Editing Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

{{short description|Online, searchable, encyclopedic dictionary of computing subjects}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Infobox website
| name            = Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC)
| logo            = File:Foldoc.gif
| screenshot      = foldoc-screenshot.png
| screenshot_size = 250px
| url             = {{URL|https://foldoc.org/}}
| commercial      = No
| type            = [[Internet encyclopedia project]]
| language        = [[English language|English]]
| registration    = None
| owner           = Denis Howe
| author          = Denis Howe, many contributors
| launch_date     = {{Start date and age|1985}}
| current_status  = Active
| revenue         = Yes
| ipv6            = Yes
}}

The '''Free On-line Dictionary of Computing''' ('''FOLDOC''') is an online, searchable, [[encyclopedic dictionary]] of [[computing]] subjects.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://foldoc.org/about.html| title = About FOLDOC}}</ref>

==History==
FOLDOC was founded in 1985 by Denis Howe and was hosted by [[Imperial College London]]. In May 2015, the site was updated to state that it was "no longer supported by Imperial College Department of Computing". Howe has served as the [[editor-in-chief]] since the dictionary's inception, with visitors to the website able to make suggestions for additions or corrections to articles.<ref>{{cite web |first= Adam |last= Hodgkin |title= How Web-Based Reference Books Are Evolving Beyond the Dictionary |url= http://www.yourdictionary.com/about/news033.html |access-date= 2009-01-04 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120218212434/http://www.yourdictionary.com/about/news033.html |archive-date= 2012-02-18 }}</ref>

==Open sourcing==
The dictionary incorporates the text of other free resources, such as the [[Jargon File]], as well as covering many other computing-related topics.  Due to its availability under the [[GNU Free Documentation License]], a [[copyleft]] license, it has in turn been incorporated in whole or part into other [[free content]] projects, such as [[Wikipedia]].

==Recognition==
* This site's brief 2001 review by a [[Ziff Davis]] publication begins "Despite this online dictionary’s pale user interface, it offers impressive functionality."<ref>{{cite magazine  |publisher=Ziff Davis  |date=17 May 2001  |url=https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/48274-free-online-dictionary-of-computing  |title=Free Online Dictionary of Computing  |website=ExtremeTech.com  |access-date=26 September 2017  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926100755/https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/48274-free-online-dictionary-of-computing  |archive-date=26 September 2017  |url-status=dead  }}</ref>
* Oxford University Press knows of them,<ref>{{cite web
| url             = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095834413
| publisher       = Oxford University Press  |date=2013
| title           = Oxford Reference}}</ref> and notes that it "is maintained by volunteers."
* A university tells its students that FOLDOC can be used to find information about "companies, projects, history, in fact any of the vocabulary you might expect to find in a computer dictionary."<ref>{{cite web
| url             = http://cufts2.lib.sfu.ca/CRDB4/BKOC/resource/13612
| title           = OC E-Resources - CUFTS - Sfu}}{{dead link|date=April 2019}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|https://foldoc.org/}}

[[Category:Computer science education in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Organisations associated with Imperial College London]]
[[Category:Multilingual websites]]
[[Category:Online dictionaries]]
[[Category:Technical communication]]