BKQRFGRP.RVW 940518 Academic Press Professional 525 B Street, Suite 1900 San Diego, CA 92101-4495 619-699-6362 fax: 619-699-6380 or 1250 Sixth Ave San Diego, CA 92101 619-231-0926 800-321-5068 or 955 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Josh Mills, Marketing, jmills@acad.com publisher@igc.org "Quick Reference to Computer Graphics Terms", Stevens, 1993, 0-12-668310-7 As Stevens points out in the preface, the decision regarding what to include and what to leave out in a specialized dictionary is a difficult one. The more so in the field of computer graphics, which is viewed very differently according to the application under study or development. If Stevens has erred at all, it is on the side of inclusion. "X" entries include not only the clearly graphics related x axis, X terminal and xerography, but also the more data communications related X.25, X-on/X-off, and XMIT, and the even more general XOR and XT. Unless you are reading the book to become an instant expert in graphics, this shouldn't present a problem. At worst, it might impede your search for a given term by a few seconds. The strongest emphasis is on the mathematical aspects of graphics. Those who deal with the base algorithms will be muttering, "Of course. What did you expect?" But those dealing with graphics at a user level might be a bit unnerved, at first. If there is one area in which the book is weak, it is the topic of printing. While this is not strictly a subject of computer graphics, computer graphics must often be printed, and the associated terms may have a place here in facilitating communications between daemon hacker and printer's devil. There have been dictionaries in other computer fields. This is a welcome addition. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKQRFGRP.RVW 940518 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '95, Toronto, ON, February 13-17, 1995, contact: rulag@decus.ca