selector

selector

[si′lek·tər]

(civil engineering)

A device that automatically connects the appropriate railroad signal to control the track selected.

(computer science)

Computer device which interrogates a condition and initiates a particular operation dependent upon the report.

(electricity)

An automatic or other device for making connections to any one of a number of circuits, such as a selector relay or selector switch.

(engineering)

A device for selecting objects or materials according to predetermined properties.

A device for starting or stopping at predetermined positions.

(mechanical engineering)

The part of the gearshift in an automotive transmission that selects the required gearshift bar.

The lever with which a driver operates an automatic gearshift.

(metallurgy)

A converter that separates purified copper from residue in a single operation.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

selector

(programming)

1. In Smalltalk or Objective C, the syntax of a message which selects a particular method in the target object.

2. An operation that returns the state of an object but does not alter that state. Selector functions or methods often have names which begin with "get" and corresponding modifier methods or procedures whose names begin with "set".

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Selector

 

an electromechanical device for the reception of calls in a selective telephone communication system. Selectors have been used predominantly in railroad systems. The call signal of a subscriber consists of a code, or series of electric pulses. The selector is tuned to a certain coded combination of pulses and operates—for example, rings a bell—only when the corresponding call signal is transmitted through the telephone line. In the 1960’s selector systems were supplanted by improved systems based on harmonic selective ringing. [23-S75–2]

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.