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Chapter 5 -- Internet Glossary

Chapter 5 Internet Glossary

Untitled

Internet Glossary

The Internet can be rather confusing to new users. It has its own jargon, just as many professions or hobbies do. Learning the jargon can make the Internet less foreign to you. As the Internet has grown over the years, a whole vocabulary has developed to describe Internet features and related activities. As you read documents and participate in conversations on the Internet, you may come across terms that you are unfamiliar with. This section explains some of the most common terms you may encounter.

account A user ID and disk area restricted for the use of a particular person, which is usually password protected.
ACM Association for Computing Machinery, a professional society for people connected with the computer industry.
address See e-mail address and host address.
Agent The commercial version of the Free Agent newsreader.
alias A short name used to represent a more complicated one. Often used for e-mail addresses or host domain names.
America Online A commercial online service that gives its subscribers access to the Internet in addition to its other features.
analog A form of electronic communication using a continuous electromagnetic wave, such as television or radio. Any continuous wave form, as opposed to digital on/off transmissions.
Archie An application that enables you to easily search for information at anonymous FTP sites on the Internet.
archive A repository of files available for access at an Internet site. Also, a collection of files-often a backup of a disk or files saved to tape to allow them to be transferred.
ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) A government agency that originally funded the research on the ARPANET, which became DARPA in the mid 1970s.
ARPANET An experimental communications network funded by the government that eventually developed into the Internet.
article Message submitted to a UseNet newsgroup. Unlike an e-mail message that goes to a specific person or group of persons, a newsgroup message goes to directories (on many machines) that can be read by any number of people.
ASCII Data that is limited to letters, numbers, and punctuation.
ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) A developing technological advance in communications switching. This technology uses hardware switches to create a temporary direct path between two destinations so data can be exchanged at a higher rate.
attribute A form of a command-line switch as applied to tags in the HTML language. HTML commands or tags can be more specific when attributes are used. Not all HTML tags utilize attributes.
AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) The restrictions that a network segment places on the traffic it carries. (These policies used to be more prevalent when the government was running the Internet backbone.)
backbone The major communications lines of a network.
bandwidth The maximum volume of data that can be sent over a communications network.
bang A slang term for an exclamation point.
bang address A type of e-mail address that separates host names in the address with exclamation points. Used for e-mail sent to the UUCP network, where specifying the exact path of the e-mail (including all hosts that pass on the message) is necessary. The address is in the form of machine!machine!userID, where the number of machines listed depends on the connections needed to reach the machine where the account user ID is.
BBS (Bulletin Board System) A system that allows you to connect to a computer to upload and download files and leave messages for other users.
binary Data that may contain non-printable characters, including graphics files, programs, and sound files.
BinHex A program that is used to encode binary files as ASCII so that they can be sent through e-mail.
bit The basic unit of digital communications. There are eight bits in a byte.
BITNET (Because It's Time Network) A non-TCP/IP network for small universities without Internet access.
bookmarks Term used by some World Wide Web browsers for marking URLs you access frequently.
bot (IRC) A program that watches an IRC channel and automatically responds when certain messages are entered.
bounce An e-mail message you receive that tells you that an e-mail message you sent wasn't delivered. Usually contains an error code and the contents of the message that wasn't delivered.
bps (bits per second) A units of measurement that expresses the speed at which data is transferred between computers.
bridge A device that connects one physical section of a network to another.
browser A utility that lets you look through collections of things. For example, a file browser lets you look through a file system. Applications that let you access the World Wide Web are called browsers.
BTW (By the Way) An abbreviation often used in online conversations.
byte A digital storage unit large enough to contain one ASCII character. Compare
to bit.
CERN (The European Laboratory for Particle Physics) Where the World Wide Web was first conceived of and implemented.
channel An Internet Relay Chat term that refers to a group of people discussing a particular topic.
CIX (Commercial Internet Exchange) A consortium of commercial providers of Internet service.
client User of a service. Also often refers to a piece of software that gets information from a server.
CNRI (Corporation for National Research Initiatives) An organization formed to foster research into a national data highway.
coaxial A type of wiring where the signal wire is in the center of a shielded cable. Compare to twisted pair.
command line Line on a terminal-based interface where you enter commands to the operating system. Some Internet accounts are command-line based.
compress A program that compacts a file so it fits into a smaller space. This term can also 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.
CPSR (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) An organization that encourages socially responsible use of computers.
CREN (Corporation for Research and Educational Networking) An organization formed by the joining of two different educational networks to enhance the capabilities of the two networks.
CWIS (Campus Wide Information Service) A hypertext-based system that provides information about people and services on a campus.
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.
daemon A program that runs automatically on a computer to perform a service for the operating system.
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Originally ARPA, the government agency that funded the research that developed ARPANET.
dedicated line See leased line.
DES (Data Encryption Standard) An algorithm developed by the U.S. government to provide security for data transmitted over a network.
dialup A type of connection where you use a modem to connect to another computer or an Internet provider via phone lines.
digest A form of a mailing list where a number of messages are concatenated, or linked, and sent out as a single message.
digital A type of communications used by computers, consisting of individual on and off pulses.
DNS See Domain Name System (DNS).
DOD (Department of Defense) A U.S. government agency that originally sponsored the ARPANET research.
domain Highest subdivision of the Internet, for the most part by country (except in the U.S., where it's by type of organization, such as educational, commercial, and government). Usually the last part of a host name; for example, the domain part of ibm.com is .com, which represents the domain of commercial sites in the U.S.
Domain Name System (DNS) The system that translates between Internet IP addresses and Internet host names.
dot address See host address.
download Move a file from a remote computer to your local computer.
ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act) A law that governs the use and restrictions of electronic communications.
EDUCOM A non-profit consortium of educational institutions that help introduce electronic information access and management into educational organizations.
EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) An organization concerned with the legal rights and responsibilities of computer usage.
e-mail An electronic message delivered from one computer user to another. Short for electronic mail.
e-mail address An address used to send e-mail to a user on the Internet, consisting of the user name and host name (and any other necessary information, such as a gateway machine). An Internet e-mail address is usually of the form username@hostname.
emoticon See smiley face.
encryption The process of scrambling a message so that it can be read only by someone who knows how to unscramble it.
ethernet A type of local area network hardware. Many TCP/IP networks are ethernet-based.
Eudora A popular e-mail application.
expire Remove an article from a UseNet newsgroup after a specified interval.
extension An enhancement or addition to an existing HTML standard. Extensions are usually referred to in the context of the HTML language. Netscape and Microsoft utilize extensions to the HTML standards that are proprietary to their own browser products. See also browser.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Question document) Pronounced fak, contains a list of commonly asked questions on a topic. Most UseNet newsgroups have a FAQ to introduce new readers to popular topics in the newsgroup.
feed Send UseNet newsgroups from your site to another site that wants to read them.
finger A program that provides information about users on an Internet host (possibly may include a user's personal information, such as project affiliation and schedule).
firewall A device placed on a network to prevent unauthorized traffic from entering the network.
flame Communicate in an abusive or absurd manner. Often occurs in newsgroup posts and e-mail messages.
forms Online data entry sheets supported by some World Wide Web browsers.
frame relay A type of digital data communications protocol.
Free Agent A popular shareware newsreader.
freeware Software that is made available by the author at no cost to anyone who wants it (although the author retains rights to the software).
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) An Internet communications protocol that enables you to transfer files between hosts on the Internet.
FWIW (For What It's Worth) An abbreviation often used in online conversations.
FYI (For Your Information) An abbreviation used often in online conversations. An FYI is also a type of Internet reference document that contains answers to basic questions about the Internet.
gateway A device that interfaces two networks that use different protocols.
gigabit Very high-speed (1 billion bits per second) data communications.
gigabyte A unit of data storage approximately equal to 1 billion bytes of data.
Gopher An application that allows you to access publicly available information on Internet hosts that provide Gopher service.
Gopherbook An application that uses an interface resembling a book to access
Gopher servers.
GUI (Graphical User Interface) A computer interface based on graphical symbols rather than text. Windowing environments and Macintosh environments are GUIs.
gzip A file compression program originally designed to replace the UNIX compress utility.
hacking Originally referred to playing around with computer systems; now often used to indicate destructive computer activity.
headers Lines at the beginning of an e-mail message or newsgroup post that contain information about the message: its source, destination, subject, and route it took to get there, among other things.
Hgopher A Windows Gopher interface.
home page The primary document for a Web site. All other Web documents at that site are linked to the home page.
hop-check A utility that allows you to find out how many routers are between your host and another Internet host. See also traceroute.
host address A unique number assigned to identify a host on the Internet (also called IP address or dot address). This address is usually represented as four numbers between 1 and 254 and separated by periods; for example, 192.58.107.230.
host name A unique name for a host that corresponds to the host address.
hosts Individual computers connected to the Internet; see also nodes.
HotDog A popular shareware HTML editor.
hotlist A list of your favorite World Wide Web sites that can be accessed quickly by your WWW browser.
HTML (HyperText Mark-Up Language) The formatting language that is used to create World Wide Web documents.
HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol) The communications protocol that enables WWW hypertext documents to be retrieved quickly.
hyperlinks See links.
hypertext An online document that has words or graphics containing links to other documents. Usually, selecting the link area on-screen (with a mouse or keyboard command) activates these links.
IAB (Internet Architecture Board) A group of volunteers who work to maintain the Internet.
IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) The professional society for electrical and computer engineers.
IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) A group of volunteers that helps develop Internet standards.
IMHO (In My Humble-or Honest-Opinion) An abbreviation often used in online conversations.
Internet The term used to describe all the worldwide interconnected TCP/IP networks.
Internet Assistant A Microsoft application that enables you to develope HTML documents in Microsoft Word.
Internet Explorer A Microsoft Windows 95 Web browser.
Internet Society See ISOC.
InterNIC The NSFNET manager sites on the Internet that provide information about the Internet.
IP (Internet Protocol) The communications protocol used by computers connected to the Internet.
IP address See host address.
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) A live conference facility available on the Internet.
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) An emerging digital communications standard, allowing faster speeds than are possible using modems over analog phone lines.
ISO (International Standards Organization) An organization that sets worldwide standards in many different areas. For example, the organization has been working on a network protocol to replace TCP/IP.
ISOC (Internet Society) An educational organization dedicated to encouraging use of the Internet.
kill file A file used by some newsreader software that allows you to automatically skip posts with certain attributes (specific subject, author, and so on).
knowbots (Knowledge robots) Programs that automatically search through a network for specified information.
labels The different components of an Internet host name.
LAN (Local Area Network) A network of computers that is limited to a (usually) small physical area, like a building.
leased line A dedicated phone line used for network communications.
links The areas (words or graphics) in an HTML document that cause another document to be loaded when the user clicks them.
listproc Software that automates the management of electronic mailing lists. See also LISTSERV, majordomo, and SmartList.
LISTSERV Software that automates the management of electronic mailing lists. See also listproc, majordomo, and SmartList.
local Pertaining to the computer you are now using.
local host The computer you are currently using.
logon Provides a user ID and password to allow you to use the resources of a computer.
lurking Observing but not participating in an activity, usually a UseNet newsgroup.
Lycos A popular Web search tool.
mailers Applications that let you read and send e-mail messages.
mailing list A service that forwards an e-mail message sent to it to everyone on a list, enabling a group of people to discuss a particular topic.
mail reflector Software that automatically distributes all submitted messages to the members of a mailing list.
majordomo Software that automates the management of electronic mailing lists. See also listproc, LISTSERV, and SmartList.
man command A UNIX command that provides information about the UNIX command entered in the parameter command. (man is short for manual entry.)
MBONE (Multicast backbone) An experimental network that enables live video to be sent over the Internet.
Merit (Michigan Educational Research Information Triad) The organization that initially managed NSFNET.
MILNET DOD's (Department of Defense) network.
MIME (Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions) An extension to Internet mail that allows for the inclusion of non-textual data such as video and audio in e-mail.
modem An electronic device that enables digital computer data to be transmitted via analog phone lines.
moderator A person who examines all submissions to a newsgroup or mailing list and allows only those that meet certain criteria to be posted. Usually, the moderator makes sure that the topic is pertinent to the group and that the submissions aren't flames.
Mosaic A graphical browser program used to navigate the World Wide Web.
MOTD (Message of the day) A message posted on some computer systems to let people know about problems or new developments.
MSN (Microsoft Network) A commercial online service run by Microsoft that allows access to the Internet in addition to its other features.
MUDs (Multiuser Dungeons) Interactive real-time, text-based games accessible to anyone on the Internet.
multimedia Presenting information using more than one type of media; for example, sound, text, and graphics.
NETCOM NetCruiser A complete Internet service package.
Netfind A service that enables you to look up an Internet user's address.
netiquette Network etiquette conventions used in written communications, usually referring to UseNet newsgroup postings but also applicable to e-mail.
NetManage The producer of Chameleon, a popular TCP/IP package that provides interfaces to a number of Internet services for Windows.
netnews A collective way of referring to the UseNet newsgroups.
Netscape A company that makes a popular commercial World Wide Web browser, Netscape Navigator.
network A number of computers physically connected to enable communication with one another.
NewsXpress A popular shareware newsreader.
newsgroups The electronic discussion groups of UseNet.
newsreaders Applications that let you read (and usually post) articles in UseNet newsgroups.
NFS (Network File System) A file system developed by Sun Microsystems that is now widely used on many different networks.
NIC (Network Information Center) A service that provides administrative information about a network.
NII (National Information Infrastructure) The government's vision of a high-speed network giving everyone in the country access to advanced computer capabilities.
NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) The communications protocol that is used to send UseNet news on the Internet.
nodes Individual computers connected to a network. See also hosts.
NREN (National Research and Education Network) A proposed nationwide high-speed data network to be used for educational and research purposes.
NSF (National Science Foundation) Current supporter of the main Internet backbone in the U.S.
NSFNET Network funded by the National Science Foundation, now the backbone of the Internet.
OC3 (Optical Carrier 3) A protocol for communications over a high-speed optical network.
online Existing in electronic form (for example, online documentation). Also, connected to a network.
OTOH (On The Other Hand) An abbreviation often used in online conversations.
packet The unit of data transmission on the Internet. A packet consists of the data being transferred with additional overhead information, such as the transmitting and receiving addresses.
packet switching The communications technology that the Internet is based on, where data being sent between computers is transmitted in packets.
parallel A means of communication in which digital data is sent multiple bits at a time, with each simultaneous bit being sent over a separate line.
PDIAL A list of mailing lists maintained by Stephanie da Silva (arielle@taronga.com), periodically posted to the news.answers, news.announce.newusers, and news.lists UseNet newsgroups.
peer-to-peer Internet services that can be offered and accessed by anyone, without requiring a special server.
PDN (Public Data Network) A service such as Sprintnet that gives access to a nationwide data network through a local phone call.
PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) A standard for automatically encrypting and decrypting mail messages to provide more secure message transmission.
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) An application that enables you to send and receive encrypted e-mail.
ping A utility that sends out a packet to an Internet host and waits for a response (used to check if a host is up).
Pipeline A complete Internet service package.
POP (Point of Presence) Indicates availability of a local access number to a public data network.
port1 A physical channel on a computer that allows you to communicate with other devices (printers, modems, disk drives, and so on).
port2 An address to which incoming data packets are sent. Special ports can be assigned to send the data directly to a server (FTP, Gopher, WWW, telnet, and e-mail) or another specific program.
post Send a message to a UseNet newsgroup.
postmaster An address to which you can send questions about a site (asking if a user has an account there or if they sell a particular product, for example).
PPP (Point-To-Point Protocol) A driver that allows you to use a network communications protocol over a phone line, used with TCP/IP to allow you to have a dial-in Internet host.
Prodigy A commercial online service that gives its subscribers access to the Internet in addition to its other features.
protocol The standard that defines how computers on a network communicate with one another.
provider Someone who sells-or gives away, in some cases-access to the Internet.
public domain software Software that is made available by the author to anyone who wants it. (In this case, the author gives up all rights to the software.)
RAS (Remote Access Service) A service that enables other computers to remotely connect to a Microsoft Windows NT computer.
repeater Device that allows you to extend the length of your network by amplifying and repeating the information it receives.
remote host A host on the network other than the computer you currently are using.
rlogin A UNIX command that enables you to logon to a remote computer.
RFC (Request For Comments) A document submitted to the Internet governing board to propose Internet standards or to document information about the Internet.
router Equipment that receives an Internet packet and sends it to the next machine in the destination path.
serial A means of communication in which digital data is sent one bit at a time over a single physical line.
server Provider of a service. Also often refers to a piece of hardware or software that provides access to information requested from it. See also client.
server side include (SSI) An SSI is a command that directs the server to run a program, usually in the PERL programming language. SSIs are server-specific.
SGML (Standard General Mark-Up Language) A powerful markup language
that enables you to structure documents so that they can be displayed on any type of computer.
shareware Software that is made available by the author to anyone who wants it, with a request to send the author a nominal fee if the software is used on a regular basis.
signature A personal sign-off used in e-mail and newsgroup posts, often contained in a file and automatically appended to the mail or post. Often contains organization affiliation and pertinent personal information.
site A group of computers under a single administrative control.
SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) A way of running TCP/IP via the phone lines to enable you to have a dial-in Internet host.
SmartList Software that automates the management of electronic mailing lists. See also listproc, LISTSERV, and majordomo.
SMDS (Switched Multimegabit Data Service) A type of high-speed digital communications protocol.
smiley face An ASCII drawing such as :-) (look at it sideways), used to help indicate an emotion in a message. Also called emoticon.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) The accepted communications protocol standard for exchange of e-mail between Internet hosts.
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) A communications protocol used to control and monitor devices on a network.
SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) A high-speed fiber optic network.
store and forward A type of system that collects information (like e-mail) for a user and then forwards the information when the user connects to the system.
subscribe Become a member of a mailing list or newsgroup; also refers to obtaining Internet provider services.
surfing Jumping from host to host on the Internet to get an idea of what can be found. Also used to refer to briefly examining a number of different UseNet newsgroups.
syntax A statement that contains programming code.
T1 Communications lines operating at 1.544M/sec.
T3 Communications lines operating at 45M/sec.
tag A slang reference for commands that are part of HTML. See also HTML.
tar (Tape Archive program) A UNIX-based program that creates packages of directory structures.
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) The network protocol used by hosts on the Internet.
telnet A program that enables remote logon to another computer.
terminal emulation Running an application that lets you use your computer to interface with a command-line account on a remote computer, as if you were connected to the computer with a terminal.
thread All messages in a newsgroup or mailing list pertaining to a particular topic.
toggle Alternate between two possible values.
traceroute A utility that allows you to find out how many routers are between your host and another Internet host. See also hop-check.
traffic The information flowing through a network.
twisted pair A type of cable where pairs of communications wires are twisted together to minimize interference. Compare to coaxial.
UNIX An operating system used on many Internet hosts.
upload Move a file from your local computer to a remote computer.
URL (Universal Resource Locator) Used to specify the location and name
of a World Wide Web document. Can also specify other Internet services available
from WWW browsers. For example, http://www.nsf.gov or gopher://gopher2.tc.umn.edu.
UseNet A collection of computer discussion groups that are read all over the world.
user name The ID used to log on to a computer.
UUCP (UNIX to UNIX Copy Protocol) An early transfer protocol for UNIX machines that required having one machine call the other one on the phone.
UUDecode A program that lets you construct binary data that was UUEncoded.
UUEncode A program that lets you send binary data through e-mail.
Veronica An Internet service that enables you to search the directories and files on Gopher servers for information of interest to you.
viewers Applications that are used to display non-text files, such as graphics, sound, and animation.
virus A computer program that covertly enters a system by means of a legitimate program, usually doing damage to the system; compare to worm.
VMS (Virtual Memory System) An operating system used on hosts made by Digital Equipment Corporation.
VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) An experimental language that lets you display 3-D objects in Web docume

Chapter 5

Internet Glossary

CONTENTS

Internet Glossary