E

early binding
Declaring object variables at compile time as variables of a specific class. Object references that use early-bound variables generally run faster than late-bound variables.
ECMAScript
An interpreted, object-oriented programming language based on the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) 262 language specification. Microsoft implements ECMAScript as Microsoft® JScript®. It can be used to access many object models and object libraries, and is supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer.
element
XML structural construct. An XML element consists of a start tag, an end tag, and the information between the tags, which is often referred to as the contents. Elements used in an XML file are described by a document type definition or schema, either of which can provide a description of the structure of the data. See also root element.
e-mail
An Internet content type most commonly used to send messages. There are two types of e-mail messages: forms and text messages. Text messages use a single text body to pass information while e-mail forms use one or more fields.
encapsulation
An object-oriented programming term for the ability to contain and hide information about an object, such as internal data structures and code. Encapsulation isolates the internal complexity of an object's operation from the rest of the application. For example, when you set the Caption property on a command button, you don't need to know how the string is stored.
evaluator
In the Performance Tracking application, an application user who is assigned to a group in a supervisory role, creates activities for the group, and evaluates the activities that individuals perform.
event
An action, recognized by an object, for which you can write code to respond. Events can be generated by a user action (such as clicking the mouse or pressing a key), by program code, or by the system, as with timers.
event model
The way dynamic HTML exposes the events associated with each element of a Web page to the programmer.
Event Service
See Microsoft Exchange Event Service.
expando property
A DHTML property that sets or retrieves whether arbitrary variables can be created within an object. For more information, see the MSDN Web Workshop site.
extended stored procedure
A SQL Server™-provided procedure that dynamically loads and executes a function within a dynamic-link library (DLL) in a manner similar to a stored procedure. Actions outside of SQL Server can be triggered and external information returned to SQL Server. Return status codes and output parameters (identical to their counterparts in regular stored procedures) are also supported.
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
A tag language based on Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) that is optimized for delivery over the World Wide Web. XML defines data layout for a document but not display characteristics, which are commonly defined using HTML. It permits data to be shared among different applications on different platforms. XML is not required to conform to the HTML specification.
Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL)
A style-sheet language that defines the rules for displaying structured XML data. XSL enables developers to generate a presentation structure that might be quite different from the original data structure. For example, it lets you format and display an element in different ways without complex scripting. XSL is compatible with and plays a complementary role to CSS. You use CSS to format HTML by applying formatting information to a "view" of data, and XSL to transform XML data into HTML.
extranet
An area of a Web site available only to a set of registered visitors.
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