[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

beta \be"ta\, n. gr. bh^ta.
   the second letter of the greek alphabet, b, beta. see b,
   and cf. etymology of alphabet.

   note: beta b, beta is used variously for classifying, as:
   a astron. to designate some bright star, usually the
       second brightest, of a constellation, as, beta
       aurigae.
   b chem. to distinguish one of two or more isomers; also,
       to indicate the position of substituting atoms or groups
       in certain compounds; as, beta-naphthol. with acids, it
       commonly indicates that the substituent is in union with
       the carbon atom next to that to which the carboxyl group
       is attached.
       webster 1913 suppl. betacism
see also:
b alphabet 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

beta
     adj 1: second in order of importance; "the candidate, considered a
            beta male, was perceived to be unable to lead his
            party to victory"
     2: preliminary or testing stage of a software or hardware
        product; "a beta version"; "beta software"
     n 1: the 2nd letter of the greek alphabet
     2: beets syn: genus beta
see also:
genus beta 

[3] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

beta /bay't/, /be't/ or commonwealth /bee't/ n.1. mostly working,
   but still under test; usu. used with `in': `in beta'. in the real
   world, hardware or software systems often go through two stages of
   release testing: alpha in-house and beta out-house?. beta releases
   are generally made to a group of lucky or unlucky trusted customers.
   2. anything that is new and experimental. "his girlfriend is in beta"
   means that he is still testing for compatibility and reserving judgment.
   3. flaky; dubious; suspect since beta software is notoriously buggy.

   historical note: more formally, to beta-test is to test a pre-release
   potentially unreliable version of a piece of software by making it
   available to selected or self-selected customers and users. this term
   derives from early 1960s terminology for product cycle checkpoints,
   first used at ibm but later standard throughout the industry. `alpha
   test' was the unit, module, or component test phase; `beta test' was
   initial system test. these themselves came from earlier a- and b-tests
   for hardware. the a-test was a feasibility and manufacturability
   evaluation done before any commitment to design and development. the
   b-test was a demonstration that the engineering model functioned as
   specified. the c-test corresponding to today's beta was the b-test
   performed on early samples of the production design, and the d test was
   the c test repeated after the model had been in production a while.


see also:
real world 

[4] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

beta
     
        /bay't/, /be't/ or commonwealth /bee't/
     
        see beta conversion, beta test.
     
        jargon file
     
     
see also:
beta conversion beta test jargon file 

[5] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

beta
     
        kristensen, madsen , moller-pedersen 
        nygaard, 1983.  object-oriented language with block structure,
        coroutines, concurrency, strong typing, part objects,
        separate objects and classless objects.  central feature is a
        single abstraction mechanism called "patterns", a
        generalisation of classes, providing instantiation and
        hierarchical inheritance for all objects including procedures
        and processes.
     
        mjolner informatics aps, aarhus, implementations for mac, sun,
        hp, apollo.
     
        e-mail: .
     
        mailing list: .
     
        "object-oriented programming in the beta programming
        language", ole lehrmann et al, a-w june 1993, isbn
        0-201-62430-3.
     
        jargon file
     
        1995-10-31
     
     
see also:
strong typing jargon file 

Beta >> B Words
Beta, definition of term: Beta
beta_pag1.html

Beta Test >> B Words
Beta Test, definition of term: Beta Test
beta+test_pag1.html

Beta Testing >> B Words
Beta Testing, definition of term: Beta Testing
beta+testing_pag1.html

Beta Software >> B Words
Beta Software, definition of term: Beta Software
beta+software_pag1.html

Beta Radiation >> B Words
Beta Radiation, definition of term: Beta Radiation
beta+radiation_pag1.html

Beta Blocker >> B Words
Beta Blocker, definition of term: Beta Blocker
beta+blocker_pag1.html

Beta Particle >> B Words
Beta Particle, definition of term: Beta Particle
beta+particle_pag1.html