Technology Group

A Short Internet Glossary

Although you do not need to know every term that is used on the Internet to be active on the Web, an understanding of a few key terms will help you to better understand what is going on there. Here is a short glossary of Internet and Web terms.

• Backbone A high-speed network for internetworking computer networks.
• Browse To navigate the World Wide Web. Synonyms: cruise, surf.
• Browser A client program for viewing HTML documents sent by a server over an HTTP connection.
• Client An application or computer that receives and interprets data sent by a matching server computer/application.
• CGI Common Gateway Interface; the way in which Web CGI-BIN scripts are run.
• CGI-BIN Script CGI Binary script; a server-side program that accomplishes a task that cannot be done using HTML. A means of extending the usefulness and versatility of the Web.
• Domain Name The unique name that identifies each Internet site.
• E-mail Electronic Mail; addressed messages sent over a computer network, either automatically or by a human user, to one or more recipients.
• FAQ Frequently Asked Questions list, which attempts to answer the most-asked questions on a given topic. Many are transmitted on a monthly basis over Usenet, and are archived on the Net.
• FORM A subset of HTML tags that can be used to create fields on a Web page to accept input from a user.
• FTP File Transfer Protocol; the TCP/IP protocol for transferring files on the Internet.
• GIF Graphics Interchange Format image, often used on Web pages because of its ability to render a background color as transparent.
• Gopher A client/server application for indexing and retrieving information on the Internet. The predecessor to the World Wide Web.
• Hit An instance of someone (or something, such as a Webcrawler robot indexing program) accessing a Web page.
• Hostname The DNS name for a single computer on the Internet, e.g. www.yahoo.com.
• HTML HyperText Markup Language; the language used to create Web pages.
• HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol; the client/server protocol for moving hypertext files on the Internet.
• Hypertext Text containing links that, when chosen by a user, will "jump" to another block of text, either in the same document or in another.
• Internet The worldwide network of computers connected by TCP/IP and other internetworking protocols.
• IP Address Internet Protocol address, which is composed of four numbers separated by periods ("dots"), e.g. 198.137.221.9
• ISP Internet Service Provider; an institution that provides access to the Internet.
• JAVA An interpreted script language developed by Sun Microsystems that resembles C++. It was created to extend the capabilities of the Web by allowing programs to be associated with >Web pages that can run on a Web client computer when the page is accessed.
• JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group; compressed graphics images, often used on Web pages.
• LAN Local Area Network; a computer network limited in scope to a single group of locally interconnected computers.
• Link A user-selectable hypertext or hypermedia jump point, that when selected will "jump" to another text or multimedia object.
• MIME Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions; a means of identifying content in e-mail files and on Web pages. Used by Web browser programs to identify Web page content for proper display.
• MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group; compression algorithm for video and audio files, often used on the Web.
• Multimedia Generic term for integrated, interactive video, audio, text, graphics, database, and other content.
• Netscape Shorthand for the Netscape Communications Corporation's Netscape Navigator WWW browser, generally acknowledged to be the most popular Web browser program today.
• Network A collection of computers connected by LAN, WAN, or Internet.
• Newsgroup A Usenet conference or discussion group.
• Node A single computer connected to a network.
• NRE National Research and Education Network; the entity that will form the backbone for the U.S. potion of the Internet for the near future.
• Page A single HTML document on the Web.
• PERL Practical Extraction Reporting Language; many CGI-BIN scripts on the Web are written in PERL.
• POP Post Office Protocol; the method whereby e-mail is generally transmitted.
• Post To send a message for public display in a Usenet newsgroup.
• PPP Point-to-Point Protocol; one of the protocols that enable a user to create a
• RFC Request For Comments; the process of writing a document proposing a new standard for the Internet and then asking for the Net community to comment on it. The standard method for establishing rules and methods on the Internet.
• Server A computer/application that sends data over the network to a matching client computer/program that is capable of properly interpreting that data.
• SGML Standard Generalized Markup Language; the precursor to and a superset of HTML.
• SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol; an alternative to PPP.
• T1 A leased-line Internet connection that operates at 1.5 megabits per second.
• T3 A 45 megabit-per-second leased line Internet connection.
• Tag An HTML markup element.
• TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol; the suite of protocols that provides the infrastructure for the Internet.
• Telnet A remote logon program that is part of the TCP/IP protocols.
• URL Uniform Resource Locator; the standard World Wide Web address format, e.g. http://www.yahoo.com
• Usenet A worldwide system of discussion groups.
• VRML Virtual Reality Modeling Language for creating 3D sites on the Web.
• WAIS Wide Area Information Server, for indexing and accessing great quantities of information on the Net. Often an adjunct to Gopher.
• WAN Wide Area Network; an internetwork of LANs. The Internet is a huge WAN.
• WWW World Wide Web; the portion of the Internet that consists of linked HTML pages.