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.
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