GRAMMAR PREFIXES, SUFFIXES AND COMPOUND NOUNS PREFIX MEANING EXAMPLE a- / dis- / de- opposite of / not asynchronous, disconnect, decode in- (il- / im- / ir-) opposite of / not impossible, irreplaceable, illegal un-, non- opposite of / not uninstall, non-volatile, unzip mis- / mal- wrong(ly)/bad(ly) misuse, misdirect, malfunction over- too much overload, overheat out- surpassing outrun, outperform re- again re-centre, re-designed multi- many multiprocessors, multicore intra- / inter- within / inside of infrared, interface ADJECTIVAL SUFFIX MEANING EXAMPLE -ful full of helpful, useful -less without wireless -able / -ible capable of attachable, flexible -proof that can resist something hackerproof -ical connected with optical, optional NOUN SUFFIX MEANING EXAMPLE -ability / -ibility quality of being usability, accessibility -ing doing the action of programming, coding -ment / -age state development, storage -tion, -sion state communication, conversion -er, -or executor of the verb compiler, operator -ship status leadership -age state shortage, advantage ADVERBIAL SUFFIX MEANING EXAMPLE -ly / -ally modality digitally, virtually -ward(s) in the direction of forward(s), backward(s) -wise similar to, as regards bytewise, bitwise Compound nouns are groups of words used to define a concept. The word order is reversed in respect to Italian: in English the final word is the most important and the translation proceeds backwards. Only the last word can be made plural, the other words function as adjectives and are therefore invariable. machine language, data-processing applications 50 Module 1 DEBUGGING