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- ADN
- (Advanced
Digital Network) -- Usually refers to a 56Kbps
leased-line.
- ADSL
- (Asymmetric
Digital Subscriber Line) -- A method for moving data over
regular phone lines. An ADSL 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. An ADSL circuit must be
configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a
leased line.
A commonly discussed configuration of ADSL would allow a
subscriber to receive data (download) at speeds of up to
1.544 megabits (not megabytes) per
second, and to send (upload) data at speeds of 128
kilobits per second. Thus the “Asymmetric” part of the
acronym.
Another commonly discussed configuration would be
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.
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 , ISDN
- Anonymous
FTP
-
See: FTP
- 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 current
rule is that an applet can only make an Internet
connection to the computer from which the applet was sent.
See Also:
HTML , Java
- 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.
- 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 survive a nuclear war.
See Also:
Internet
- ASCII
- (American
Standard Code for Information Interchange) -- This is the
de facto 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.
- 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. 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:
Bps , Bit , 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).
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.
There are many thousands (millions?) of BBS’s around the
world, most are very small, running on a single IBM clone
PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are very large and the
line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets
crossed at some point, but it is not clearly drawn.
- 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. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.
See Also:
Bandwidth , 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, the most popular form of e-mail
discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines
are usually mainframes running the VMS operating system,
and the network is probably the only international network
that is shrinking.
- 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:
Client , URL , WWW
, Netscape , Mosaic
, Home Page (or
Homepage)
- BTW
- (By The
Way) -- A shorthand appended to a comment written in an
online forum.
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.
See Also:
Bit
- Certificate
Authority
- An issuer
of Security Certificates used in SSL connections.
See Also:
Security Certificate ,
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.
Usually a CGI program is a small program that takes data
from a web server and does something with it, like putting
the content of a form into an e-mail message, or turning
the data into a database query.
You can often see that a CGI program is being used by
seeing “cgi-bin” in a URL, but not always.
See Also:
cgi-bin , Web
- cgi-bin
- The most
common name of a directory on a web server in which CGI
programs are stored.
The “bin” part of “cgi-bin” is a shorthand version
of “binary”, because once upon a time, most programs
were refered to as “binaries”. In real life, most
programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files --
scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere on
the same machine.
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. Each Client 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 , 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 , Server
, Network
- 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 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.
- 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:
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
- 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 (Mailing
List).
See Also:
Listserv , Maillist
- 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 , LAN
- FAQ
- (Frequently
Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents that list and
answer the 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 Ethernet,
about twice as fast as T-3).
See Also:
Bandwidth , Ethernet
, T-1 , 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 LAN
into two or more parts for security purposes.
See Also:
Network , LAN
- 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 special 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.
- Gateway
- The
technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that
translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example
Prodigy 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 , Megabyte
- Gopher
- A widely
successful 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). There
are still thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet and
we can expect they will remain for a while.
See Also:
Client , Server
, WWW , Hypertext
- 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.
“hits” are often used as a very rough measure of load
on a server, e.g. “Our server has been getting 300,000
hits per month.” Because each “hit” can represent
anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a
request for a missing document) all the way to a request
that requires some significant extra processing (such as a
complex search request), 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 or simply the main page out of a collection of web
pages, e.g. “Check out so-and-so’s new Home Page.”
Another sloppier use of the term refers to practically any
web page as a “homepage,” e.g. “That web site has 65
homepages and none of them are interesting.”
See Also:
Browser , Web
- 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 , Network
- 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:
Client , Server
, WWW
- 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).
See Also:
Client , 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.
- 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 are expressing a debatable view,
probably on a subject already under discussion. One of may
such shorthands in common use online, especially in
discussion forums.
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 of the late 60’s and early 70’s. The
Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000
independent networks into a vast global internet.
See Also:
internet
- 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 , Network
- 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.
As the Internet has become more popular many of the tools
used on the Internet are being used in private networks,
for example, many companies have web servers that are
available only to employees.
Note that an Intranet may not actually be an internet
-- it may simply be a network.
See Also:
internet , Internet
, Network
- 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. Most machines also have one or
more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.
See Also:
Domain Name , Internet
, 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.
- ISDN
- (Integrated
Services Digital Network) -- Basically 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. In practice,
most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000
bits-per-second.
- ISP
- (Internet
Service Provider) -- An institution that provides access
to the Internet in some form, usually for money.
See Also:
Internet
- Java
- Java is a
network-oriented 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 fancy tricks.
We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to
the Web using Java, since you can write a Java program to
do almost anything a regular computer program can do, and
then include that Java program in a Web page.
See Also:
Applet
- 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
- Kilobyte
- A thousand
bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (2^10) bytes.
See Also:
Byte , Bit
- LAN
- (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
- The most
common kind of maillist, Listservs originated on BITNET
but they are now common on the Internet.
See Also:
BITNET , E-mail
, 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 entering into a computer system, e.g.
Login to the WELL and then go to the GBN conference.
See Also:
Password
- 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.
- Megabyte
- A million
bytes. Actually, technically, 1024 kilobytes.
See Also:
Byte , Bit , Kilobyte
- 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.
An email program is said to be MIME Compliant if it can
both send and receive files using the MIME standard.
When non-text files are sent using the MIME standard they
are converted (encoded) into text - although the resulting
text is not really readable.
Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of
specifying both the type of file being sent (e.g. a
Quicktime™ video file), and the method that should be
used to turn it back into its original form.
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:
Browser , Client
, Server , Binhex
, UUENCODE
- 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 exact copies of material
originated at another location, usually in order to
provide more widespread access to the resource.
Another common use of the term “mirror” refers to an
arrangement where information is written to more than one
hard disk simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the
computer keeps on working without losing anything.
See Also:
FTP , Web
- 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. 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, so far only text-based.
See Also:
MUD , MUSE
- 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 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:
Browser , Client
, 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 that lies 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 with in their absence, thus
allowing a world to be built gradually and collectively.
See Also:
MOO , MUSE
- MUSE
- (Multi-User
Simulated Environment) -- One kind of MUD - usually with
little or no violence.
See Also:
MOO , MUD
- Netiquette
- The
etiquette on the Internet.
See Also:
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.
See Also:
Internet
- 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).
Netscape has grown in features rapidly and is widely
recognized as the best and most popular web browser.
Netscape corporation also produces web server software.
Netscape provided major improvements in speed and
interface over other browsers, and has also engendered
debate by creating new elements for the HTML language used
by Web pages -- but the Netscape extensions to HTML are
not universally supported.
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.
See Also:
Browser , Mosaic
, Server , WWW
- 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 , Internet
, Intranet
- Newsgroup
- The name
for discussion groups on USENET.
See Also:
USENET
- NIC
- (Networked
Information Center) -- Generally, any office that handles
information for a network. The most famous of these on the
Internet is the InterNIC, which is where new domain names
are registered.
Another definition: NIC also refers to Network Interface
Card which plugs into a computer and
adapts the network interface to the appropriate standard.
ISA, PCI, and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs.
- NNTP
- (Network
News Transport Protocol) -- The protocol used by client
and 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:
Newsgroup , TCP/IP
, USENET
- Node
- Any single
computer connected to a network.
See Also:
Network , Internet
, internet
- 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 to different routes by
special machines along the way. This way many people can
use the same lines at the same time.
- Password
- A code
used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords
contain letters and non-letters and are not simple
combinations such as virtue7. A good password might be:
Hot$1-6
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
Netscape® browser and web server. Adobe Photoshop® also
uses plug-ins.
The idea behind plug-in’s is that a small piece of
software is loaded into memory by the larger program,
adding a new feature, and that users need only install the
few plug-ins that they need, out of a much larger pool of
possibilities. Plug-ins are usually created by people
other than the publishers of the software the plug-in
works with.
- 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 the way e-mail software such as
Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain a
SLIP, PPP, or shell account 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.
See Also:
SLIP , PPP
- 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/
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:
Domain Name , Server
, URL
- Posting
- A single
message entered into a network communications system.
E.g. A single message posted to a newsgroup or message
board.
See Also:
Newsgroup
- PPP
- (Point to
Point Protocol) -- Most well known as a protocol that
allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a
modem to make TCP/IP connections and thus be really and
truly on the Internet.
See Also:
IP Number , Internet
, SLIP , TCP/IP
- PSTN
- (Public
Switched Telephone Network) -- The regular old-fashioned
telephone system.
- 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 line, as a Request For Comments.
The Internet Engineering Task Force is 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 is RFC 822.
- Router
- A
special-purpose computer (or software package) that
handles the connection between 2 or more networks. Routers
spend all their time looking at the destination addresses
of the packets passing through them and deciding which
route to send them on.
See Also:
Network , Packet
Switching
- Security
Certificate
- A chunk of
information (often stored as a text file) that is used by
the SSL protocol to establish a secure connection.
Security Certificates contain information about who it
belongs to, who it was issued by, a unique serial number
or other unique identification, valid dates, and an
encrypted “fingerprint” 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.
See Also:
Certificate Authority
, 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 could 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 real Internet site. SLIP is gradually being
replaced by PPP.
See Also:
Internet , PPP
- SMDS
- (Switched
Multimegabit Data Service) -- A new standard for very
high-speed data transfer.
- SMTP
- (Simple
Mail Transport Protocol) -- The main protocol used to send
electronic mail on the Internet.
SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending
mail and a program receiving mail should interact.
Almost all Internet email is sent and received by clients
and servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an
email server on the Internet one would look for email
server software that supports SMTP.
See Also:
Client , 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.
A device is said to be “SNMP compatible” if it can be
monitored and/or controlled using SNMP messages. SNMP
messages are known as “PDU’s” - Protocol Data Units.
Devices that are SNMP compatible contain SNMP “agent”
software to receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages.
Software for managing devices via SNMP are available for
every kind of commonly used computer and are often bundled
along with the device they are designed to manage. Some
SNMP software is designed to handle a wide variety of
devices.
See Also:
Network , Router
- 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.)
E.g. Mary spammed 50 USENET groups by posting the same
message to each.
See Also:
Maillist , USENET
- SQL
- (Structured
Query Language) -- A specialized programming 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 version
of SQL implementing features unique to that application,
but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of
SQL.
- SSL
- (Secure
Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed by Netscape
Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated
communications across the Internet.
SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications
between web browsers and web servers. URL’s that begin
with “https” indicate 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 must have
a Security Certificate, which each side’s software sends
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
de-crypt it, and that the other side can be sure the data
came from the place it claims to have come from, and that
the message has not been tampered with.
See Also:
Browser , Server
, Security Certificate
, URL
- Sysop
- (System
Operator) -- Anyone responsible for the physical
operations of a computer system or network resource. A
System Administrator decides how often backups and
maintenance should be performed and the System Operator
performs those tasks.
- 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 is the fastest speed commonly used to
connect networks to the Internet.
See Also:
Bandwidth , Bit
, 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 , Bit
, 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. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must
have TCP/IP software.
See Also:
IP Number , Internet
, UNIX
- Telnet
- The
command and program used to login from one Internet site
to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the
login: prompt of another host.
- Terabyte
- 1000
gigabytes.
See Also:
Byte , Kilobyte
- 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 modems on
one side, and a connection to a LAN or host machine on the
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.
See Also:
LAN , Modem , Host
, Node , PPP , SLIP
- 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:
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.
- 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). A URL looks like this:
http://www.matisse.net/seminars.html
or telnet://well.sf.ca.us
or news:new.newusers.questions
etc.
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, maybe half. 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
Binary to ASCII (text) so that they can be sent across the
Internet via e-mail.
See Also:
Binhex , MIME
- 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.
See Also:
Gopher
- 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) according to 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 covers an area
larger than a single building or campus.
See Also:
Internet , internet
, LAN , Network
- Web
-
See: WWW
- 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 universe of hypertext servers (HTTP
servers) which are the servers that allow text, graphics,
sound files, etc. to be mixed together.
See Also:
Browser , FTP
, Gopher , HTTP
, Telnet , URL
, WAIS
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