Windowing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of selecting a specific time segment or data interval in signal analysis ; the act of opening or manipulating a framed viewing area on a computer interface
2. Applying a defined range or window to a signal or data set for analysis purposes ; managing rectangular viewing areas on a digital display
3. Cutting out a portion of data for focused examination in signal processing ; working with an on-screen frame to display and organize content

Etymology: "Windowing" is simply "window" with the suffix "-ing" attached, and the more interesting history lies in "window" itself. It comes from Old Norse "vindauga", literally "wind-eye": "vindr" meaning "wind" and "auga" meaning "eye". Early openings in houses were holes that let in air and light, so a name built from wind and eye made sense. The Old Norse word reached English through Middle English "windowe", and the compound's original picture of an opening that the wind passes through has largely faded from the modern word. The suffix "-ing" turned the noun into a verb-form describing the act of working with windows, here the on-screen frames of a computer interface. Because a screen window is a rectangle the user can move and resize rather than a hole in a wall, the modern sense is a long way from the original wind-eye, yet the word carries the same basic idea of a framed opening onto something beyond it.