Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary. If the term you are looking for starts with a digit or symbol, choose the '#' link.
Access Provider
The remote computer system to which you connect your personal
computer and through which you connect to the Internet. An access
provider is the company that provides you with Internet access
and in some cases, an online account on their computer system. An
access provider can be a large commercial service like Compuserve
or America Online, which will charge you by the hour for
your Internet access, or a small local company, which might
charge you a flat rate per month for unlimited hours. If you
access the Internet directly from a company account, then your
company is your access provider.
The range of services and the cost can vary widely depending on
your geographic location and the number of service providers in
your area. Of course, there is no limit on the number of
providers you can have, and for various reasons you may find that
you want or need more than one provider.
For more detailed information, read the comp.infosystems.www.providers
newsgroup, where you can read or participate in discussions about
issues ranging from the very simple, such as, "What is the
cheapest access provider in my area code?" to complex
technical discussions about the equipment used by access
providers.
ARPANET
The computer network system that gave birth to
the Internet. ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Administration
Network) began in 1969 as a U.S. Department of Defense experiment
in packet-switched networking.
ASCII
An acronym for American Standard Code for
Information Interchange. This 7-bit code represents the most
basic letters of the Roman alphabet, numbers, and other
characters used in computing. Computers cannot understand human
languages such as English. They speak a language of their own
called binary, which is made up of 0s and 1s.
Humans can communicate with computers using a set of characters called ASCII. Each character in the ASCII set is made up of 7 bits of information, which the computer sees as a combination of 0s and 1s. This allows us to type alphabetical characters and numbers, which look like English to us, but can be read, stored and manipulated by computers. ASCII files are also called text files.
Attribute
An addition to an HTML tag that extends or qualifies its
meaning. For example you can extend the <IMG> (image) tag
by including the "ALIGN" attribute which lets you
further specify how you want a block of text to line up with an
image. With the ALIGN attribute you can align text to the left,
right, center, top, middle or bottom of an image. Another
attribute that is used to extend an <IMG> tag is the
"BORDER" attribute which allows you to specify the size
of the border that appears around an image that it is a hotlink.
The size is specified in pixels so if you wanted to suppress it
altogether you would add BORDER="0" to your <IMG>
tag. A slight border would be specified by the number 1 or 2,
etc.
Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a
major pathway within a network. For example, NSFNET
was, for many years, the backbone of the Internet.
Bandwidth
The maximum amount of data that can travel a
communications path in a given time, usually measured in seconds.
If you think of the communications path as a pipe, then bandwidth
represents the width of the pipe that determines how much data
can flow through it all at once.
BBS
Acronym for Bulletin Board System, which is a
system that lets people read each other's messages and post new
ones. The Usenet is, in effect, the world's
largest distributed BBS. Typically, the term BBS is used to
describe private systems, run by individuals that often require
membership.
Binary File
A file that contains more than plain text (i.e.
photos, sounds, a spreadsheet, or a formatted word-processing
document). In contrast to ASCII files, which
contain only characters (plain text), binary files contain
additional code information. A binary file is made up of
machine-readable symbols that represent 1s and 0s. Binary files
include sound files, graphics files, and software, and are
frequently called binaries.
This all becomes important when you wish to transmit a file over the Internet. Let's say you want to download a neat piece of software called "Fitware" to help you keep track of your fitness regime. Depending on the software you use, you may find yourself confronted with a choice of file formats to download. If the file is a piece of software (like the "Fitware" program), a sound file, or a picture file, you will choose the "binary" option.
Here's a list of binaries recently posted to Usenet and available for downloading. You need software to help you uncompress, view, or get a list of the binary files you download. You can find this kind of helper software for free at the Virtual Shareware Library.
Bit
Short for binary digit, a bit is the smallest unit of data
a computer can handle. Bits are used in various combinations to
represent different kinds of data. Each bit has a value of 0 or
1. See also Byte.
Bitmap
A bitmapped image is one made out of an array of
dots rather than continuous lines or areas.
BPS
Abbreviation for Bits Per Second and a
measurement of how fast data is transmitted. BPS is usually used
to describe modem speeds or the speed of a digital connection.
See ISDN; T1 Line and T3 Line.
Browser
A software program that allows you to view and
interact with various kinds of Internet resources available on
the World Wide Web. A browser is commonly
called a web browser.
BTW
Abbreviation for by the way. Used in
various online communications such as e-mail messages or postings
to Newsgroups or BBSs, it usually appears in brackets like this:
<BTW>.
Byte
A series of bits of a particular length --
usually 8. Computer storage space is measured in bytes. A Kilobyte
(or 1K) represents 1024 bytes and a Megabyte (1Mb)
represents one thousand "K" bytes, or one million
bytes.
Cache
When you download a web page, the data is cached,
meaning it is stored temporarily on your computer. The next time
you want that page, instead of requesting the file from the web
server, your web browser just accesses it from the cache. That
way, the page loads quickly. But if the web page is updated
frequently, as may be the case with news, sports scores or
financial data, you won't get the most current information. By
using the Reload button on your browser, this timely data is
updated by downloading fresh data from the server.
Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
The interface program that enables an Internet
server to run external programs to perform a specific function.
Also referred to as Gateway or CGI "scripts," these
programs generally consist of a set of instructions written in a
programming language like C or PERL that process requests from a
browser, execute a program and format the results in HTML, so
they can be displayed in the browser. Gateway scripts are
commonly used to add interactivity to a web page by allowing
users to do things like fill out and submit forms for processing
(as in an order form for an online catalog); query databases by
submitting search requests; and register or gain access to
password-protected areas of a site. CGI scripts are also used to
implement a variety of tracking and measurement systems on a
website.
Also see Forms.
Clickable Image
Any image that has instructions embedded in it so
that clicking on it initiates some kind of action or result. On a
web page, a clickable image is any image that has a URL or more
than one URL embedded in it (i.e. hidden behind it). This can be
accomplished simply by including an <A HREF> anchor tag in
an HTML <IMG> (image) tag. Embedding more than one URL in
an image requires constructing an Image Map.
Client
A program that uses the services of another
program. The client is the program used to contact and obtain
data or request a service from the server.
Computer Virus
A computer program created specifically to invade
computers and networks and wreak havoc on them. The mischief
caused can be very minor: it may cause a funny image or cryptic
message to be displayed on your screen, or it can do some serious
damage by altering or even destroying files.
Cookies
A cookie is a file sent to a web browser by a web
server that is used to record one's activities on a website. For
instance, when you buy items from a site and place them in a
so-called virtual shopping cart, that information is stored in
the cookie. When the browser requests additional files, the
cookie information is sent back to the server. Cookies can
remember other kinds of personal information --your password, so
you don't have to re-enter it each time you visit the site; your
preferences, so the next time you return to a site, you can be
presented with customized information. Some people regard cookies
as an invasion of privacy; others think they are a harmless way
to make websites more personal.
Most cookies have an expiration date and either reside in your computer's memory until you close your browser or they are saved to your hard drive. By the way, cookies cannot read information stored in your computer.
You can use a text editor to view cookie files. For Windows users of Navigator, the file is called cookies.txt and is located in the the same folder as Netscape. Mac users can find it in the Netscape folder in the System/Preferences folder. Explorer creates separate files for each cookie and stores them in folders named "Cookies" or "Temporary Internet Files."
Cryptography
The process of securing private information that
is passed through public networks, by mathematically scrambling
(i.e. encrypting) it in a way that makes it unreadable to anyone
except the person or persons holding the mathematical
"key" that can unscramble (decrypt) it. The two most
common types of cryptography are "same-key" and
"public-key". In same-key cryptography, a message is
encrypted and decrypted using the same key, which is passed along
from one party to another in a separate transmission. A more
secure method is public-key cryptography which uses a pair of
different keys (one public, one private) that have a particular
relationship to one another, such that any message encrypted with
one key can only be decrypted with the other key and vice-versa.
Cyberspace
A term coined by science fiction author William
Gibson to describe the whole range of information resources
available through computer networks.
Database
A structured format for organizing and
maintaining information that can be easily retrieved. A simple
example of a database is a table or a spreadsheet.
Dial
- up Account
A type of account available for connecting to the
Internet. Having an account on a computer system means you have a
login name and a password that lets you access some parts of that
system. A dial-up account through an Internet Service Provider
allows you to use your modem to make a connection to your
provider's system. Once you have dialed your provider's local
number and are connected, the provider then connects you directly
to the Internet, where you can run any Internet navigation
software (like a web browser), just as you would if you had a
direct connection to the Net.
Different types of dial-up accounts are available. A SLIP or PPP account allows you to navigate the World Wide Web directly from your Windows or Mac operating system. A UNIX shell account allows you to use UNIX commands on your service provider's system.
To connect to the Internet with a dial-up account you need a modem. To learn about the ins and outs of modems, read the Air Force Institute of Technology's Modem Fact Sheet.
Also see Access Providers.
Directory
A system that your computer uses to organize
files on the basis of specific information. Directories can be
organized hierarchically so that files appear in a number of
different ways, such as the order in which they were created;
alphabetically by name or by type, etc.
Dithering
When working with a computer display system that
supports 8-bit color (or fewer colors), the video card can
display only 256 different colors at one time. Dithering is a
technique to simulate the display of colors that are not in the
current color palette of a particular image. It accomplishes this
by arranging adjacent pixels of different colors into a pattern
which simulates colors that are not available to the computer.
Domain
Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site.
The Internet is made up of hundreds of thousands of computers and
networks, all with their own domain name or unique address.
Domain names always have two or more parts separated by dots. A
given server may have more than one domain name, but a given
domain name points to only one server.
For example, "whitehouse.gov" is the domain name belonging to the Whitehouse computer system. Once a system administrator registers a unique domain name, subaddresses can be assigned to the machines and people on the local network. So the President's e-mail address is "president@whitehouse.gov," the Vice-President's is "vice-president@whitehouse.gov," and so on. Each corresponds to a unique IP address. The machine that serves up the Whitehouse web pages is called www.whitehouse.gov.
Domain names typically consist of some form of the organization's name and a suffix that describes the type of organization. For example, IBM has registered the domain name "ibm.com"; Xerox corporation has registered "xerox.com." Registration is on a first come, first served basis. The domain name suffix is assigned based on the type of organization. For U.S. domains, the suffixes are:
In addition, non-U.S. sites have an additional extension that indicates the country where the domain is located. For example:
In the United States, domain names are assigned and indexed by the InterNIC project (a joint project of the National Science Foundation, AT&T, and Network Solutions, Inc.). Each of these addresses is actually an alias of a numerical address (called an IP address). The IP number for the Whitehouse for example, is 198.137.240.100. To access the Whitehouse Internet site, you could use the IP number if you like, but most people prefer to use the quasi-English domain name alias "whitehouse.gov."
There is much more information about domain names available at The InterNIC Home Page. To learn the IP address and to contact names for a particular domain name (such as whitehouse.gov), use the InterNIC WHOIS search form. You can also use this form to see if anyone has registered a domain name you may be considering.
DPI (Dots Per
Inch)
A measurement of print image resolution and
quality. A larger number of dots allows for more detail and
therefore a higher resolution image. The average laser printer
has a resolution of 300 x 300 dpi which means it can print 300
dots per inch horizontally and 300 dots per inch vertically,
90,000 dots per square inch. A high-resolution, professional
quality laser printer prints at 1200 dpi.
Download
The method by which users access and save or
"pull down" software or other files to their own
computers from a remote computer, usually via a modem.
E-mail
Short for electronic mail, e-mail consists of
messages, often just text, sent from one user to another via a
network. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a number of
addresses.
E-mail Address
A computer mailing address to which electronic
mail may be sent. Each computer system handles e-mail addressing
differently, but relies on various protocols for exchanging mail
with other, dissimilar systems.
Mailing List
A way of having a group discussion by electronic
mail. Also used to distribute announcements to a large number of
people. A mailing list is very much like a conference on a
bulletin board system, except the conversation comes to you in
your e-mail box. Each time you or any member of the list posts a
reply to the conversation, it is distributed to the e-mail box of
every member of the list. All of this traffic is automated and
managed by programs called mailing list managers (MLM's) or mail
servers. The two most frequently used programs are Listserv
and Majordomo.
Mailing lists are the most basic form of Internet conferencing. They can be public or private and, unlike Usenet newsgroups, which require additional software to run, all you need to participate is an e-mail address.
A mailing list is said to be "unmoderated" if all of the messages sent to the list are automatically forwarded to each member of the list. In a "moderated" list, all messages are sent first to a list moderator, who makes decisions about which postings will or will not be sent to everyone on the list.
If many people are on a mailing list, the traffic in your e-mail box can be overwhelming. One way to deal with this is to subscribe to the "digest" version of the list (not all mailing lists have digest versions). In a digest version, postings are collected into a single file and distributed to the list on a regular basis (usually daily). In this way you receive only one big file at regular intervals rather than hundreds of small ones everyday.
You join a mailing list by subscribing to it. This doesn't mean you have to pay money, it just means you are asking to have your e-mail address added to the distribution list. To get off the mailing list, you have to unsubscribe from the list. You do both by sending an e-mail message to the list administrator with the following in the body of your message:
subscribe name-of-list your e-mail address
or
unsubscribe name-of-list your e-mail address
The exact way of doing this varies a little from list to list. It's best to request information about the list first and that will tell you exactly what you need to do. Once you've subscribed to a list you will receive an e-mail message with details about how the list works and how to unsubscribe.
Here are some tips for using mailing lists:
An excellent place to begin looking for mailing lists is the Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists page from Neosoft, which you can view by subject or by list name. You can also use the mailing list information at Tile.net.
Emoticon
Another name for a smiley -- a sequence of
keyboard characters used to punctuate a message or posting by
expressing the writer's emotional state. For example:
a smile
:-)
sadness or consternation :-(
a wink
;-)
Encryption
A way of coding the information in a file or
e-mail message so that if it is intercepted by a third party as
it travels over a network it cannot be read. Only the person or
persons that have the right type of decoding software can
unscramble the message. See also Cryptography.
Executable File
or Content
Refers to a file that is a program. Executables
in DOS and Windows usually have an .exe or a .com extension. In
UNIX and Macintosh environments, executable files can have any
name
FAQ
An acronym for Frequently Asked Questions.
FAQs are online documents that list and answer the most common
questions on a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on
the internet, on subjects as diverse as gardening and virtual
reality.
A wonderful tradition on the Internet, the FAQ was developed by people who got tired of answering the same questions over and over again. FAQs are made available to newcomers who are urged to read them before asking redundant questions in a Usenet newsgroup, on a BBS, or a mailing list. It is essentially a tool to help you get up to speed before joining a conversation, by providing you with a wealth of information about a particular subject. Though FAQs are most commonly found on Usenet newsgroups, they exist all over the Internet and frequently can be found at web sites, too.
FAQs often begin with an extensive index at the top, so you have to scroll down a bit to get to the meat of it. Here is a sample FAQ about growing roses. A good place to begin looking for FAQs is the list of all Usenet Newsgroup FAQs. Use this very handy tool to Search Usenet FAQs for a specific subject.
File Compression
A way of reducing the size of a file, or files,
so that they don't take up a lot of space on a server or hard
drive and can travel faster over a network. File compression is
accomplished with software that uses mathematical equations
(algorithms) to condense repeated data into smaller codes. You
need another separate software program to decompress the data,
and restore it to its original form.
File Permissions
When you place files on a UNIX system you can
assign the files various levels of permission, specifying who can
access them, and what type of access they can have. The
permission levels regarding who can access files are:
"owner" (the person who created the files),
"group" (i.e. a group of individuals specifically
identified) or "global" (i.e. anyone). The type of
access can be set to permit the users to "read" (look
at the contents and copy them), "write" (edit or change
the contents, rename and/or move the files), or
"execute" (run a file as a UNIX program).
Finger
A program that displays information about someone
on the Internet. When you are logged in, type finger
followed by the e-mail address of the person you want to know
more about and it can tell you whether or not a person is logged
on, what their actual name is, and when they last logged on. Not
all Internet Service Providers support
this feature. Even for the ones that do, the user has to give
file permission to allow people from other hosts to see this
information.
Firewall
A combination hardware and software buffer that
many companies or organizations have in place between their
internal networks and the Internet. A firewall allows only
specific kinds of messages from the Internet to flow in and out
of the internal network. This protects the internal network from
intruders or hackers who might try to use
the Internet to break into those systems.
Forms
Forms are web pages comprised of text and
"fields" for a user to fill in with information. They
are an excellent way of collecting and processing information
from people visiting a website, as well as allowing them to
interact with web pages. Forms are written in HTML and processed
by CGI programs. The output can be sent as an e-mail form, stored
online, printed, and/or returned to the user as an HTML page.
When you enter a keyword in the search field of an Internet
directory, you are filling in a form. It is then processed by a
CGI program, returning a list of possible matches with your
keyword. Forms are also used for online catalogs, surveys,
requests for information, and conferencing.
FTP
An acronym for File Transfer Protocol -- a
very common method of transferring one or more files from one
computer to another. FTP is a specific way to connect to another
Internet site to retrieve and send files. FTP was developed in
the early days of the Internet to copy files from computer to
computer. With the advent of the World Wide Web, and web browser
software, you no longer need to know arcane FTP commands to copy
to and from other computers. In your browser, you can use FTP by
typing the URL into the location box at the top of your screen.
For example: ftp://name.of.site/directory/filename.zip
will transfer filename.zip to your computer's hard disk.
You can also use ftp://name.of.site/directory/ which will
give you a listing of all the files available in that directory.
If you are using a web browser that doesn't have built-in FTP capability, or if you want to upload files to a remote computer, you will need to use an FTP client program to transfer files. To use FTP you need to know the name of the file, the computer where it resides, and the directory it's in. Most files are available via "anonymous FTP," which means you can log into the machine with the user name "anonymous" and use your e-mail address as your password.
To search by subject for files available on the Internet, use the Archie Search Form from the University of Illinois. To see the massive list of all anonymous FTP sites on the Internet, go to the University of Illinois's Monster Sites List. Be sure to read the introduction first.
Gateway
Hardware or software that bridges the gap between
two otherwise incompatible applications or networks so that data
can be transferred among different computers. This is common with
e-mail that gets sent back and forth between Internet sites and
commercial online services (like Prodigy and America Online)
which have their own internal e-mail systems.
GIF
Acronym for Graphics
Interchange Format. This graphics file format uses a
compression scheme originally developed by CompuServe. Because
they are compressed, the file sizes can be quickly and easily
transmitted over a network. That's why it is the most commonly
used graphics format on the World Wide Web.
Gopher
Gopher is an
application that was developed at the University of Minnesota
to help organize files on the Internet. Named after the school's
football mascot, Gopher is a subject-based menu-driven guide to
finding and retrieving directories of information on the
Internet.
Gopher organizes access to Internet resources using menu-based indexes of the many databases, online library catalogs, bulletin board systems and Campus-wide Information Services (CIS) available on the Internet, by subject, type of service, or geographic location. The world of Gopher menus is referred to as Gopherspace. While you are "sniffing" around Gopherspace, you are actually doing things that are not obviously visible to you, like transferring files, changing directories, telneting to computers and querying servers all over the world. Gopher automatically takes care of finding whatever data you want, no matter where it is. You may use a dozen or more different Gopher servers in a single session, but you hardly know it.
You need a Gopher client program to run Gopher, but if you don't have one, there are public gopher sites that you can telnet to. When you get there, you login as Gopher and then run the server's Gopher search program to do a search.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has devoted a whole section of its Extended Guide to the Internet to Gopher, WAIS, and the World Wide Web.
Although the recent proliferation of World Wide Web browsers has replaced much of what Gopher was used for, many universities and non-U.S. networks still use Gopher as their primary means of searching, retrieving and providing information via computers.
To see a working example of Gopher, as well as a powerful collection of information from around the world, check out the University of Minnesota Gopher Server, where it all began. Another excellent use of Gopher is the United Nations Gopher Server.
Graphical User
Interface (GUI)
A GUI interface
allows users to navigate and interact with information on their
computer screen by using a mouse to "point,"
"click," and "drag" icons and other data
around on the screen, instead of typing in words and phrases. The
Windows and Macintosh operating systems are examples of GUI's.
The World Wide Web is an example of a GUI designed to enhance
navigation of the Internet, once done exclusively via
terminal-based (i.e. typed command line) functions.
Hacker
Slang term for a
technically sophisticated computer user who enjoys exploring
computer systems and programs, sometimes to the point of
obsession.
Hits
This term refers to
the number of files that are downloaded from a web server. It's a
way of measuring traffic to a website that can be misleading. The
number of hits a site receives is usually much greater than the
number of visitors it gets. That's because a web page can contain
more than one file. For example, each graphic element is a
separate file, so a page with nine graphics would count as ten
hits, one for each graphic and one for the HTML file. In this scenario a page may have
10,000 hits, but only 1,000 visits.
Home
Page
Also referred to as
a web page. The starting point of a Web presentation
and a sort of table of contents for what is at the website, offering direct links to the different
parts of the site.
Hotlists
A standard feature
of most web browsers is the ability to compile and maintain a
list of interesting, useful, or important URLs into a hotlist of links you can click on
to go directly to a web site. In some browsers hotlists are
called bookmarks.
Host
Any computer
directly connected to a network that acts as a repository for
services (e.g. e-mail, Usenet newsgroups, ftp or World Wide Web)
available for other computers on the network. See also Server.
Host Name
Every computer that
is directly connected to the Internet has a numerical
identification, called an IP address, and a name, called a host
name. Most people using the internet don't need to know the host
name of a computer in order to link to it. The Web URLs and e-mail addresses are all you really
need to know.
HTML
Acronym for
HyperText Markup Language, HTML is the computer language used to
create hypertext documents. HTML utilizes a finite list of
tags that describe the general structure of
various kinds of documents linked together on the World Wide Web.
HTTP
HTTP stands for HyperText
Transfer Protocol -- the method by which hypertext files are
transferred across the Internet. Letâs examine these terms one
at a time. "Hypertext" was coined by Ted Nelson in 1965
to mean "text which is not constrained to be linear."
When used with the web, it is text that is linked to something
else. When you click on a word and you are shown another page (or
a sound file or a picture), you are using hypertext. Hypertext
allows you to jump around between files, following your own
interests and train of thought. World Wide Web pages written in
HTML use hypertext to link to other documents.
Hypertext transfer is simply the tranfer of hypertext files from computer to computer. When you are reading a hypertext document, say, at the Library of Congress site, you can click on a link that takes you to the NASA page. Of course, you haven't actually gone anywhere. A document simply has been transferred from NASA's computer to your computer, across the Internet.
Now what on earth is protocol? In computerese, a protocol is a set of standards used by two computers to communicate and exchange information with each other. To put it all together, HyperText Transfer Protocol is the set of standards used by computers to transfer hypertext files (web pages) over the Internet.
You can read lots of techno-speak about HTTP from the people who coordinate the HTTP standards, the World Wide Web Consortium.
What does a protocol really look like? Well, take a deep breath and dive in, if you're really, curious, the HTTP protocol provides a very technical explanation!
Hypertext
A way of presenting
information in which text, sounds, images, and actions are linked
together in a way that allows you to jump around between them in
whatever order you choose. Hypertext usually refers to any text
available on the World Wide Web that contains links to other documents.
Icon
A small image,
usually a symbol, used to graphically represent a software
program, file, or function on a computer screen. Icons make it
easier to recognize and locate these things.
Image
Map
An image map is a
graphic divided into regions or "hotspots." When a
particular region is clicked, it calls up a web page that has
been associated with that particular region. A typical example of
an image map is a website that offers national information
organized by state. Clicking on a state on a map of the United
States calls up the appropriate page.
IMHO
An abbreviation for In
My Humble Opinion, this term is used in various online
communications, such as e-mail messages or postings to newsgroups
or BBSs; it usually appears in brackets like this: <
Inline
Graphics/Video
Graphics (including
photos) and video that are embedded in a web page. Inline
graphics are displayed in the Web browser as part of the
document, and do not require a separate external viewer
application to be seen. Likewise, inline video refers to a video
clip embedded on a web page that runs in real time without
requiring a separate player.
Internet
Service Provider
Also called ISPs or access providers. The remote computer system to which you
connect your personal computer and through which you connect to
the Internet. ISPs that you access by modem and telephone line
are often called dial-up services.
Intranet
You can think of an
intranet as an internal Internet designed to be used within the
confines of a company, university or organization. What
distinguishes an intranet from the freely accessible Internet, is
that intranets are private. Until recently most corporations
relied on proprietary hardware and software systems to network
its computers, a costly and time-consuming process made more
difficult when offices are scattered around the world. Even under
the best of conditions, sharing information among different
hardware platforms, file formats and software is not an easy
task. By using off-the-shelf Internet technology, intranets solve
this problem, making internal communication and collaboration
much simpler.
Intranets use TCP/IP to transmit information across the network, as well as HTML to create documents.Information is stored on one or more company servers and accessed by using a web browser, such as Navigator or Explorer. This self-contained, miniature Internet can have all the same features -- individual home pages, newsgroups, e-mail - but they are restricted to company employees and contractors.
IP Address
A numeric code that
uniquely identifies a particular computer on the Internet. Just
as a street address identifies the location of your home or
office, every computer or network on the Internet has a unique
address, too. Internet addresses are assigned to you by an
organization called InterNIC. You register your address with
InterNIC as both a name (whitehouse.gov), which is referred to as
the domain name, and a number (198.137.240.100), which is
generally referred to as the IP address or IP number.
Because the numeric addresses are difficult to understand or remember, most people use names instead like whitehouse.gov or ibm.com. A software database program called Domain Name Service (DNS) tracks the names and translates them into their numerical equivalent so that the computers can understand what they are and find them. See Domain Name.
When you have a standard dial-up account with an Internet provider, you will either be assigned a "permanent" or "static" IP address (i.e. its always the same), or the system will use "dynamic" IP addressing, which assigns you an address everytime you log on. If you are an organization and want all of your employees' computers to have Internet access, you can apply to the InterNIC for a range of IP addresses. Most likely, the InterNIC will assign you a Class C address, which consists of 255 unique IP numbers for you to assign to your employees.
If you need more than 255 IP address, you can apply for a Class B address, which will give you over 65,000 unique IP addresses. Class A addresses are for very large companies. Both Class A and Class B addresses are very hard, if not impossible, to get. Usually, companies will get multiple Class C addresses. Actually, we're quickly running out of IP addresses. So the Internet Engineering Task Force, which standardized the IP protocol, is working on a solution, described in IP: Next Generation. The document is rather technical, so beware.
IRC (Internet
Relay Chat)
An acronym for Internet
Relay Chat, a program that allows you to carry on
"live" conversations with people all over the world by
typing messages back and forth across the Internet. You can talk
in groups or in private with only one person. IRC consists of
"channels," which usually are devoted to specific
topics. Anyone can create a "channel" and any message
typed in a given channel is seen by all others in the channel.
There is no limit to the number of people who can chat on a particular channel. Because of this unique feature, IRC channels have served as unofficial "news" sites during times of crisis, such as the Gulf War and the 1994 southern California earthquake. Mostly, though, you will find the same thing as on the Net - people talking about things they are interested in, from Aardvarks to Zombies.
To run IRC, you need to have an account on a server that is running an IRC client. If you have a dial-up UNIX shell account or a direct connection to the Internet, chances are your system administrator has already installed the IRC client software. Log in and type IRC at the prompt. If nothing happens, you will have to ask your provider to install the IRC client.
IRC can be difficult to get the hang of at first, but once you get past the initial learning curve you may come to love it. How else can you talk to someone in Brazil for an hour without paying a dime in long-distance charges?
If you'd like to learn more about IRC, read the soup-to-nuts IRC FAQ. Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida has a good IRC Overview and Tutorial.
If you don't have access to a telnet account, try one of the servers named on the helpful list of free connect sites. Each server has a limit on the number of users who can log in at any given time, so keep trying if at first you don't get in.
ISDN
An acronym for Integrated
Services Digital Network. ISDN lines are connections that
use ordinary phone lines to transmit digital instead of analog
signals, allowing data to be transmitted at a much faster rate
than with a traditional modem.
ISDN converts audio signals - your voice for instance - into digital bits. Since bits can be transmitted very quickly, you can get much faster speed out of the same telephone line - four times faster than a 14.4 kbps modem. In addition, ISDN connections are made up of two different channels, allowing two simultaneous "conversations" so you can speak on one channel and send a fax or connect to the Internet over another channel. All of these transactions occur on the same twisted-pair phone line currently plugged into your telephone. To find out if you can get ISDN, contact your local phone company or call around to a few local Internet service providers.
ISDN is a powerful tool for Internet communications, but it is not available everywhere. Traditionally, it has been used in urban business zones and large corporate settings with special digital switching equipment, but residential ISDN service is expanding rapidly. If you are shopping for an Internet access provider that offers you ISDN, be sure to thoroughly evaluate the equipment costs. An ISDN line can offer you inexpensive, high-bandwidth connections, but you may have to buy special equipment (like routers and switchers) that allow ISDN to communicate with your internal networks.
Pacific Bell has put together a complete and surprisingly readable Online Guide to ISDN. To get more in-depth information, read the ISDN FAQ.
Java
Java is an
object-oriented programming language developed by Sun
Microsystems, Inc. to create executable content (i.e self-running
applications) that can be easily distributed through networks
like the Web. Developers use Java to create special programs
called applets that can be incorporated in a web page to
make it interactive. A Java-enabled web browser like Sun's
HotJava is required to interpret and run the Java applets.
Like a gateway (CGI) script, Java is activated by a special HTML tag on a web page. But unlike gateway scripts, which require information that exists on the server to run applications or process input, Java enables developers to create content that can be delivered to and run by users on their computers. This software can support anything that programmers can dream up, from spreadsheets and tutorials to interactive games and animation.
JPEG
Acronym for Joint
Photographic Experts Group, an industry committee that
developed a compression standard for still images. JPEG refers to
the graphics file format that uses this compression standard. You
will find JPEG files on the World Wide Web with the file extension .JPG.
Kenneth
Owner of Forways Computerworld
LAN
Acronym for Local
Area Network, it refers to a local network of computers that
are located on the same floor or in the same building or nearby
buildings. See WAN.
Link
Generally refers to
any highlighted words or phrases in a hypertext document that allow you to
"jump" to another section of the same document or to
another document on the World Wide Web.
List
Administrator
A person who manages
a mailing list, adding and deleting members and tending to the
general administrative details of maintaining the list. The List
Administrator sometimes moderates the discussion and intervenes
when there are disputes or flame wars.
Login
The account name
used to access a computer system. It is the way people identify
themself to their online service or Internet access provider.
Also called User ID, User Name, or Account Name.
LOL
Abbreviation for Laughing
Out Loud, LOL is used in various online communications such
as e-mail messages or postings to newsgroups or BBSs. LOL usually
appears in brackets like this <
Lurker
Slang term for
someone who regularly reads newsgroup, BBS, or mailing list
discussions, but rarely participates in them.
Mailing List
A way of having a
group discussion by electronic mail. Also used to distribute
announcements to a large number of people. A mailing list is very
much like a conference on a bulletin board system, except the
conversation comes to you in your e-mail box. Each time you or
any member of the list posts a reply to the conversation, it is
distributed to the e-mail box of every member of the list. All of
this traffic is automated and managed by programs called mailing
list managers (MLM's) or mail servers. The two most frequently
used programs are Listserv and Majordomo.
Mailing lists are the most basic form of Internet conferencing. They can be public or private and, unlike Usenet newsgroups, which require additional software to run, all you need to participate is an e-mail address.
A mailing list is said to be "unmoderated" if all of the messages sent to the list are automatically forwarded to each member of the list. In a "moderated" list, all messages are sent first to a list moderator, who makes decisions about which postings will or will not be sent to everyone on the list.
If many people are on a mailing list, the traffic in your e-mail box can be overwhelming. One way to deal with this is to subscribe to the "digest" version of the list (not all mailing lists have digest versions). In a digest version, postings are collected into a single file and distributed to the list on a regular basis (usually daily). In this way you receive only one big file at regular intervals rather than hundreds of small ones everyday.
You join a mailing list by subscribing to it. This doesn't mean you have to pay money, it just means you are asking to have your e-mail address added to the distribution list. To get off the mailing list, you have to unsubscribe from the list. You do both by sending an e-mail message to the list administrator with the following in the body of your message:
subscribe name-of-list your
e-mail address
or
unsubscribe name-of-list your e-mail address
The exact way of doing this varies a little from list to list. It's best to request information about the list first and that will tell you exactly what you need to do. Once you've subscribed to a list you will receive an e-mail message with details about how the list works and how to unsubscribe.
Here are some tips for using mailing lists:
An excellent place to begin looking for mailing lists is the Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists page from Neosoft, which you can view by subject or by list name. You can also use the mailing list information at Tile.net.
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension)
MIME stands for
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension, a standard system for
identifying the type of data contained in a file based on its
extension. MIME is an Internet protocol that allows you to send binary files across the Internet as attachments to
e-mail messages. This includes graphics, photos, sound and video
files, and formatted text documents. MIME has to negotiate many
different operating systems and types of software to perform this
amazing feat. Its invention has been a major step forward in the
exchange of non-text information over the Internet.
E-mail programs that allow you to send and receive these types of files are said to be MIME-compliant. Many of these programs now incorporate MIME and have made it practically invisible to the user. You are probably using MIME when you send e-mail with an "attachment" of a formatted file. If not, then your mail program is using something very similar called UUencoding and UUdecoding to achieve the same result.
The MIME FAQ contains all of the details you need to know about MIME.
Mirror
An FTP server that
provides copies of the same files as another server. Used when an
FTP site is so popular that the volume of users accessing it
keeps others from getting through. A mirror site provides an
alternate way to access the same files.
Modem
The term is short
for Modulator/Demodulator. A device that allows remote computers
to communicate, to transmit and receive data using telephone
lines.
MOV
A file extension
found on the World Wide Web that denotes that the file is a movie
or video in QuickTime format. If you wish to play the movie after
you download the file, your computer must support the QuickTime
format. See also QT.
MPEG
Acronym for Moving
Pictures Experts Group, an industry committee that is
developing a set of compression standards for moving images (i.e.
film, video and animation) that can be downloaded and viewed on a
computer.
Multimedia
Using more than one
type of media simultaneously, like text with sound, moving or
still images, music, etc.
Navigation Tools
Navigation tools
allow users to find their way around a website or multimedia
presentation. They can be hypertext links, clickable buttons,
icons, or image maps. Navigation tools are usually present either
at the bottom or top (sometimes both) of each page or screen and
typically allow users to return to the previous page, move
forward to the next page, jump to the top of the current page and
return to the home page.
Network
Two or more
computers connected to each other so they can share resources.
The Internet is a "network of networks," whereby anyone
from an individual at a home with a PC to a large corporate
multi-department system can freely and easily exchange
information.
Newsgroups
Electronic
discussion groups consisting of collections of related postings
(also called articles) on a particular topic that are posted to a
news server which then distributes them to other participating
servers. There are thousands of newsgroups covering a wide range
of subjects. You must subscribe to a newsgroup in order to
participate in it or to track the discussion on an on-going
basis. Unlike with a magazine or newspaper, subscribing to a
newsgroup does not cost anything.
Newsgroups are found primarily on Usenet. Usenet is the collection of computers that participate in a global conferencing system that make newsgroups perhaps the largest distributed bulletin board system in the world. Newsgroups are one of the oldest and most widely used services on the Internet. There are more than 13,000 of them, with new ones coming online all the time. Not all newsgroups are carried by Usenet, and Usenet is carried by networks that are not on the Internet.
Various programs called newsreaders let you subscribe, read and post to newsgroups. Newsreaders usually are distributed with, or included in your web browser. With this browser, for example, the Quarterdeck Message Center is your newsreader.
Newsgroup topics cover the entire range of human interests, from Autos to Zaire. Some newsgroups are "moderated," which means that a person decides which postings will become part of the conversation. Most are unmoderated, which means that any posting sent to the list is automatically added to the group.
Before you post to a newsgroup, do yourself a big favor and read other postings carefully for a few days. Newsgroups are famous for "flames" (viscous haranguing for an innocent mistake or a breach of netiquette). Read the FAQ about the newsgroup if there is one. It is considered a major breach of netiquette to ask a question that is clearly answered in the FAQ. It is also considered a poor use of bandwidth to post a reply to millions of users saying "me too!" Replies of this sort can and should be directed to the sender directly by e-mail.
There is a wonderful searchable list of all Usenet FAQs at Ohio State University and Indiana University has put together an excellent collection of Usenet Newsgroup Resources. The University of North Carolina has created a good overall page on Usenet called the Usenet Info Center Launch Pad, but if you want a fast tool for searching through all available archives of newsgroups, consult the DejaNews Research Service.
Newsreader
A software program
that lets you subscribe to newsgroups as well as read and post
messages to them. A newsreader is like a friendly librarian who
keeps track of the articles posted to the newsgroups you like to
read and locates them when you want to read them.
Node
An addressable point
on a network. A node can connect a computer system, a terminal,
or various peripheral devices to the network. Each node on a
network has a distinct name. On the Internet, a node is a host
computer with a unique domain name and address that has been
assigned to it by InterNIC.
NSFNET
Abbreviation for
National Science Foundation's network --the NSFNET. This part of
the Internet was devoted to research and education and funded by
the U.S. government. It superseded ARPANET as the backbone of the
Internet, but has since been replaced by commercial networks.
In the 1960s, the U.S. Department of Defense wanted to create a computer network that would continue operating in the event of a disaster, such as a nuclear war. If part of the network were destroyed, the rest of the system still had to work. They created ARPANET, linking the U.S. scientific and research communities, mostly at universities, with defense contractor sites. This was the forerunner of the Internet.
In 1985, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created NSFNET, a series of networks for research and education communication. NSFNET was based on ARPANET protocols. NSFNET created a national "backbone" service provided free to any U.S. research and education institution. At the same time, regional networks were created to bring electronic traffic from individual institutions to the national backbone service.
NSFNET grew rapidly as people discovered its potential and new applications were created to make access easier. Communication corporations like PSI, Alternet, followed by Sprint and MCI began to build their own networks and linked to NSFNET.
Recently, NSF has withdrawn from the "backbone" business. Commercial firms and other regional network providers have begun taking over the operation of the major Internet arteries. For a more detailed explanation of these activities, read History of NSF and the Internet.
NSF also funded a service that maintained the registration of all addresses on the Internet so that data could be routed to the right system. This service, called the InterNIC, has been taken over by AT&T and Network Solutions, Inc., in cooperation with NSF. For information on the InterNIC Directory go to the new InterNIC site.
Object -
Oriented Programming
A programming
technique that speeds the development of programs and makes them
easier to maintain through the re-use of "objects" that
have behaviors, characteristics, and relationships associated
with them. The objects are organized into collections (also
called class libraries) which are then available for building and
maintaining applications. Each object is part of a
"class" of objects, which are united via
"inheritance" and share certain characteristics and
relationships.
Packet/Packet Switching
A packet is a chunk
of information sent over a network. Packet-switching is the
process by which a carrier breaks up data into these chunks or
"packets." Each packet contains the address of origin,
the address of its destination, and information about how to
reunite with other related packets. This process allows packets
from many different locations to co-mingle on the same lines and
be sorted and directed to different routes by special machines
along the way.
Parse
Parsing data refers
to the process by which programming data input is broken into
smaller, more distinct chunks of information that can be more
easily interpreted and acted upon.
Pathname
A pathname indicates
the location of a particular file or directory by outlining the
route or "path" from the host name (if the file resides
on a remote server) through the directory structure to the
desired filename or directory name. Each name in the series of
names that define a path are separated by a slash. If the file is
located in the current working directory on your computer, it is
referred to only by its filename.
Pathnames can be absolute or relative. An absolute pathname provides the full path (address) of a file, including the computer system, directories, and subdirectories (if any) it resides in. Relative pathnames are used to describe a file or directory location on the user's system relative to the user's current location on the system (i.e. based on which level of the directory structure the user is in).
PDF (Portable
Document Format)
An acronym for Portable
Document Format. A file type created by Adobe Systems
Incorporated that allows fully formatted, high-resolution,
postscript documents to be easily transmitted across the Internet
and viewed on any computer that has Adobe Acrobat Reader software
--a proprietary viewer available for free at the Adobe site.
Why do people use PDF?
Corporations who have invested in brand name identification use PDF to display the original look of their logos and advertising. Newspapers and other PDF allows you to create a high-quality piece of artwork or a brochure and then "publish" it as is, without converting it to HTML. Anyone interested in presenting documents with the highest possible resolution or a complex layout might choose to use PDF.
PDF files can be distributed via e-mail, web pages, CD-ROMs, online services and local area networks. They can also contain hyperlinks, QuickTime® movies, and sound clips.
For more information about PDF and Adobe Acrobat, visit the Adobe web site and take a look at the list of sites with PDF files that Adobe has compiled. There is also an interesting newsgroup called comp.text.pdf, where people discuss the ins and outs of PDF.
PERL (Practical
Extraction and Reporting Language)
A robust programming
language frequently used for creating CGI programs on web servers
because it is faster than UNIX shell script programs, it can read
and write binary files, and it can process very large files. The
major advantage of PERL over C as a programming language is that
PERL does not need to be compiled.
Pixel
A pixel (short for
picture element) is the smallest element that can be displayed on
a video screen or computer monitor, and is often used as a unit
of measurement for image size and resolution. The number of
pixels (width and height) in an image defines its size and the
number of pixels in an inch defines the resolution of the image.
PKZIP/PKUNZIP
PKZIP is a software
compression utility for the PC. It allows you to compress or
"zip" a file or a number of files into one archive file
in the ZIP file format. To decompress, or
"unzip" the files, you use PKUNZIP, which comes as part
of the PKZIP package. For Windows users, there is WinZip. Both PKZIP and WinZIP are available on
many public FTP sites.
Plug-In
A plug-in extends
the capabilities of a web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or
Microsoft Explorer, allowing the browser to run multimedia files.
The term "plug-in" is used in two ways on the Internet.
The technical definition of a plug-in is a small add-on piece of
software that conforms to Netscape Navigator standard. Other
browsers however, including Microsoft Explorer, support many
Netscape plug-ins. But Explorer actually uses a different
software standard, called an ActiveX control, instead of
plug-ins.
Pointer
A pointer is a word,
picture, or navigation element that when clicked on, moves a user
from one point in a document to another or to another document
altogether. It is the same as a link
POP
A server using the Post
Office Protocol, which holds users' incoming e-mail until
they read or download it.
Port
Verb: To transfer or
translate data or program files from one computer platform to
another (i.e. from PC to Macintosh). Software programs usually
have to be rewritten to be successfully ported.
Noun: Connector on the computer to which peripheral devices (like a printer or modem) are attached. Typically, these are serial ports, parallel ports, and modem ports.
PPP
PPP (Point-to-Point
Protocol) is a communications protocol used to transmit network
data over telephone lines. It allows you to connect your computer
to the Internet itself, rather than logging on through an
Internet Service Provider's host computer and using UNIX commands
through a shell. This type of connection lets you communicate
directly with other computers on the network using TCP/IP connections. It is part of the TCP/IP
suite of programs necessary to connect to and use the Internet.
If you have a dial-up account with an Internet service provider, you are using either PPP or SLIP to make your connection to the Internet. PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) is rapidly replacing SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) as the more common standard. Where as SLIP is easy to install and to use, it does not provide error correction or certain negotiation features that are built into PPP.
Where do you get PPP? If you bought an Internet package, a PPP program would be part of the collection of software programs you received. Some Internet Service Providers will give you a disk with the appropriate software when you sign up for an account. Others will point you to a BBS where you can download the software yourself.
When you sign up with an Internet Service Provider, you will undoubtedly get instructions on how to configure your PPP file so that when you dial in with your modem you are automatically connected to the Internet.
Here is a very good PPP FAQ. After you've read the FAQ, you'll be ready to jump right into the comp.protocols.ppp newsgroup.
Protocol
A protocol is the
standard or set of rules that two computers use to communicate
with each other. Also known as a communications protocol or
network protocol, this is a set of standards that assures that
different network products or programs can work together. Any
product that uses a given protocol should work with any other
product using the same protocol.
Protocols dictate the "whats" and the "hows" of the various systems on the Internet. The success of the Internet, its very existence, in fact, depends on people voluntarily agreeing to configure their hardware and software to the TCP/IP standard.
How do protocols work? Take FTP (File Transfer Protocol) as an example. When you contact a computer to download a file, the computers communicate with each other in a series of pre-agreed-upon rules. The "conversation" between the computers goes something like this: "I want that file," "here it comes," "didn't get it, please resend," "here it is again," "got it," "goodbye," "goodbye."
Internet protocols are constantly evolving. The standards are set by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF is a large international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution and smooth operation of the Internet. It is open to any interested individual.
For more information, check out the comprehensive list of Internet Protocols. To learn more about the IETF visit the IETF web page.
See also TCP/IP, PPP, and SLIP.
QuickTime®
A file extension
developed by Apple Computer Inc. for videos or "movies"
(like animations) compressed using their QuickTime® format. When
you see the QuikTime® extension on the World Wide Web, that means the file in question is a
movie or video. If you want to play the movie after you download
the file, your computer must support the QuickTime® format. See MOV.
Query
The process by which
a web client requests specific information from a web server,
based on a character string that is passed along. A query
typically takes the form of a database search for a particular
keyword or phrase. The keyword is entered into the search field
of an Internet directory such as InfoSeek and then passed onto
the web server.
RGB Mode
Short for Red,
Green, and Blue, it is a color model commonly used to display
color in video systems, film recorders and computer monitors. It
represents all colors as combinations of red, green and blue
light. RGB mode is the most common color mode for viewing and
working with digital images on a screen.
Robots
Programs that are
designed to automatically go out and explore the Internet for a
variety of purposes. Robots that record and index all of the
contents of the network to create searchable databases are
sometimes called Spiders or Worms. WebCrawler
and Lycos are popular examples of this.
ROTFL
Abbreviation for Rolling
on the Floor Laughing, this term is used in various online
communications, such as e-mail messages or postings to newsgroups
or BBSs. It usually appears in brackets like this: <
Router
A piece of hardware
or software that connects two or more networks. A router
functions as a sorter and interpreter as it looks at addresses
and passes bits of information to their proper destination.
Software routers are sometimes referred to as gateways.
Scripts
A type of program
that consists of a set of instructions for another application or
utility to use.
Also see CGI.
Search Engines
A search engine is a
type of software that creates indexes of databases or Internet
sites based on the titles of files, key words, or the full text
of files. The search engine has an interface that allows you to
type what you're looking for into a blank field. It then gives
you a list of the results of the search. When you use a search
engine on the Web, the results are presented to you in hypertext,
which means you can click on any item in the list to get the
actual file. If the file you select doesn't have what you're
looking for, you can use the Back button on your browser
to return to the list of search results and try something else.
Some browsers, like QMosaic, will let you bookmark the results of a search so you can refer to and use the list again. Of course, most search engines on the Web are very fast and powerful, so redoing a search doesn't really take a lot of time. In fact, because the Web changes constantly, with new information being added all the time, it probably makes more sense to do a new search rather than rely on the results of an older one.
The other nice feature about search engines on the web is that if you have a website or page of your own, you can register it. When you submit key information about your page or site, it gets added to the index. This is a very good (but often overlooked) way to get people to visit your site. And it doesn't cost a thing! You can register separately with each site or take advantage of a free service called Submit It! that lets you register with all search engines (or selected ones), in one simple step.
Here are some of the most popular search engines :
To learn more about web robots and other automated creatures that search the Net, see the Yahoo index of robots and spiders. Also try the Meta-Index at Harvard University which has a nice collection of search engines. Just fill a box with your key word and you're on your way!
Server
A computer that
handles requests for data, electronic mail, file transfers, and
other network services from other computers (i.e clients). See Host.
Shareware
Software that is
freely distributed for a small fee paid on an "honor
system." You are not required to pay the fee to try the
program, but if you like the software enough to use it, you are
expected to send the fee directly to the creator.
Shockwave
Shockwave is a set
of programs that allow Macromedia Director animation files to be
played over the Internet with a web browser. Possible uses for
this type of animation on the Web include online advertising,
games, training, and animated logos.
Signature
Text automatically
included at the bottom of an e-mail message or newsgroup posting
to personalize it. This can be anything from a clever quote to
some additional information about the sender, like their title,
company name and additional e-mail addresses they may have.
Netiquette suggests that signatures be four lines or fewer.
SLIP
An acronym for Serial
Line Internet Protocol. SLIP is a communications protocol
that, like PPP, allows you to connect your computer to
the Internet itself, using a telephone line. It is part of the
TCP/IP suite of programs necessary to connect to and use the
Internet.
If you have a dial-up account to an Internet service provider, you are using either PPP or SLIP to make your connection to the Internet. Although SLIP is easy to install and use, it does not provide the error correction or negotiation features that PPP has. For this reason, PPP is rapidly replacing SLIP as the more common standard.
To see how SLIP is configured, take a look at the SLIP info site from Australia. If you need more information, consult the Usenet IBM TCP FAQ, it has answers to the most common SLIP connect questions.
Also see PPP, Protocol, TCP/IP, and Dial-Up Account.
SMTP
An acronym for Simple
Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP is the protocol used for
routing e-mail across the Internet.
SPAM
Originally just a
canned sandwich filler product, now this term is also used to
refer to the practice of blindly posting commercial messages or
advertisements to a large number of unrelated and uninterested
newsgroups.
Secure Socket
layer (SSL)
A protocol developed
by Netscape Communications Corporation for securing data
transmission in commercial transactions on the Internet. Using
public-key cryptography, SSL provides server authentication, data
encryption, and data integrity for client/server communications.
String/Search
String
A string refers to a
sequence of characters, words or other elements that are
connected to each other in some way. A search string usually
refers to a string of words or a phrase that is used to search
and locate or retrieve a specific piece of information contained
in a database or a set of documents.
Syntax Error
Syntax is the order
in which words and phrases are put together, such as a URL (web
address) which consists of several phrases that are strung
together to define a location or service on the Internet. A
syntax error occurs when a user (or programmer) has put words in
an order that a program does not understand. A syntax error while
surfing the Web may be caused by a mistyped or inadvertently
rearranged URL, making it incomprehensible to a web browser.
T1
Line
A high-speed digital
connection capable of transmitting data at a rate of
approximately 1.5 million bits per second. A T1 line is typically
used by small and medium-sized companies with heavy network
traffic. It is large enough to send and receive very large text
files, graphics, sounds, and databases instantaneously, and is
the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the
Internet. Sometimes referred to as a leased line, a T1 is
basically too large and too expensive for individual home use.
T3
Line
A super high-speed
connection capable of transmitting data at a rate of 45 million
bits per second. This represents a bandwidth equal to about 672
regular voice-grade telephone lines, which is wide enough to
transmit full-motion real-time video, and very large databases
over a busy network. A T3 line is typically installed as a major
networking artery for large corporations and universities with
high volume network traffic. For example, the backbones of the
major Internet service providers are comprised of T3 lines.
Tags
The set of
descriptive formatting codes used in HTML documents that instruct
a web browser how to display text and graphics on a web page. For
example, to make text bold, the tag <B> is used at the
beginning and end of the text.
TCP/IP
Stands for Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. This is the language
governing communications between all computers on the Internet.
TCP/IP is a set of instructions that dictates how packets of information are sent across multiple
networks. Also included is a built-in error-checking capability
to ensure that data packets arrive at their final destination in
the proper order.
IP, or Internet Protocol, is the specification that determines where packets are routed to, based on their destination address. TCP, or Transmission Control Protocol, makes sure that the packets arrive correctly at their destination address. If TCP determines that a packet was not received, it will try to resend the packet until it is received properly.
You must be running TCP/IP to have full Internet access. In Unix, TCP/IP is a part of the operating system. In the DOS and Windows world, the functionality of TCP/IP is handled by Winsock. This piece of software takes care of your TCP/IP configuration information. If you are using QMosaic, then QWinsock is your TCP/IP software. On a Mac, you would use Apple's TCP/IP.
Yale University has put together a very readable Introduction to TCP/IP, but the TCP/IP FAQ is the best in-depth source for information about Internet protocols.
Also see Protocol.
Telnet
A software program
that allows you to log in to other remote computers on the
Internet to which you have access. Once you are logged into the
remote system, you can download files, engage in conferencing,
and perform the same commands as if you were directly connected
by computer. You need an Internet account to be able to use a
telnet program.
UNIX
UNIX is the
trademarked name of the multi-user, multi-tasking, time-sharing
operating system developed at AT&Tâs Bell Labs in 1969. Many
web sites are maintained on UNIX systems. While
technically the name UNIX refers to only a few trademark-licensed
versions, it is often used to refer to the many versions
currently available on the market. The differences to the user
are slight.
UNIX was originally designed on a "spare" minicomputer, to allow some folks to have a quick time-sharing system to simplify their documentation procedures. The moniker UNIX was given to it by the somewhat sarcastic users of the huge mainframes prevalent in those days -- pointing out that they considered it to be a somewhat underpowered operating system.
AT&T commercially released UNIX in the early 1970âs. By the late '70s, the University of California, Berkeley had developed its own version, called BSD (for Berkeley Software Distribution), which it offered for free to other colleges and universities
Because it could run on many different computer platforms, it quickly became the platform of choice for many researchers and students. Since networking and e-mail are both integral to UNIX, it was easy for two or more UNIX computers to "talk" to each other. That is why by the late 1980âs, UNIX ran on almost every machine on the Internet. In fact, the Internet's protocols were developed on UNIX machines, for UNIX machines. For example, Usenet, the loose confederation of computers that exchanges newsgroups and electronic mail by passing messages back and forth, was based almost exclusively on UNIX machines.
UNIX now runs on every hardware platform from PC and Macintosh to high- performance graphical workstations to multimillion dollar supercomputers. The big difference between versions and platforms is that the more expensive platforms run faster or support more simultaneous users.
Upload
Often confused with
download, uploading a file means loading it from your computer
onto a remote one. Most people do a lot more downloading than
uploading.
URL (Uniform Resource
Locator)
An acronym for Uniform
Resource Locator. URL is the address for a resource or site
(usually a directory or file) on the World Wide Web and the convention that web browsers use
for locating files and other remote services.
Here are some examples of URL's:
The first part of a URL tells you the type of resource (or method of access) at that address.
The second part of a URL is typically the address of the computer where the data or service is located. Additional parts may specify the names of files, the port to connect to, or the text to search for in a database.
Most of the URLs you'll be using start with "http" which stands for "hypertext transport protocol". Http is the method by which HTML files are transferred over the Web. Here are a couple of other important things to remember about URLs:
For more information about URLs, read the World Wide Web Consortium's Fact Sheet on URLs.
Usenet
Usenet refers to the
collection of newsgroups (sometimes called the Big Eight
hierarchies) and a set of agreed-upon rules for distributing and
maintaining them. More than 13,000 newsgroups exist around the
world and the majority of them are a part of Usenet. However, a
fairly large number of alternative newsgroups have emerged
outside of Usenet.
Usenet newsgroups are arranged hierarchically first by the name of the group, followed by the name of the subgroups. Each name in the hierarchy is separated by a period. For example, the discussion group about rose gardening is rec.gardens.roses. This means the conversation is in the general grouping of rec. (which stands for recreation), and a subgroup of recreation called gardens. In this particular case, an additional subgroup of gardens has been created for roses. Each additional subgroup in a hierarchy defines how narrow or specialized the discussion topic is. It's not uncommon to find newsgroups with several subgroups.
The Usenet Big Eight hierarchies are:
Not all newsgroups are part of Usenet. For example, the newsgroups with a prefix of alt. are not part of the core Usenet newsgroups, although they may look just like Usenet newsgroups to the average user. Another example of a non-Usenet newsgroup is the Clarinet news feed, which is a commercial information service that also looks like any other newsgroup to the end-user.
System administrators decide which newsgroups will be carried on their systems. Making newsgroups available to their users means dedicating hard-drive space for storage, so decisions have to be made about the allocation of those resources. Many administrators will not carry the "alt." groups. Some even refuse to carry any group with the word "sex" in the name. You have to check with your provider to find out what newsgroups they carry.
An excellent starting point for exploring Usenet is the Usenet Info Center Launch Pad. Before you participate in any newsgroup, you should read the FAQ for it. Ohio State University carries a comprehensive List of Usenet FAQ's.
Also see Newsgroups.
User Name
Same as your login. This is the name by which you and your
electronic mailbox are identified online. Also called User ID and
Account Name.
UUCP
An acronym for UNIX to UNIX Copy Program. UUCP is a protocol for transferring files, news, and mail,
and executing remote commands between machines.
UUencode/UUdecode
A software utility
that converts a binary file (often a photo or a graphic) to an ASCII (text) file so it can be sent as an
attachment to an e-mail message or downloaded from a newsgroup.
Since e-mail messages must be text, not binary information,
UUencode disguises non-text files as text so they can be included
in a mail message. When the message is received, the recipient,
or their e-mail program, runs UUdecode to convert it to the
original file.
Viewer
A software
application or tool designed to display a specific type of file
(usually one that contains something other than text) that your
web browser normally can't display on its own. There are viewers
to display graphics files, and to play sound or video files.
Virtual Reality
(VR)
Computer simulations of real-world "environments" that
use 3-D graphics and external devices like a dataglove or helmet
to allow users to interact with the simulation. Users move
through virtual reality (VR) environments as though they were
navigating in the real worlds -- walking through structures and
interacting with objects in the environment.
VRML (Virtual
Reality Modeling Language)
VRML is an open,
platform-independent file format for 3-D graphics on the Web. It
encodes computer-generated graphics in a way that makes them
easily transported across the network. VRML requires a special
web browser to display these graphics which simulate virtual
reality 3-D "environments" or "worlds"
through which the user can move and interact with objects. These
3-D "worlds" can contain objects that link to
documents, other objects, or other 3-D worlds.
WAIS
WAIS is an acronym
for Wide Area Information Servers. It is a network
information retrieval service that you can use to search for key
words or phrases in specially indexed files. Unlike Gopher, which
searches files by their titles, WAIS engines search the full text
of files and return a list of documents that contain the key word
you are searching for. Most search engines on the Web use the
WAIS method of search and retrieval.
Although the name "wide area" implies the use of large networks such as the Internet, WAIS is frequently used to index and retrieve documents on only one machine or on a local area network.
You can get more information about WAIS from the Usenet WAIS FAQ. For a brief and succinct explanation of the differences between Gopher, WAIS and the World Wide Web, see the World Wide Web FAQ.
If you have a database you wish to index with WAIS, there is a free version of WAIS, called freeWAIS, supported by CNIDR (Clearinghouse for networked information discovery and retrieval).
Wais, Inc. has created a good fact sheet, How to Search a WAIS Database. There is also a Usenet Newsgroup about WAIS: comp.infosystems.wais. Read the Usenet WAIS FAQ first.
WAN
An acronym for Wide
Area Network. A network that connects computers over long
distances via telephone lines or satellite links. In a wide area
network, the computers are physically and sometimes
geographically far apart. See LAN.An
acronym for Wide Area Network. A network that connects
computers over long distances via telephone lines or satellite
links. In a wide area network, the computers are physically and
sometimes geographically far apart. See LAN.
Webmaster
A person in charge of maintaining a web site. This can include
writing HTML files, setting up more complex programs,
and responding to e-mail. Many sites encourage you to mail
comments and questions about the site's web pages to the
webmaster.