- 1xRTT -- (Single Carrier (1x)
Radio Transmission Technology)
-
A wireless communications protocol used for connections to
networks by devices such as laptop computers. 1xRTT has the
capability of providing data transfer speeds of up to 144 thousand
bps. 1xRTT is a built on top of another widely used protocol,
CDMA and is also called CMDA2000.
See also:
bps,
CDMA,
Network,
Protocol
-
Back to Index
-
- ADN -- (Advanced Digital
Network)
-
Usually refers to a 56Kbps leased-line.
See also:
bps,
Leased Line
- ADSL -- (Asymmetric Digital
Subscriber Line)
-
A DSL line where the upload speed is different from the
download speed. Usually the download speed is much greater.
See also:
Download,
DSL,
SDSL,
Upload
- Ajax -- (Asynchronous
JavaScript and XML)
-
A way of including content in a web page in which
javascript code in the web page fetches some data from a server
and displays it without re-fetching the entire surrounding page at
the same time (hence the 'Asynchronous')
Often (but not always) the data fetched by the javascript code is in
XML format.
It is common for Ajax applications to update the Ajax content
multiple times without the surrounding page needing to be updated
even once.
A simple example of Ajax would be a weather-forcast box in the
middle of a web page. Ajax could be used to populate the box every 5
minutes without needing to refresh the surrounding page.
See also:
JavaScript,
Web page,
XML
- Anonymous FTP
-
See also:
FTP
- Apache
-
The most common web server (or HTTP server) software on the
Internet. Apache is an open-source application originally created
from a series of changes ("patches") made to a web server written at
the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the same place
the Mosaic web browser was created.
Apache is designed as a set of modules, enabling administrators to
choose which features they wish to use and making it easy to add
features to meet specific needs inlcuding handling protocols other
than the web-standard HTTP.
See also:
HTTP,
mod_perl,
Mosaic,
Server
- Applet
-
A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML
page. Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications in that
they are not allowed to access certain resources on the local
computer, such as files and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.),
and are prohibited from communicating with most other computers
across a network. The common rule is that an applet can only make an
Internet connection to the computer from which the applet was sent.
See also:
HTML,
Java
- Application Server
-
Server software that manages one or more other pieces of
software in a way that makes the managed software available over a
network, usually to a Web server. By having a piece of
software manage other software packages it is possible to use
resources like memory and database access more efficiently than if
each of the managed packages responded directly to requests.
See also:
ASP,
Server
- Archie
-
A tool (software) for finding files stored on anonymous FTP
sites. You need to know the exact file name or a substring of it. By
1999 Archie had been almost completely replaced by web-based
search engines.
Back when FTP was the main way people moved files over the
Internet archie was quite popular.
See also:
FTP
- ARPANet -- (Advanced Research
Projects Agency Network)
-
The precursor to the Internet. Developed in the late 60's and
early 70's by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in
wide-area-networking to connect together computers that were each
running different system so that people at one location could use
computing resources from another location.
See also:
Internet (Upper case I),
Network,
WAN
- ASCII -- (American Standard
Code for Information Interchange)
-
This is the defacto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by
computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters,
numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each
of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000
through 1111111.
- ASP -- (Application Service
Provider)
-
A organization (usually a business) that runs one or more
applications on their own servers and provides (usually for a fee)
access to others. Common examples of services provided this way
include web-based software such as Calendar systems, Human Resources
tools (timesheets, benefits, etc.), and various applications to help
groups collaborate on projects.
See also:
Application
Server,
Server
- Atom
-
An evolving protocol for syndication and sharing of content.
Atom is being developed as a succesor to and improvement over RSS
and is more complex than RSS while offering support for additional
features such digital signatures, geographic location of author,
possibly security/encryption, licensing, etc.
Like RSS, Atom is an XML-based specification.
See also:
RSS,
XML
-
Back to Index
-
- Backbone
-
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major
pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a
small network will likely be much smaller than many
non-backbone lines in a large network.
See also:
Network
- Bandwidth
-
How much stuff you can send through a connection. Usually measured
in bits-per-second (bps.) A full page of English text is
about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 57,000 bits in one
second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly
10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.
See also:
Bit,
bps,
T-1
- Baud
-
In common usage the "baud" of a modem is how many bits
it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the number
of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value - for
example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but
it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300= 1200 bits per second).
See also:
Bit,
Modem
- BBS -- (Bulletin Board
System)
-
A computerized meeting and announcement system that allows people to
carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make
announcements without the people being connected to the computer at
the same time. In the early 1990's there were many thousands
(millions?) of BBS's around the world, most were very small, running
on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some were very
large and the line between a BBS and a system like AOL gets crossed
at some point, but it is not clearly drawn.
- Binary
-
Information consisting entirely of ones and zeros. Also, commonly
used to refer to files that are not simply text files, e.g. images.
See also:
MIME,
UUENCODE
- Binhex -- (BINary
HEXadecimal)
-
A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII.
This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII.
See also:
ASCII,
MIME,
UUENCODE
- Bit -- (Binary DigIT)
-
A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a
zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidthis
usually measured in bits-per-second.
See also:
Bandwidth,
Bit,
bps,
Byte,
Kilobyte,
Megabyte
- BITNET -- (Because It's Time
NETwork (or Because It's There NETwork))
-
A network of educational sites separate from the Internet,
but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the
Internet. Listservs®, a popular form of e-mail discussion
groups, originated on BITNET. At its peak (the late 1980's and early
1990's) BITNET machines were usually mainframes, often running IBM's
MVS operating system. BITNET is probably the only international
network that is shrinking.
See also:
Internet (Upper case I),
Listserv ®,
Network
- Blog -- (weB LOG)
-
A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web.
The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps
a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using
software that allows people with little or no technical background
to update and maintain the blog.
Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order
with the most recent additions featured most prominently.
It is common for blogs to be available as RSS feeds.
See also:
Blogosphere or Blogsphere,
RSS
- Blogosphere or Blogsphere
-
The current state of all information available on blogs
and/or the sub-culture of those who create and use blogs.
See also:
Blog
- bps -- (Bits-Per-Second)
-
A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A
56K modem can move about 57,000 bits per second.
See also:
Bandwidth,
Bit
- Broadband
-
Generally refers to connections to the Internet with much greater
bandwidth than you can get with a modem. There is no
specific definition of the speed of a "broadband" connection but in
general any Internet connection using DSL or a via Cable-TV
may be considered a broadband connection.
See also:
Bandwidth,
DSL,
Modem
- Browser
-
A Client program (software) that is used to look at various
kinds of Internet resources.
See also:
Client,
Server,
URL,
WWW
- BTW -- (By The Way)
-
A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum.
See also:
IMHO
- Byte
-
A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8
Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is
being made.
See also:
Bit
-
Back to Index
-
- CATP -- (Caffeine Access
Transport Protocol)
-
Common method of moving caffeine across Wide Area Networks
such as the Internet
CATP was first used at the Binary
Cafe in Cybertown and quickly spread world-wide.
There are reported problems with
short-circuits and rust and decaffinated beverages were not
supported until version 1.5.3
See also:
Internet (Upper case I),
IRC,
WAN
- CDMA -- (Code Division
Multiple Access)
-
A protocol for wireless data and voice communication, CMDA is
widely used in cellphone networks, but also in many other data
communications systems. CDMA uses a technique called "Spread
Spectrum" whereby the data being transmitted is spread across
multiple radio frequencies, making more efficent use of available
radio spectrum. There are a number of additional protocols built on
top of CDMA, such as 1xRTT (also called CMDA2000).
See also:
1xRTT,
Protocol
- Certificate Authority
-
An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL
connections.
See also:
SSL
- CGI -- (Common Gateway
Interface)
-
A set of rules that describe how a Web Server
communicates with another piece of software on the same machine, and
how the other piece of software (the ?CGI program?) talks to the web
server. Any piece of software can be a CGI program if it handles
input and output according to the CGI standard.
See also:
Server,
WWW
- cgi-bin
-
The most common name of a directory on a web server in which CGIprograms
are stored.
See also:
CGI
- Client
-
A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a
Server software program on another computer, often across a
great distance. EachClient program is designed to work with
one or more specific kinds of Server programs, and each
Server requires a specific kind of Client. A Web
Browser is a specific kind of Client.
See also:
Browser,
Client,
Server
- co-location
-
Most often used to refer to having a server that belongs to
one person or group physically located on an Internet-connected
network that belongs to another person or group. Usually this
is done because the server owner wants their machine to be on a
high-speed Internet connection and/or they do not want the security
risks of having the server on thier own network.
See also:
Internet (Upper case I),
Network,
Server
- Cookie
-
The most common meaning of "Cookie" on the Internet refers to a
piece of information sent by a Web Server to a Web Browser
that the Browser software is expected to save and to send back to
the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the
Server.
Depending on the type of Cookie used,
and the Browsers' settings, the Browser may accept or not accept the
Cookie, and may save the Cookie for either a short time or a long
time.
Cookies might contain information
such as login or registration information, online "shopping cart"
information, user preferences, etc.
When a Server receives a request from
a Browser that includes a Cookie, the Server is able to use the
information stored in the Cookie. For example, the Server might
customize what is sent back to the user, or keep a log of particular
users' requests.
Cookies are usually set to expire
after a predetermined amount of time and are usually saved in memory
until the Browser software is closed down, at which time they may be
saved to disk if their "expire time" has not been reached.
Cookies do not read your hard drive
and send your life story to the CIA, but they can be used to gather
more information about a user than would be possible without them.
See also:
Browser,
Server
- CSS -- (Cascading Style
Sheet)
-
A standard for specifying the appearance of text and other elements.
CSS was developed for use with HTML in Web pages but
is also used in other situations, notably in applications built
using XPFE. CSS is typically used to provide a single
"library" of styles that are used over and over throughout a large
number of related documents, as in a web site. A CSS file might
specify that all numbered lists are to appear in italics. By
changing that single specification the look of a large number of
documents can be easily changed.
See also:
HTML,
Web page,
XPFE
- Cyberpunk
-
Cyberpunk was originally a cultural sub-genre of science fiction
taking place in a not-so-distant, dystopian, over-industrialized
society. The term grew out of the work of William Gibson and Bruce
Sterling and has evolved into a cultural label encompassing many
different kinds of human, machine, and punk attitudes. It includes
clothing and lifestyle choices as well.
See also:
Cyberspace
- Cyberspace
-
Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer
the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of
information resources available through computer networks.
See also:
Cyberpunk
-
Back to Index
-
- DHCP -- (Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol)
-
DHCP is a protocol by which a machine can obtain an IP
number (and other network configuration information) from a
server on the local network.
See also:
IP Number,
Network,
Server
- DHTML -- (Dynamic HyperText
Markup Language)
-
DHTML refers to web pages that use a combination of HTML,
JavaScript, and CSS to create features such as letting
the user drag items around on the web page, some simple kinds of
animation, and many more.
See also:
CSS,
HTML,
JavaScript,
Web page
- Digerati
-
The digital version of literati, it is a reference to a vague cloud
of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise in-the-know in
regardsto the digital revolution.
- DNS -- (Domain Name System)
-
The Domain Name System is the system that translates Internet
domain names into IP numbers. A "DNS Server" is a
server that performs this kind of translation.
See also:
Domain Name,
IP Number,
Server
- Domain Name
-
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names
always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left
is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general.
A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given
Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain
names:
matisse.net
mail.matisse.net
workshop.matisse.net
can all refer to the same machine, but
each domain name can refer to no more than one machine.
Usually, all of the machines on a
given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of
their Domain Names (matisse.net in the examples above). It is also
possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an
actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can
have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real
Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must
handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
See also:
IP Number,
TLD
- Download
-
Transferring data (usually a file) from a another computer to the
computer you are are using. The opposite of upload.
See also:
Upload
- DSL -- (Digital Subscriber
Line)
-
A method for moving data over regular phone lines. A DSL circuit is
much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming
into the subscriber's premises are the same (copper) wires used for
regular phone service. A DSL circuit must be configured to connect
two specific locations, similar to a leased line (howeverr a DSL
circuit is not a leased line.
A common configuration of DSL allows
downloads at speeds of up to 1.544 megabits (not megabytes) per
second, and uploads at speeds of 128 kilobits per second. This
arrangement is called ADSL: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber
Line.
Another common configuration is
symmetrical: 384 Kilobits per second in both directions.
In theory ADSL allows download speeds
of up to 9 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 640
kilobits per second.
DSL is now a popular alternative to
Leased Lines and ISDN, being faster than ISDN and less costly than
traditional Leased Lines.
-
Back to Index
-
- Email -- (Electronic Mail)
-
Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via
computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of
addresses.
See also:
Listserv ®,
SMTP
- Ethernet
-
A very common method of networking computers in a LAN.
There is more than one type of
Ethernet. By 2001 the standard type was "100-BaseT" which can handle
up to about 100,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost
any kind of computer.
See also:
Bandwidth,
FDDI,
LAN
- Extranet
-
An intranet that is accesible to computers that are not
physically part of a companys' own private network, but that
is not accessible to the general public, for example to allow
vendors and business partners to access a company web site.
Often an intranet will make use of a
Virtual Private Network. (VPN.)
See also:
Intranet,
Network,
VPN
-
Back to Index
-
- FAQ -- (Frequently Asked
Questions)
-
FAQs are documents that list and answerthe most common questions on
a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as
diverse as Pet Grooming and Cryptography. FAQs are usually written
by people who have tired of answering the same question over and
over.
- FDDI -- (Fiber Distributed
Data Interface)
-
A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate
of around 100,000,000 bits-per-second (10 times as fast as 10-BaseTEthernet,
about twice as fast as T-3).
See also:
Ethernet,
T-3
- Finger
-
An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet
sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to non-personal
information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an
account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow
incoming Finger requests, but many do.
- Fire Wall
-
A combination of hardware and software that separates a Network
into two or more parts for security purposes.
See also:
Network
- Flame
-
Originally, "flame" meant to carry forth in a passionate manner in
the spirit of honorable debate. Flames most often involved the use
of flowery language and flaming well was an art form. More recently
flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment no matter
how witless or crude.
See also:
Flame War
- Flame War
-
When an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal
attacks against the debators, rather than discussion of their
positions. A heated exchange.
See also:
Flame
- FTP -- (File Transfer
Protocol)
-
A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites.
FTP is a way to login to
another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending
files. There are many Internet sites that have established publicly
accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP,
by logging in using the account name "anonymous", thus these sites
are called "anonymous ftp servers".
FTP was invented and in wide use long
before the advent of the World Wide Web and originally was
always used from a text-only interface.
See also:
Login,
WWW
-
Back to Index
-
- Gateway
-
The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that
translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example America
Online has a gateway that translates between its internal,
proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another,
sloppier meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism for
providing access to another system, e.g. AOL might be called a
gateway to the Internet.
- GIF -- (Graphic Interchange
Format)
-
A common format for image files, especially suitable for images
containing large areas of the same color. GIF format files of simple
images are often smaller than the same file would be if stored in
JPEG format, but GIF format does not store photographic images
as well as JPEG.
See also:
JPEG,
PNG
- Gigabyte
-
1000 or 1024 Megabytes, depending on who is measuring.
See also:
Byte
- Gopher
-
Invented at the University of Minnesota in 1993 just before the
Web, gopher was a widely successful method of making menus of
material available over the Internet.
Gopher was designed to be much easier
to use than FTP, while still using a text-only interface.
Gopher is a Client and
Server style program, whichrequires that the user have a Gopher
Client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the
globe in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by
Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are
still thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can
expect they will remain for a while.
See also:
Client,
FTP,
WWW
-
Back to Index
-
- hit
-
As used in reference to the World Wide Web, ?hit? means a single
request from a web browser for a single item from a web
server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that
contains 3 graphics, 4 ?hits? would occur at the server: 1 for the
HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.
See also:
Browser,
HTML,
Server
- Home Page (or Homepage)
-
Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your
browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning
refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or
simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. "Check
out so-and-so's new Home Page."
See also:
Browser,
WWW
- Host
-
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services
available to other computers on the network. It is quite
common to have one host machine provide several services, such as
SMTP (email) and HTTP (web).
See also:
Network,
SMTP
- HTML -- (HyperText Markup
Language)
-
The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for
use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like
old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text
with codes that indicate how it should appear.
The "hyper" in Hypertext comes from the fact that in HTML you can
specify that a block of text, or an image, is linked to another file
on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a "Web
Browser".
HTML is loosely based on a more comprehensive system for markup
called SGML, and is expected to eventually be replaced by
XML-based XHTML standards.
See also:
Browser,
Hypertext,
SGML,
WWW,
XHTML,
XML
- HTTP -- (HyperText Transfer
Protocol)
-
The protocol for moving hypertextfiles across the Internet.
Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP
server program (such as Apache) on the other end. HTTP is
the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW).
See also:
Apache,
Client,
Hypertext,
Server,
WWW
- Hypertext
-
Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words
or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which
cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.
See also:
HTML,
HTTP
-
Back to Index
-
- IMAP -- (Internet Message
Access Protocol)
-
IMAP is gradually replacing POP as the main protocol used by
email clients in communicating with email servers.
Using IMAP an email client program
can not only retrieve email but can also manipulate message stored
on the server, without having to actually retrieve the messages. So
messages can be deleted, have their status changed, multiple mail
boxes can be managed, etc.
IMAP is defined in RFC 2060
See also:
Client,
Email,
POP,
RFC,
Server
- IMHO -- (In My Humble
Opinion)
-
A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum, IMHO
indicates that the writer is aware that they areexpressing a
debatable view, probably on a subject already under discussion. One
of many such shorthands in common use online, especially in
discussion forums.
- internet (Lower case i)
-
Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an
internet - as in inter-national or inter-state.
See also:
Internet (Upper case I),
Network
- Internet (Upper case I)
-
The vast collection of inter-connected networks that are connected
using the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the
ARPANET of the late 60's and early 70's.
The Internet connects tens of
thousands of independent networks into a vast global internet
and is probably the largest Wide Area Network in the world.
See also:
internet (Lower case i),
Network,
WAN
- Intranet
-
A private network inside a company or organization that uses
the same kinds of software that you would find on the public
Internet, but that is only for internal use. Compare with
extranet.
See also:
Extranet,
internet (Lower case i),
Internet (Upper case I)
- IP Number -- (Internet
Protocol Number)
-
Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number consisting of 4
parts separated by dots, e.g.
165.113.245.2
Every machine that is on the Internet
has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it
is not really on the Internet. Many machines (especially servers)
also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to
remember.
See also:
Domain Name,
Server,
TCP/IP
- IPv4 -- (Internet Protocol,
version 4)
-
The most widley used version of the Internet Protocol (the "IP" part
of TCP/IP.)
IPv4 allows for a theoretical maximum of approximately four billion
IP Numbers (technically 232), but the actual
number is far less due to inefficiencies in the way blocks of
numbers are handled by networks. The gradual adoption of IPv6
will solve this problem.
See also:
IP Number,
IPv6,
Network,
Protocol,
TCP/IP
- IPv6 -- (Internet Protocol,
version 6)
-
The successor to IPv4. Already deployed in some cases and
gradually spreading, IPv6 provides a huge number of available IP
Numbers - over a sextillion addresses (theoretically 2128).
IPv6 allows every device on the planet to have its own IP Number.
See also:
IP Number,
IPv4,
Network,
Protocol,
TCP/IP
- IRC -- (Internet Relay Chat)
-
Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a number
of major IRC servers around the world which are linked to
each other. Anyone can create a channel and anything that anyone
types in a given channel is seen by all others in the channel.
Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person conference
calls.
See also:
Server
- ISDN -- (Integrated Services
Digital Network)
-
Basically a way to move more dataover existing regular phone lines.
ISDN is available to much of the USA and in most markets it is
priced very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can
provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone
lines. In practice, most people will be limited to 56,000or 64,000
bits-per-second.
Unlike DSL, ISDN can be used
to connect to many different locations, one at a time, just like a
regular telephone call, as long the other location also has ISDN.
See also:
DSL
- ISP -- (Internet Service
Provider)
-
An institution that provides access to the Internet in some form,
usually for money.
- IT -- (Information
Technology)
-
A very general term referring to the entire field of Information
Technology - anything from computer hardware to programming to
network management. Most medium and large size companies have IT
Departments.
-
Back to Index
-
- Java
-
Java is a network-friendly programming language invented by Sun
Microsystems.
Java is often used to build large, complex systems that involve
several different computers interacting across networks, for example
transaction processing systems.
Java is also used to create software with graphical user interfaces
such as editors, audio players, web browsers, etc.
Java is also popular for creating programs that run in small
electronic devicws, such as mobile telephones.
Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can
include functions such as animations,calculators, and other fancy
tricks.
See also:
Applet,
JDK
- JavaScript
-
JavaScript is a programming language that is mostly used in web
pages, usually to add features that make the web page more
interactive. When JavaScript is included in an HTML file it
relies upon the browser to interpret the JavaScript. When JavaScript
is combined with Cascading Style Sheets(CSS), and later
versions of HTML (4.0 and later) the result is often called DHTML.
See also:
Ajax,
DHTML,
HTML
- JDK -- (Java Development Kit)
-
A software development package from Sun Microsystems that implements
the basic set of tools needed to write, test and debugJava
applications and applets
See also:
Applet,
Java
- JPEG -- (Joint Photographic
Experts Group)
-
JPEG is most commonly mentioned as a format for image files. JPEG
format is preferred to the GIF format for photographic images
as opposed to line art or simple logo art.
See also:
GIF,
PNG
-
Back to Index
-
- Kilobyte
-
A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (210) bytes.
See also:
Byte
-
Back to Index
-
- LAN -- (Local Area Network)
-
A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same
building or floor of a building.
See also:
Network,
VPN,
WAN
- Leased Line
-
Refers to line such as a telephone line or fiber-optic cable that is
rented for exclusive 24-hour, 7-days-a-week use from your location
to another location. The highest speed data connections require a
leased line.
See also:
DSL,
ISDN
- Linux
-
A widely used Open Source Unix-like operating system. Linux was
first released by its inventor Linus Torvalds in 1991. There are
versions of Linux for almost every available type of computer
hardware from desktop machines to IBM mainframes. The inner workings
of Linux are open and available for anyone to examine and change as
long as they make their changes available to the public. This has
resulted in thousands of people working on various aspects of Linux
and adaptation of Linux for a huge variety of purposes, from servers
to TV-recording boxes.
See also:
Open
Source Software,
Unix
- Listserv ®
-
The most common kind of maillist, "Listserv" is a registered
trademark of L-Soft international, Inc. Listservs originated on
BITNET but they are now common on the Internet.
See also:
BITNET,
Internet (Upper case I),
Maillist
- Login
-
Noun or a verb.
Noun: The account name used to gain
access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password).
Verb: the act of connecting to a
computer system by giving your credentials (usually your "username"
and "password")
See also:
Password
-
Back to Index
-
- Maillist
-
(or Mailing List) A (usually automated) system that allows
people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message
is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist.
In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access
can participate in discussions together.
See also:
Email,
Listserv ®
- Mashup
-
A web page or site made by automatically combining content from
other sources, usually by using material available via RSS
feeds and/or REST interfaces.
See also:
REST,
RSS
- Megabyte
-
Technically speaking, a million bytes. In many cases the term
means 1024 kilobytes, which is a more than an even million.
See also:
Byte,
Kilobyte
- Meta Tag
-
A specific kind of HTML tag that contains information not
normally displayed to the user. Meta tags contan information about
the page itself, hence the name ("meta" means "about this subject")
Typical uses of Meta tags are to
include information for search engines to help them better
categorize a page.
You can see the Meta tags in a page
if you view the pages' source code.
See also:
HTML,
Search Engine,
SEO
- MIME -- (Multipurpose
Internet Mail Extensions)
-
Originally a standard for defining the types of files attached to
standard Internet mail messages. The MIME standard has come to be
used in many situations where one cmputer programs needs to
communicate with another program about what kind of file is being
sent.
For example, HTML files have a
MIME-type of
text/html, JPEG files are
image/jpeg,
etc.
See also:
HTML,
JPEG
- Mirror
-
Generally speaking, "to mirror" is to maintain an exact copy of
something. Probably the most common use of the term on the Internet
refers to "mirror sites" which are web sites, or FTP
sites that maintain copies of material originated at another
location, usually in order to provide more widespread access to the
resource. For example, one site might create a library of software,
and 5 other sites might maintain mirrors of that library.
See also:
FTP,
WWW
- Modem -- (MOdulator,
DEModulator)
-
A device that connects a computer to a phone line. A telephone for a
computer. A modem allows a computer to talk to other computers
through the phone system. Basically, modems do for computers what a
telephone does for humans.
The maximum practical bandwidth using a modem over regular
telephone lines is currently around 57,000 bps.
See also:
Bandwidth,
bps
- mod_perl
-
An add-on for the Apache web server software, mod_perl makes
it possible to use the Perl language to add new features for the
Apache server, and to increase the speed of Perl applications by as
much as 30 times.
See also:
Apache
- MOO -- (Mud, Object Oriented)
-
One of several kinds of multi-user role-playing environments.
See also:
MUD
- Mosaic
-
The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh,
Windows,and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started
the popularity of the Web. The source-code to Mosaic was licensed by
several companies and used to create many other web browsers.
Mosaic was developed at the National
Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), at the University of
Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, in Illinois, USA. The first version
was released in late 1993.
See also:
Browser,
WWW
- MUD -- (Multi-User Dungeon or
Dimension)
-
A (usually text-based) multi-user simulation environment. Some are
purely for fun and flirting, others are used for serious software
development, or education purposes and all thatlies in between. A
significant feature of most MUDs is that users can create things
that stay after they leave and which other users can interact within
their absence, thus allowing a world to be built gradually and
collectively.
See also:
MOO
- MUSE -- (Multi-User Simulated
Environment)
-
One kind of MUD - usually with little or no violence.
See also:
MUD
-
Back to Index
-
- Netiquette
-
The etiquette on the Internet.
- Netizen
-
Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the
Internet,or someone who uses networked resources. The term
connotes civic responsibility and participation.
- Netscape
-
A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The Netscape (tm)
browser was originally based on the Mosaic program developed
at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
See also:
Mosaic
- Network
-
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can
share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more
networks together and you have an internet.
See also:
internet (Lower case i)
- Newsgroup
-
The name for discussion groups on USENET.
See also:
USENET
- NIC -- (Network Information
Center)
-
Generally, any office that handles information for a network. The
most famous of these on the Internet was the InterNIC, which was
where most new domain names were registered until that process was
decentralized to a number of private companies. Also means "Network
Interface card", which is the card in a computer that you plug a
network cable into.
See also:
Domain Name,
Network
- NNTP -- (Network News
Transport Protocol)
-
The protocol used by clientand server software to
carry USENET postings back and forth over a TCP/IP
network. If you are using any of the more common software such
as Netscape, Nuntius, Internet Explorer, etc. to participate
in newsgroups then you are benefiting from an NNTP
connection.
See also:
Client,
Server,
TCP/IP
- Node
-
Any single computer connected to a network.
See also:
Network
-
Back to Index
-
- Open Content
-
Copyrighted information (such as this Glossary) that is made
available by the copyright owner to the general public under license
terms that allow reuse of the material, often with the requirement
(as with this Glossary) that the re-user grant the public the same
rights to the modified version that the re-user received from the
copyright owner.
Information that is in the Public
Domain might also be considered a form of Open Content.
See also:
Open
Source Software
- Open Source Software
-
Open Source Software is software for which the underlying
programming code is available to the users so that they may read it,
make changes to it, and build new versions of the software
incorporating their changes. There are many types of Open Source
Software, mainly differing in the licensing term under which
(altered) copies of the source code may (or must be) redistributed.
See also:
Open Content
-
Back to Index
-
- Packet Switching
-
The method used to move data around on the Internet. In
packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine is broken up
into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and
where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different
sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed
along different routes by special machines along the way. This way
many people can use the same lines at the same time.
You might think of several caravans
of trucks all using the same road system to carry materials.
See also:
Internet (Upper case I),
Router
- Password
-
A code used to gain access (login) to a locked system. Good
passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple
combinations such as virtue7. A good password might be:
5%df(29)
But don't use that one!
See also:
Login
- PDF -- (Portable Document
Format)
-
A file format designed to enable printing and viewing of documents
with all their formatting (typefaces, images, layout, etc.)
appearing the same regardless of what operating system is used, so a
PDF document should look the same on Windows, Macintosh, linux,
OS/2, etc. The PDF format is based on the widely used Postcript
document-description language. Both PDF and Postscript were
developed by the Adobe Corporation.
- Perl -- (Practical Extraction
and Report Language)
-
Perl is a programming language that is widely used for both very
simple, small tasks and for very large complex applications.
During the 1990s it became the de-facto standard for creating CGI
programs. Perl is known for providing many ways to accomplish the
same task, with "there's more than one way to do it" being something
of a motto in the Perl community.
Because it is so easy to perform simple tasks in Perl it is often
used by people with little or no formal programming training, and
because Perl provides many sophisticated features it is often used
by professionals for creating complex data-processing software,
including the "server-side" of large web sites. Perl
does not provide significant support for creating programs with a
graphical user interface.
See also:
CGI,
Java,
JavaScript,
PHP,
Website
- Permalink
-
A "permanent link" to a particular posting in a blog. A
permalink is a URI that points to a specific blog posting,
rather than to the page in which the posting original occured (which
may no longer contain the posting.)
See also:
Blog,
URI
- PHP -- (PHP: Hypertext
Preprocessor)
-
PHP is a programming language used almost exclusively for creating
software that is part of a web site. The PHP language is
designed to be intermingled with the HTML that is used to
create web pages. Unlike HTML, the PHP code is read and
processed by the web server software (HTML is read and
processed by the web browser software.)
See also:
Browser,
HTML,
JavaScript,
Perl,
Server,
Web page,
Website
- ping
-
To check if a server is running. From the sound that a sonar systems
makes in movies, you know, when they are searching for a submarine.
- Plug-in
-
A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger
piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for the Netscape®
browser and web server. Adobe Photoshop® also uses
plug-ins.
See also:
Browser,
Server
- PNG -- (Portable Network
Graphics)
-
PNG is a graphics format specifically designed for use on the World
Wide Web. PNG enable compression of images without any loss of
quality, including high-resolution images. Another important feature
of PNG is that anyone may create software that works with PNG images
without paying any fees - the PNG standard is free of any licensing
costs.
See also:
GIF,
JPEG
- podcasting or pod-casting
-
A form of audio broadcasting using the Internet, podcasting takes
its name from a combination of "iPod" and broadcasting. iPod is the
immensely popular digital audio player made by Apple computer, but
podcasting does not actually require the use of an iPod.
Podcasting involves making one or more audio files available as
"enclosures" in an RSS feed. A pod-caster creates a list of
music, and/or other sound files (such as recorded poetry, or "talk
radio" material) and makes that list available in the RSS 2.0
format. The list can then be obtained by other people using various
podcast "retriever" software which read the feed and makes the audio
files available to digital audio devices (including, but not limited
to iPods) where users may then listen to them at their convenience.
See also:
RSS
- POP -- (Point of Presence,
also Post Office Protocol)
-
Two commonly used meanings:
Point of Presence and Post Office Protocol.
A Point of Presence usually means a
city or location where a network can be connected to, often with
dial up phone lines. So if an Internet company says they will soon
have a POP in Belgrade, it means that they will soon have a local
phone number in Belgrade and/or a place where leased lines can
connect to their network.
A second meaning, Post Office
Protocol refers to a way that e-mail client software such as
Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain an
account from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) you almost
always get a POP account with it, and it is this POP account that
you tell your e-mail software to use to get your mail. Another
protocol called IMAP is replacing POP for email.
See also:
Client,
Email,
IMAP,
ISP,
Server
- Port
-
3 meanings. First and most generally, a place where information goes
into or out of a computer, or both. E.g. the serial port on a
personal computer is where a modem would be connected.
On the Internet port often refers to
a number that is part of a URL, appearing after a colon (:) right
after the domain name. Every service on an Internet server listens
on a particular port number on that server. Most services have
standard port numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80.
Services can also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the
port number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server, so
you might see a URL of the form:
gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/
This shows a gopher server running on
a non-standard port (the standard gopher port is 70).
Finally, port also refers to
translating a piece of software to bring it from one type of
computer system to another, e.g. to translate a Windows program so
that is will run on a Macintosh.
See also:
URL
- Portal
-
Usually used as a marketing term to described a Web site that is or
is intended to be the first place people see when using the Web.
Typically a "Portal site" has a catalog of web sites, a search
engine, or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other
service to entice people to use that site as their main "point of
entry" (hence "portal") to the Web.
- Posting
-
A single message entered into a network communications system.
- PPP -- (Point to Point
Protocol)
-
The most common protocol used to connect home computers to the
Internet over regular phone lines.
Most well known as a protocol that
allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a modem
to make TCP/IPconnections and thus be really and truly on the
Internet.
See also:
Modem,
SLIP,
TCP/IP
- Protocol
-
On the Internet "protocol" usually refers to a set of rules that
define an exact format for communication between systems. For
example the HTTP protocol defines the format for
communication between web browsers and web servers, the IMAP
protocol defines the format for communication between IMAP email
servers and clients, and the SSL protocol defines a format
for encrypted communications over the Internet.
Virtually all Internet protocls are defined in RFC documents.
See also:
FTP,
HTTP,
IMAP,
POP,
PPP,
RFC,
SLIP,
SMTP,
SNMP,
SSL,
TCP/IP,
UDP
- Proxy Server
-
A Proxy Server sits in between a Client and the "real"
Server that a Client is trying to use. Client's are sometimes
configured to use a Proxy Server, usually an HTTP server. The
clients makes all of it's requests from the Proxy Server, which then
makes requests from the "real" server and passes the result back to
the Client. Sometimes the Proxy server will store the results and
give a stored result instead of making a new one (to reduce use of a
Network). Proxy servers are commonly established on Local
Area Networks
See also:
Client,
HTTP,
LAN,
Network,
Server
- PSTN -- (Public Switched
Telephone Network)
-
The regular old-fashioned telephone system.
-
Back to Index
-
- RDF -- (Resource Definition
Framework)
-
A set of rules (a sort of language) for creating descriptions of
information, especially information available on the World Wide
Web. RDF could be used to describe a collection of books, or
artists, or a collection of web pages as in the RSS
data format which uses RDF to create machine-readable summaries of
web sites.
RDF is also used in XPFE
applications to define the relationships between different
collections of elements, for example RDF could be used to define the
relationship between the data in a database and the way that data is
displayed to a user.
See also:
RSS,
Web page,
WWW,
XML,
XPFE,
XUL
- REST -- (REpresentational
State Transfer)
-
A loosely defined specification for HTTP-based services where
all of the information required to process a request is present in
the initial request and where each request receives only a single
response, and where the response is in a machine-readable form.
An example could be a service that accepts HTTP requests for a
search and returns the result as an XML document.
See also:
HTTP,
Mashup,
XML
- RFC -- (Request For Comments)
-
The name of the result and the process for creating a standard on
the Internet. New standards are proposed and published on the
Internet, as a Request For Comments. The proposal is reviewed by the
Internet Engineering Task Force (http://www.ietf.org/), a
consensus-building body that facilitates discussion, and eventually
a new standard is established, but the reference number/name for the
standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the official standard for
e-mail message formats is RFC 822.
- Router
-
A special-purpose computer (or software package) that handles the
connection between 2 or more Packet-Switched networks.
Routers spend all their time looking at the source and destination
addresses of the packets passing through them and deciding
which route to send them on.
See also:
Network,
Packet
Switching
- RSS -- (Rich Site Summary or
RDF Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication)
-
A commonly used protocol for syndication and sharing of content,
originally developed to facilitate the syndication of news articles,
now widely used to share the contents of blogs. Mashups
are often made using RSS feeds.
RSS is an XML-based summary of a web site, usually used for
syndication and other kinds of content-sharing.
There are RSS "feeds" which are sources of RSS information about web
sites, and RSS "readers" which read RSS feeds and display their
content to users.
RSS is being overtaken by a newer, more complex protocol called
Atom.
See also:
Atom,
Blog,
Mashup,
RDF,
XML
- RTSP -- (Real Time Streaming
Protocol)
-
RTSP is an official Internet standard (RFC 2326) for
delivering and receiving streams of data such as audio and video.
The standard allows for both real-time ("live") streams of data and
streams from stored data.
See also:
RFC
-
Back to Index
-
- SDSL -- (Symmetric Digital
Subscriber Line)
-
A version of DSL where the upload speeds and download speeds
are the same.
See also:
ADSL,
DSL
- Search Engine
-
A (usually web-based) system for searching the information available
on the Web.
Some search engines work by
automatically searching the contents of other systems and creating a
database of the results. Other search engines contains only material
manually approved for inclusion in a database, and some combine the
two approaches.
See also:
WWW
- Security Certificate
-
A chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used by
the SSL protocol to establish a secure connection.
See also:
SSL
- SEO -- (Search Engine
Optimization)
-
The practice of designing web pages so that they rank as high as
possible in search results from search engines.
There is "good" SEO and "bad" SEO. Good SEO involves making the web
page clearly describe its subject, making sure it contains truly
useful information, including accurate information in Meta tags,
and arranging for other web sites to make links to the page. Bad SEO
involves attempting to deceive people into believing the page is
more relevant than it truly is by doing things like adding
inaccurate Meta tags to the page.
See also:
Meta Tag,
Search Engine
- Server
-
A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of
service to client software running on other computers. The
term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW
server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g.
"Our mail server is down today, that's why e-mail isn't getting
out."
A single server machine can (and
often does) have several different server software packages running
on it, thus providing many different servers to clients on
the network.
Sometimes server software is designed
so that additional capabilities can be added to the main program by
adding small programs known as servlets.
See also:
Client,
Network,
Servlet
- Servlet
-
A small computer program designed to be add capabilities to a larger
piece of server software.
Common examples are "Java servlets",
which are small programs written in the Java language and
which are added to a web server. Typically a web server that
uses Java servlets will have many of them, each one designed to
handle a very specific situation, for example one servlet will
handle adding items to a "shopping cart", while a different servlet
will handle deleting items from the "shopping cart."
See also:
Java,
Server,
Web
- SGML -- (Standard Generalized
Markup Language)
-
Developed in 1986 SGML provides a rich set of rules for defining new
data formats. A well-known example of using SGML is XML,
which is a subset of SGML: The definition of XML is all of SGML
minus a couple of dozen items. SGML is an International Standards
Organization (ISO) standard: ISO 8879:1986.
See also:
XHTML,
XML
- SLIP -- (Serial Line Internet
Protocol)
-
A standard that was popular in the early 1990's for using a regular
telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a
computer as a realInternet site. SLIP has largely been
replaced by PPP.
See also:
PPP
- SMDS -- (Switched
Multimegabit Data Service)
-
A standard for very high-speed data transfer.
- SMTP -- (Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol)
-
The main protocol used to send electronic mail from server to
server on the Internet.
SMTP is defined in RFC 821 and
modified by many later RFC's.
See also:
Email,
RFC,
Server
- SNMP -- (Simple Network
Management Protocol)
-
A set of standards for communication with devices connected to a
TCP/IP network. Examples of these devices include routers,
hubs, and switches.
SNMP is defined in RFC 1089
See also:
Network,
RFC,
Router,
TCP/IP
- SOAP -- (Simple Object Access
Protocol)
-
A protocol for client-server communication that
sends and receives information "on top of" HTTP. The data
sent and received is in a particular XML format specifically
designed for use with SOAP. SOAP is similar to the XMLRPC
protocol except that SOAP provides for more sophisticated handling
of complex data being sent between a client and a server. SOAP
actually grew from the work that created XMLRPC.
Microsoft's ".NET" system is largely based on SOAP.
See also:
Client,
HTTP,
Protocol,
Server,
XML,
XMLRPC
- Spam (or Spamming)
-
An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET
or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast
medium (which it is not) by sending the same message to a large
number of people who didn?t ask for it. The term probably comes from
a famous Monty Python skit which featured the word spam repeated
over and over. The term may also have come from someone?s low
opinion of the food product with the same name, which is generally
perceived as a generic content-free waste of resources. (Spam® is a
registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed meat
product.)
See also:
Maillist,
USENET
- Spyware
-
A somewhat vague term generally referring to software that is
secretly installed on a users computer and that monitors use of the
computer in some way without the users' knowledge or consent.
Most spyware tries to get the user to view advertising and/or
particular web pages. Some spyware also sends information
about the user to another machine over the Internet.
Spyware is usually installed without a users' knowledge as part of
the installation of other software, especially software such as
music sharing software obtained via download.
See also:
Download,
Web page
- SQL -- (Structured Query
Language)
-
A specialized language for sending queries to databases. Most
industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be
addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own
slightly different version of SQL implementing features unique to
that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common
subset of SQL.
A example of an SQL statement is:
SELECT name,email FROM people_table WHERE contry='uk'
- SSL -- (Secure Socket Layer)
-
A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted,
authenticated communications across the Internet.
- Sysop -- (System Operator)
-
Anyone responsible for the physical operations of a computer system
or network resource. For example, a System Administrator decides how
often backups and maintenance should be performed and the System
Operator performs those tasks.
-
Back to Index
-
- T-1
-
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at
1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a
T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds. That
is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for
which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 lines are
commonly used to connect large LANs to theInternet.
See also:
Bit,
Internet (Upper case I),
LAN,
Leased Line,
Megabyte
- T-3
-
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at
44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do
full-screen, full-motionvideo.
See also:
Internet (Upper case I),
LAN,
Leased Line
- Tag
-
The term "tag" can be used as a noun or verb. As a noun, a tag is a
basic element of the languages used to create web pages (HTML)
and similar languages such as XML. Another, more recent
meaning of tag is related to reader-crearted tags where blogs and
other content (such as photos, music, etc.) may be "tagged" which
means to assign a keyword, such as "politics" or "gardening", this
enables searches for "all the blog postings in the past week that
are tagged 'prenatal care'"
See also:
Blog,
HTML,
XML
- TCP/IP -- (Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
-
This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet.
Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP
software is now included with every major kind of computer operating
system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have
TCP/IP software.
See also:
Internet (Upper case I),
IPv4,
IPv6,
Packet
Switching,
Unix
- Telnet
-
The command and program used to login from one Internet
siteto another. The telnet command/program gets you to the login:
prompt of another host.
See also:
Host,
Login
- Terabyte
-
1000 gigabytes.
See also:
Gigabyte
- Terminal
-
A device that allows you to send commands to a computer somewhere
else. At a minimum, this usually means a keyboard and a display
screen and some simple circuitry. Usually you will use terminal
software in a personal computer - the software pretends to be
(emulates) a physical terminal and allows you to type commands to a
computer somewhere else.
- Terminal Server
-
A special purpose computer that has places to plug in many modemson
one side, and a connection to a LAN or host machine
onthe other side. Thus the terminal server does the work of
answering the calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate
node. Most terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP
services if connected to the Internet.
- TLD -- (Top Level Domain)
-
The last (right-hand) part of a complete Domain Name. For
example in the domain name www.matisse.net ".net" is the Top Level
Domain.
There are a large number of TLD's,
for example .biz, .com, .edu, .gov, .info, .int, .mil, .net, .org,
and a collection of two-letter TLD's corresponding to the standard
two-letter country codes, for example, .us, .ca, .jp, etc.
See also:
Domain Name
- Trojan Horse
-
A computer program is either hidden inside another program or that
masquerades as something it is not in order to trick potential users
into running it. For example a program that appears to be a game or
image file but in reality performs some other function. The term
"Trojan Horse" comes from a possibly mythical ruse of war used by
the Greeks sometime between 1500 and 1200 B.C.
A Trojan Horse computer program may
spread itself by sending copies of itself from the host computer to
other computers, but unlike a virus it will (usually) not
infect other programs.
See also:
Virus,
Worm
-
Back to Index
-
- UDP -- (User Datagram
Protocol)
-
One of the protocols for data transfer that is part of the TCP/IP
suite of protocols. UDP is a "stateless" protocol in that UDP makes
no provision for acknowledgement of packets received.
See also:
Packet
Switching,
TCP/IP
- Unix
-
A computer operating system (the basic software running on a
computer, underneath things like word processors and spreadsheets).
Unix is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is
multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common
operating system for servers on the Internet.
Apple computers' Macintosh operating
system, as of version 10 ("Mac OS X"), is based on Unix.
See also:
Linux,
Server,
TCP/IP
- Upload
-
Transferring data (usually a file) from a the computer you are using
to another computer. The opposite of download.
See also:
Download
- URI -- (Uniform Resource
Identifier)
-
An address for s resource available on the Internet.
The first part of a URI is called the
"scheme". the most well known scheme is http, but there are
many others. Each URI scheme has its own format for how a URI should
appear.
Here are examples of URIs using the
http, telnet, and news schemes:
http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html
telnet://well.sf.ca.us
news:new.newusers.questions
See also:
URL,
URN
- URL -- (Uniform Resource
Locator)
-
The term URL is basically synonymous with URI. URI has
replaced URL in technical specifications.
See also:
URI,
URN
- URN -- (Uniform Resource
Name)
-
A URI that is supposed to be available for along time. For an
address to be a URN some institution is supposed to make a
commitment to keep the resource available at that address.
See also:
URI
- USENET
-
A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed among
hundreds of thousands of machines. Not all USENET machines are on
the Internet. USENET is completely decentralized, with over
10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups.
See also:
Newsgroup
- UUENCODE -- (Unix to Unix
Encoding)
-
A method for converting files from Binaryto ASCII
(text) so that they can be sent across the Internet via email.
See also:
ASCII,
Binary,
Email
-
Back to Index
-
- Veronica -- (Very Easy Rodent
Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives)
-
Developed at the University of Nevada, Veronica was a constantly
updated database of the names of almost every menu item on thousands
of gopherservers. The Veronica database could be searched
from most major gophermenus.
Now made obsolete by web-bases search
engines.
See also:
Gopher,
Search Engine
- Virus
-
A chunk of computer programming code that makes copies of itself
without any concious human intervention. Some viruses do more than
simply replicate themselves, they might display messages, install
other software or files, delete software of files, etc.
A virus requires the presence of some
other program to replicate itself. Typically viruses spread by
attaching themselves to programs and in some cases files, for
example the file formats for Microsoft word processor and
spreadsheet programs allow the inclusion of programs called "macros"
which can in some cases be a breeding ground for viruses.
See also:
Trojan Horse,
Worm
- VOIP -- (Voice Over IP)
-
A specification and various technologies used to allow making
telephone calls over IP networks, especially the Internet.
Just as modems allow computers to connect to the Internet
over regular telephone lines, VOIP technology allows humans to talk
over Internet connections.
Costs for VOIP calls can be a lot lower than for traditional
telephone calls. Because the IP networks are packet-switched
this allows for vastly different ways of handling connections and
more efficient use of network resources.
See also:
Internet (Upper case I),
IPv4,
IPv6,
Modem,
Packet
Switching
- VPN -- (Virtual Private
Network)
-
Usually refers to a network in which some of the parts are
connected using the public Internet, but the data sent across
the Internet is encrypted, so the entire network is "virtually"
private.
See also:
Internet (Upper case I)
-
Back to Index
-
- WAIS -- (Wide Area
Information Servers)
-
Developed in the early 1990s WAIS was the first truly large-scale
system to allow the indexing of huge quantities of information on
the Web, and to make those indices searchable across
networks such as the Internet. WAIS was also pioneering
in its use of ranked (scored) results where the software tries to
determine how relevant each result it.
- WAN -- (Wide Area Network)
-
Any internet or network that covers an area larger
than a single building or campus.
See also:
internet (Lower case i),
LAN
- Web
-
Short for "World Wide Web."
See also:
WWW
- Web page
-
A document designed for viewing in a web browser.
Typically written in HTML. A web site is made of one
or more web pages.
See also:
Browser,
HTML,
Web,
Website
- WebDAV -- (Web-based
Distributed Authoring and Versioning)
-
A set of extensions to the HTTP protocol that allows multiple
users to not only read but also to add, delete, and change documents
residing on a web server.
In order to use WebDAV you need WebDAV client software to
connect to a HTTP server that has the WebDAV extensions
installed.
Virtually all common HTTP servers have WedDAV extensions available
to them.
See also:
Client,
HTTP,
Server
- Website
-
The entire collection of web pages and other information
(such as images, sound, and video files, etc.) that are made
available through what appears to users as a single web server.
Typically all the of pages in a web site share the same basic URL,
for example the following URLs are all for pages within the same web
site:
http://www.baytherapy.com/
http://www.baytherapy.com/whatis/
http://www.baytherapy.com/teenagers/
The term has a somewhat informal
nature since a large organization might have separate "web sites"
for each division, but someone might talk informally about the
organizations' "web site" when speaking of all of them.
See also:
Web,
Web page
- Wi-Fi -- (Wireless Fidelity)
-
A popular term for a form of wireless data communication, basically
Wi-Fi is "Wireless Ethernet".
See also:
Ethernet
- Wiki
-
A wiki is a web site for which the content can be easily edited and
altered from the web browser in which you are viewing it. Typically
there is an "edit" button on each page and the wiki is configured to
allow either anyone or only people with passwords to edit each page.
The word "wiki" comes from a Hawaiian word meaning "quick."
See also:
Browser,
Web,
Web page
- Worm
-
A worm is a virus that does not infect other programs. It
makes copies of itself, and infects additional computers (typically
by making use of network connections) but does not attach itself to
additional programs; however a worm might alter, install, or destroy
files and programs.
See also:
Trojan Horse,
Virus
- WWW -- (World Wide Web)
-
World Wide Web (or simply Web for short) is a term frequently used
(incorrectly) when referring to "The Internet", WWW has two major
meanings:
First, loosely used: the whole
constellation of resources that can be accessed using Gopher,
FTP, HTTP,telnet, USENET, WAIS and some other tools.
Second, the universe of hypertext
servers (HTTP servers), more commonly called "web
servers", which are the servers that serve web pages to web
browsers.
See also:
Browser,
FTP,
Gopher,
HTTP,
Internet (Upper case I),
Server,
URL,
Web,
Web page
-
Back to Index
-
- XHTML -- (eXtensible
HyperText Markup Language)
-
Basically HTML expressed as valid XML. XHTML is
intended to be used in the same places you would use HTML (creating
web pages) but is much more strictly defined, which makes it a lot
easier to create sofware that can read it, edit it, check it for
errors, etc.
XHTML is expected to eventually replace HTML.
See also:
HTML,
XML
- XML -- (eXtensible Markup
Language)
-
A widely used system for defining data formats. XML provides a very
rich system to define complex documents and data structures such as
invoices, molecular data, news feeds, glossaries, inventory
descriptions, real estate properties, etc.
As long as a programmer has the XML definition for a collection of
data (often called a "schema") then they can create a program to
reliably process any data formatted according to those rules.
XML is a subset of the older SGML specification - the
definition of XML is SGML minus a couple of dozen items.
See also:
Ajax,
SGML
- XMLRPC -- (XML Remote
Procedure Call)
-
A protocol for client-server communication that
sends and receives information "on top of" HTTP. The data
sent and received is in a particular XML format specifically
designed for use with XMLRPC.
See also:
Client,
HTTP,
Protocol,
Server,
SOAP,
XML
- XPFE -- (Cross Platform Front
End)
-
A suite of technologies used to create applications that will work
and look the same on different computer operating systems. A widely
used XPFE application is the Mozilla web browser and its derivities,
such as the Netscape web browser in version 7 and later.
The primary technologies used in creating XPFE applications are
Javascript, Cascading Style Sheets, and XUL.
See also:
CSS,
JavaScript,
XUL
- XUL -- (eXtensible
User-interface Language)
-
A markup language similar to HTML and based on XML.
XUL used to define what the user
interface will look like for a particular piece of software. XUL is
used to define what buttons, scrollbars, text boxes, and other
user-interface items will appear, but it is not used to define how
those item will look (e.g. what color they are).
The most widely used example of XUL
use is probably in the Firefox web browser, where the entire user
interface is defined using the XUL language.
See also:
HTML,
XML,
XPFE
|
