Protocol

The word protocol derives from a Greek phrase meaning "first leaf", referring to the first draft of a treaty. The original meaning has been conflated into multiple meanings including:

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• Protocol is the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state.
• In international law and international relations, a protocol is a treaty or international agreement that supplements a previous treaty or international agreement.
• Business Protocol refers to the expectations that people within one culture have of each other in commercial settings. For example, Japanese business people bow to one another as a greeting, whereas Americans shake hands
• Protocol can also mean any logbook or other artifact (forged or authentic) of a political meeting between persons from different nations.
• Dating from the 1950s, communications protocols are rules governing communication between electronic devices such as radios, telephones, and computers.
• Concurrent with the rise in electronic communication, computing protocols facilitate the design and interaction within and between computer networks.
• In object-oriented programming, a protocol is what or how unrelated objects use to communicate with each other. These are definitions of methods and values which the objects agree upon in order to cooperate.
• In a medical setting, protocol refer to a set of guidelines for treatment.