-
- 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
- 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 supprted until version 1.5.3
See
also: Internet (Upper case I), IRC, WAN
- 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
- 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
-
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
See
also: ADSL, Bandwidth, ISDN, Leased Line,
SDSL
- 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 Æ, 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 hysically 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
- 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.
See
also: Browser, Hypertext, WWW
- 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
on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World
Wide Web (WWW).
See
also: 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: Email, POP, RFC
- 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
- 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.
- 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 becoming popular for creating programs that run in small electronic
devicws, such as mobile telephones.
A
very common use of Java is to create programs that can be safely downloaded
to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear
of viruses or other harm to your computer or files. 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:
HTML
- JDK
-- (Java Development Kit)
- A
software development package from Sun Microsystems that implements the basic
set of tools needed to write, test and debug Java 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
- 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
- Listserv
Æ
- 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 Æ
- Megabyte
- A
million bytes. Actually, technically, 1024 kilobytes.
See
also: Byte, Kilobyte
- 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.
- 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 Univeristy of Urbana-Champange 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.
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
-
- 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
- Plug-in
- A
(usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger piece of
software. Common examples are plug-ins for the NetscapeÆ browser
and web server. Adobe PhotoshopÆ also uses plug-ins.
See
also: Browser, Server
- 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
- PSTN
-- (Public Switched Telephone Network)
- The
regular old-fashioned telephone system.
- Back to Index
-
- 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
- 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
- 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.
See
also: Client, Network
- SLIP
-- (Serial Line Internet Protocol)
- A
standard 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
- 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.
(SpamÆ is a registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed
meat product.)
See
also: Maillist, USENET
- 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, Flame War, Internet (Upper case I), LAN, Leased Line
- 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
- TCP/IP
-- (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
- This
is the suiteof 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), 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 thecalls
and passes the connections on to the appropriate node. Mostterminal
servers can provide PPP or SLIP services if connectedto the
Internet.
- 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, is based on Unix.
See
also: Server, TCP/IP
- URL
-- (Uniform Resource Locator)
- The
standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is
part of the World Wide Web (WWW). URLs look like this:
http://www.cmce.com.my/
telnet://well.sf.ca.us
news:new.newusers.questions
The
most common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser program, such
as Netscape, or Lynx.
See
also: Browser, WWW
- 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 viae-mail.
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
- 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)
- A
commercial software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities
of information, and then making those indices searchable across networks
such as the Internet. A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search
results are ranked (scored) accordingto how relevant the hits are, and that
subsequent searches can find more stuff like that last batch and thus refine
the search process.
- WAN
-- (Wide Area Network)
- Any
internet or network that coversan area larger than a single
building or campus.
See
also: internet (Lower case i), LAN
- WWW
-- (World Wide Web)
- 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) which
are the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be mixed
together.
See
also: FTP, Gopher, HTTP, Internet (Upper case I), URL
- Back to Index
-
- 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.