Standards

=Standards and Protocols=

Standards and protocols are technical rules and conventions that enable compatibility and therefore facilitate communication or interoperability between different IT systems and their components. They might govern the design and use of hardware, software and information. For example, the communication protocols used on the internet, the ASCII representations for characters, or the design of the printer port on a personal computer are all governed by standards.

=Standards= A definition or format that has been approved by a recognized standards organization or is accepted as a de facto standard by the industry. Standards exist for programming languages, operating systems, data formats, communications protocols, and electrical interfaces. From a users's standpoint, standards are extremely important in the computer industry because they allow the combination of products from different manufacturers to create a customized system. Without standards, only hardware and software from the same company could be used together. In addition, standard user interfaces can make it much easier to learn how to use new applications. Most official computer standards are set by one of the following organizations: IEEE sets standards for most types of electrical interfaces. Its most famous standard is probably RS-232C, which defines an interface for serial communication. This is the interface used by most modems, and a number of other devices, including display screens and mice. IEEE is also responsible for designing floating-point data formats. While IEEE is generally concerned with hardware, ANSI is primarily concerned with software. ANSI has defined standards for a number of programming languages, including C, COBOL, and FORTRAN. ITU defines international standards, particularly communications protocols. It has defined a number of standards, including V.22, V.32, V.34 and V.42, that specify protocols for transmitting data over telephone lines. In addition to standards approved by organizations, there are also de facto standards. These are formats that have become standard simply because a large number of companies have agreed to use them. They have not been formally approved as standards, but they are standards nonetheless. PostScript is a good example of a de facto standard. (from Webopedia)
 * **ANSI** (American National Standards Institute)
 * **ITU**(International Telecommunication Union)
 * **IEEE**(Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers)
 * **ISO**(International Standards Organization)
 * **VESA**(Video Electronics Standards Association)

=Protocols= An agreed-upon format for transmitting data between two devices. The protocol determines the following: the type of error checking to be used how the sending device will indicate that it has finished sending a message There are a variety of standard protocols from which programmers can choose. Each has particular advantages and disadvantages; for example, some are simpler than others, some are more reliable, and some are faster. From a user's point of view, the only interesting aspect about protocols is that your computer or device must support the right ones if you want to communicate with other computers. The protocol can be implemented either in hardware or in software. (from Webopedia)
 * data compression method, if any
 * how the receiving device will indicate that it has received a message