| CACHE |
A memory
location that keeps frequently requested material ready. Usually the cache
is faster than a storage device. It is used to speed data and instruction
transfer. |
| CARRIER
SENSE |
A signal
generated by the physical network layer to inform the data link layer that
one or more nodes are transmitting on the network medium. |
| CARRIER
SENSE MULTIPLE ACCESS WITH COLLISION DETEC |
(CSMA/CD)
A network media access control protocol wherein a device listens to the
medium to monitor traffic. If there is no signal, the device is allowed
to send data. |
| CERN |
The European
Laboratory for Particle Physics, where the World Wide Web was first conceived
of and implemented. |
| CHILD |
A subprocess. |
| CLIENT |
A program
that tries to connect to another program (usually on another machine) called
a server. The client calls the server. The server listens for calls. |
| CLIENT/SERVER
ARCHITECTURE |
A catch
where one program can initiate a session and another program can answer
its requests. The origin of client/server designs is closely allied with
the TCP/IP protocol suite. |
| CMIP |
Common
Management Information Protocol. |
| CMOT |
The TCP/IP
implementation of CMIP. |
| COLLISION |
An event
that occurs when two or more nodes broadcast packets at the same time the
packets collide. |
| COLLISION
DETECTION |
A device's
capability to detect whether a collision has occurred. |
| COMMAND
LINE |
Line on
a terminal-based interface where you enter commands to the operating system. |
| COMMON
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION PROTOCOL |
(CMIP)
A network management protocol usually associated with OSI. When used with
TCP/IP, CMIP is called CMOT. |
| COMMON
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SERVICE |
(CMIS)
Management services provided by CMIP. |
| COMPRESS |
A program
that compacts a file so it fits into a smaller space. Also can refer to
the technique of reducing the amount of space a file takes up. |
| COMPUSERVE |
A commercial
online service that gives its subscribers access to the Internet in addition
to its other features. |
| CONCATENATE |
To join
two strings. |
| CONNECTION |
A link
between two or more processes, applications, machines, network, and so forth.
Connections can be logical, physical, or both. |
| CONNECTION
ORIENTED |
A type
of network service where the transport layer protocol sends acknowledgments
to the sender regarding incoming data. This type of service usually provides
for retransmission of corrupted or lost data. |
| CONNECTIONLESS |
A type
of network service that does not send acknowledgments to the sender upon
receipt of data. UDP is a connectionless protocol. |
| CONSORTIUM
FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION NETWORK |
(CREN)
The name for the body arising from the combination of CSNET and BITNET. |
| CONTENTION |
A condition
occurring in some LANs where the Media Access Control (MAC) sublayer allows
more than one node to transmit at the same time, risking collisions. |
| CONTEXT |
Many functions
return either array values or scalar values depending on the context, that
is, whether returning an array or a scalar value is appropriate for the
place where the call was made. |
| CORE GATEWAY |
A router
operated by the Internet Network Operations Center to distribute routing
information. |
| CPAN |
(Central
Perl Archive Network) a series of machines on the Internet that act as central
repositories for Perl distributions, documentation, libraries, and modules. |
| CROSSTALK |
Signals
that interfere with another signal. |
| CSNET |
(Computer
Science Network) An electronic mail network that merged with BITNET to form
CREN. |
| CYBERSPACE |
A term
used to refer to the entire collection of sites accessible electronically.
If your computer is attached to the Internet or another large network, it
exists in cyberspace. |
| CYCLIC
REDUNDANCY CHECK |
(CRC)
A mathematical function performed on the contents of an entity that is then
included to enable a receiving system to recalculate the value and compare
to the original. If the values are different, corruption of the contents
has occurred. |