D

dead key:A key used with another key to create an accented character. A dead key, when pressed, produces no visible character but indicates to the computer the accent mark it represents is to be combined with the character produced by the next letter key pressed.

debug event:An event that occurs in a process being debugged that causes the kernel to notify the debugger. Also, the notification the kernel sends to the debugger.

debugging:Observing and correcting logical and syntactical errors in an application.

device coordinate-space:The third of four coordinate spaces used for all GDI drawing operations.

device driver:A dynamic-link library which receives input from the graphics engine, converts the input to device commands, and passes those commands to the appropriate device.

device element:Data required for operation of MCI compound devices. The device element is generally an input or output data file.

device-dependent bitmap:A device-dependent bitmap is an array of bits that can only be used with a particular display or printer.

device-independent bitmap:An array of bits combined with several data structures which specify the width and height of the bitmapped image (in pixels), the color format of the device on which the image was created, and the resolution of the device used to create that image.

DIB palette:The logical color palette that was realized when a DIB was created.

DIB pattern-brush:A logical brush that was created from a device-independent bitmap (DIB).

Digital Differential Analyzer (DDA):An algorithm that determines which pixels on a video display (or dots on a page of paper) are part of a line or curve.

directory:An organizational construct supported by most disk-based operating systems. Rather than listing all the files on a volume at once, users can create multiple directories to contain groups of files. Directories can also contain other directories.

disk drive:A device that reads from or writes to disks. Disk drives are referenced by letters, typically A for the first floppy-disk drive, B for the second floppy-disk, C for the first fixed-disk drive, D for the second fixed-disk drive, and so on. Each drive on a system is assigned a unique letter to distinguish it from other drives.:Typically, the terms drive and disk drive refer to the volume (the entire disk or a partition) accessed by the device, rather than the device itself.

display driver:A Windows dynamic link library that contains functions which process input from the graphics engine and convert that input into device-specific commands which are processed by the display adapter.

domain:A group of workstations and servers that share a single group name.

dynamic-link library:A .dll file containing the executable code for one or more functions that can be used by any number of independent processes. A DLL module is mapped into the address space of an application that uses it when the application is starting up or while it is running. The application can then execute functions in the DLL.