parallel port for the
PC. It was a requirement that this new standard would remain fully
compatible with the original parallel port software and peripherals, but would
increase the data rate capability to greater than 1M bytes per second, both in
and out of the computer. This committee became the IEEE 1284 committee.
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No.
Standard
Rationale/Background
The IEEE 1284 standard, "Standard Signaling Method for a Bi-directional In
1991 there was a meeting of printer manufacturers to start discussions on
developing a new standard for the intelligent control of printers over a
network. These manufacturers, which included Lexmark, IBM, Texas
Instruments and others, formed the Network Printing Alliance. The NPA
defined a set of parameters that, when implemented in the printer and host,
will allow for the complete control of printer applications and jobs.
While this work was in progress it became apparent that to fully implement
this standard would require a high performance bi-directional connection to
the PC. The usual means of connection, the ordinary PC parallel port, did not
have the capabilities required to meet the full requirements or abilities of this
standard.
The NPA submitted a proposal to the IEEE for the creation of a committee to
develop a new standard for a high speed bi-directional parallel port for the
PC. It was a requirement that this new standard would remain fully
compatible with the original parallel port software and peripherals, but would
increase the data rate capability to greater than 1M bytes per second, both in
and out of the computer. This committee became the IEEE 1284 committee.
4.
IEEE 1394 or FireWire
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The IEEE 1284 standard, "Standard Signaling Method for a Bi-directional
Parallel Peripheral Interface for Personal Computers", was approved for final
release in March of 1994.
FireWire (also known as i.Link or IEEE 1394) is a personal computer and
digital video serial bus interface standard offering high-speed
communications and isochronous real-time data services. FireWire can be
considered a successor technology to the obsolescent SCSI Parallel Interface.
Up to 63 devices can be daisy-chained to one FireWire port. The IEEE 1394
multimedia connection enables simple, low-cost, high-bandwidth isochronous
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Rationale/Background
(real-time) data interfacing between computers, peripherals, and consumer
electronics products such as camcorders, VCRs, printers, PCs, TVs, and
digital cameras. With IEEE 1394-compatible products and systems, users can
transfer video or still images from a camera or camcorder to a printer, PC, or
television, with no image degradation..
Almost all modern digital camcorders have included this connection since
1995. All Macintosh computers currently produced have built-in FireWire
ports, as do all Sony PCs and many PCs intended for home or professional
audio/video use. FireWire was also used on the Apple iPod music player for a
long time, permitting new tracks to be uploaded in a few seconds and also for
the battery to be recharged concurrently with one cable, but newer models,
like the iPod nano and the new fifth generation iPod, have completely
dropped support for it.
History of the IEEE 1394 Standard
The 1394 digital link standard was conceived in 1986 by technologists at
Apple Computer, who chose the trademark 'FireWire', in reference to its
speeds of operation. The first specification for this link was completed in
1987. It was adopted in 1995 as the IEEE 1394 standard. A number of IEEE
1394 products are now available including digital camcorders with the IEEE
1394 link, IEEE 1394 digital video editing equipment, digital VCRs, digital
cameras, digital audio players, 1394 IC's and a wealth of other infrastructure
products such as connectors, cables, test equipment, software toolkits, and
emulation models.
Future of 1394
The strong multimedia orientation, self-configurability, peer-to-peer
connectivity and high performance of 1394 have encouraged new, innovative
product concepts soon to be released or in development now. With the advent
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Rationale/Background
this year of native IEEE 1394 support in Microsoft Windows operating
systems, a number of new applications for 1394 will come forth that link the
worlds of consumer and computer electronics.
Benefits of 1394
5.
IEEE Std 730™, IEEE
Standard for Software Quality
Assurance Plans,
Applications that benefit from IEEE 1394 include nonlinear (digital) video
presentation and editing, desktop and commercial publishing, document
imaging, home multimedia, and personal computing. The low overhead, high
data rates of 1394, the ability to mix real-time and asynchronous data on a
single connection, and the ability to mix low speed and high speed devices on
the same network provides a truly universal connection for almost any
consumer, computer, or peripheral application.
The Software Engineering Standards Subcommittee of the Technical
Committee on Software Engineering (TCSE) published its first standard,
IEEE Std 730™, IEEE Standard for Software Quality Assurance Plans, on a
trial-use basis three years later. The collection has now grown to over 40
documents.
IEEE Software Engineering standards are used throughout industry today to
maximize software development investments. Covering software engineering
terminology, processes, tools, reuse, project management, plans,
documentation and measurement IEEE Software Engineering standards are
implemented in an array of disciplines, including: Computer science, Quality
management, Project management, Systems Engineering, Dependability and
Safety.
Together, the more than 40 standards that comprise IEEE software
engineering standards collection excel in technical integrity on an individual
basis and each can take its place within a suite of standards that may be
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No.
Standard
Rationale/Background
adopted in totality or in part by interested organizations. The standards are as
follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
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610.12-1990 Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology
730-2002, Standard for Software Quality Assurance Plans
828-1998, Standard for Software Configuration Management Plans
829-1998, Standard for Software Test Documentation
830-1998, Recommended Practice for Software Requirements
Specifications
821-1988, Standard Dictionary of Measures to Produce Reliable
Software
1008-1987 (R1993), Standard for Software Unit Testing
1012-1998, Standard for Software Verification and Validation
1012a-1998, Supplement to Standard for Software Verification and
Validation
1016-1998, Recommended Practice for Software Design Descriptions
1028-1997, Standard for Software Reviews
1044-1993, Standard Classification for Software Anomalies
1045-1992, Standard for Software Productivity Metrics
1058-1998, Standard for Software Project Management Plans
1061-1998, Standard for a Software Quality Metrics Methodology
1062-1998, Recommended Practice for Software Acquisition
1063-2001, Standard for Software User Documentation
1074-1997, Standard for Developing Software Life Cycle Processes
1175.1-2002, Guide for CASE Tool Interconnections - Classification
and Description
1219-1998, Standard for Software Maintenance
1220-1998, Standard for the Application and Management of the
Systems Engineering
1228-1994, Standard for Software Safety Plans
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No.
Standard
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
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Rationale/Background
1233-1998, Guide for Developing System Requirements
Specifications
1320.1-1998, Standard for Functional Modeling Language-Syntax and
Semantics for IDEF0
1320.2-1998, Standard for Conceptual Modeling Language Syntax
and Semantics...
1362-1998, Guide for Information Technology-System DefinitionConcept of Operations
1420.1-1995, Standard for Information Technology-Software ReuseData Model for Reuse
1420.1a-1996, Supplement to Standard for Information TechnologySoftware Reuse-Data
1420.1b-1999, IEEE Trial-Use Supplement to Standard for
Information
1462-1998, Standard - Adoption of International Standard ISO/IEC
14102: 1995;
1465-1998, Standard - Adoption of International Standard ISO/IEC
12119: 1994(E)
1471-2000, Recommended Practice for Architectural Description of
Software Intensive
1490-1998, Guide - Adoption of PMI Standard - A Guide to the
Project Management Body of Knowledge
1517-1999, IEEE Standard for Information Technology-Software Life
Cycle Processes-Reuse
1540-2001, Standard for Software Life Cycle Processes- Risk
Management
2001-2002, Recommended Practice for Internet Practices - Web Page
Engineering
14143.1-2000, Adoption of ISO/IEC 14143-1:1998 Information
Technology-Software
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Standard
Rationale/Background
IEEE/EIA 12207.0-1996, Industry Implementation of International
Standard ISO/IEC 12207: 1995
39. IEEE/EIA 12207.1-1996, Industry Implementation of International
Standard ISO/IEC 12207: 1995
40. IEEE/EIA 12207.2-1997, Industry Implementation of International
Standard ISO/IEC 12207: 1995
41. IEEE 15288™, "Systems Engineering: System Life Cycle Processes
38.
This collection is the basis for the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge
(SWEBOK) and the CSDP effort in place to certify software engineering
professionals.
With the adoption of ISO/IEC 12207 a standard that defines the major
software engineering processes and ISO/IEC 15288 a standard that addresses
the full life cycle of systems, the IEEE will share the same reference set of
systems and software engineering processes as the ISO/IEC Joint Technical
Committee 1, Subcommittee 7 (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7) and make it easier for
the two to create compatible standards. As holders of the world's two major
collections of software engineering standards and standards for the
engineering of systems containing software, these organizations are creating
correspondence among their standards to eliminate user confusion and align
work done under the standards from either organization.
6.
IEEE 1003 (also registered as
ISO/IEC 9945), or POSIX,
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The SUS emerged from a mid-1980s project to standardize operating system
interfaces for software designed for variants of the Unix operating system.
The need for standardization arose because enterprises using computers
wanted to be able to develop programs that could be used on the computer
systems of different manufacturers reimplementing the programs. Unix was
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No.
7.
Standard
the IEEE Standard Digital
Interface for Programmable
Instrumentation, IEEE-4881978 (now 488.1).
Rationale/Background
selected as the basis for a standard system interface partly because it was
manufacturer-neutral. These standards became IEEE 1003 (also registered as
ISO/IEC 9945), or POSIX, which loosely stands for Portable Operating
System Interface.
Previously, The Open Group's Single UNIX Specification was separate from
the official IEEE POSIX. The near-equivalent SUS became more popular
with the involvement of several major vendors in the wake of the Unix wars
because it was available for free, whereas the IEEE charged a substantial fee
for access to the POSIX specification. Beginning in 1998 a joint working
group, the Austin Group, began to develop the combined standard that would
be known as the Single UNIX Specification Version 3.
The Hewlett-Packard Instrument Bus (HP-IB), is a short-range digital
communications cable standard developed by Hewlett-Packard (HP) in the
1970s for connecting electronic test and measurement devices (e.g. digital
multimeters and logic analyzers) to control devices such as computers. Other
manufacturers copied HP-IB, calling their implementation the General
Purpose Instrumentation Bus (GPIB). In 1978 the bus was standardized by
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers as the IEEE Standard
Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation, IEEE-488-1978
(now 488.1).
IEEE-488 allows up to 15 intelligent devices to share a single bus by daisychaining, with the slowest device participating in the control and data transfer
handshakes to determine the speed of the transaction. The maximum data rate
is about one megabyte per second. Paraphrasing the 1989 HP Test &
Measurement Catalog: HP-IB has a party-line structure wherein all devices on
the bus are connected in parallel. The 16 signal lines within the passive
interconnecting HP-IB cable are grouped into three clusters according to their
functions: Data Bus, Data Byte Transfer Control Bus, and General Interface
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No.
Standard
Rationale/Background
Management Bus.
In addition to the IEEE several other standards committees have adopted HPIB. The American National Standards Institute's corresponding standard is
known as ANSI Standard MC 1.1, and the International Electrotechnical
Commission has its IEC Publication 625-1. In June 1987 the IEEE approved
a revised standard for programmable instruments called IEEE-488-1987
(now 488.2): Codes, Formats, Protocols, and Common Commands. HewlettPackard's HP-IB implementation, however, still concurs to the
aforementioned IEEE-488.1 version.
Not specifically planned for at the outset by HP-IB's designers was the use of
IEEE-488 as a standard peripheral interface by general-purpose computers.
Such applications of the bus were made by the Commodore PET/CBM range
of educational/home/personal computers, whose disk drives, printers,
modems, etc, were daisy-chain connected to the (host) computer, 'talking' and
'listening' on the designated bus lines to perform their jobs. All of
Commodore's post-PET/CBM 8-bit machines, from the VIC-20 to the C128,
utilized a proprietary 'serial IEEE-488' for peripherals, with round DIN
connectors instead of the heavy-duty HP-IB plugs.
Tektronix's computer family (the 405x series) also used IEEE-488 as a
peripheral interface. Hewlett-Packard's business computer group also used the
HP-IB bus to control computer peripheral devices such as tape drives, printers
etc. HP used standard HP-IB hardware and a protocol called 'CS-80' in their
business computers. Additionally, some of HP's advanced pocket
calculators/computers of the 1980s, such as the HP-41 and HP-71 series,
could work with various instrumentation via an optional HB-IB interface. The
interface would connect to the calculator via an HP-IL module (HewlettPackard Instrument Loop, also optional).
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08 March 2005 08:00 AM (GMT -05:00)
Send Link
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(From The Institute print edition)
9 Standards That Keep Your Computer Going
BY ERICA VONDERHEID
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Ever wonder about the role IEEE standards play in your personal computer? They ensure many things go right—for example, that a disk drive
from any manufacturer can be cabled to a computer from another, and that data can be readily downloaded from any digital camcorder to a
computer.
Thanks to nine IEEE standards, data flow in and out of the computer smoothly, software runs properly, and the information in the system can be
protected from hackers.
“IEEE standards are everywhere in a computer—for example, even buried way inside the microprocessor chip, where you might not even know
they’re there,” says Senior Member Bob Grow, chair of the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet working group and principal architect in the Intel
Communications Group in San Diego.
These days, thanks to standards, “plug and play” is often taken for granted and we’re surprised when things don’t work.
“If standards development is done properly, consumers get a much better product that gets adopted quickly, is compatible, and lowers users’
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frustration. When you don’t have standards, you have confusion,” says Member Larry Stein, chair of the IEEE 1284.3 working group and
president of Warp Nine Engineering in San Diego. The 1284 working group produced the standard for parallel ports that hook up to printers, while
the 1284.3 working group developed the standard for ports for other peripherals, such as disk drives.
ALL WIRED UP Look at the back of your computer and you’ll find a socket for plugging in a networking cable. The physical and data transmission
details about the cable and its plugs are spelled out in IEEE 802.3, the Ethernet network standard.
“Ethernet is the most popular connection for communication in the world,” Grow says. With Ethernet, your computer can send and receive 10,
100, or 1000 megabits per second to and from an office network or home broadband Internet connection. The Ethernet protocol outlined in IEEE
802.3 is called “carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection.” This term indicates that with multiple devices on the network, an
Ethernet-compliant network interface listens for anything already on the net before transmitting its data. It holds off sending anything if it detects
something else communicating at the same time.
“Ethernet, implemented by almost everybody in communications, adapts how data [are] sent as computing technology improves,” Grow says. “It’s
simple, easy to use, and pervasive. You plug it in and it works.”
If standards development is done properly, CONSUMERS GET A MUCH BETTER PRODUCT
Even if you access the Internet with the wireless network connection specified in IEEE 802.11 for a wireless local area network interface, Ethernet
is involved. Your data may travel wirelessly to an IEEE 802.11 access point, but this access point is usually plugged into a wired Ethernet
connection.
GETTING CRYPTIC With so much data flying over Internet, Ethernet, and wireless networking connections, you want to make sure nobody is
listening in, which is where IEEE 1363, “Public Key Cryptography,” comes in. It makes sure that two computers can talk to each other and that no
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one else is tapping in.
“Cryptography is the science of data scrambling,” explains Member William Whyte, chair of the 1363 working group. “You don’t want to scramble
the data if the person on the other end doesn’t know how to unscramble it. The standard ensures that we can all agree on an unscrambling
method that works.”
A PARALLEL PORT OF CALL The cable running from the back of your computer to an ink-jet printer is most likely based on the IEEE 12842000 standard, which defines the signaling protocols for parallel port connections. The “2000” identifies the year of the last revision and ensures
that the computer can talk to your printer regardless of who built the two pieces of equipment.
“IEEE 1284-2000 allows peripherals such as printers to perform better and faster,” Stein says. “Pages that used to take 40 seconds to print can
now be done in three or four seconds.”
In the 1980s, non-standard parallel ports, in which the bits of a data would be transmitted simultaneously on parallel lines, were used for
connecting printers. The connection wasn’t very quick, but it could transfer information faster than the day’s printers could handle. By the 1990s,
some companies realized the parallel port could do more than handle printer data; it could handle the much higher data rates associated with
external hard-disk drives and could transfer data in both directions.
The IEEE 1284 working group came together to create a bidirectional parallel port standard, and data rates jumped from 15 000 bytes per second
to 1 megabyte per second. Manufacturers of peripheral devices—such as Zip disk drives, CD-ROMs, and tape drives—recognized the potential of
such a port and got involved along with printer and computer manufacturers in developing the standard. By 1996, Senior Member Don Wright,
chair of the IEEE 1284-2000 working group, notes, every computer on the market had an IEEE 1284 parallel port.
“And it was adopted at lighting speed,” Wright recalls.
ACTION! After recording digital home movies of a family vacation or taking digital snapshots of a child’s first birthday, you have to get that
information from the camera to the computer for editing, sharing, or printing. Video needs a high-speed connection, which is why IEEE 13941995, “Standard for a High Performance Serial Bus,” otherwise known as Firewire, was developed. Plug in the camcorder or digital camera via a
Firewire cable to the Firewire port at the back of your computer, and the operating system recognizes the type of device and quickly downloads
the data to your hard drive. But it wasn’t always that easy.
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“In the early days you had to be a wizard and open up the computer and set the data rates,” says Member Gerald Marazas, chair of the IEEE
1394-1995 working group. “Consumers didn’t want to be engineers. They wanted to plug a device in and have it work.”
Firewire is employed by many computer users—from amateurs taking family snapshots to independent filmmakers, who use desktop computers
to edit complex movies. The standard quickly gained popularity because, according to Marazas, more people were interested in collecting digital
video and then storing and editing it on a personal machine than the developers first believed.
The IEEE 1394-1995 standard is also used to add external storage drives to a computer—to provide another place for storage.
DESIGNED FOR EFFICIENCY Many of the logic chips in your computer are designed using IEEE 1076-2000, “VHDL Language Reference
Manual.” (VHDL is otherwise known as “very-high-speed hardware description language.”) With this standard, computer chip designers can
create a component, or subsystem, by using a relatively easy-to-understand high-level language to spell out what the completed component
should do. These instructions are then automatically converted into the design of circuits and interconnections, a process that reduces the time
required to design a chip, making it less expensive and less prone to design mistakes.
Newer, more sophisticated chips with analog features—such as a radio transmitter—are now designed using an amendment to the original VHDL
standard, IEEE 1076.1-1999, the analog and mixed-signal extensions for VHDL. Previously any analog parts of complex chips had to be designed
by hand, according to Member Tom Kazmierski, chair of the IEEE 1076.1 working group; the new standard helps to automate that process.
MOVING RIGHT ALONG Application programs written to comply with IEEE 1003.1 will work properly regardless of what operating system you’re
using.
“When you write an application, you want it to run across multiple platforms,” says Member Andrew Josey, chair of the IEEE 1003.1 working
group. “This standard allows you, for example, to develop an application for Sun Microsystems’ Solaris platform and run it on another operating
system, such as a version of Microsoft’s Windows or on Linux.”
The working group wanted to ensure wide adoption of the standard—especially among open-source software developers—so in 2002 the group
posted the standard on the Web for anybody to download at no charge. Since then, the open-source community has embraced the standard,
Josey says.
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BY THE NUMBERS Many programs, like spreadsheets and tax preparation software, do the number crunching for you. For those programs to
run correctly, all numbers are computed and stored in memory or on hard drives in a standard way, thanks to IEEE 754, “Standard for Binary
Floating-Point Arithmetic.”
Floating point is a way of noting very large or very small numbers, similar to scientific notation in which 50 000 is written as 5 X 104. Instead of a
base of 10 in scientific notation, binary floating point uses a base of 2. And IEEE 754 ensures that all numbers are stored on the hard drive the
same way and then outlines how the computer must perform arithmetic.
“IEEE 754 specifies how floating-point data are computed and stored, which makes it possible for computing software to work well on different
computers,” says Member David Hough, editor of the IEEE 754 working group.
LEARNING TO WORK Taking classes and learning new skills on a desktop or laptop computer—whether for work or fun—is common now
because the process has become easier thanks to learning systems and courses developed using the IEEE 1484 series of standards. The three
standards in the series define how online courses communicate with the systems that deliver them on a computer. Whether using courses
developed by your employer, a university, or a commercial publisher, these systems can keep track of what you learned and help you find the
content that matches your needs.
“Rather than thinking of learning as something you only do through separate courses, it’s being integrated into the software, such as wordprocessing programs, we use on a daily basis,” says Member Robby Robson, chair of the IEEE 1484 working group. “As we become more
sophisticated about providing learning experiences, technical standards that operate behind the scenes become crucial for ensuring that we get
the information we need to learn, when we need it, and in a format that makes sense.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION on these or other standards, visit the IEEE Standards Association at http://standards.ieee.org
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