beta

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: {Beta}, {genus Beta}]
    

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
    

beta
 /bay't@/, /be't@/, /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.
    

BETA

   Kristensen, Madsen <[email protected]>, 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: <[email protected]>.

   Mailing list: <[email protected]>.

   ["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)
    

beta

   /bay't*/, /be't*/ or (Commonwealth) /bee't*/

   See {beta conversion}, {beta test}.

   [{Jargon File}]