computer, I was always under the belief that a 'computer' was originally a man (yes, almost always a man) who performed computations using slide-rule, log tables, pencil and paper. When I look up my Chambers Dictionary this evening, I get the definitions: "Compute: to calculate, especially with a computer; to estimate. Computer: a calculator; a person who computes; a machine or apparatus, mechanical, electric or electronic, for carrying out (especially complex) calculations, dealing with numerical data or with stored items of other information, also used for ..." Which seems to me to be only one step removed from the apocryphal definition in the mythical dictionary of computer terms: "Recursion: see recursion." Whatever definition you prefer, "always remember that the computer is out to get you; the proof of this can be seen every time it does exactly what you told it to do!" Regards, Brian M. Russell.