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M, letter of the alphabet

M, 13th letter of the alphabet, usually representing a bilabial nasal as in the English much. It corresponds with the Greek mu. M is the Roman numeral for 1,000.

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M

(1) See mega.

(2) Formerly known as MUMPS, it is a high-level programming language and integrated database that is widely used in the health-care field. Its extensive string handling capabilities make it suitable for storing vast amounts of free text. It was originally developed in 1966 at Massachusetts General Hospital as the Massachusetts Utility MultiProgramming System. The MUMPS Development Committee has maintained the language since 1973, and it became an ANSI standard in 1977.

Unique Features
M includes the ability to store both data and program statements in its database, a fundamental property of object-oriented programming. In addition, formulas written in a program can be stored and used by other programs. See M Technology Resource Center.

The following M example converts Fahrenheit to Celsius:

   READ "Enter Fahrenheit ",FAHR
   SET CENT=(FAHR-32)*5/9
   WRITE "Celsius is", CENT

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M

criminals are so revolted by the murder of several children that they search and capture the murderer. [Ger. Cinema: Halliwell, 256]

See : Gangsterism

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M

motion picture about a child-murderer hunted down by organized criminal element. [Ger. Cinema: Halliwell]

See : Murder

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1.		M - Alternative name for MUMPS.
2.		M - A C-like language from Silicon Compiler Systems for multilevel hardware description. It is currently available in the GDT package from Mentor Graphics.