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Y | Z
- Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)
- Many transit networks have policies which restrict the use to which the
network may be put. For example, some networks may only be used for
non-commercial purposes. Some AUPs limit the type of material which can
be made available to the public (e.g. pornographic material).
Enforcement of AUPs varies with the network. Internet America has an AUP
you can view.
- Access Provider
- The remote computer system to which you connect your personal computer
and through which you connect to the Internet. An access provider is the
company that provides you with Internet access and in some cases, an
online account on their computer system. An access provider can be a
large commercial service like CompuServe or America Online, which will
charge you by the hour for your Internet access, or a small local
company, which might charge you a flat rate per month for unlimited
hours. If you access the Internet directly from a company account, then
your company is your access provider.
- ActiveX
- Most web pages are static documents with little interactivity. Microsoff
has created a programming language, called ActiveX, to remedy this
situation. ActiveX "controls" promises to make the web surfing
experience comparable to that of highly produced CD-ROMS, where you can
listen to music, watch animation and video clips and interact with the
program.
- Addressing
- A method of identifying a resource (such as a program) or piece of
information (such as a file) on a network. Methods of addressing vary
considerably from network to network. Simply-- Addressing is NAMING
something so everything else can find it.
- ADSL
- An acronym for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. ADSL is a method of
transmitting data over traditional copper telephone lines at speeds
higher than those currently available. Data can be downloaded at speeds
of up to 1.544 megabits per second and uploaded at speeds of 128
kilobits per second. (That's why it's termed asymmetric.) This
technology is well suited to the Web, where much more data is sent from
a server to your computer than you send to the server.
- Alias
- A name, usually short and easy to remember, that is
translated into another name, usually long and difficult to remember.
DNS does aliasing. It is a lot easier to remember www.airmail.net than
206.66.12.43.
- America Online
- A popular commercial information service with a graphical interface. It
is more of a bulletin board service than an access provider.
- Anchor
- An anchor is an HTML "tag" that marks a specific point in an
HTML document as either the source or destination of a hypertext link.
This allows you to create links from one hypertext document to another,
as well as to different sections within the same document. Anchors that
point to different places in the same document use the <A NAME>
tag and are frequently used to navigate a long document with many
sections. Anchors that point to other hypertext documents use the <A
HREF> tag.
- AND
- When used on a search engine the Boolean AND operator indicates that
found documents must contain both terms that appear in the question.
- AOL
- Shorthand for America Online. Each letter is pronounced
separately.
- Applet
- 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.
- Archie
- A software utility for finding files stored on FTP servers, Archie is a
system for locating files on the Internet. Using Archie you can search
through more than 2 million files available on the Internet and find a
specific file you are looking for. The Archie database is made up of
only the names (and sometimes short descriptions) of the files, so it is
best to know the actual name of the file you are looking for. The more
specific your request, the more likely you will find the file you want.
Archie can be very slow. Before using Archie, you might want to try a
more general search on Yahoo or Webcrawler.
- Archive site
- A site that archives files for users to retrieve, via either FTP or
email.
- ARPA
- Advanced Research Projects Agency. The governmental organization
responsible for creating the beginnings of the Internet.
- ARPAnet
- The network that was the forerunner to the current Internet created by
ARPA.
- ASCII
- American Standard Code for Information Interchange. In the context of a
file, an ASCII file is one that contains only "text" characters --
numbers, letters, and standard punctuation. Although ASCII text can
contain international characters available in Windows ("upper-ASCII"),
these characters are not commonly supported by Internet services such as
email, Gopher, and FTP.
In FTP, ASCII a command that tells FTP that you will be transferring
text files (which is the default).
- Attachments
- Files that linked to a specific email message, just as you might
paperclip a clipping to a snail mail letter. Internet America does not
impose a limit of the size of email attachments, but your email client
might have trouble handling large files. It is usually best to limit
yourself to files of 1 MB or less.
- Backbone
- A high-speed line or series of connections that form 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. A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major
pathway within a 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. Some points have narrow bandwidth (indicating
not much information can flow through at one time), and others have high
bandwidth (indicating a great deal of information can flow through at
one time). This term is commonly used in reference to "wasted
bandwidth," indicating that some (or most) of the information flowing by
a point is of no use to a user. "Wasted bandwidth" might include
overloading a site's network connection (thus curtailing other users'
use of the lines) or including lengthy signature files in Usenet
postings or discussion groups. "Wasted bandwidth" is often relative:
What one person views as wasteful might be essential to someone else.
- 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). A measure of modem speed equal to one signal per
second. 300 baud equals 300 bits per second (BPS), but at higher speeds
one signal can contain more than one bit, so a 9,600 baud modem is not a
9,600 BPS modem. (The terms often are incorrectly used interchangeably).
See also BPS.
- BBS
- Bulletin Board System. A computer system that provides its users files
for downloading and areas for electronic discussions. Bulletin board
systems usually are run by and for local users, although many now
provide Internet, UUCP, or FidoNet mail. AOL is an example of a
large bulliten board.
- Binary
- In the context of a file, any file that contains non-textual data. In
contrast to ASCII files, which contain only characters (plain text),
binary files contain additional code information. A binary file is made
up of machine-readable symbols that represent 1s and 0s. Binary files
include sound files, graphics files, and software, and are frequently
called binaries.
In FTP, BIN is a command that tells FTP to transfer information as an
arbitrary stream of bits rather than as a series of textual characters.
- BinHex
- The standard format used by Macintosh computers for converting a binary
file into an ASCII file that can pass through email programs.
- Bit
- Short for binary digit, a bit is the smallest unit of data a computer
can handle. Bits are used in various combinations to represent different
kinds of data. Each bit has a value of 0 or 1. See also Byte.
- Body
- The part of an email message where you type your message, as opposed to
the header or the signature.
- BOOTP
- Bootstrap Protocol. A mechanism for a device to acquire its permanent IP
address from a server. Originally intended for diskless workstations
that had no place to store an IP address, it is now more common for IP
address management. IP addresses can be maintained on a BOOTP server.
- Bounce
- What email does when it can't reach its intended recipient, for whatever
reason.
- BPS
- Bits per second. The measurement of modem transmission speed. It does
not mean the same as baud after 300 BPS.
- Browser
- A client program that enables one to search, often somewhat randomly,
through the information provided by a specific type of server. Generally
used in relation to the World Wide Web.
- BTW
- Abbreviation for the expression "By the way."
- 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. Computer storage space is measured in bytes. A Kilobyte (or
1 K) represents 1024 bytes and a Megabyte (1 Mb) represents one thousand
kilobytes, or one million bytes.
- Cache
- When you download a web page, the data is cached, meaning it is stored
temporarily on your computer. The next time you want that page, instead
of requesting the file from the web server, your web browser just
accesses it from the cache. That way, the page loads quickly. But if the
web page is updated frequently, as may be the case with news, sports
scores or financial data, you won't get the most current information. By
using the Reload button on your browser, this timely data is updated by
downloading fresh data from the server.
- CERN
- The birthplace of the World Wide Web, although in real life the people
at CERN do high-energy physics research. Located in Geneva, Switzerland.
- CGI
- 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. Also
referred to as Gateway or CGI "scripts," these programs generally
consist of a set of instructions written in a programming language like
C or PERL that process requests from a browser, execute a program and
format the results in HTML, so they can be displayed in the browser.
Gateway scripts are commonly used to add interactivity to a web page by
allowing users to do things like fill out and submit forms for
processing (as in an order form for an online catalog); query databases
by submitting search requests; and register or gain access to
password-protected areas of a site. CGI scripts are also used to
implement a variety of tracking and measurement systems on a website.
- CGI-bin
- The most common name of a directory on a web server in which CGI
programs are stored.
- Channel
- In IRC, an area that has a specific discussion topic.
- Charter
- The document that lays out what topics a newsgroup will cover, what its
name will be, and other relevant details.
- ClariNet
- An alternate hierarchy of newsgroups that uses the same transmission
routes as Usenet, but carries commercial information from UPI and
others. You, or your provider, must pay to read ClariNet news. Internet
America provides customers access to ClariNet.
- 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.
- Command Line
- Where you type commands to an operating system such as DOS or UNIX.
- Compress
- Generically, to make a file smaller by removing redundant information.
ZIP is the common format for PC/windows computers.
- Congestion
- Congestion occurs when the offered load exceeds the capacity of a data
communication path -- When the bandwidth is nearly all used.
- Connectionless
- The data communication method in which communication occurs between
hosts with no previous setup. Packets between two hosts may take
different routes, as each is independent of the other. UDP is a
connectionless protocol.
- Cookies
- 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.
- Cross-posting
- Sending the same Usenet message to several groups. If the groups are
RELEVANT this isn't a problem. If you are posting off-topic message in
multiple groups, this is called "Spamming" and is not acceptable.
- Cryptography
- The process of securing private information that is passed through
public networks, by mathematically scrambling (i.e. encrypting) it in a
way that makes it unreadable to anyone except the person or persons
holding the mathematical "key" that can unscramble (decrypt) it. The two
most common types of cryptography are "same-key" and "public-key." In
same-key cryptography, a message is encrypted and decrypted using the
same key, which is passed along from one party to another in a separate
transmission. A more secure method is public-key cryptography which uses
a pair of different keys (one public, one private) that have a
particular relationship to one another, such that any message encrypted
with one key can only be decrypted with the other key and vice-versa.
- CSLIP
- Compressed SLIP. A type of SLIP account that uses compression to
increase performance. Not available through Internet America.
- CU-SeeMe
- Pronounced "See you, See me," CU-SeeMe is a publicly available
videoconferencing program developed at Cornell University. It allows
anyone with audio/video capabilities and an Internet connection to
videoconference with anyone else with the same capabilities. It also
allows multiple people to tie into the same videoconference.
- Cyberpunk
- Cyberpunk was originally a cultural sub-genre of science fiction taking
place in a not-so-distant, dystopian, over-industrialized society. The
term grew out of the work of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling and has
evolved into a cultural label encompassing many different kinds of
human, machine, and punk attitudes. It includes clothing and lifestyle
choices as well.
- Cyberspace
- A term coined by science fiction author William Gibson to describe the
whole range of information resources available through computer networks.
- Daemons
- Small programs in Unix that run frequently to see whether something has
happened -- if so, they act as they were programmed; if not, they go
back to sleep. For example.. you might receive a "Mailer-daemon" if you
have sent email that can not be delivered.
- DARPA
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Replaced ARPA and had a more
military bent. Has since been renamed ARPA again. See also ARPA. Data
Encryption Standard (DES): A popular, standard encryption scheme.
See also: encryption, Pretty Good Privacy.
- DEC
- Digital Equipment Corporation. Also known as Digital, this company
produces the popular VAX line of computers and the VMS operating system.
- DHCP
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. A mechanism for a device to acquire
an IP address from a server. Like BOOTP, it allows for central
management of IP addresses. However, it is far more flexible in that IP
addresses are leased rather than owned. A device may get one IP address
in one session but a different IP address in another session.
- Dial up
- To call another computer via modem. The term is often lumped together as
one word except when used as a verb.
- Dialup
- A temporary, as opposed to dedicated, connection between machines
established over a phone line (analog or ISDN)..A connection or line
reached by modem, as in "a dialup line."
- Digest
- A single message that contains multiple individual postings to a mailing
list or newsgroup.
- 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.
- Directory
- A system that your computer uses to organize files on the basis of
specific information. Directories can be organized hierarchically so
that files appear in a number of different ways, such as the order in
which they were created; alphabetically by name or by type, etc.
- DLL File
- Dynamic Link Library. A (commonly shared) file used by windows and
windows programs.
- Domain
- A level of hierarchy in a machine's full name. For instance, airmail.net
is in the net domain, as are many other machines.
- Domain Name
- The unique name that identifies an Internet site. The Internet is made
up of hundreds of thousands of computers and networks, all with their
own domain name or unique address. Domain names always have two or more
parts separated by dots. A given server may have more than one domain
name, but a given domain name points to only one server. For example,
"Whitehouse.gov" is the domain name belonging to the Whitehouse computer
system. Once a system administrator registers a unique domain name,
subaddresses can be assigned to the machines and people on the local
network. So the President's e-mail address is "president@whitehouse.gov,"
the Vice-President's is "vice-president@whitehouse.gov," and so on. The
machine that serves up the Whitehouse web pages is called
www.whitehouse.gov. Domain names typically consist of some form of the
organization's name and a suffix that describes the type of
organization. For example, IBM has registered the domain name
"IBM.com." Xerox corporation has registered "Xerox.com." Registration is
on a first come, first served basis. The domain name suffix is assigned
based on the type of organization. For U.S. domains, the suffixes are as
follows:
- .com - corporations
- .net - network provider
- .org - non-profit organizations
- .edu - educational institutions
- .mil - military organization
- .gov - government institution
In addition, non-U.S. sites have an additional extension that indicates
the country where the domain is located. For example:
- .au - Australia
- .dk - Denmark
- .ge - Germany
- .uk - United Kingdom
In the United States, domain names are assigned and indexed by the
InterNIC project (a joint project of the National Science Foundation,
AT&T, and Network Solutions, Inc.). Each of these addresses is
actually an alias of a numerical address (called an IP address). The IP
number for the Whitehouse for example, is 198.137.240.100. To access the
Whitehouse Internet site, you could use the IP number if you like, but
most people prefer to use the quasi-English domain name alias
"whitehouse.gov."
- Domain name server
- A computer that keeps track of names of other machines and their numeric
IP addresses. When you refer to a machine by name, your domain name
server translates that information appropriately into the numeric IP
address necessary to make the connection.
- Domain name system
- The system that makes it possible for you to think in terms of names
such as support.airmail.net, whereas computers think in terms of
206.138.231.25. The DNS is a general purpose distributed, replicated,
data query service. The principal use is the lookup of host IP addresses
based on host names. The style of host names now used in the Internet is
called "domain name," because they are the style of names used to look
up anything in the DNS.
- DOS
- The operating system that is frequently enhanced by Microsoft Windows.
Newer releases of Windows 95 and NT are making DOS less necessary.
- Download
- The method by which users access and save or "pull down" software or
other files to their own computers from a remote computer, usually via a
modem. To retrieve a file from another machine, usually a host machine,
to your machine.
- 80x86
- The class of processors brought to you by Intel Corporation. These chips
are the heart and soul of DOS and Windows. Frequently, the initial 80 is
dropped in casual conversation: "My 486 sports more megahertz than
yours."
- Electronic mail or e-mail
- Messages that travel through the networks rather than being committed to
paper and making the arduous journey through the U.S. Postal Service.
E-mail consists of messages, often just text, sent from one user to
another via a network. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a
number of addresses.
- E-mail Address
- A computer mailing address to which electronic mail may be sent. Each
computer system handles e-mail addressing differently, but relies on
various protocols for exchanging mail with other, dissimilar systems.
- Emoticons
- Another name for characters on the keyboard used to reflect a certain
attitude. For example, :) or :( or 8-). Derives from "Emotion" and
"Icon."
- Ethernet
- A network specification developed by DEC, Intel, and Xerox which
provides anywhere from 10 megabits to 1000 megabits per second
transmission speeds. Think of this as 1,000 times faster than a 9,600
baud modem. Most PCs can use Ethernet by adding an Ethernet expansion
card. A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet
can be used with almost any kind of computer.
- Encryption
- A way of coding the information in a file or e-mail message so that if
it is intercepted by a third party as it travels over a network it
cannot be read. Only the person or persons that have the right type of
decoding software can unscramble the message. See also
Cryptography.
- Expire
- After a certain amount of time, Usenet postings can be set to expire,
which means that they will be deleted even if they haven't been read, so
that they don't waste space.
- Executable File
- Refers to a file that is a program. Executables in DOS and Windows
usually have an .exe or a .com extension. In UNIX and Macintosh
environments, executable files can have any name.
- External Viewer
- An additional piece of software that "helps" your browser interpret and
display specific file types that it doesn't have the built-in ability to
do itself.
- FAQ
- Frequently Asked Question. Lists of commonly asked questions and their
answers. A wonderful tradition on the Internet, the FAQ was developed by
people who got tired of answering the same questions over and over
again. FAQs are made available to newcomers who are urged to read them
before asking redundant questions in a Usenet newsgroup, on a BBS, or a
mailing list. It is essentially a tool to help you get up to speed
before joining a conversation, by providing you with a wealth of
information about a particular subject. Though FAQs are most commonly
found on Usenet newsgroups, they exist all over the Internet and
frequently can be found at web sites, too. If available-- READ THE FAQ
before you ask.
- Fax
- Slang for facsimile. A technology that takes paper from the sender and
produces more paper that looks just like it at the recipient's end. You
can use fax modems to eliminate the paper step at one end or both, but
they may be less reliable than stand-alone fax machines. Email is
cleaner, often cheaper, and more environmentally friendly, and the
results are more useful in other programs. However, you can't easily
send signatures or existing paper documents via email.
- Feed
- Shorthand for a connection to another machine that sends you mail and
news. I might say, "I have a mail feed from Ed's machine."
- 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 10BaseT
Ethernet, about twice as fast as T-3).
- Filename extension
- A three-letter (usually) code at the end of a filename that indicates
file type. Common extensions include .txt for text files, .exe for
application files, and .ini for initialization files.
- Fileserver or file server
- A machine that provides files via a network. Perhaps because of time
spent working on BITNET, I tend to use it as a synonym for mailserver,
or a machine that returns files that are requested via email.
- File site
- Another name for archive site or FTP site. A computer on which
files are stored for anyone on the Internet to retrieve.
- Finger
- A program that displays information about someone on the Internet. When
you are logged in, type finger followed by the e-mail address of the
person you want to know more about and it can tell you whether or not a
person is logged on, what their actual name is, and when they last
logged on. Not all Internet Service Providers support this feature.
Even for the ones that do, the user has to give filepermission to allow
people from other hosts to see this information. A Unix program that
helps you find out information about someone else on the Internet.
- Firewall
- A term for any device that would prevent undesirables on the global
Internet from getting at your or your company's network. It also often
prevents or controls users from getting out to the Internet from your
local network. A combination hardware and software buffer that many
companies or organizations have in place between their internal networks
and the Internet. A firewall allows only specific kinds of messages from
the Internet to flow in and out of the internal network. This protects
the internal network from intruders or hackers who might try to use the
Internet to break into those systems.
- Flame war
- Reacting to someone's newsgroup posting or e-mail in a hostile manner by
publicly chastising the person or bombarding the person with nasty
e-mail. Flaming may occur to users who ask stupid questions or who
engage in behavior that violates what is considered proper online
netiquette. A flame war occurs when two or more users flame each other
in an escalating manner that threatens to continue unabated. A
conflagration in which lots of people jump in on different sides of an
argument and start insulting each other. Fun to watch briefly, but a
major waste of bandwidth.
- Flaming
- The act of calling into question someone's thoughts, beliefs, and
parentage simply because you don't agree with them. 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. Don't do
it.
- Floppy Disk
- Also called diskette. This is the magnetic storage medium used to store
and transfer data, usually between personal computers that are not
networked.
- Follow-up
- An article on Usenet posted in reply to another article. The subject
should stay the same so that readers can tell the two articles are related.
- Forms
- Forms are web pages comprised of text and "fields" for a user to fill in
with information. They are an excellent way of collecting and processing
information from people visiting a website, as well as allowing them to
interact with web pages. Forms are written in HTML and processed by CGI
programs. The output can be sent as an e-mail form, stored online,
printed, and/or returned to the user as an HTML page. When you enter a
keyword in the search field of an Internet directory, you are filling in
a form. It is then processed by a CGI program, returning a list of
possible matches with your keyword. Forms are also used for online
catalogs, surveys, requests for information, and conferencing. In the
World Wide Web, online electronic forms that you can fill in if you have
a forms-capable Web browser such as Netscape Navigator 1.0 or NCSA
Mosaic 2.0.
- Freenet
- An organization whose goal it is to provide free Internet access in a
specific area, often by working with local schools and libraries. Ask
around to see if a Freenet has sprung up in your area. The first and
preeminent example is the Cleveland Freenet. Freenet also refers to the
specific Freenet software, and the information services that use it.
- Freeware
- Software that you can distribute freely and use for free, but for which
the author often retains the copyright, which means that you can't
modify it.
- FTP
- File Transfer Protocol. One of the main ways in which you retrieve files
from other machines on the Internet. -- a very common method of
transferring one or more files from one computer to another. FTP is a
specific way to connect to another Internet site to retrieve and send
files. FTP was developed in the early days of the Internet to copy files
from computer to computer. With the advent of the World Wide Web, and
web browser software, you no longer need to know arcane FTP commands to
copy to and from other computers. In your browser, you can use FTP by
typing the URL into the location box at the top of your screen. For
example: ftp://name.of.site/directory/filename.zip will transfer
filename.zip to your computer's hard disk. You can also use
ftp://name.of.site/directory/ which will give you a listing of all the
files available in that directory.
If you are using a web browser that doesn't have built-in FTP
capability, or if you want to upload files to a remote computer, you
will need to use an FTP client program to transfer files. To use FTP
you need to know the name of the file, the computer where it resides,
and the directory it's in. Most files are available via "Anonymous
FTP," which means you can log into the machine with the user name
"anonymous" and use your e-mail address as your password.
- 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 machine that exists on two networks,
such as the Internet and BITNET, and that can transfer mail between
them. Hardware or software that bridges the gap between two otherwise
incompatible applications or networks so that data can be transferred
among different computers. This is common with e-mail that gets sent
back and forth between Internet sites and commercial online services
(like Prodigy and America Online) which have their own internal e-mail
systems.
- GIF
- Graphics Interchange Format. A platform-independent file format
developed by CompuServe, the GIF format is commonly used to
distribute graphics on the Internet. Mighty battles have been waged over
the pronunciation of this term, and although Robin Williams notes that
it's pronounced "jiff" in her book Jargon, both of my glossary
proofreaders flagged it as being pronounced with a hard g, as in
"graphics." I surrender; pronounce it as you like.
- .gif
- The filename extension generally given to GIF files.
- Gigabyte
- 1000 Megabytes
- GNU
- With apologies for the circular reference, GNU stands for GNU's Not
Unix. Developed by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation,
GNU is (or will be, when finished) a high-quality version of the Unix
operating system that is free of charge and freely modifiable by its
users. GNU software is distributed at no cost with source code. Many
GNU applications and utilities are mainstays of the Unix community.
- Gopher
- An information retrieval system created by the University of Minnesota.
In wide acceptance on the Internet, Gopher is one of the most useful
resources available.
- Graphical User Interface (GUI)
- Pronounced "gooey," a GUI interface allows users to navigate and
interact with information on their computer screen by using a mouse to
"point," "click," and "drag" icons and other data around on the screen,
instead of typing in words and phrases. The Windows and Macintosh
operating systems are examples of GUI's. The World Wide Web is an
example of a GUI designed to enhance navigation of the Internet, once
done exclusively via terminal-based (i.e. typed command line) functions.
- Hacker
- Slang term for a technically sophisticated computer user who enjoys
exploring computer systems and programs, sometimes to the point of
obsession.
- Header
- The portion of a packet, preceding the actual data, containing source
and destination information. It may also error checking and other
fields. A header is also the part of an electronic mail message which
precedes the body of a message and contains, among other things, the
message originator, date and time. The part of an email message or
Usenet posting that contains information about the message, such as who
it's from, when it was sent, and so on. Headers are mainly interesting
when something doesn't work.
- Hits
- This term refers to the number of files that are downloaded from a web
server. It's a way of measuring traffic to a website that can be
misleading. The number of hits a site receives is usually much greater
than the number of visitors it gets. That's because a web page can
contain more than one file. For example, each graphic element is a
separate file, so a page with nine graphics would count as ten hits, one
for each graphic and one for the HTML file. In this scenario a page may
have 10,000 hits, but only 1,000 visits.
- Home page
- In the World Wide Web, the document that you access first after
launching a Web browser. Also referred to as a web page. The starting
point of a Web presentation and a sort of table of contents for what is
at the website, offering direct links to the different parts of the
site.
- Host
- The computer you connect to for your Internet access.
- Host Name
- Every computer that is directly connected to the Internet has a
numerical identification, called an IP address, and a name, called a
host name. Most people using the internet don't need to know the host
name of a computer in order to link to it. The Web URLs and e-mail
addresses are all you really need to know.
- HTML
- HyperText Markup Language. The language used to mark up text files with
styles and links for use with World Wide Web browsers.
- HTTP
- HyperText Transport Protocol. The protocol used by the World Wide Web.
- Hypertext
- A term created by visionary Ted Nelson to describe nonlinear writing in
which you follow associative paths through a world of textual documents.
A way of presenting information in which text, sounds, images, and
actions are linked together in a way that allows you to jump around
between them in whatever order you choose. Hypertext usually refers to
any text available on the World Wide Web that contains links to other
documents.
- IBM
- International Business Machines. IBM remains one of the most powerful
companies in the computer industry despite numerous problems in recent
years. Developer of numerous mainframes and operating systems, many of
which are still in use today. Codeveloped OS/2 with Microsoft (which has
since bowed out to concentrate on Windows NT).
- Icon
- A small image, usually a symbol, used to graphically represent a
software program, file, or function on a computer screen. Icons make it
easier to recognize and locate these things.
- IMAP
- Interactive Mail Access Protocol. A new protocol for the storage and
retrieval of email (much like POP, the Post Office Protocol). It's not
in wide use yet.
- IMHO
- Abbreviation for the expression "In my humble opinion."
- internet
- With a lowercase i, it's a group of connected networks.
- Internet
- The collection of all the connected networks in the world, although it
is sometimes better called WorldNet or just the net. More specifically,
the Internet is the set of networks that communicate via TCP/IP. If
you're still confused, go back and read chapters 1 through 8.
- Internet Service Provider
- Also called ISPs or access providers. The remote computer system to
which you connect your personal computer and through which you connect
to the Internet. ISPs that you access by modem and telephone line are
often called dial-up services.
- Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
- An extension to the Internet Protocol. It allows for the generation of
error messages, test packets and informational messages related to IP.
- IP
- Internet Protocol. The main protocol used on the Internet.
- IP Address
- See IP number.
- IP number
- A numeric code that uniquely identifies a particular computer on the
Internet. Just as a street address identifies the location of your home
or office, every computer or network on the Internet has a unique
address, too. Internet addresses are assigned to you by an organization
called InterNIC. You register your address with InterNIC as both a name
(whitehouse.gov), which is referred to as the domain name, and a number
(198.137.240.92), which is generally referred to as the IP address or IP
number.
Because the numeric addresses are difficult to understand or remember,
most people use names instead like whitehouse.gov or ibm.com. A software
database program called Domain Name Service (DNS) tracks the names and
translates them into their numerical equivalent so that the computers
can understand what they are and find them. See Domain Name.
When you have a standard dial-up account with an Internet provider, you
will either be assigned a "permanent" or "static" IP address (i.e. it's
always the same), or the system will use "dynamic" IPaddressing, which
assigns you an address everytime you log on. If you are an organization
and want all of your employees' computers to have Internet access, you
can apply to the InterNIC for a range of IP addresses. Most likely, the
InterNIC will assign you a Class C address, which consists of 255 unique
IP numbers for you to assign to your employees.
If you need more than 255 IP address, you can apply for a Class B
address, which will give you over 65,000 unique IP addresses. Class A
addresses are for very large companies. Both Class A and Class B
addresses are very hard, if not impossible, to get. Usually, companies
will get multiple Class C addresses. Actually, we're quickly running out
of IP addresses. So the Internet Engineering Task Force, which
standardized the IP protocol, is working on a solution A four-part number
that uniquely identifies a machine on the Internet. For instance, my IP
number for penguin.tidbits.com is 204.57.157.10. People generally use
the name instead.
- IRC
- Internet Relay Chat. A worldwide network of people talking to each other
in real time over the Internet rather than in person. 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
- An acronym for Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN lines are
connections that use ordinary phone lines to transmit digital instead of
analog signals, allowing data to be transmitted at a much faster rate
than with a traditional modem.
ISDN converts audio signals - your voice for instance - into digital
bits. Since bits can be transmitted very quickly, you can get much
faster speed out of the same telephone line - four times faster than a
14.4 kbps modem. In addition, ISDN connections are made up of two
different channels, allowing two simultaneous "conversations" so you can
speak on one channel and send a fax or connect to the Internet over
another channel. All of these transactions occur on the same
twisted-pair phone line currently plugged into your telephone. To find
out if you can get ISDN, contact your local phone company or call around
to a few local Internet service providers.
ISDN is a powerful tool for Internet communications, but it is not
available everywhere. Traditionally, it has been used in urban business
zones and large corporate settings with special digital switching
equipment, but residential ISDN service is expanding rapidly. If you are
shopping for an Internet access provider that offers you ISDN, be sure
to thoroughly evaluate the equipment costs. An ISDN line can offer you
inexpensive, high-bandwidth connections, but you may have to buy special
equipment (like routers and switches) that allow ISDN to communicate
with your internal networks.
- ISP
- See Internet Service Provider.
- Jargon
- The sometimes incomprehensible language used to talk about specialized
topics. If you need help with computer jargon, check out Jargon, by
Robin Williams, a lighthearted and detailed trip through this industry.
- Java
- Java is an object-oriented programming language developed by Sun
Microsystems, Inc. to create executable content (i.e self-running
applications) that can be easily distributed through networks like the
Web. Developers use Java to create special programs called applets that
can be incorporated in a web page to make it interactive. A
Java-enabled web browser like Sun's HotJava is required to interpret and
run the Java applets. Like a gateway (CGI) script, Java is activated by
a special HTML tag on a web page. But unlike gateway scripts, which
require information that exists on the server to run applications or
process input, Java enables developers to create content that can be
delivered to and run by users on their computers. This software can
support anything that programmers can dream up, from spreadsheets and
tutorials to interactive games and animation.
- Jolt cola
- All the sugar and twice the caffeine of normal colas. First suggested as
a joke by comedian George Carlin, later developed and marketed by Carlin
and a food industry entrepreneur. Favorite of late night programmers.
- JPEG
- Joint Photographic Experts Group. A group that has defined a compression
scheme that reduces the size of image files by up to 20 times at the
cost of slightly reduced image quality.
- .jpg:
- A filename extension used to mark JPEG-compressed images. On some sites,
the file extension may be .jpeg.
- Jughead
- An acronym for Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation and
Display. Jughead is a search tool that helps you find information
in Gopher by searching and indexing Gopher directories for the key
words you specify. Because it only searches high-level menu items and
does not include any file name menus, it is a much less powerful tool
than Veronica. A searching agent for Gopher, much like Veronica, but
more focused.
- Kilobyte
- Theoretically a Kilobyte (KB) is one thousand bytes. However, it
ususally means 1024 (2^10) bytes.
- LAN
- Acronym for Local Area Network, it refers to a (small) group of
computers that are located on the same floor or in the same building or
nearby buildings that are networked together and can share resources.
- Leaf site
- A machine on Usenet that talks to only one other machine
instead of passing news onto other machines.
- 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, such as ISDN or T-X access, require a leased
line.
- Line noise
- Static on a telephone line that causes trouble for modems and sometimes
leased-line connections.
- Link
- Generally refers to any highlighted words or phrases in a
hypertext document that allow you to "jump" to another section of
the same document or to another document on the World Wide Web.
- LISTSERV
- A powerful program for automating mailing lists.
- Local area network
- Often abbreviated LAN. Two or more computers connected together via
network cables. A Windows for Workgroups setup is a typical local area
network.
- Login
- When used as a verb, it is the process by which you identify yourself to
a host computer, usually involving a userid and a password. As a noun it
is the account name used to access a computer system. (you login with
your login *grin*) It is the way people identify themself to their
online service or Internet access provider. Also called User ID, User
Name, or Account Name.
- LOL
- Abbreviation for Laughing Out Loud, LOL is used in various online
communications such as e-mail messages or postings to newsgroups or
BBSs. LOL usually appears in brackets like this <lol> and denotes
a humorous reaction to something.
- Lurkers
- Not a derogatory term. Slang term for someone who regularly reads
newsgroup, BBS, or mailing list discussions, but rarely contributes to
the discussions at hand.
- Lynx
- A type of browser designed to work with text-only Internet connections
like dial-up UNIX shell accounts. Lynx requires VT100 terminal
emulation, which most terminal programs support, and enables you to
select and navigate links within Web documents.
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