AVI
Audio Video Interleaved. A Microsoft video format where audio and video coding appears in alternate segments. AVI files will end with an .avi extension.
Bandwidth
Literally, the frequency width of a transmission channel in Hertz, kiloHertz, megaHertz, etc. Often used as an expression of the amount of data that can be sent through a circuit. The greater the bandwidth, the greater the amount of data that can travel in a given time period. See broadband.
Broadband
When the bandwidth of a signal is large, it can simultaneously carry many channels
Browser
Software that will load and display a web page. A browser interprets the HTML or XML code from the web page files, executes embedded scripts and programs, provides encryption/decryption for security where needed, displays graphics (except text-only browsers), plays music and video, and provides links to related pages. Browsers are purportedly based on standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium and recognized by the Internet Engineering Task Force. The major browser software developers participate in these organizations, but each of them also builds in their own proprietary codes, whether or not approved by the organizations. These differences in browsers create a challenge for web page developers.
The principle browsers are Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, Mosaic, and the text-only Lynx.
Byte
8 bits of data. Capital B is used in abbreviations to distinguish it from bits. For example, KBps (thousand bytes per second) is 8 times as great as Kbps (thousand bits per second).
Cache
Browsers such as Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer hold copies of recently visited web files, both HTML and binary files, in disk memory. This disk memory space is called the cache. It offers the advantage of much quicker loading when files are stored on disk than when they must be transferred from the web. The disadvantage is that it will sometimes show you an old version of a file from your disk when a newer one is available on the web. Some large Internet service providers also cache frequently visited sites and feed them to you from their own cache when you try to visit them.
You can set the size of the cache to meet the needs of your own system and the speed of your connection. You can also set how often your system will check back to see if there is a newer version. There is a definite trade-off between faster load times and the risk of seeing outdated material.
Usually, you can check for a newer version by using the Refresh or Reload selections in your browser. If something looks out of date, always try the Refresh or Reload before trying other things.
Sometimes files in cache can become corrupted and cause problems for your browser. When you have problems diagnosing freeze-ups where they didn't occur before, one of the easy solutions to try is to delete your cache and see if it solves the problems.
CGI
Common Gateway Interface. A method used by WWW pages to communicate with programs run on the web server.
Compression
Compression is a technique to make a file or a data stream smaller for faster transmission or to take up less storage space. There a number of programs that will compress files, such as PKZIP, WinZip, Stuffit, gnu zip, and many more. Files with the following extensions are almost always compressed files: arc, arj, gz, lha, lhz, taZ, taz, tgz, Z, zip, and zoo. See archive, second definition.
Database
A collection of data records. On web databases, records may consist of web pages, or graphics, or audio files, or newspaper files, or books, or movies, or press releases, or almost anything from very general to very specific areas of interest. Records may or may not be further broken into fields. Database records are usually indexed and come with a search interface to find records of interest
Domain Name System (DNS)
Domain Name System. DNS servers are located at many strategic places on the nets to resolve the routing of e-mail and Internet connections. There are thirteen major, top-level DNS servers, which are updated daily, and these in turn feed the updated DNS information to smaller subordinate DNS servers, which hold more detailed information on their specific areas of coverage. No single DNS server has all the address information of the Internet, and successful routing may require routing through several levels of servers.
Domain Name
Domain name addresses, together with IP addresses, are the two forms of Internet addresses in common use. Domain name addresses all end with a correct top-level domain. The top-level domains may be any of these:
* com
* edu
* gov
* int
* mil
* net
* org
* a two-letter country code, such as us, uk, or mx.
Download
To transfer a file from another system to your own computer system via a modem over telephone or cable lines or a telnet connection using a transfer protocol like xmodem, ymodem, zmodem, or Kermit. Less precisely, it may also refer to a direct transfer from a server to your local terminal over a local area network or an FTP transfer from a remote system to your system.
DSL
Acronym for Digital Subscriber Line or Digital Subscriber Loop, often referred to as xDSL. It refers to several new digital technologies for fast two-way data connections over ordinary telephone lines. Rockwell announced a new Consumer DSL or CDSL technology in October 1997, which offers speeds up to 1MBps. US West introduced RADSL. The other technologies offer speeds up to 8 times as fast as that, but require more complicated installation. Rolloout has been slow, but it is spreading rapidly now
Dynamic HTML (DHTML)
A more powerful model for HTML that allows absolute control of positioning of elements on a page and more powerful control of events. It is supported by MSIE 4.0 and partially by Netscape 4.0.
E-mail
Electronic mail. One of the earliest standard Internet protocols which enables people with different computers and operating systems to communicate with each other. E-mail allows one-to-one or one-to-many mailings. Mail is received and held by a mail server within an organization or by an Internet service provider until the addressee logs on to collect the mail. The Internet e-mail standards include no provision for authenticating the sender, which makes it possible for spammers to use false From addresses and routing.
Ethernet
A LAN protocol developed by DEC, Intel, and Xerox as an outgrowth of Harvard graduate student Bob Metcalfe's dissertation on packet networks. Computers using TCP/IP often connect to the Internet via ethernet LANs. Ethernet typically uses a bus (daisy chain) topology.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol. The Internet protocol that permits you to transfer files between your system and another system. You can use its command language from a shell account or various programs with SLIP or PPP accounts that simplify the process.
GIF
Graphical Interchange Format. A bitmap graphical format originally developed for CompuServe that is widely used in WWW pages. It is particularly good for text art, cartoon art, poster art, and line drawings- -all types with solid colors and distinct lines or borders
Hacker
1. Originally, a hacker was a term of respect among computer designers, programmers, and engineers for those among them who created truly original and ingenious programs, devices, or sometimes very clever practical jokes.
2. Unfortunately, the current popular meaning of the term is to describe those who break into systems, destroy data, steal copyrighted software, and perform other destructive or illegal acts with computers and networks.
Hit
1. In search terminology, every listing a search engine returns from a search is called a hit.
2. The term hit is also used to refer to calls on a web server, and it is much misunderstood. Technically, if a web page is called by a remote browser, and it includes three graphics, there are four hits on that server, one for the page, and one for each graphic. Many people and most 'hit counters' use the term hit to mean hits on the web page only, not the calls to graphics or other supporting files that come with the page. When someone quotes figures on hits, be aware that definitions and uses vary, and try to find out what definition was used in producing the figures.
Home page
A home page is a web page. In most familiar terms, it is a personal page for an individual. It can also be the basic main page for a more complex web site for individuals, organizations, or web communities. On complex web sites, it is the page which a server will show when no HTML filename is listed, usually with the name index.html, home.html, or default.html or the same names with the shorter extension .htm.
HTML
HyperText Markup Language. The coding system used to create WWW pages. A page written in HTML is a text file that includes tags in angle brackets that control the fonts and type sizes, insertion of graphics, layout of tables and frames, paragraphing, calls to short runnable programs, and hypertext links to other pages. Files written in HTML generally use an .html or .htm extension.
http
HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is the main protocol used on the World Wide Web that enables linking to other web sites. Addressing to other web pages begins with "http://" and is followed by the domain name or IP address
Internet
1. A network of many networks that interconnect worldwide and use the Internet Protocol (IP).
IP address
IP addresses, together with domain addresses are the two forms of Internet addresses in common use. IP addresses consist of four numbers between 0 and 255, separated by dots.
Java
A programming language developed by Sun Microsystems based on C++. It is used with web pages to create applets that will run on different platforms.
JavaScript
A script language (with little in common with Java) developed by Netscape for writing short programs embedded in a web page. It is supported by Netscape from version 2.0 on and Microsoft and AOL browsers from version 4.0 on. MSIE 3.0 partially supports some features of JavaScript.
JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group, a graphical format that is widely used in WWW pages. It is particularly well suited to photographs and 3D or VRML images where there is a continuous range of colors or shades. It is a lossy format that can be reduced in file size by reducing the detail in the image. JPEG files use a .jpg or less commonly, .jpeg or .jpe extension.
LAN
Local Area Network.
Link
An active connection to another web page, location in a web page, file, or other Internet resource. Selecting the link takes you to the new location or resource.
MAC address
Media Access Control address, given to a device in a network. It consists of a 48-bit hexadecimal number (12 characters). The address is normally assigned to a device, such as a network card, when it is manufactured
Majordomo
One of the common types of E-mail discussion lists.
Meta
A prefix meaning "information about".
Metadata
Information about data, or more specifically, the descriptive information provided in meta tags in an HTML or XML document header about that document.
Metafile
A graphics format that combines the features of bitmap and vector graphics. Common types of metafile formats are CGM, Corel Draw CDR files, encapsulated Postscript EPS files, Adobe Illustrator, Word Perfect Graphics WPG files, PICT, and RTF.
Meta tag
In HTML or XML, a tag used in the header of a page to provide information about the page. There may be multiple meta tags in a header, each with different information. In current usage, each tag includes the name of the information and the content that supports that name. As an example, here is an author meta tag:
<meta name="author" content="Walt Howe">
Other commonly used meta tag names are description, keywords, date, and copyright.
MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
Modem
Short for modulator/demodulator. A modem is used between a computer and a phone or cable line to convert the computer's digital signal to an analog signal for the line and vice versa.
POP
Post Office Protocol. A protocol for client-server e-mail systems. If you are using software like Eudora or Pegasus or the mail clients in Netscape or MSIE, your address to collect mail often will begin with pop. For example, Delphi e-mail accounts use an address of pop.delphiforums.com to collect mail.
Search engine
A utility that will search the Internet, an Intranet, a site, or a database for terms that you select. Search engines on the web consist of four elements:
* a program that roams the area to be searched, collecting data records (typically, web pages) and links to more data. These are variously known as spiders, worms, crawlers, or other colorful names. Commercial databases, on the other hand, may collect data records in other ways, such as systematically entering the full text of newspapers or journals.
* a database or collection of records recovered by the spiders or other type of collector
* an index of the database collected to enable fast access to terms that you search for and their supporting records. Indexes may be enhanced by controlled vocabularies. See metadata and XML.
* A search interface--the form in which you enter your search terms and the software behind it that queries the index, retrieves matches, and ranks for relevance and organizes the data for follow-on searches.
Each of the major search engines differs in its approach to these four elements.
Server
A computer in a network that provides access to other computers in the network to programs, web pages, data, or other files and services, such as printer access or communications access. A server may also authenticate requests for files and services before providing them.
Site
A host on the Internet which allows remote access by such protocols as http, ftp, telnet, or gopher. A site may consist of a single page or many pages under a common site name. Whether two addresses with a common site name are one site or more than one may vary depending on your point of view. For example, to some, all pages at the Internet Service Provider delphiforums.com might be considered one site. But an individual who has set up personal web pages at people.delphiforums.com will refer to his or her pages as "my web site."
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The protocol used to send mail between servers and to send mail from your client to a mail server. Your address to send mail using software like Eudora, Pegasus, or the mail clients in Netscape and MSIE will often begin with smtp. For Delphi, the address to send mail through is smtp.delphiforums.com.
SSL
Secure Sockets Layer. A security protocol developed by Netscape for commercial transactions on the Internet. Using public-key cryptography, it provides server authentication, data encryption, and data integrity. You can recognize its use with URLs beginning https instead of http.
TCP/IP
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The protocols that are the basis for transmitting and routing data packets on the Internet. The Internet Protocol is the one thing that all current Internet sites have in common. The basic TCP/IP model has five layers of interaction:
* Physical or Data Transport Layer. This most basic layer moves data over cables based on the physical address of each Network Interface Card (NIC). The most common types are ethernet and token ring.
* Data Link Layer. This layer frames the packets of data that are sent through the network. PPP, frame relay, and X.25 operate at this layer. Bridges connect local networks at this layer.
* Network or Internet Protocol Layer. This layer puts an Internet Protocol wrapper around the data with source and destination addresses in its header. Routers, which connect networks together, operate at this layer.
* Transport Layer. This layer governs the setting of suitable packet sizes, segmenting and reassembling data, detection of errors, and flow control.
* Application Layer. This layer provides for standard interfaces for such functions as message handling and file transfer and remote login. It allows, for example, for different e-mail programs to be used, as long as they conform to the standard interface. This layer in TCP/IP corresponds to the session, presentation, and application layers in the OSI model.
URL
Uniform Resource Locator. URLs specify the location of a resource in the Internet.You can type or paste a URL into the Location window in your browser and then connect to it. The URL shows the type of item and its basic address and path. The major types are http, gopher, ftp, telnet, newsgroups, news articles, and files, which may be programs, text, graphics, audio, video, etc.

 

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