Backbone
A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major
pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a
small network will likely be much smaller than many
non-backbone lines in a large network.
See Also: Network
Bandwidth
How much stuff you can send through a connection. Usually measured
in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about 16,000
bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second.
Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000
bits-per-second, depending on compression.
See Also: Bps
, Bit ,
T-1
Baud
In common usage the baud rate of a modem is how many bits
it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the number
of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value - for
example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but
it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second).
See Also: Bit
, Modem
BBS
(Bulletin Board System) -- A computerized meeting and announcement
system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and
download files, and make announcements without the people being
connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands
(millions?) of BBS’s around the world, most are very small,
running on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are
very large and the line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe
gets crossed at some point, but it is not clearly drawn.
Binhex
(BINary HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting non-text files
(non-ASCII) into ASCII. This is needed because Internet
e-mail can only handle ASCII.
See Also: ASCII
, MIME
, UUENCODE
Bit
(Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in base-2, in other words,
either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth
is usually measured in bits-per-second.
See Also: Bandwidth
, Bps ,
Byte ,
Kilobyte
, Megabyte
BITNET
(Because It’s Time NETwork (or Because It’s There NETwork)) --
A network of educational sites separate from the Internet,
but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the
Internet. Listservs®, the most popular form of e-mail
discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are usually
mainframes running the VMS operating system, and the network is
probably the only international network that is shrinking.
Bps
(Bits-Per-Second) -- A measurement of how fast data is moved from
one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per
second.
See Also: Bandwidth
, Bit
Browser
A Client program (software) that is used to look at various
kinds of Internet resources.
See Also: Client
, URL ,
WWW , Netscape
, Mosaic
, Home
Page (or Homepage)
BTW
(By The Way) -- A shorthand appended to a comment written in an
online forum.
See Also: IMHO
Byte
A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are
8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement
is being made.
See Also: Bit
Certificate Authority
An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL
connections.
See Also: Security
Certificate , SSL
CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) -- A set of rules that describe how a Web
Server communicates with another piece of software on the
same machine, and how the other piece of software (the “CGI
program”) talks to the web server. Any piece of software can be a
CGI program if it handles input and output according to the CGI
standard.
Usually a CGI program is a small program that takes data from a web
server and does something with it, like putting the content of a
form into an e-mail message, or turning the data into a database
query.
You can often see that a CGI program is being used by seeing
“cgi-bin” in a URL, but not always.
See Also: cgi-bin
, Web
cgi-bin
The most common name of a directory on a web server in which CGI
programs are stored.
The “bin” part of “cgi-bin” is a shorthand version of
“binary”, because once upon a time, most programs were refered
to as “binaries”. In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin
directories are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries
located elsewhere on the same machine.
See Also: CGI
Client
A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a Server
software program on another computer, often across a great distance.
Each Client program is designed to work with one or more
specific kinds of Server programs, and each Server
requires a specific kind of Client. A Web Browser is a
specific kind of Client.
See Also: Browser
, Server
co-location
Most often used to refer to having a server that belongs to
one person or group physically located on an Internet-connected
network that belongs to another person or group. Usually this
is done because the server owner wants their machine to be on a
high-speed Internet connection and/or they do not want the security
risks of having the server on thier own network.
See Also: Internet
, Server
, Network
Cookie
The most common meaning of “Cookie” on the Internet refers to
a piece of information sent by a Web Server to a Web Browser
that the Browser software is expected to save and to send back to
the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the
Server.
Depending on the type of Cookie used, and the Browser’s settings,
the Browser may accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save the
Cookie for either a short time or a long time.
Cookies might contain information such as login or registration
information, online “shopping cart” information, user
preferences, etc.
When a Server receives a request from a Browser that includes a
Cookie, the Server is able to use the information stored in the
Cookie. For example, the Server might customize what is sent back to
the user, or keep a log of particular user’s requests.
Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of
time and are usually saved in memory until the Browser software is
closed down, at which time they may be saved to disk if their
“expire time” has not been reached.
Cookies do not read your hard drive and send your
life story to the CIA, but they can be used to gather more
information about a user than would be possible without them.
See Also: Browser
, Server
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk was originally a cultural sub-genre of science fiction
taking place in a not-so-distant, dystopian, over-industrialized
society. The term grew out of the work of William Gibson and Bruce
Sterling and has evolved into a cultural label encompassing many
different kinds of human, machine, and punk attitudes. It includes
clothing and lifestyle choices as well.
See Also: Cyberspace
Cyberspace
Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer
the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of
information resources available through computer networks.
Digerati
The digital version of literati, it is a reference to a vague
cloud of people seen to be knowledgeable, hip, or otherwise
in-the-know in regards to the digital revolution.
DSL
(Digital Subscriber Line) -- A method for moving data over regular
phone lines. A DSL 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. A DSL
circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations,
similar to a leased line.
A commonly discussed configuration of DSL allows downloads at speeds
of up to 1.544 megabits (not megabytes) per second,
and uploads at speeds of 128 kilobits per second. This arrangement
is called ADSL: “Asymmetric” Digital Subscriber Line.
Another common configuration is 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.
DSL is now a popular alternative to Leased Lines and ISDN,
being faster than ISDN and less costly than traditional Leased
Lines.
See Also: bit
, bps ,
ISDN ,
Leased
Line
Domain Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names
always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left
is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general.
A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given
Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain
names:
matisse.net
mail.matisse.net
workshop.matisse.net
can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to
no more than one machine.
Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the
same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (matisse.net
in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to
exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done
so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address
without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases,
some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the
listed Domain Name.
See Also: IP
Number
E-mail
(Electronic Mail) -- Messages, usually text, sent from one person
to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a
large number of addresses (Mailing List).
See Also: Listserv®
, Maillist
Ethernet
A very common method of networking computers in a LAN.
Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be
used with almost any kind of computer.
See Also: Bandwidth
, LAN
FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents that list and
answer the most common questions on a particular subject. There are
hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as Pet Grooming and
Cryptography. FAQs are usually written by people who have tired of
answering the same question over and over.
FDDI
(Fiber Distributed Data Interface) -- A standard for transmitting
data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100,000,000
bits-per-second (10 times as fast as Ethernet, about twice as
fast as T-3).
See Also: Bandwidth
, Ethernet
, T-1 ,
T-3
Finger
An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet
sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to non-personal
information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an
account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow
incoming Finger requests, but many do.
Fire Wall
A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN
into two or more parts for security purposes.
See Also: Network
, LAN
Flame
Originally, flame meant to carry forth in a passionate manner in
the spirit of honorable debate. Flames most often involved the use
of flowery language and flaming well was an art form. More recently
flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment no matter
how witless or crude.
See Also: Flame
War
Flame War
When an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal
attacks against the debators, rather than discussion of their
positions. A heated exchange.
See Also: Flame
FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common method of moving files
between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login to
another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending
files. There are many Internet sites that have established publicly
accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP,
by logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites are
called anonymous ftp servers.
Gateway
The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that
translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example Prodigy has
a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary e-mail
format and Internet e-mail format. Another, sloppier meaning of
gateway is to describe any mechanism for providing access to another
system, e.g. AOL might be called a gateway to the Internet.
GIF
(Graphic Interchange Format) -- A common format for image files,
especially suitable for images containing large areas of the same
color. GIF format files of simple images are often smaller than the
same file would be if stored in JPEG format, but GIF format
does not store photographic images as well as JPEG.
See Also: JPEG
Gigabyte
1000 or 1024 Megabytes, depending on who is measuring.
See Also: Byte
, Megabyte
Gopher
A widely successful method of making menus of material available
over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style
program, which requires that the user have a Gopher Client
program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a
couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by Hypertext, also
known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still thousands of
Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will
remain for a while.
See Also: Client
, Server
, WWW ,
Hypertext
hit
As used in reference to the World Wide Web, “hit” means a
single request from a web browser for a single item from a
web server; thus in order for a web browser to display a page
that contains 3 graphics, 4 “hits” would occur at the server: 1
for the HTML page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.
“hits” are often used as a very rough measure of load on a
server, e.g. “Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per
month.” Because each “hit” can represent anything from a
request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing
document) all the way to a request that requires some significant
extra processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load
on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define.
Home Page (or Homepage)
Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your browser
is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to
the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the
main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. “Check out
so-and-so’s new Home Page.”
Another sloppier use of the term refers to practically any web page
as a “homepage,” e.g. “That web site has 65 homepages and none
of them are interesting.”
See Also: Browser
, Web
Host
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services
available to other computers on the network. It is quite
common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW
and USENET.
See Also: Node
, Network
HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding language used to create Hypertext
documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot
like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of
text with codes that indicate how it should appear, additionally, in
HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to
another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed
using a World Wide Web Client Program, such as Netscape
or Mosaic.
See Also: Client
, Server
, WWW
HTTP
(HyperText Transfer 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: BTW
Internet
(Upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected
networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the
ARPANET of the late 60’s and early 70’s. The Internet now
(July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast
global internet.
See Also: internet
internet
(Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks
together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or
inter-state.
See Also: Internet
, Network
Intranet
A private network inside a company or organization that
uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet,
but that is only for internal use.
As the Internet has become more popular many of the tools used on
the Internet are being used in private networks, for example, many
companies have web servers that are available only to employees.
Note that an Intranet may not actually be an internet
-- it may simply be a network.
See Also: internet
, Internet
, Network
IP Number
(Internet Protocol Number) -- Sometimes called a dotted quad. A
unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.
165.113.245.2
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a
machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the
Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names
that are easier for people to remember.
See Also: Domain
Name , Internet
, TCP/IP
IRC
(Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge multi-user live chat
facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the
world which are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel
and anything that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all
others in the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for
multi-person conference calls.
ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Network) -- Basically a way to move
more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly
becoming available to much of the USA and in most markets it is
priced very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can
provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone
lines. In practice, most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000
bits-per-second.
ISP
(Internet Service Provider) -- An institution that provides access
to the Internet in some form, usually for money.
See Also: Internet
Java
Java is a network-oriented programming language invented by Sun
Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that
can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and
immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your
computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "Applets"),
Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and
other fancy tricks.
We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web
using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything
a regular computer program can do, and then include that Java
program in a Web page.
See Also: Applet
JavaScript
JavaScript is a programming language that is mostly used in web
pages, usually to add features that make the web page more
interactive. When JavaScript is included in an HTML file it
relies upon the browser to interpret the JavaScript. When JavaScript
is combined with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and later
versions of HTML (4.0 and later) the result is often called DHTML.
JavaScript was invented by Netscape and was going to be
called "LiveScript", but the name was changed to
JavaScript to cash in on the popularity of Java. JavaScript
and Java are two different programming languages.
See Also:
HTML,
Java
JDK
(Java Development Kit) -- A software development package from Sun
Microsystems that implements the basic set of tools needed to write,
test and debug Java applications and applets
See Also: Applet
, Java
JPEG
(Joint Photographic Experts Group) -- JPEG is most commonly
mentioned as a format for image files. JPEG format is preferred to
the GIF format for photographic images as opposed to line art
or simple logo art.
See Also: GIF
Kilobyte
A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (2^10) bytes.
See Also: Byte
, Bit
LAN
(Local Area Network) -- A computer network limited to the
immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.
See Also: Ethernet
Leased Line
Refers to a phone line that is rented for exclusive 24-hour, 7
-days-a-week use from your location to another location. The highest
speed data connections require a leased line.
See Also: T-1
, T-3, DSL
Listserv®
The most common kind of maillist, "Listserv" is a
registered trademark of L-Soft international, Inc. Listservs
originated on BITNET but they are now common on the Internet.
See Also: BITNET
, E-mail
, Maillist
Login
Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used to gain access to a
computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password).
Verb: The act of entering into a computer system, e.g. Login to
the WELL and then go to the GBN conference.
See Also: Password
Maillist
(or Mailing List) A (usually automated) system that allows
people to send e-mail to one address, whereupon their message
is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist.
In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access
can participate in discussions together.
Megabyte
A million bytes. Actually, technically, 1024 kilobytes.
See Also: Byte
, Bit ,
Kilobyte
MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- The standard for
attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages.
Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted
word-processor documents, sound files, etc.
An email program is said to be MIME Compliant if it can both send
and receive files using the MIME standard.
When non-text files are sent using the MIME standard they are
converted (encoded) into text - although the resulting text is not
really readable.
Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the
type of file being sent (e.g. a Quicktime™ video file), and the
method that should be used to turn it back into its original form.
Besides email software, the MIME standard is also universally used
by Web Servers to identify the files they are sending to Web Clients,
in this way new file formats can be accommodated simply by updating
the Browsers’ list of pairs of MIME-Types and appropriate software
for handling each type.
See Also: Browser
, Client
, Server
, Binhex
, UUENCODE
Mirror
Generally speaking, “to mirror” is to maintain an exact copy
of something. Probably the most common use of the term on the
Internet refers to “mirror sites” which are web sites, or
FTP sites that maintain exact copies of material originated
at another location, usually in order to provide more widespread
access to the resource.
Another common use of the term “mirror” refers to an arrangement
where information is written to more than one hard disk
simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the computer keeps on
working without losing anything.
See Also: FTP
, Web
Modem
(MOdulator, DEModulator) -- A device that you connect to your
computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to talk to
other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for
computers what a telephone does for humans.
MOO
(Mud, Object Oriented) -- One of several kinds of multi-user
role-playing environments, so far only text-based.
See Also: MUD
, MUSE
Mosaic
The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh,
Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started
the popularity of the Web. The source-code to Mosaic has been
licensed by several companies and there are several other pieces of
software as good or better than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape.
See Also: Browser
, Client
, WWW
MUD
(Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) -- A (usually text-based)
multi-user simulation environment. Some are purely for fun and
flirting, others are used for serious software development, or
education purposes and all that lies in between. A significant
feature of most MUDs is that users can create things that stay after
they leave and which other users can interact with in their absence,
thus allowing a world to be built gradually and collectively.
See Also: MOO
, MUSE
MUSE
(Multi-User Simulated Environment) -- One kind of MUD - usually
with little or no violence.
See Also: MOO
, MUD
Netiquette
The etiquette on the Internet.
See Also: Internet
Netizen
Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet,
or someone who uses networked resources. The term connotes civic
responsibility and participation.
See Also: Internet
Netscape
A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The Netscape (tm)
browser was originally based on the Mosaic program developed
at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
Netscape has grown in features rapidly and is widely recognized as
the best and most popular web browser. Netscape corporation also
produces web server software.
Netscape provided major improvements in speed and interface over
other browsers, and has also engendered debate by creating new
elements for the HTML language used by Web pages -- but the
Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported.
The main author of Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from
the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic
Communications and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications
Corporation.
See Also: Browser
, Mosaic
, Server
, WWW
Network
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can
share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more
networks together and you have an internet.
See Also: internet
, Internet
, Intranet
Newsgroup
The name for discussion groups on USENET.
See Also: USENET
NIC
(Networked Information Center) -- Generally, any office that
handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the
Internet is the InterNIC, which is where new domain names are
registered.
Another definition: NIC also refers to Network Interface Card which
plugs into a computer and
adapts the network interface to the appropriate standard. ISA, PCI,
and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs.
NNTP
(Network News Transport Protocol) -- The protocol used by client
and server software to carry USENET postings back and
forth over a TCP/IP network. If you are using any of
the more common software such as Netscape, Nuntius, Internet
Explorer, etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are
benefiting from an NNTP connection.
See Also: Newsgroup
, TCP/IP
, USENET
Node
Any single computer connected to a network.
See Also: Network
, Internet
, internet
Packet Switching
The method used to move data around on the Internet. In
packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine is broken up
into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and
where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different
sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed
to different routes by special machines along the way. This way many
people can use the same lines at the same time.
Password
A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords
contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such
as virtue7. A good password might be:
Hot$1-6
See Also: Login
Plug-in
A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger
piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for the Netscape® browser
and web server. Adobe Photoshop® also uses plug-ins.
The idea behind plug-in’s is that a small piece of software is
loaded into memory by the larger program, adding a new feature, and
that users need only install the few plug-ins that they need, out of
a much larger pool of possibilities. Plug-ins are usually created by
people other than the publishers of the software the plug-in works
with.
POP
(Point of Presence, also Post Office Protocol) -- Two commonly
used meanings: Point of Presence and Post Office Protocol. A Point
of Presence usually means a city or location where a network can be
connected to, often with dial up phone lines. So if an Internet
company says they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that
they will soon have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a place
where leased lines can connect to their network. A second meaning,
Post Office Protocol refers to the way e-mail software such as
Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP, or
shell account you almost always get a POP account with it, and it is
this POP account that you tell your e-mail software to use to get
your mail.
See Also: SLIP
, PPP
Port
3 meanings. First and most generally, a place where information
goes into or out of a computer, or both. E.g. the serial port on a
personal computer is where a modem would be connected.
On the Internet port often refers to a number that is part of a URL,
appearing after a colon (:) right after the domain name.
Every service on an Internet server listens on a particular
port number on that server. Most services have standard port
numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services can
also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port number
must be specified in a URL when accessing the server, so you might
see a URL of the form:
gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/
shows a gopher server running on a non-standard port (the standard
gopher port is 70).
Finally, port also refers to translating a piece of software to
bring it from one type of computer system to another, e.g. to
translate a Windows program so that is will run on a Macintosh.
See Also: Domain
Name , Server
, URL
Portal
Usually used as a marketing term to described a Web site that is
or is intended to be the first place people see when using the Web.
Typically a "Portal site" has a catalog of web sites, a
search engine, or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other
service to entice people to use that site as their main "point
of entry" (hence "portal") to the Web.
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 Transfer Protocol) -- The main protocol used to send
electronic mail on the Internet.
SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a
program receiving mail should interact.
Almost all Internet email is sent and received by clients and
servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email
server on the Internet one would look for email server software that
supports SMTP.
See Also: Client
, Server
SNMP
(Simple Network Management Protocol) -- A set of standards for
communication with devices connected to a TCP/IP network.
Examples of these devices include routers, hubs, and
switches.
A device is said to be “SNMP compatible” if it can be monitored
and/or controlled using SNMP messages. SNMP messages are known as
“PDU’s” - Protocol Data Units.
Devices that are SNMP compatible contain SNMP “agent” software
to receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages.
Software for managing devices via SNMP are available for every kind
of commonly used computer and are often bundled along with the
device they are designed to manage. Some SNMP software is designed
to handle a wide variety of devices.
See Also: Network
, Router
Spam (or Spamming)
An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET
or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast
medium (which it is not) by sending the same message to a large
number of people who didn’t ask for it. The term probably comes
from a famous Monty Python skit which featured the word spam
repeated over and over. The term may also have come from someone’s
low opinion of the food product with the same name, which is
generally perceived as a generic content-free waste of resources.
(Spam is a registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its
processed meat product.)
E.g. Mary spammed 50 USENET groups by posting the same message to
each.
See Also: Maillist
, USENET
SQL
(Structured Query Language) -- A specialized programming language
for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many
smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each
specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing
features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases
support a common subset of SQL.
SSL
(Secure Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed by Netscape
Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications
across the Internet.
SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web browsers
and web servers. URL’s that begin with “https”
indicate that an SSL connection will be used.
SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and
Message Integrity.
In an SSL connection each side of the connection must have a Security
Certificate, which each side’s software sends to the other.
Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from both
its own and the other side’s Certificate, ensuring that only the
intended recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be
sure the data came from the place it claims to have come from, and
that the message has not been tampered with.
See Also: Browser
, Server
, Security
Certificate , URL
Sysop
(System Operator) -- Anyone responsible for the physical
operations of a computer system or network resource. A System
Administrator decides how often backups and maintenance should be
performed and the System Operator performs those tasks.
T-1
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at
1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a
T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds. That
is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for
which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 is the
fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the Internet.
See Also: Bandwidth
, Bit ,
Byte ,
Ethernet
, T-3
T-3
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at
44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do
full-screen, full-motion video.
See Also: Bandwidth
, Bit ,
Byte ,
Ethernet
, T-1
TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) -- This is the
suite of protocols that defines the Internet. Originally
designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is
now available for every major kind of computer operating system. To
be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP
software.
See Also: IP
Number , Internet
, UNIX
Telnet
The command and program used to login from one Internet
site to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the login:
prompt of another host.
Terabyte
1000 gigabytes.
See Also: Byte
, Kilobyte
Terminal
A device that allows you to send commands to a computer somewhere
else. At a minimum, this usually means a keyboard and a display
screen and some simple circuitry. Usually you will use terminal
software in a personal computer - the software pretends to be
(emulates) a physical terminal and allows you to type commands to a
computer somewhere else.
Terminal Server
A special purpose computer that has places to plug in many modems
on one side, and a connection to a LAN or host machine
on the other side. Thus the terminal server does the work of
answering the calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate
node. Most terminal servers can provide PPP or SLIP
services if connected to the Internet.
See Also: LAN
, Modem
, Host
, Node
, PPP ,
SLIP
UDP
(User Datagram Protocol) -- One of the protocols for data transfer
that is part of the TCP/IP suite of protocols. UDP is a
“stateless” protocol in that UDP makes no provision for
acknowledgement of packets received.
See Also: TCP/IP
UNIX
A computer operating system (the basic software running on a
computer, underneath things like word processors and spreadsheets).
UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is
multi-user) and has TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common
operating system for servers on the Internet.
URL
(Uniform Resource Locator) -- The standard way to give the address
of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web
(WWW). A URL looks like this:
http://www.matisse.net/seminars.html
or telnet://well.sf.ca.us
or news:new.newusers.questions
etc.
The most common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser
program, such as Netscape, or Lynx.
See Also: Browser
, WWW
USENET
A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed
among hundreds of thousands of machines. Not all USENET machines are
on the Internet, maybe half. USENET is completely
decentralized, with over 10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups.
See Also: Newsgroup
UUENCODE
(Unix to Unix Encoding) -- A method for converting files from Binary
to ASCII (text) so that they can be sent across the Internet
via e-mail.
See Also: Binhex
, MIME
Veronica
(Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized
Archives) -- Developed at the University of Nevada, Veronica is a
constantly updated database of the names of almost every menu item
on thousands of gopher servers. The Veronica database can be
searched from most major gopher menus.
See Also: Gopher
VPN
(Virtual Private Network) -- Usually refers to a network in
which some of the parts are connected using the public Internet,
but the data sent across the Internet is encrypted, so the entire
network is "virtually" private.
A typical example would be a company network where there are two
offices in different cities. Using the Internet the two offices
mereg their networks into one network, but encrypt traffic that uses
the Internet link.
See Also: Internet,
Network
WAIS
(Wide Area Information Servers) -- A commercial software package
that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then
making those indices searchable across networks such as the Internet.
A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search results are ranked
(scored) according to how relevant the hits are, and that subsequent
searches can find more stuff like that last batch and thus refine
the search process.
WAN
(Wide Area Network) -- Any internet or network that
covers an area larger than a single building or campus.
See Also: Internet
, internet
, LAN ,
Network
Web
See: WWW
WWW
(World Wide Web) -- Frequently used (incorrectly) when referring
to "The Internet", WWW has two major 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
, Internet
, Telnet
, URL ,
WAIS
