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Introductions
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
in·tro·duc·tion    Audio Help   [in-truh-duhk-shuhn] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.the act of introducing or the state of being introduced.
2.a formal personal presentation of one person to another or others.
3.a preliminary part, as of a book, musical composition, or the like, leading up to the main part.
4.an elementary treatise: an introduction to botany.
5.an act or instance of inserting.
6.something introduced.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME introduccion < L intrōductiōn- (s. of intrōductiō). See introduce, -tion]

3. Introduction, foreword, preface refer to material given at the front of a book to explain or introduce it to the reader. A foreword is part of the front matter and is usually written by someone other than the author, often an authority on the subject of the book. A preface is the author's own statement, and often includes acknowledgments. It follows the foreword (if there is one) and is also part of the front matter. The introduction is always by the author. It may be extensive and is usually printed as part of the text.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
introduction

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© 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
in·tro·duc·tion    Audio Help   (ĭn'trə-dŭk'shən)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. The act or process of introducing or the state of being introduced.
  2. A means, such as a personal letter, of presenting one person to another.
  3. Something recently introduced; an innovation: "He loathed a fork; it is a modern introduction which has still scarcely reached common people" (D.H. Lawrence).
  4. Something spoken, written, or otherwise presented in beginning or introducing something, especially:
    1. A preface, as to a book.
    2. Music A short preliminary passage in a larger movement or work.
    3. A basic introductory text or course of study.


[Middle English introduccioun, from Old French introduction, from Latin intrōductiō, intrōductiōn-, from intrōductus, past participle of intrōdūcere, to bring in; see introduce.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
introduction 
c.1386, from O.Fr. introduction, from L. introductionem (nom. introductio) "a leading in," from introductus, pp. of introducere "to lead in, bring in, to introduce," from intro- "inward, to the inside" + ducere "to lead" (see duke). The sense of "formal presentation of one person to another" is from 1711. Shortened form intro is attested from 1923. Introduce (v.) is first recorded 1475.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
introduction

noun
1. the act of beginning something new; "they looked forward to the debut of their new product line" 
2. the first section of a communication 
3. formally making a person known to another or to the public [syn: presentation
4. a basic or elementary instructional text 
5. a new proposal; "they resisted the introduction of impractical alternatives" 
6. the act of putting one thing into another [syn: insertion
7. the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new; "she looked forward to her initiation as an adult"; "the foundation of a new scientific society" [syn: initiation

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version) - Cite This Source - Share This
ˌintroˈduction1 [-ˈdakʃən] noun
the act of introducing, or the process of being introduced
Example: the introduction of new methods
Arabic: تَقْديم
Chinese (Simplified): 引进
Chinese (Traditional): 引進
Czech: zavedení
Danish: introduktion; indførelse
Dutch: het invoeren
Estonian: kasutuselevõtt
Finnish: käyttöönotto
French: introduction
German: die Einführung
Greek: εισαγωγή
Hungarian: bevezetés
Icelandic: kynning
Indonesian: perkenalan
Italian: introduzione
Japanese: 導入
Korean: 도입
Latvian: ieviešana
Lithuanian: įvedimas, įdiegimas
Norwegian: innføring, presentasjon
Polish: wprowadzenie
Portuguese (Brazil): introdução
Portuguese (Portugal): introdução
Romanian: introducere
Russian: знакомство
Slovak: zavedenie
Slovenian: uvajanje
Spanish: introducción
Swedish: introduktion, införande
Turkish: tanıtma, sunma
ˌintroˈduction2 [-ˈdakʃən] noun
an act of introducing one person to another
Example: The hostess made the introductions and everyone shook hands.
Arabic: تَعْريف، تَقْديم
Chinese (Simplified): 介绍
Chinese (Traditional): 介紹
Czech: představování
Danish: introduktion
Dutch: introductie
Estonian: tutvustamine
Finnish: esittely
French: présentation
German: die Vorstellung
Greek: (οι) συστάσεις
Hungarian: bemutatás
Icelandic: kynning
Indonesian: perkenalan
Italian: presentazione
Japanese: 紹介
Korean: 소개
Latvian: iepazīstināšana
Lithuanian: supažindinimas
Norwegian: presentasjon, introduksjon
Polish: przedstawienie
Portuguese (Brazil): apresentação
Portuguese (Portugal): apresentações
Romanian: prezentare
Russian: (официальное) представление
Slovak: predstavovanie
Slovenian: predstavljanje
Spanish: presentación
Swedish: presentation
Turkish: tanıştırma
ˌintroˈduction3 [-ˈdakʃən] noun
something written at the beginning of a book explaining the contents, or said at the beginning of a speech etc
Arabic: مُقَدِّمَه
Chinese (Simplified): (文章、讲话的)开头
Chinese (Traditional): (文章、講話的)開頭
Czech: předmluva, úvod
Danish: introduktion
Dutch: inleiding
Estonian: sissejuhatus
Finnish: johdanto
French: introduction
German: die Einleitung
Greek: εισαγωγή (π.χ. σε βιβλίο)
Hungarian: bevezetés
Icelandic: kynning, inngangur
Indonesian: kata pengantar
Italian: introduzione
Japanese: 序論
Korean: 서문
Latvian: ievads
Lithuanian: įvadas
Norwegian: forord, innledning
Polish: wstęp
Portuguese (Brazil): introdução
Portuguese (Portugal): introdução
Romanian: introducere
Russian: предисловие
Slovak: úvod
Slovenian: uvod
Spanish: introducción, prefacio
Swedish: introduktion, inledning
Turkish: giriş, ön söz
See also: introductory, introduce

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary (Beta Version), © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd.
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry: in·tro·duc·tion
Pronunciation: "in-tr&-'d&k-sh&n
Function: noun
: an action of putting in or inserting <the introduction of a catheter into a vein> <the introduction into the stomach and esophagus of material which is opaque in appearance under the X ray —Morris Fishbein> —in·tro·duce /-'d(y)üs/ transitive verb -duced; -duc·ing

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

Introduction

This document is a collection of slang terms used by various subcultures of computer hackers. Though some technical material is included for background and flavor, it is not a technical dictionary; what we describe here is the language hackers use among themselves for fun, social communication, and technical debate.

The `hacker culture' is actually a loosely networked collection of subcultures that is nevertheless conscious of some important shared experiences, shared roots, and shared values. It has its own myths, heroes, villains, folk epics, in-jokes, taboos, and dreams. Because hackers as a group are particularly creative people who define themselves partly by rejection of `normal' values and working habits, it has unusually rich and conscious traditions for an intentional culture less than 40 years old.

As usual with slang, the special vocabulary of hackers helps hold their culture together -- it helps hackers recognize each other's places in the community and expresses shared values and experiences. Also as usual, _not_ knowing the slang (or using it inappropriately) defines one as an outsider, a mundane, or (worst of all in hackish vocabulary) possibly even a suit. All human cultures use slang in this threefold way -- as a tool of communication, and of inclusion, and of exclusion.

Among hackers, though, slang has a subtler aspect, paralleled perhaps in the slang of jazz musicians and some kinds of fine artists but hard to detect in most technical or scientific cultures; parts of it are code for shared states of _consciousness_. There is a whole range of altered states and problem-solving mental stances basic to high-level hacking which don't fit into conventional linguistic reality any better than a Coltrane solo or one of Maurits Escher's `trompe l'oeil' compositions (Escher is a favorite of hackers), and hacker slang encodes these subtleties in many unobvious ways. As a simple example, take the distinction between a kluge and an elegant solution, and the differing connotations attached to each. The distinction is not only of engineering significance; it reaches right back into the nature of the generative processes in program design and asserts something important about two different kinds of relationship between the hacker and the hack. Hacker slang is unusually rich in implications of this kind, of overtones and undertones that illuminate the hackish psyche.

But there is more. Hackers, as a rule, love wordplay and are very conscious and inventive in their use of language. These traits seem to be common in young children, but the conformity-enforcing machine we are pleased to call an educational system bludgeons them out of most of us before adolescence. Thus, linguistic invention in most subcultures of the modern West is a halting and largely unconscious process. Hackers, by contrast, regard slang formation and use as a game to be played for conscious pleasure. Their inventions thus display an almost unique combination of the neotenous enjoyment of language-play with the discrimination of educated and powerful intelligence. Further, the electronic media which knit them together are fluid, `hot' connections, well adapted to both the dissemination of new slang and the ruthless culling of weak and superannuated specimens. The results of this process give us perhaps a uniquely intense and accelerated view of linguistic evolution in action.

Hacker slang also challenges some common linguistic and anthropological assumptions. For example, it has recently become fashionable to speak of `low-context' versus `high-context' communication, and to classify cultures by the preferred context level of their languages and art forms. It is usually claimed that low-context communication (characterized by precision, clarity, and completeness of self-contained utterances) is typical in cultures which value logic, objectivity, individualism, and competition; by contrast, high-context communication (elliptical, emotive, nuance-filled, multi-modal, heavily coded) is associated with cultures which value subjectivity, consensus, cooperation, and tradition. What then are we to make of hackerdom, which is themed around extremely low-context interaction with computers and exhibits primarily "low-context" values, but cultivates an almost absurdly high-context slang style?

The intensity and consciousness of hackish invention make a compilation of hacker slang a particularly effective window into the surrounding culture -- and, in fact, this one is the latest version of an evolving compilation called the `Jargon File', maintained by hackers themselves for over 15 years. This one (like its ancestors) is primarily a lexicon, but also includes topic entries which collect background or sidelight information on hacker culture that would be awkward to try to subsume under individual slang definitions.

Though the format is that of a reference volume, it is intended that the material be enjoyable to browse. Even a complete outsider should find at least a chuckle on nearly every page, and much that is amusingly thought-provoking. But it is also true that hackers use humorous wordplay to make strong, sometimes combative statements about what they feel. Some of these entries reflect the views of opposing sides in disputes that have been genuinely passionate; this is deliberate. We have not tried to moderate or pretty up these disputes; rather we have attempted to ensure that _everyone's_ sacred cows get gored, impartially. Compromise is not particularly a hackish virtue, but the honest presentation of divergent viewpoints is.

The reader with minimal computer background who finds some references incomprehensibly technical can safely ignore them. We have not felt it either necessary or desirable to eliminate all such; they, too, contribute flavor, and one of this document's major intended audiences -- fledgling hackers already partway inside the culture -- will benefit from them.

A selection of longer items of hacker folklore and humor is included in Appendix A. The `outside' reader's attention is particularly directed to the Portrait of J. Random Hacker in Appendix B. Appendix C, the Bibliography, lists some non-technical works which have either influenced or described the hacker culture.

Because hackerdom is an intentional culture (one each individual must choose by action to join), one should not be surprised that the line between description and influence can become more than a little blurred. Earlier versions of the Jargon File have played a central role in spreading hacker language and the culture that goes with it to successively larger populations, and we hope and expect that this one will do likewise.

Jargon File 4.2.0

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