• Number of entries in the database: 11159
• Last entry added on: 2016-04-15 22:06:43
• Number of connected users: 169
• Application's version: 3.1

This application allows users to consult a database of computer-related acronyms through a simple web interface. It runs with little supervisor intervention (installation, maintenance, adding acronyms and verifying user-posted acronyms).

Starting from version 3, we took a completely different approach in maintaining this application: we completely rebuilt it from scratch.

Many factors called for this change; the most important are:

• we wanted to drop the old programming environment (Active Server Pages) and use a modern and solid one (Java) instead;
• we wanted to embrace open standards and open software as far as we can;
• the user interface needed to be redesigned and simplified (too many images that yielded long download times);
• we wanted to strictly adhere to standards (XHTML 1.1 and CSS 2).

The Ultimate Computer Acronyms Archive is now a true client/server application written in Java. On the server side we have the application server that implements the actual "business" logic, and the database server. On the client side we have a graphical administrative application and the servlet container (that also acts as a web server). The following image illustrates the architecture.

• Java servlets. To achieve the highest flexibility, we decided to use this technology to expand the base HTML functionality;
• Tree view menu. At a first glance you see the acronyms' categories and operations, with a familiar and user-friendly graphical user interface. If you want either to view the acronyms or to execute an operation (for example, to define a new acronym), it's easy to know what you have to do;
• Free search function. It's possible to search for an acronym, or part of it.
• Insert function. You can contribute to the growth of this archive by defining acronyms that aren't included yet (note that they are checked against other sources before being displayed).
• Easy navigation. The acronyms are grouped alphabetically and separated into ranges. Also, a maximum amount of definitions is shown per page, giving the user the capability to scroll forth and back among pages.

At the database server we have:

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with the latest service packs applied;
• Database Management System: Microsoft SQL Server 2000.

The web server uses:

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with the latest service packs applied;
• Web Server/servlet container: Apache's Tomcat 5.0;

The client runs on every machine that has a Java virtual machine >= 1.3 installed.

Finally, the web browser must support:

• session cookies,
• ECMAScript (also known as JavaScript),
• XHTML 1.1,
• CSS level 2, and
• Portable Network Graphics (PNG -- file format for images).

(to know more about this issue, see the browser compatibility page).