protocol

protocol (ˈprəʊtəˌkɒl)
—n
1.	the formal etiquette and code of behaviour, precedence, and procedure for state and diplomatic ceremonies
2.	a memorandum or record of an agreement, esp one reached in international negotiations, a meeting, etc
3.	chiefly US
	a.  a record of data or observations on a particular experiment or proceeding
	b.  an annexe appended to a treaty to deal with subsidiary matters or to render the treaty more lucid
	c.  a formal international agreement or understanding on some matter
4.	an amendment to a treaty or convention
5.	philosophy See logical positivism In full: protocol statement a statement that is immediately verifiable by experience
6.	computing the set form in which data must be presented for handling by a particular computer configuration, esp in the transmission of information between different computer systems
[C16: from Medieval Latin prōtocollum, from Late Greek prōtokollon sheet glued to the front of a manuscript, from proto- + kolla glue]

protocol

M.L. and M.Fr. from "official account" to "official record of a transaction," "diplomatic document," and finally, in Fr., to "formula of diplomatic etiquette." Meaning "diplomatic rules of etiquette" first recorded 1896, from French; general sense of "conventional proper conduct" is from 1952. "Protocols of the (Learned) Elders of Zion," Rus. anti-Semitic forgery purporting to reveal Jewish plan for world domination, first published in English 1920 under title "The Jewish Peril."

protocol pro·to·col (prō'tə-kôl', -kōl')
n.
The plan for a course of medical treatment or for a scientific experiment.

protocol   (prō'tə-kôl', -kōl')  Pronunciation Key  The plan for a course of medical treatment or for a scientific experiment. A set of standardized procedures for transmitting or storing data, especially those used in regulating data transmission between computers or peripherals.

protocol

n. As used by hackers, this never refers to niceties about the proper form for addressing letters to the Papal Nuncio or the order in which one should use the forks in a Russian-style place setting; hackers don't care about such things. It is used instead to describe any set of rules that allow different machines or pieces of software to coordinate with each other without ambiguity. So, for example, it does include niceties about the proper form for addressing packets on a network or the order in which one should use the forks in the Dining Philosophers Problem. It implies that there is some common message format and an accepted set of primitives or commands that all parties involved understand, and that transactions among them follow predictable logical sequences. See also handshaking, do protocol.

protocol definition

A set of formal rules describing how to transmit data, especially across a network. Low level protocols define the electrical and physical standards to be observed, bit- and byte-ordering and the transmission and error detection and correction of the bit stream. High level protocols deal with the data formatting, including the syntax of messages, the terminal to computer dialogue, character sets, sequencing of messages etc.
Many protocols are defined by RFCs or by OSI.
See also handshaking.
[Jargon File]
(1995-01-12)