A
B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
TOP
ADN
(Advanced Digital Network) -- Usually refers to a 56Kbps
leased-line.
ADSL
(Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) -- A method for moving
data over phone lines. An ADSL circuit is much faster than a
phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber’s
premises are the same (copper) wires used for phone service.
An ADSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific
locations, similar to a leased line.
ADSL is often discussed as an alternative to ISDN, allowing
higher speeds in cases where the connection is always to the
same place.
See Also: bit , bps
Anonymous FTP
There are many Internet sites that have established publicly
accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using
FTP. These sites make it possible for users to login using the
account name anonymous, thus these sites are called
anonymous ftp servers.
Archie
Software for finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites. You
need to know the exact file name in order to gain access.
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 that would maintain military and other
official communication in the event of a nuclear war.
ASCII
(American Standard Code for Information Interchange) -- This
is the world-wide standard for the code numbers used by
computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin
letters, numbers, and punctuation. There are 128 standard
ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit
binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.
B TOP
Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major
pathway within a network.
Bandwidth
How much data you can send through a connection. Usually
measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about
16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one
second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly
10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.
See Also: T-1
Baud
In common usage the baud rate 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).
(Bulletin Board System) -- A computerized meeting and
announcement system that allows people to carry on
discussions, upload and download files, and make
announcements. The people who belong to this "community" do
not need to be connected to the computer running the BBS at
the same time. There are thousands of BBS’s around the world
and most are very small, running on a single PC with 1 or 2
phone lines.
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: MIME , UUENCODE
(Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in base-2, in other
words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized
data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.
See Also: 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, the most popular form of e-mail
discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines
are usually mainframes running the VMS operating system.
Bps
(Bits-Per-Second) -- A measurement of how fast data is moved
from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800
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: URL , WWW , Netscape , Mosaic , Home Page (or
Homepage)
By The Way
See Also: IMHO , TTFN
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.
C TOP
Certificate Authority
An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL connections.
Client
A software program that is used to contact and obtain data
from a Server. The Client and Server must be compatible for
communication and transmission of data to take place. A Web
Browser is a specific kind of Client.
Cold Fusion
A software package by Allaire used by programmers to create
an interface that allows users to query databases while on a
Web site.
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 Browser’s
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 user’s 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 government, but they can be used to gather more
information about a user than would be possible without them.
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.
Cyberspace
The term originated by author William Gibson in his novel
Neuromancer. Cyberspace is currently used to describe the
whole experience available through computer networks.
D TOP
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 regards to 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:
oregonnet.com
mail.oregonnet.com
can both refer to the same machine, but each domain name can
refer to no more than one machine.
It is 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. An Internet machine must handle
the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.
See Also: IP Number
E TOP
E-mail
(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 via a Mailing List.
See Also: Listserv
Ethernet
A very common method of networking computers in a LAN.
Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can
be used with almost any kind of computer.
See Also: Bandwidth
ETRN
An SMTP command which will force an SMTP server to
attempt to send all mail destined for a particular host.
F TOP
(Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents that list
and answer the most common questions on a particular subject.
There are hundreds of FAQs.
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. This speed is 10 times as fast as Ethernet, and
about twice as fast as T-3.
See Also: Bandwidth , T-1
Finger
An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet
sites. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger requests, but
many do.
Fire Wall
A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN
into two or more parts for security purposes. Fire Walls are
often used by corporations which house their Web site on a
server located in the corporation. The Fire Wall provides a
measure of security that those accessing the company's Web
site will not be able to access private data that is housed on the
same network.
Flame
Flame refers to any kind of derogatory comment on the
Internet.
Flame War
An online discussion that has degenerated into a series of
personal attacks against the debaters, rather than discussion of
their positions.
(File Transfer Protocol) -- A common method of moving files
between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to
another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or
sending files.
G TOP
Gateway
The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that
translates between two dissimilar protocols. For example an
online service such as AOL has a gateway that translates
between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet
e-mail format. Another meaning of gateway is to describe any
mechanism for providing access to another system. For
example, AOL might be called a gateway to the Internet.
Gopher
A method of making menus of material available over the
Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style program, which
requires 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).
H TOP
Hit
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.
Hits are often used as a rough measure of load on a server,
however the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost
impossible to define.
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.
Another use of the term refers to practically any web page as a
homepage.
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
WWW and USENET.
See Also: Node
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. Additionally, in HTML you can specify that a
block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet.
HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web
Client Program, such as Netscape or Mosaic.
See Also: Server
HTTP
(HyperText Transport Protocol) -- The protocol for moving
hypertext files 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).
Hypertext
Generally, anything that contains links to other documents.
I TOP
IMHO
In My Humble Opinion
See Also: TTFN , BTW
Internet
(Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks
that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the
ARPANET.
internet
(Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks
together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state.
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 is only for internal use.
Note that an Intranet may not actually be an internet -- it may
simply be a network.
IP Number
A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, for
example:
206.100.174.50
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number.
Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are
easier for people to remember.
IRC
(Internet Relay Chat) -- A huge multi-user live chat facility.
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 be created for multi-person conference calls.
ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Network) -- A way to move more
data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly
becoming 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.
ISP
(Internet Service Provider) -- An institution that provides access
to the Internet in some form, usually for money.
See Also: Internet
J TOP
Java
Java is a programming language invented by Sun Microsystems
that is specifically designed for writing 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 tricks.
K TOP
Kilobyte
A thousand bytes.
See Also: Bit
L TOP
(Local Area Network) -- A computer network limited to the
immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.
See Also: Ethernet
Leased-line
Refers to a phone line 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: T-1 , T-3
Listserv (List server)
A List server provides an automated way to manage mail
discussion groups. All messages for a mail discussion group or
maillist received by a List server are sent to all the members of
that mail discussion group.
See Also: E-mail
Login
Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer
system.
Verb: The act of entering into a computer system.
See Also: Password
M TOP
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.
Megabyte
A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes.
See Also: Bit
Message Board
Loosely, a type of Bulletin Board, or place where users read
and respond to the postings of other users. Some are simple
meeting places, others serve as business or recreational
gathering spots. A meeting which might have required flying
participants to a central location from all over the world could
instead take place on the Web using a message board.
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- The standard for
attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages.
Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted
word-processor documents, sound files, etc.
Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of specifying
both the type of file being sent and the method that should be
used to turn it back into its original form.
An email program is MIME Compliant if it can both send and
receive files using the MIME standard.
Besides email software, the MIME standard is also universally
used by Web Servers to identify the files they are sending to
Web Clients, in this way new file formats can be accommodated
simply by updating the Browsers' list of pairs of MIME-Types
and appropriate software for handling each type.
See Also: Binhex , UUENCODE
Mirror
To mirror is to maintain an exact copy of something. Mirror
sites which are web sites, or FTP sites that maintain exact
copies of material originated at another location, usually to
provide faster access to users.
Modem
(MOdulator, DEModulator) -- A device that you connect to
your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to
talk to other computers through the phone system.
(Mud, Object Oriented) -- One of several kinds of multi-user
role-playing environments.
See Also: MUD , MUSE
Mosaic
The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh,
Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. The
source-code to Mosaic has been licensed by several companies
and there are several other pieces of software as good or better
than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape.
See Also: Client
MUD
(Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) -- A multi-user simulation
environment. A significant feature of most MUDs is that users
can create things that stay after they leave and which other users
can interact with in 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: MOO
N TOP
Netiquette
The etiquette on the Internet.
Netizen
Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the
Internet. The term connotes civic responsibility and
participation.
Netscape
A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The
NetscapeTM browser was originally based on the Mosaic
program developed at the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA). The main author of Netscape, Mark
Andreessen, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark, and
they founded a company called Mosaic Communications and
soon changed the name to Netscape Communications
Corporation.
Netscape corporation also produces web server software.
Netscape has engendered debate by creating new elements for
the HTML language used by Web pages -- but the Netscape
extensions to HTML are not universally supported.
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 , Intranet
Newsgroup
The name for discussion groups on USENET.
NIC
(Networked Information Center) -- Any office that handles
information for a network. The InterNIC is where new domain
names are registered.
No.
Node
Any single computer connected to a network.
See Also: Internet , internet
O TOP
P TOP
Packet Switching
The method used to move data on the Internet. When you send
a request on the Internet, through clicking a link or sending a
message, all the data coming out of your machine is broken up
into chunks. Each chunk has the address of where it came from
and where it is going. This enables many different sources to use
the same lines. Special machines sort and direct different
packets to different routes along the way. This way, many
people can use the same lines at the same time.
Password
A code used to gain access, or login, to a locked system. Good
passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple or
easily guessed combinations such as sing$3&0. A password
should also be easy to remember and, if you must write it down
for long-term memory, be kept in a secure place away from
your computer.
Two commonly used meanings: Point of Presence and Post
Office Protocol. Point of Presence usually means a physical
location where a network is linked, often with dialup phone
lines. So if an Internet company says they will soon have a POP
in Oconomowoc, it means that they will soon have a local
phone number in Oconomowoc.
Post Office Protocol refers to the way e-mail software gets
mail from a mail server. It is through this POP account that you
tell your e-mail software how to get your mail.
See Also: SLIP , PPP
Port
Port has 3 meanings. First and most generally, a place where
information goes into or out of a computer, or both. For
example, your modem is probably connected to the serial port
on your PC.
Second, on the Internet port often refers to a number that is part
of a URL. It appears after a colon (:) right after the domain
name. As in the first definition, a port refers to a method of
moving information in and out of your computer. Every service
on an Internet server listens on a particular port number on that
server. 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:
http://www.oregonnet.com:8080
shows a server running on a non-standard port.
Finally, port also refers to translating a piece of software to
bring it from one type of computer system to another. A
common example is to translate a Windows program so that is
will run on a Macintosh.
Posting
A message entered into a network communications system,
such as the Internet. Messages in newsgroups or on bulletin
boards are often referred to as postings.
(Point to Point Protocol) -- The protocol that allows a
computer to use a telephone line and a modem to make TCP/IP
connections that connect users to the Internet.
See Also: IP Number , SLIP
Q TOP
R TOP
Router
A special-purpose computer or software package that manages
the connection between 2 or more networks. Routers look at
the destination addresses of the packets passing through them
and decide which path to send them on.
S TOP
Security Certificate
A chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used
to establish a secure connection by SSL protocol.
Security Certificates contain unique identification and
information that can be used to verify the contents of the
certificate.
In order for an SSL connection to be created, both sides must
have a valid Security Certificate, issued by the Certificate
Authority.
Server
A computer or a software package that provides a specific
service, such as sorting electronic mail, to client software
running on other computers. The term can refer to a piece of
software, or to the machine on which the software is running. A
single server machine could be running several different server
software packages, thus providing many different services to
clients on the network.
SLIP
(Serial Line Internet Protocol) -- An older standard for using a
telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a
computer as an Internet site. PPP is rapidly replacing SLIP as
the standard.
SMDS
(Switched Multimegabit Data Service) -- An emerging standard
for high-speed data transfer.
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 compatible devices contain SNMP “agent” software to
receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages. SNMP
messages are known as “PDU’s” - Protocol Data Units.
Software for managing devices via SNMP are often bundled
along with the device they are designed to manage. Some
SNMP software is designed to handle a wide variety of
devices.
SMTP
(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) -- A protocol, defined in STD
10, RFC 821, used to transfer electronic mail between
computers. It is a server to server protocol, so other protocols
are used to access the messages.
Spam (or Spamming)
An inappropriate use of a mailing list, or USENET or other
networked communications facility by sending the same
message to a large number of people who didn’t ask for it. The
term probably comes from the Monty Python skit which
featured the word spam repeated over and over. (Spam is a
registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed
meat product.)
(Structured Query Language) -- A specialized programming
language for sending queries to databases. Many database
applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific
application will have its own version of SQL implementing
features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable
databases support a common subset of SQL.
(Secure Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed by Netscape
Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated
communications across the Internet.
SSL is used mostly in communications between web browsers
and web servers. URL’s that begin with “https” are a clue that
an SSL connection will be used.
SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and
Message Integrity.
In an SSL connection each side of the connection sends a
Security Certificate to the other. Each side then encrypts what it
sends using information from both its own and the other side’s
Certificate, ensuring that only the intended recipient can decode
it.
Sysop
(System Operator) -- Anyone responsible for the physical
operations of a computer system or network resource.
T
TOP
T-1
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000
bits-per-second. That is still not fast enough for full-screen,
full-motion video, but it is more than enough for fast loading time
for most Web pages. T-1 is the fastest speed commonly used to
connect networks to the Internet.
See Also: Bandwidth , Byte , Ethernet , T-3
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-motion video.
See Also: Bandwidth , Byte , Ethernet , T-1
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
available for every major kind of computer operating system.
Your computer must have TCP/IP software to be on the
Internet.
See Also: IP Number
Telnet
The command and program used to access an Internet site. The
telnet command/program is used to reach the login: prompt of
another host.
Terminal
A device that allows you to send commands to a remote
computer. A terminal can be as simple as a keyboard and a
display screen that you log into to access information in the
remote computer. Terminal software in a personal computer
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
modems, and a connection to a LAN or host machine. 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.
TTFN
Ta Ta For Now, a favorite phrase of the Winnie the Pooh
character Tigger.
See Also: IMHO , BTW
U TOP
UNIX
A computer operating system. UNIX is designed to be used by
many people at the same time and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the
most common operating system for servers on the Internet.
URL
(Uniform Resource Locator) -- The standard way to give an
address on the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL is accessed
through a web browser and looks like this:
http://www.oregonnet.com
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.
UUENCODE
(Unix to Unix Encoding) -- A method for converting files from
Binary to ASCII so that they can be sent across the Internet via
e-mail.
See Also: MIME
V TOP
Veronica
(Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized
Archives) -- Developed at the University of Nevada, Veronica
is a constantly updated database of the names of almost every
menu item on thousands of gopher servers. The Veronica
database can be searched from most major gopher menus.
W TOP
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 search results are ranked (scored), and that subsequent
searches can find more items like the last result and thus refine
the search process.
WAN
(Wide Area Network) -- Any internet or network that covers
an area larger than a single building or campus.
See Also: internet , LAN
Web or WWW
(World Wide Web) -- Two 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 hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which
allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be viewed concurrently.
See Also: Browser , URL
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Z
TOP
Portions excerpted from: ILC Glossary of Internet Terms ©
1994-97 Internet Literacy ConsultantsTM