| Acrobat
Reader |
Standalone
program or Web
browser plug-in
from Adobe that lets you view a PDF
file in its original format and appearance. The Acrobat
Reader is free and can be downloaded
from Adobe.
|
| Access
Provider |
Organization
that arranges for you to have access to the Internet
through a dial-up
account. The charge is usually depending on the amount
of usage you contract for.
|
| ActiveX |
Microsoft
technology created to enable easier multimedia on the WWW.
ActiveX controls can be used to create multimedia
effects. On ActiveX Web sites, buttons can light up and
sound effects can play when you click or move the
pointer over things (see also Java,
JavaScript).
To see it, your browser
must support ActiveX.
|
| Address |
The
unique identifier you need to either access a Web
site: http://www.webguest.com (see URL)
or 208.28.202.95 (see IP
address) or to send email: info@webguest.com (see email
address).
|
| ADN
- Advanced Digital Network |
Refers
to a 56 Kbps
leased
line.
|
| ADSL
- Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line |
The
phone company's answer to cable
modems and in the future even an alternative to ISDN.
An ADSL circuit connects two specific locations (similar
to a leased
line) but it is much faster than a regular phone
connection. In theory ADSL allows download
speeds of up to 9 Mbps
and upload
speeds of up to 640 Kbps.
|
| Aggregator |
Device
(computer) that serves many other devices. For example,
a computer that not only handles dial-up
modem
calls for an ISP,
but also supports ISDN
connections, leased-lines, while it is also a router,
well, that is a typical aggregator.
|
| AltaVista |
Search
engine at http://altavista.digital.com
|
| Anonymous
FTP |
Anonymous
FTP uses the FTP
protocol to allow users access to files (for downloading).
You don't need to have a user
ID or a password.
With regular FTP, you must enter a user ID and a
password to access the site
(see FTP).
|
| Applet |
Small
(Java)program
embedded in an HTML
page. When you access that Web
page, the browser
downloads
the applet and runs it on your computer. For security
reasons applets cannot read or write data onto your
computer. The applet can only be executed if your
browser supports Java.
|
| Archie |
(Prehistoric!)
database service for finding files stored on anonymous
FTP sites.
|
| ARPANET
- Advanced Research Projects Agency Network |
Developed
by the US Department of Defense during the cold war.
ARPANET was designed to survive nuclear attacks: the
authority was distributed over a large number of
geographically dispersed computers, so that - even if
most servers
were destroyed - the remaining servers would be able to
continue on. This computer network
concept was the basis of the Internet.
|
| ASCII
- American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
World-wide
standard for the code numbers assigned to each key on
the keyboard. ASCII text does not include formatting and
therefore can be exchanged and read by most computer
systems.
|
| ASP
- Active Server Pages |
Microsoft
technology created to allow easy combination of HTML,
JavaScript
and ActiveX.
|
| AUP
- Acceptable Use Policy |
AUP
is a policy for the use of the Internet within an
organization. Companies or organizations can use a AUP
filter to exclude some Internet services for their
employees or members. Not only organizations can
establish their own AUP standard, even parents can do.
Many parents use a AUP tool (some sort of filter) to
block access to pornographic sites for their children
(for example: CyberPatrol).
|
| AVI
- Audio Video Interleave |
(Digital)
video file format created by Microsoft (Video for
Windows). An .avi file contains picture and sound
elements stored in alternate (interleaved) chunks.
|
| Backbone |
Segment
of a communications network
where many lines come together. The term is relative
("the" Internet
backbone doesn't exist): a backbone in a small network
will be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a
large network.
|
| Bandwidth |
The
transmission capacity, usually measured in bits per
second (see bps) of a network
connection.
"High bandwidth" people: hacker
slang for individuals which consume large volumes of
information in short periods of time.
|
| Banner |
Advertisement
in the form of a graphic image on the Web. Most banner
ads are animated GIFs.
|
| Baud |
The
Baud rate refers to the speed of a modem.
Although not technically accurate, baud rate is commonly
used to mean bit rate (the number of
bits transmitted per second) (see bps).
|
| BBS
- Bulletin Board System |
Members
of a BBS can dial into their BBS, mostly to download
files, to send email
or to join discussion
groups. BBS's were the main source of the online
community until the breakthrough of the Internet
and the WWW.
|
| Beta |
A
software application that is made available prior to the
official release for the purposes of testing.
|
| B-ISDN
- Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network |
Fiber
optic transmission standard. Transmission speed: 1.5
million bits per second (bps).
|
| Bit
- Binary DigIT |
The
smallest unit of computerized data. A bit is either
"on" or "off" and is represented by
"1" or "0".
|
| BITNET
- Because It's Time NETwork |
(Prehistoric!)
network
of educational sites
separated from the Internet, but connected to the Internet
through email.
|
| Bookmark |
Browser
feature that allows you to save a link
to a Web
page. You can always use this bookmark to return to
that page.
|
| Bounce |
Return
of an email
because it could not be delivered to the specified address.
|
| Bps
- Bits Per Second |
A
measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to
another, usually in thousands of bits per second (Kbps)
or million of bits per second (Mbps).
A 28.8 modem
can transport 28,800 bits per second.
|
| Browser
- Web Browser |
Tool
(software program) that allows you to surf
the Web.
The most popular Web Browsers right now are Netscape
Navigator and Internet
Explorer. The very first Web browsers, such as Lynx,
only allowed users to see text.
|
| Byte |
A
set of 8 bits that represent a
number from 0 to 255.
|
| C |
Name
of a structured, procedural computer language commonly
used for the creation of operating systems and other
professional-grade applications.
|
| C++ |
Superset
of the C language that adds
object-oriented concepts. Java,
another programming language, is based on C++ but
optimized for the Internet.
|
| Cable
Modem |
Device
connected to your computer that enables you to receive
and request information from the Internet
over your local cable TV line. The bandwidth
of a cable modem
far exceeds the bandwidth of the 28.8 Kbps,
ISDN
or ADSL
modems.
|
| Cache |
Area
of your computer memory or directory on your hard disk.
This is the place where your browser
stores viewed Web
pages. When you return to a page, the browser gets
this page from the cache, saving you time. However, if
you return to a page that changes a lot, you need to
click the "Reload" button on your browser to
get the latest version.
|
| cc: |
Carbon
Copy. To send somebody a copy of an email
message.
|
| CERN
- Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire |
CERN
(European Organization for Nuclear Research) is in fact
the birth-place of the World
Wide Web. One of the researchers of CERN, Dr. Tim
Berners-Lee originated the hypertext transport protocol
(HTTP)
on which the World Wide Web is based.
|
| CGI
- Common Gateway Interface |
Interface
that allows scripts (programs) to run on a Web
server. CGI-scripts are used to put the content of a
form into an email
message, to perform a database query, to generate HTML
pages on-the-fly, etc. The most popular languages for
CGI-scripts are Perl
and C.
|
| cgi-bin |
The
most common name of a directory on a Web server
in which CGI-scripts are stored.
|
| Chat |
Online
interactive communication on the Web.
You can "talk" in real time with other people
in the "chat room", but the words are typed
instead of spoken.
|
| Click |
In
advertising a "click" is used to mean a
request for a page
that contains an ad. Sometimes, a click is more narrowly
defined as "a click on an ad". The click rate
is the number of clicks (on an ad) as a percentage of
the number of times that the ad was downloaded
with a page: a click rate of 2% means that 2% of the
people who downloaded the page clicked on the ad.
|
| Client/Server |
A
client is a computer system that requests a service of
another computer system (a server)
on the network.
|
| Clustering |
In
a client/server
environment clustering means using two or more computers
which function together as one single entity. When one
computer is failing, the other will take over its task.
This procedure will increase reliability and up-time.
|
| Co-location |
When
servers
from different owners are physically located in the same
place and use a common Internet
connection, it's called a co-location. If someone wants
his machine
to be on a high-speed Internet connection, if he doesn't
have the possibility to maintain his server, or if he
doesn't want security risks, he can choose for
co-location in a place with optimum conditions for
running a server.
|
| Commercial
Online Service |
Computer
network
that offers its members access to its own chat
rooms, bulletin boards, and other online
features on a monthly fee basis. Well-known commercial
online services are America Online, CompuServe, The
Microsoft Network, and Prodigy. (They also provide
access to the Internet.)
|
| Compiler |
A
compiler translates code written in a computer language
into an executable form (machine
language).
|
| Compression |
Technology
that reduces the size of a file to save bandwidth.
|
| Congestion |
A
condition in (part of) a network
when the data traffic is so heavy that it slows down the
response
time of the network.
|
| Cookie |
Small
piece of information that a Web
server sends to your computer hard disk via your browser.
Cookies contain information such as login
or registration information, online
shopping cart information, user preferences, etc. This
information can be retrieved by other web
pages on the site,
so that this site can be customized.
|
| CPU
- Central Processing Unit |
The
brains of your computer. In fact, the main silicon chip
that runs the operating system and programs, and
controls essential operations.
|
| Cracker |
A
malicious person who breaks the security of computer
systems in order to steal or destroy information.
|
| Cyberspace |
Term
to describe the Internet,
coined by author William Gibson in his novel "Neuromancer".
Cyberspace is a virtual space, you're in Cyberspace when
you are cruising the Web.
|
| Cybersquatter |
Person
who buys domain
names in the hope to resell them later at a profit.
|
