(Advanced Digital Network) -- Usually refers
to a 56Kbps leased-line.
ADSL
(Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) -- A
method for moving data over regular phone lines. An ADSL circuit is much
faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber’s
premises are the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. An
ADSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations, similar
to a leased line. A commonly discussed configuration of ADSL would allow
a subscriber to receive data (download) at speeds of up to 1.544 megabits
(not megabytes) per second, and to send (upload) data at speeds
of 128 kilobits per second. Thus the "Asymmetric" part of the acronym.
Another commonly discussed configuration would be symmetrical: 384 Kilobits
per second in both directions. In theory ADSL allows download speeds of
up to 9 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 640 kilobits per
second. ADSL is often discussed as an alternative to ISDN, allowing
higher speeds in cases where the connection is always to the same place.
See Also: bit , bps , ISDN
A small Java program that can be embedded
in an HTML page. Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications
in that they are not allowed to access certain resources on the local computer,
such as files and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.), and are prohibited
from communicating with most other computers across a network. The current
rule is that an applet can only make an Internet connection to the computer
from which the applet was sent. See Also: HTML , Java
Archie
A tool (software) for finding files stored
on anonymous FTP sites. You need to know the exact file name or
a substring of it.
ARPANet
(Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)
-- The precursor to the Internet. Developed in the late 60’s and
early 70’s by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking
that would survive a nuclear war. See Also: Internet
ASCII
(American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
-- This is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by
computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers,
punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can
be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.
Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections
that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative as a
backbone in a small network will likely be much smaller than many
non-backbone lines in a large network. See Also: Network
Bandwidth
How much stuff you can send through a connection.
Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about
16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion
full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending
on compression. See Also: 56k Line , Bps
, Bit , T-1
Baud
In common usage the baud rate of a modem
is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically,
baud is the number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value
- for example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but
it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second). See Also: Bit
, Modem
BBS
(Bulletin Board System) -- A computerized
meeting and announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions,
upload and download files, and make announcements without the people being
connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands (millions?)
of BBS’s around the world, most are very small, running on a single IBM
clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are very large and the line between
a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets crossed at some point, but it is
not clearly drawn.
Binhex
(BINary HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting
non-text files (non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet
e-mail can only handle ASCII. See Also: ASCII , MIME
, UUENCODE
Bit
(Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in
base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized
data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second. See Also:
Bandwidth , Bps , Byte
, Kilobyte , Megabyte
BITNET
(Because It’s Time NETwork (or Because It’s
There NETwork)) -- A network of educational sites separate from
the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and
the Internet. Listservs, the most popular form of e-mail discussion
groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are usually mainframes running
the VMS operating system, and the network is probably the only international
network that is shrinking.
Bps
(Bits-Per-Second) -- A measurement of how
fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move
28,800 bits per second. See Also: Bandwidth ,
Bit
(By The Way) -- A shorthand appended to a
comment written in an online forum. See Also: IMHO
, TTFN
Byte
A set of Bits that represent a single character.
Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the
measurement is being made. See Also: Bit
Certificate
Authority
An issuer of Security Certificates
used in SSL connections. See Also: Security
Certificate , SSL
CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) -- A set of rules
that describe how a WebServer communicates with another
piece of software on the same machine, and how the other piece of software
(the "CGI program") talks to the web server. Any piece of software can
be a CGI program if it handles input and output according to the CGI standard.
Usually a CGI program is a small program that takes data from a web server
and does something with it, like putting the content of a form into an
e-mail message, or turning the data into a database query. You can often
see that a CGI program is being used by seeing "cgi-bin" in a URL, but
not always. See Also: cgi-bin , Web
cgi-bin
The most common name of a directory on a web
server in which CGI programs are stored. The "bin" part of "cgi-bin"
is a shorthand version of "binary", because once upon a time, most programs
were refered to as "binaries". In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin
directories are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries located
elsewhere on the same machine. See Also: CGI
Client
A software program that is used to contact
and obtain data from a Server software program on another computer,
often across a great distance. Each Client program is designed to
work with one or more specific kinds of Server programs, and each
Server requires a specific kind of Client. A Web Browser
is a specific kind of Client. See Also: Browser
, Server
Cookie
The most common meaning of "Cookie" on the
Internet refers to a piece of information sent by a Web Server to
a Web Browser that the Browser software is expected to save and
to send back to the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests
from the Server. Depending on the type of Cookie used, and the Browser’s
settings, the Browser may accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save
the Cookie for either a short time or a long time. Cookies might contain
information such as login or registration information, online "shopping
cart" information, user preferences, etc. When a Server receives a request
from a Browser that includes a Cookie, the Server is able to use the information
stored in the Cookie. For example, the Server might customize what is sent
back to the user, or keep a log of particular user’s requests. Cookies
are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of time and are
usually saved in memory until the Browser software is closed down, at which
time they may be saved to disk if their "expire time" has not been reached.
Cookies do not read your hard drive and send your life story to
the CIA, but they can be used to gather more information about a user than
would be possible without them. See Also: Browser
, Server
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk was originally a cultural sub-genre
of science fiction taking place in a not-so-distant, dystopian, over-industrialized
society. The term grew out of the work of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
and has evolved into a cultural label encompassing many different kinds
of human, machine, and punk attitudes. It includes clothing and lifestyle
choices as well. See Also: Cyberspace
Cyberspace
Term originated by author William Gibson in
his novel Neuromancer the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe
the whole range of information resources available through computer networks.
Digerati
The digital version of literati, it is a reference
to a vague cloud of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise
in-the-know in regards to the digital revolution.
Domain Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet
site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The
part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the
most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a
given Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names:
matisse.net mail.matisse.net workshop.matisse.net can all refer
to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one
machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have
the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (matisse.net
in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist
but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a
group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to
establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine
must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name. See Also: IP
Number
E-mail
(Electronic Mail) -- Messages, usually text,
sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically
to a large number of addresses (Mailing List). See Also: Listserv
, Maillist
Ethernet
A very common method of networking computers
in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second
and can be used with almost any kind of computer. See Also: Bandwidth
, LAN
FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents
that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject.
There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as Pet Grooming and Cryptography.
FAQs are usually written by people who have tired of answering the same
question over and over.
FDDI
(Fiber Distributed Data Interface) -- A standard
for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000
bits-per-second (10 times as fast as Ethernet, about twice as fast
as T-3). See Also: Bandwidth , Ethernet
, T-1 , T-3
Finger
An Internet software tool for locating people
on other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to
non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person
has an account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow incoming
Finger requests, but many do.
Fire Wall
A combination of hardware and software that
separates a LAN into two or more parts for security purposes. See
Also: Network , LAN
Flame
Originally, flame meant to carry forth in
a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate. Flames most often
involved the use of flowery language and flaming well was an art form.
More recently flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment
no matter how witless or crude. See Also: Flame War
Flame War
When an online discussion degenerates into
a series of personal attacks against the debators, rather than discussion
of their positions. A heated exchange. See Also: Flame
FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common
method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way
to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving
and/or sending files. There are many Internet sites that have established
publicly accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using
FTP, by logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites are
called anonymous ftp ervers.
Gateway
The technical meaning is a hardware or
software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example
Prodigy has a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary
e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another, sloppier meaning of
gateway is to describe any mechanism for providing access to another system,
e.g. AOL might be called a gateway to the Internet.
A widely successful method of making menus
of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and
Server style program, which requires that the user have a Gopher
Client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe
in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by Hypertext,
also known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still thousands of
Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will remain
for a while.See Also: Client , Server
, WWW , Hypertext
hit
As used in reference to the World Wide Web,
"hit" means a single request from a web browser for a single item
from a web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a
page that contains 3 graphics, 4 "hits" would occur at the server: 1 for
the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics. "hits" are often
used as a very rough measure of load on a server, e.g. "Our server has
been getting 300,000 hits per month." Because each "hit" can represent
anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing
document) all the way to a request that requires some significant extra
processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load on a machine
from 1 hit is almost impossible to define.
Home
Page (or Homepage)
Several meanings. Originally, the web
page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more
common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization,
person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. "Check
out so-and-so’s new Home Page." Another sloppier use of the term refers
to practically any web page as a "homepage," e.g. "That web site has 65
homepages and none of them are interesting." See Also: Browser
, Web
Host
Any computer on a network that is a
repository for services available to other computers on the network.
It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such
as WWW and USENET. See Also: Node , Network
HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding
language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World
Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where
you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear,
additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word,
is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed
using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape or
Mosaic. See Also: Client , Server
, WWW
HTTP
(HyperText Transport Protocol) -- The protocol
for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires
a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program
on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World
Wide Web (WWW). See Also: Client , Server
, WWW
Hypertext
Generally, any text that contains links to
other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by
a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.
IMHO
(In My Humble Opinion) -- A shorthand appended
to a comment written in an online forum, IMHO indicates that the writer
is aware that they are expressing a debatable view, probably on a subject
already under discussion. One of may such shorthands in common use online,
especially in discussion forums. See Also: TTFN , BTW
Internet
(Upper case I) The vast collection
of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that
evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60’s and early 70’s. The Internet
now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast
global internet. See Also: internet
internet
(Lower case i) Any time you connect
2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national
or inter-state. See Also: Internet , Network
Intranet
A private network inside a company
or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find
on the public Internet, but that is only for internal use. As the
Internet has become more popular many of the tools used on the Internet
are being used in private networks, for example, many companies have web
servers that are available only to employees. Note that an Intranet may
not actually be an internet -- it may simply be
a network. See Also: internet
, Internet , Network
IP Number
(Internet Protocol Number) -- Sometimes called
a dotted quad. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots,
e.g. 165.113.245.2. Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique
IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on
the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that
are easier for people to remember. See Also: Domain
Name , Internet , TCP/IP
IRC
(Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge
multi-user live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers
around the world which are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel
and anything that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all others
in the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person
conference calls.
ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Network) -- Basically
a way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly
becoming available to much of the USA and in most markets it is priced
very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can provide speeds
of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone lines. In practice,
most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000 bits-per-second.
ISP
(Internet Service Provider) -- An institution
that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money. Furthermore,
real ISPs provide a direct access to the Internet through a backbone provider
(such as AlterNet or MCI). In the case of Malta, therefore, to be defined
as being an ISP, an organisation should offer international backbone connection.
See Also: Internet
Java
Java is a network-oriented programming language
invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing
programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet
and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer
or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages
can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other fancy
tricks. We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web
using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything a
regular computer program can do, and then include that Java program in
a Web page. See Also: Applet
JDK
(Java Development Kit) -- A software development
package from Sun Microsystems that implements the basic set of tools needed
to write, test and debug Java applications and applets. See
Also: Applet , Java
Kilobyte
A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (2^10)
bytes. See Also: Byte , Bit
LAN
(Local Area Network) -- A computer network
limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a
building. See Also: Ethernet
Leased-line
Refers to a phone line that is rented for
exclusive 24-hour, 7-days-a-week use from your location to another location.
The highest speed data connections require a leased line. See Also: 56k
Line , T-1 , T-3
Listserv
The most common kind of maillist, Listservs
originated on BITNET but they are now common on the Internet.
See Also: BITNET , E-mail ,
Maillist
Login
Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used
to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password).
Verb: The act of entering into a computer system, e.g. Login to the
WELL and then go to the GBN conference.
(or Mailing List) A (usually automated)
system that allows people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon
their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the
maillist. In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access
can participate in discussions together.
Megabyte
A million bytes. A thousand kilobytes.
See Also: Byte , Bit , Kilobyte
MIDI
A sound format usually distributed over the
Internet for, for example, background music to websites / pages. This format
is the same as the MIDI format used in the programming of sythesisers and
as such there exists a wide repository of MIDI music on the Internet.
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) --
The standard for attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages.
Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor
documents, sound files, etc. An email program is said to be MIME Compliant
if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard. When non-text
files are sent using the MIME standard they are converted (encoded) into
text - although the resulting text is not really readable. Generally speaking
the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the type of file being sent
(e.g. a Quicktime video file), and the method that should be used to turn
it back into its original form. Besides email software, the MIME standard
is also universally used by Web Servers to identify the files they
are sending to Web Clients, in this way new file formats can be
accommodated simply by updating the Browsers’ list of pairs of MIME-Types
and appropriate software for handling each type. See Also: Browser
, Client , Server , Binhex
, UUENCODE
Mirror
Generally speaking, "to mirror" is to maintain
an exact copy of something. Probably the most common use of the term on
the Internet refers to "mirror sites" which are web sites, or FTP
sites that maintain exact copies of material originated at another location,
usually in order to provide more widespread access to the resource. Another
common use of the term "mirror" refers to an arrangement where information
is written to more than one hard disk simultaneously, so that if one disk
fails, the computer keeps on working without losing anything. See Also:
FTP , Web
Modem
(MOdulator, DEModulator) -- A device that
you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer
to talk to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems
do for computers what a telephone does for humans.
MOO
(Mud, Object Oriented) -- One of several kinds
of multi-user role-playing environments, so far only text-based. See Also:
MUD , MUSE
Mosaic
The first WWW browser that was available
for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic
really started the popularity of the Web. The source-code to Mosaic has
been licensed by several companies and there are several other pieces of
software as good or better than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape. See Also:
Browser , Client , WWW
MUD
(Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) -- A (usually
text-based) multi-user simulation environment. Some are purely for fun
and flirting, others are used for serious software development, or education
purposes and all that lies in between. A significant feature of most MUDs
is that users can create things that stay after they leave and which other
users can interact with in their absence, thus allowing a world to be built
gradually and collectively. See Also: MOO , MUSE
MUSE
(Multi-User Simulated Environment) -- One
kind of MUD - usually with little or no violence. See Also: MOO
, MUD
Derived from the term citizen, referring to
a citizen of the Internet, or someone who uses networked resources.
The term connotes civic responsibility and participation.
A WWW Browser and the name of a company.
The Netscape (tm) browser was originally based on the Mosaic program
developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
Netscape has grown in features rapidly and is widely recognized as the
best and most popular web browser. Netscape corporation also produces web
server software. Netscape provided major improvements in speed and
interface over other browsers, and has also engendered debate by creating
new elements for the HTML language used by Web pages -- but the
Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported. The main author
of Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark,
and they founded a company called Mosaic Communications and soon changed
the name to Netscape Communications Corporation. See Also: Browser
, Mosaic , Server , WWW
Network
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together
so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect
2 or more networks together and you have an internet. See Also:
internet , Internet , Intranet
Newsgroup
The name for discussion groups on USENET.
See Also: USENET
NIC
(Networked Information Center) -- Generally,
any office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these
on the Internet is the InterNIC, which is where new domain names are registered.
Another definition: NIC also refers to Network Interface Card which plugs
into a computer and adapts the network interface to the appropriate standard.
ISA, PCI, and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs.
NNTP
(Network News Transport Protocol) -- The
protocol used by client and server software to carry USENET
postings back and forth over a TCP/IPnetwork. If you are
using any of the more common software such as Netscape, Nuntius,
Internet Explorer, etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are
benefiting from an NNTP connection. See Also: Newsgroup
, TCP/IP , USENET
The method used to move data around on the
Internet. In packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine
is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from
and where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different
sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed to different
routes by special machines along the way. This way many people can use
the same lines at the same time.
Password
A code used to gain access to a locked system.
Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations
such as virtue7. A good password might be: Hot$1-6 See Also: Login
Plug-in
A (usually small) piece of software that adds
features to a larger piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for
the Netscape® browser and web server. Adobe Photoshop®
also uses plug-ins. The idea behind plug-in’s is that a small piece of
software is loaded into memory by the larger program, adding a new feature,
and that users need only install the few plug-ins that they need, out of
a much larger pool of possibilities. Plug-ins are usually created by people
other than the publishers of the software the plug-in works with.
POP
(Point of Presence, also Post Office Protocol)
-- Two commonly used meanings: Point of Presence and Post Office Protocol.
A Point of Presence usually means a city or location where a network can
be connected to, often with dial up phone lines. So if an Internet company
says they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that they will soon
have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a place where leased lines
can connect to their network. A second meaning, Post Office Protocol refers
to the way e-mail software such as Eudora gets mail from a mail server.
When you obtain a SLIP, PPP, or shell account you almost always get a POP
account with it, and it is this POP account that you tell your e-mail software
to use to get your mail.
3 meanings. First and most generally, a place
where information goes into or out of a computer, or both. E.g. the serial
port on a personal computer is where a modem would be connected.
On the Internet port often refers to a number that is part of a URL,
appearing after a colon (:) right after the domain name. Every service
on an Internet server listens on a particular port number on that
server. Most services have standard port numbers, e.g. Web servers normally
listen on port 80. Services can also listen on non-standard ports, in which
case the port number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server,
so you might see a URL of the form: gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/ shows
a gopher server running on a non-standard port (the standard gopher port
is 70). Finally, port also refers to translating a piece of software to
bring it from one type of computer system to another, e.g. to translate
a Windows program so that is will run on a Macintosh. See Also: Domain
Name , Server , URL
Posting
A single message entered into a network communications
system. E.g. A single message posted to a newsgroup or message board.
See Also: Newsgroup
PPP
(Point to Point Protocol) -- Most well known
as a protocol that allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and
a modem to make TCP/IP connections and thus be really and
truly on the Internet. See Also: IP Number
, Internet , SLIP , TCP/IP
PSTN
(Public Switched Telephone Network) -- The
regular old-fashioned telephone system.
RFC
(Request For Comments) -- The name of the
result and the process for creating a standard on the Internet.
New standards are proposed and published on line, as a Request For Comments.
The Internet Engineering Task Force is a consensus-building body that facilitates
discussion, and eventually a new standard is established, but the reference
number/name for the standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the official
standard for e-mail is RFC 822.
Router
A special-purpose computer (or software package)
that handles the connection between 2 or more networks. Routers
spend all their time looking at the destination addresses of the packets
passing through them and deciding which route to send them on. See Also:
Network , Packet Switching
Security Certificate
A chunk of information (often stored as a
text file) that is used by the SSL protocol to establish a secure
connection. Security Certificates contain information about who it belongs
to, who it was issued by, a unique serial number or other unique identification,
valid dates, and an encrypted "fingerprint" that can be used to verify
the contents of the certificate. In order for an SSL connection to be created
both sides must have a valid Security Certificate. See Also: Certificate
Authority , SSL
Server
A computer, or a software package, that provides
a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers.
The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW
server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g.Our mail
server is down today, that’s why e-mail isn’t getting out. A single server
machine could have several different server software packages running on
it, thus providing many different servers to clients on the network.
See Also: Client , Network
SLIP
(Serial Line Internet Protocol) -- A standard
for using a regular telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to
connect a computer as a real Internet site. SLIP is gradually being
replaced by PPP. See Also: Internet , PPP
SMDS
(Switched Multimegabit Data Service) -- A
new standard for very high-speed data transfer.
SMTP
(Simple Mail Transport Protocol) -- The main
protocol used to send electronic mail on the Internet. SMTP consists of
a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a program receiving mail
should interact. Almost all Internet email is sent and received by clients
and servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email server
on the Internet one would look for email server software that supports
SMTP.
(Simple Network Management Protocol) -- A
set of standards for communication with devices connected to a TCP/IP network.
Examples of these devices include routers, hubs, and switches. A
device is said to be "SNMP compatible" if it can be monitored and/or controlled
using SNMP messages. SNMP messages are known as "PDU’s" - Protocol Data
Units. Devices that are SNMP compatible contain SNMP "agent" software to
receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages. Software for managing devices
via SNMP are available for every kind of commonly used computer and are
often bundled along with the device they are designed to manage. Some SNMP
software is designed to handle a wide variety of devices. See Also: Network
, Router
Spam (or
Spamming)
An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing
list, or USENET or other networked communications facility as
if it was a broadcast medium (which it is not) by sending the same message
to a large number of people who didn’t ask for it. The term probably comes
from a famous Monty Python skit which featured the word spam repeated over
and over. The term may also have come from someone’s low opinion of the
food product with the same name, which is generally perceived as a generic
content-free waste of resources. (Spam is a registered trademark of Hormel
Corporation, for its processed meat product.) E.g. Mary spammed 50 USENET
groups by posting the same message to each. See Also: Maillist
, USENET
SQL
(Structured Query Language) -- A specialized
programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength
and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each
specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features
unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common
subset of SQL.
SSL
(Secure Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed
by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications
across the Internet. SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications
between web browsers and web servers. URL’s that begin
with "https" indicate that an SSL connection will be used. SSL provides
3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity. In
an SSL connection each side of the connection must have a Security Certificate,
which each side’s software sends to the other. Each side then encrypts
what it sends using information from both its own and the other side’s
Certificate, ensuring that only the intended recipient can de-crypt it,
and that the other side can be sure the data came from the place it claims
to have come from, and that the message has not been tampered with. See
Also: Browser , Server , Security
Certificate , URL
Sysop
(System Operator) -- Anyone responsible for
the physical operations of a computer system or network resource. A System
Administrator decides how often backups and maintenance should be performed
and the System Operator performs those tasks.
T-1
A leased-line connection capable of
carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical
capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds.
That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for which
you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 is the fastest speed
commonly used to connect networks to the Internet. See Also:
56k Line , Bandwidth ,
Bit , Byte , Ethernet
, T-3
T-3
A leased-line connection capable of
carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to
do full-screen, full-motion video.
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
-- This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally
designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available
for every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the Internet,
your computer must have TCP/IP software. See Also: IP
Number , Internet , UNIX
Telnet
The command and program used to login
from one Internet site to another. The telnet command/program gets
you to the login: prompt of another host.
A device that allows you to send commands
to a computer somewhere else. At a minimum, this usually means a keyboard
and a display screen and some simple circuitry. Usually you will use terminal
software in a personal computer - the software pretends to be (emulates)
a physical terminal and allows you to type commands to a computer somewhere
else.
Terminal
Server
A special purpose computer that has places
to plug in many modems on one side, and a connection to a LAN
or host machine on the other side. Thus the terminal server does
the work of answering the calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate
node. Most terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP
services if connected to the Internet. See Also: LAN
, Modem , Host , Node
, PPP , SLIP
TTFN
(Ta Ta For Now) -- A shorthand appended to
a comment written in an online forum. See Also: IMHO
, BTW
UNIX
A computer operating system (the basic software
running on a computer, underneath things like word processors and spreadsheets).
UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is multi-user)
and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system
for servers on the Internet.
URL
(Uniform Resource Locator) -- The standard
way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of
the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks like this: http://www.matisse.net/seminars.html
or telnet://well.sf.ca.us or news:new.newusers.questions etc. The most
common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser program, such as
Netscape, or Lynx. See Also: Browser , WWW
USENET
A world-wide system of discussion groups,
with comments passed among hundreds of thousands of machines. Not all USENET
machines are on the Internet, maybe half. USENET is completely decentralized,
with over 10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups. See Also:
Newsgroup
UUENCODE
(Unix to Unix Encoding) -- A method for converting
files from Binary to ASCII (text) so that they can be sent
across the Internet via e-mail. See Also: Binhex
, MIME
Veronica
(Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index
to Computerized Archives) -- Developed at the University of Nevada, Veronica
is a constantly updated database of the names of almost every menu item
on thousands of gopher servers. The Veronica database can be searched
from most major gopher menus. See Also: Gopher
WAIS
(Wide Area Information Servers) -- A commercial
software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information,
and then making those indices searchable across networks such as
the Internet. A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search results
are ranked (scored) according to how relevant the hits are, and that subsequent
searches can find more stuff like that last batch and thus refine the search
process.
WAN
(Wide Area Network) -- Any internet
or network that covers an area larger than a single building or
campus. See Also: Internet , internet
, LAN , Network
(World Wide Web) -- Two meanings - First,
loosely used: the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed
using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS and some other tools.
Second, the universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers) which are
the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be mixed together.
See Also: Browser , FTP , Gopher
, HTTP , Telnet , URL
, WAIS
