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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 phone lines. An ADSL circuit is much faster than a phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber’s premises are the same (copper) wires used for phone service. An ADSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased line.
ADSL is often discussed as an alternative to ISDN, allowing higher speeds in cases where the connection is always to the same place.Anonymous FTP
There are many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP. These sites make it possible for users to login using the account name anonymous, thus these sites are called anonymous ftp servers.Archie
Software for finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites. You need to know the exact file name in order to gain access.
ARPANet
(Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) -- The precursor to the Internet. Developed in the late 60’s and early 70’s by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would maintain military and other official communication in the event of a nuclear war.
ASCII
(American Standard Code for Information Interchange) -- This is the world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, and punctuation. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.
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Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network.
Bandwidth
How much data you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.See Also: T-1
Baud
In common usage the baud rate of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value - for example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second).
BBS
(Bulletin Board System) -- A computerized meeting and announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make announcements. The people who belong to this "community" do not need to be connected to the computer running the BBS at the same time. There are thousands of BBS’s around the world and most are very small, running on a single PC with 1 or 2 phone lines.
Binhex
(BINary HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII.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: Byte , Kilobyte , Megabyte
BITNET
(Because It’s Time NETwork or Because It’s There NETwork) -- A network of educational sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs, the most popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are usually mainframes running the VMS operating system.
Bps
(Bits-Per-Second) -- A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second.Browser
A Client program (software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources.See Also: URL , WWW , Netscape , Mosaic , Home Page (or Homepage)
BTW
By The WayByte
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.
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Certificate Authority
An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL connections.
Client
A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a Server. The Client and Server must be compatible for communication and transmission of data to take place. A Web Browser is a specific kind of Client.
Cold Fusion
A software package by Allaire used by programmers to create an interface that allows users to query databases while on a Web site.
Cookie
The most common meaning of “Cookie” on the Internet refers to a piece of information sent by a Web Server to a Web Browser that the Browser software is expected to save and to send back to the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the Server.
Depending on the type of Cookie used, and the Browser’s settings, the Browser may accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save the Cookie for either a short time or a long time.
Cookies might contain information such as login or registration information, online “shopping cart” information, user preferences, etc.
When a Server receives a request from a Browser that includes a Cookie, the Server is able to use the information stored in the Cookie. For example, the Server might customize what is sent back to the user, or keep a log of particular user’s requests.
Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of time and are usually saved in memory until the Browser software is closed down, at which time they may be saved to disk if their “expire time” has not been reached.
Cookies do not read your hard drive and send your life story to the government, but they can be used to gather more information about a user than would be possible without them.
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk was originally a cultural sub-genre of science fiction taking place in a not-so-distant, dystopian, over-industrialized society. The term grew out of the work of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling and has evolved into a cultural label encompassing many different kinds of human, machine, and punk attitudes. It includes clothing and lifestyle choices as well.
Cyberspace
The term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer. Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole experience available through computer networks.
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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:
hostess.com
mail.hostess.com
workshop.hostess.com
can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine.
It is possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. An Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.See Also: IP Number
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(Electronic Mail) -- Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses via a Mailing List.See Also: Listserv
Ethernet
A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.See Also: Bandwidth
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FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs.
FDDI
(Fiber Distributed Data Interface) -- A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000 bits-per-second. This speed is 10 times as fast as Ethernet, and about twice as fast as T-3.Finger
An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger requests, but many do.
Fire Wall
A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN into two or more parts for security purposes. Fire Walls are often used by corporations which house their Web site on a server located in the corporation. The Fire Wall provides a measure of security that those accessing the company's Web site will not be able to access private data that is housed on the same network.
Flame
Flame refers to any kind of derogatory comment on the Internet.
Flame War
An online discussion that has degenerated into a series of personal attacks against the debaters, rather than discussion of their positions.
FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) -- A common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files.
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Gateway
The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols. For example an online service such as AOL has a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism for providing access to another system. For example, AOL might be called a gateway to the Internet.
Gopher
A method of making menus of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style program, which requires that the user have a Gopher Client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web).
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Hit
Hit means a single request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 hits would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.
Hits are often used as a rough measure of load on a server, however the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define.Home Page (or Homepage)
Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person.
Another use of the term refers to practically any web page as a homepage.
Host
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET.See Also: Node
HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear. Additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape or Mosaic.See Also: Server
HTTP
(HyperText Transport Protocol) -- The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW).
Hypertext
Generally, anything that contains links to other documents.
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IMHO
In My Humble OpinionInternet
(Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET.
internet
(Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state.
Intranet
A private network inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet, but is only for internal use.
Note that an Intranet may not actually be an internet -- it may simply be a network.
IP Number
A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, for example:
165.113.245.2
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.
IRC
(Internet Relay Chat) -- A huge multi-user live chat facility. Anyone can create a channel and anything that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all others in the channel. Private channels can be created for multi-person conference calls.
ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Network) -- A way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly becoming available to much of the USA and in most markets it is priced very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone lines.
ISP
(Internet Service Provider) -- An institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money.See Also: Internet
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Java
Java is a programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other tricks.
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See Also: Bit
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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.Listserv (List server)
A List server provides an automated way to manage mail discussion groups. All messages for a mail discussion group or maillist received by a List server are sent to all the members of that mail discussion group.See Also: E-mail
Login
Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer system.
Verb: The act of entering into a computer system.See Also: Password
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Maillist
(or Mailing List) A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist.
Megabyte
A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes.See Also: Bit
Message Board
Loosely, a type of Bulletin Board, or place where users read and respond to the postings of other users. Some are simple meeting places, others serve as business or recreational gathering spots. A meeting which might have required flying participants to a central location from all over the world could instead take place on the Web using a message board.
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- The standard for attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages. Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound files, etc.
Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the type of file being sent and the method that should be used to turn it back into its original form.
An e-mail program is MIME Compliant if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard.
Besides e-mail 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.Mirror
To mirror is to maintain an exact copy of something. Mirror sites which are web sites, or FTP sites that maintain exact copies of material originated at another location, usually to provide faster access to users.
Modem
(MOdulator, DEModulator) -- A device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system.
MOO
(Mud, Object Oriented) -- One of several kinds of multi-user role-playing environments.Mosaic
The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. The source-code to Mosaic has been licensed by several companies and there are several other pieces of software as good or better than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape.See Also: Client
MUD
(Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) -- A multi-user simulation environment. A significant feature of most MUDs is that users can create things that stay after they leave and which other users can interact with in their absence, thus allowing a world to be built gradually and collectively.See Also: MOO
MUSE
(Multi-User Simulated Environment) -- One kind of MUD - usually with little or no violence.See Also: MOO
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Netiquette
The etiquette on the Internet.
Netizen
Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet. The term connotes civic responsibility and participation.
Netscape
A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The NetscapeTM browser was originally based on the Mosaic program developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). The main author of Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic Communications and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications Corporation.
Netscape corporation also produces web server software.
Netscape has engendered debate by creating new elements for the HTML language used by Web pages -- but the Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported.
Network
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an internet.Newsgroup
The name for discussion groups on USENET.
NIC
(Networked Information Center) -- Any office that handles information for a network. The InterNIC is where new domain names are registered.
No
No.
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Packet Switching
The method used to move data on the Internet. When you send a request on the Internet, through clicking a link or sending a message, all the data coming out of your machine is broken up into chunks. Each chunk has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables many different sources to use the same lines. Special machines sort and direct different packets to different routes along the way. This way, many people can use the same lines at the same time.
Password
A code used to gain access, or login, to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple or easily guessed combinations such as sing$3&0. A password should also be easy to remember and, if you must write it down for long-term memory, be kept in a secure place away from your computer.
POP
Two commonly used meanings: Point of Presence and Post Office Protocol. Point of Presence usually means a physical location where a network is linked, often with dialup phone lines. So if an Internet company says they will soon have a POP in Oconomowoc, it means that they will soon have a local phone number in Oconomowoc.Post Office Protocol refers to the way e-mail software gets mail from a mail server. It is through this POP account that you tell your e-mail software how to get your mail.
Port
Port has 3 meanings. First and most generally, a place where information goes into or out of a computer, or both. For example, your modem is probably connected to the serial port on your PC.
Second, on the Internet port often refers to a number that is part of a URL. It appears after a colon (:) right after the domain name. As in the first definition, a port refers to a method of moving information in and out of your computer. Every service on an Internet server listens on a particular port number on that server. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services can also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server, so you might see a URL of the form:
http://www.hostess.com:8080
shows a server running on a non-standard port.
Finally, port also refers to translating a piece of software to bring it from one type of computer system to another. A common example is to translate a Windows program so that is will run on a Macintosh.
Posting
A message entered into a network communications system, such as the Internet. Messages in newsgroups or on bulletin boards are often referred to as postings.
PPP
(Point to Point Protocol) -- The protocol that allows a computer to use a telephone line and a modem to make TCP/IP connections that connect users to the Internet.
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Router
A special-purpose computer or software package that manages the connection between 2 or more networks. Routers look at the destination addresses of the packets passing through them and decide which path to send them on.
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Security Certificate
A chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used to establish a secure connection by SSL protocol.
Security Certificates contain unique identification and information that can be used to verify the contents of the certificate.
In order for an SSL connection to be created, both sides must have a valid Security Certificate, issued by the Certificate Authority.
Server
A computer or a software package that provides a specific service, such as sorting electronic mail, to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a piece of software, or to the machine on which the software is running. A single server machine could be running several different server software packages, thus providing many different services to clients on the network.
SLIP
(Serial Line Internet Protocol) -- An older standard for using a telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a computer as an Internet site. PPP is rapidly replacing SLIP as the standard.
SMDS
(Switched Multimegabit Data Service) -- An emerging standard for high-speed data transfer.
SNMP
(Simple Network Management Protocol) -- A set of standards for communication with devices connected to a TCP/IP network. Examples of these devices include routers, hubs, and switches.
SNMP compatible devices contain SNMP “agent” software to receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages. SNMP messages are known as “PDU’s” - Protocol Data Units.
Software for managing devices via SNMP are often bundled along with the device they are designed to manage. Some SNMP software is designed to handle a wide variety of devices.
SMTP
(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) -- A protocol, defined in STD 10, RFC 821, used to transfer electronic mail between computers. It is a server to server protocol, so other protocols are used to access the messages.
Spam (or Spamming)
An inappropriate use of a mailing list, or USENET or other networked communications facility by sending the same message to a large number of people who didn’t ask for it. The term probably comes from the Monty Python skit which featured the word spam repeated over and over. (Spam is a registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed meat product.)
SQL
(Structured Query Language) -- A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Many database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL.
SSL
(Secure Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet.
SSL is used mostly in communications between web browsers and web servers. URL’s that begin with “https” are a clue that an SSL connection will be used.
SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity.
In an SSL connection each side of the connection sends a Security Certificate to the other. Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from both its own and the other side’s Certificate, ensuring that only the intended recipient can decode it.
Sysop
(System Operator) -- Anyone responsible for the physical operations of a computer system or network resource.
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T-1
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second. That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, but it is more than enough for fast loading time for most Web pages. T-1 is the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the Internet.See Also: Bandwidth , Byte , Ethernet , T-3
T-3
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video.See Also: Bandwidth , Byte , Ethernet , T-1
TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) -- This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major kind of computer operating system. Your computer must have TCP/IP software to be on the Internet.See Also: IP Number
Telnet
The command and program used to access an Internet site. The telnet command/program is used to reach the login: prompt of another host.
Terminal
A device that allows you to send commands to a remote computer. A terminal can be as simple as a keyboard and a display screen that you log into to access information in the remote computer. Terminal software in a personal computer pretends to be (emulates) a physical terminal and allows you to type commands to a computer somewhere else.
Terminal Server
A special purpose computer that has places to plug in many modems, and a connection to a LAN or host machine. The terminal server does the work of answering the calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate node. Most terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP services if connected to the Internet.
TTFN
Ta Ta For Now, a favorite phrase of the Winnie the Pooh character Tigger.
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UNIX
A computer operating system. UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet.
URL
(Uniform Resource Locator) -- The standard way to give an address on the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL is accessed through a web browser and looks like this:
http://www.hostess.com
USENET
A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed among hundreds of thousands of machines. Not all USENET machines are on the Internet. USENET is completely decentralized, with over 10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups.
UUENCODE
(Unix to Unix Encoding) -- A method for converting files from Binary to ASCII so that they can be sent across the Internet via e-mail.See Also: MIME
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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.
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WAIS
(Wide Area Information Servers) -- A commercial software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then making those indices searchable across networks such as the Internet. A prominent feature of WAIS is that search results are ranked (scored), and that subsequent searches can find more items like the last result and thus refine the search process.
WAN
(Wide Area Network) -- Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus.Web or WWW
(World Wide Web) -- Two meanings - First, loosely used: the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, Telnet, USENET, WAIS and some other tools. Second, the hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be viewed concurrently.
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Portions excerpted from: ILC Glossary of Internet Terms © 1994-97 Internet Literacy ConsultantsTM
