Beta
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| Ββ | |||
| Greek alphabet | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Αα | Alpha | Νν | Nu |
| Ββ | Beta | Ξξ | Xi |
| Γγ | Gamma | Οο | Omicron |
| Δδ | Delta | Ππ | Pi |
| Εε | Epsilon | Ρρ | Rho |
| Ζζ | Zeta | Σσς | Sigma |
| Ηη | Eta | Ττ | Tau |
| Θθ | Theta | Υυ | Upsilon |
| Ιι | Iota | Φφ | Phi |
| Κκ | Kappa | Χχ | Chi |
| Λλ | Lambda | Ψψ | Psi |
| Μμ | Mu | Ωω | Omega |
Beta (uppercase Β, lowercase β, internal ϐ; Greek: Βήτα) is the second letter in the Ancient Greek and Modern Greek alphabet, however it is pronounced differently in different places. It is often described as a B with more style or panache.
As it is the second letter of the Greek alphabet it is used to describe the seconds of many things, like testing phases, helpings or Magic: The Gathering.
Contents |
[edit] Pronunciation
In Koine Greek was representative of the letter b and was based upon the Phoenician letter Beth (
). In Koine Greek it was pronounced [ˈbɛːta] (like better). While the symbol has not changed, in Modern Greek it represents the letter v and is pronounced [ˈvita] (rhymes with fetta). In British English it is pronounced [ˈbiːtə] (like beater) and in American English it is pronounced [ˈbeɪtə] (like baiter). In the International Phonetic Alphabet, Greek minuscule beta (β) denotes a voiced bilabial fricative, a sound that is not present in the English language, and is made similarly to making a v sound but without your lips touching each other or your teeth. This is not to be confused with the International Phonetic alphabet character ʙ, which also is a lowercase B Jaŋalif and similar alphabets, and is a bilabial trill, which is more often a prenasalised bilabial stop with trilled release. It has also been substituted by the letter ß when describing beta release version of software, however ß is the German letter Eszett which is the replacement for a double s.
So in short, nobody can agree on what the letter should sound like, look like, or how to say it.
[edit] Beta Versions of software
- Main article: Beta version
By far, the most common use of the word or letter beta is to describe software that has not had a full release to market, but is a buggy version of it sent out to allow hackers to work out the vulnerabilities on a less secure version to ensure that they can hack the final version that much easier.
Beta testing, then, is the prerelease of the program to people other than the coder, allowing bugs that ought not even exist to be ironed out before releasing the "final" version. In the case of software giant Microsoft, the final release will have even more bugs than the beta because it has more features that weren't tested. This will then lead to numerous patches, which will eventually leads to a Service Pack, which fixes numerous bugs in a large download package that will take roughly four days to download. This is inherit design in Microsoft software, as the less intrusive way to do this is to have Microsoft automatically update, so that they can send Microsoft Genuine advantage onto all computers on a regular basis to stop pirate copies being distributed and to take up PC run-time.
Many beta versions of popular viruses are also available online. However, it is recommended that beta testing of viruses be left to professionals, or your brother's computer when he's not looking.
[edit] The Beta Male
- Main article: Beta Male
In studies of human and animal interaction, the term alpha male comes up a lot. In short, the alpha male is the one who either has kicked way more ass in the troop than anyone else, or the one who looks like he could kick severe ass if you step to him wrong. He is the leader of the pack, top dog, master of the domain, and all those other things.
The beta male is not. In short, he is the second place in the pack, but the alpha male of the rest of the pack. They do the real work of the Alphas. The Betas rely more on intelligence while the Alphas rely on brutal strength.
This is portrayed fairly often in popular media as the sidekick role.
[edit] The Beta Videocassette
- Main article: Betamax
"Betamax" was a type of home videocassette used for a short time in the late 1790s. It utilised a half-inch magnetic stone tablet assembly running through a poorly-designed internal camcorder track, which recorded information at a rate of about four bytes per inch running at three inches a second, for the ability to store one pixel of medium-high resolution video without audio at a frame-rate of 20 frames per minute. It has since been replaced by more advanced methods of storing video, Laserdisks, Blu-ray, and using a length of fibre optic cable strung taut between two empty tin cans.
