Richmond Virtual Village: Glossary of Internet Terms/title> <META name="description" content="Richmond Virtual Village Philatelic Study, Richmond VA's online portal. 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margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Impact" size="6">R</font><font color="#FFFFFF" size="5" face="Impact">ichmond </font><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Impact" size="6">V</font><font color="#FFFFFF" size="5" face="Impact">irtual </font><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Impact" size="6">V</font><font color="#FFFFFF" size="5" face="Impact">illage</font> <p style="word-spacing: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><font color="#FFFFFF" size="5" face="Gungsuh">Inteernet Glossary / Terms</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="166" height="22"> <p align="center"><font size="2">Richmond, VA Web Portal</font></td> <td width="14" height="22" colspan="2"></td> </center> <td width="985" height="22"> <p align="left"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/bunting.gif" width="64" height="20"></p> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </td> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="4" height="70"> <p align="center"> </p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" height="73" width="1212"> <div align="center"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="1155"> <tr> <td width="254"> <div align="right"> <table border="2" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="68" bordercolor="#CC9900" height="67"> <tr> <td width="87%"> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </td> <td width="482"> <p align="left" style="word-spacing: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><font size="5" color="#CC9900" face="Gungsuh"> <marquee scrollamount="40" scrolldelay="80" align="middle" loop="2" behavior="slide" width="469" height="27">Internet Glossary</marquee> </font></p> <center> <hr width="85%" align="left" color="#CC9900" size="3"> </center> </td> <td width="413"> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="82%"> <tr> <td width="39%"><u><font size="5" color="#FF0000"><a href="mailto:joe.cohen@rvv.com"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/postnuke/images/topics/Admin.gif" width="52" height="66" align="right"></a></font></u></td> <td width="61%"> <p align="center" style="word-spacing: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><font size="2" color="#996633">Last updated</font></p> <p align="center" style="word-spacing: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><font size="2" color="#996633">December 25, 2010 08:54 AM </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="1217" height="1" colspan="2"> <p align="center"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="1217" height="453" colspan="2"> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="90%" height="396"> <tr> <td width="5%" height="54"></td> <td width="95%" height="54"><font face="Arial" size="4" color="#000080"> Glossary of Internet Terms</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="5%" height="342"></td> <td width="95%" height="342"> <hr> <font face="Arial" size="1"><a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#A">A</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#B">B</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#C">C</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#D">D</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#E">E</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#F">F</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#G">G</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#H">H</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#I">I</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#J">J</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#K">K</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#L">L</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#M">M</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#N">N</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#O">O</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#P">P</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Q">Q</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#R">R</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#S">S</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#T">T</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#U">U</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#V">V</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#W">W</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#X">X</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Y">Y</a> | <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Z">Z</a></font> <hr> <dl> <a name="A"></a> <dt><b><a name="ADN"><font face="Arial" size="1">ADN</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Advanced Digital Network) -- Usually refers to a 56Kbps <i>leased-line</i>.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="ADSL"><font face="Arial" size="1">ADSL</font></a></b> <dd> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#DSL">DSL</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Anonymous FTP"><font face="Arial" size="1">Anonymous FTP</font></a></b> <dd> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#FTP">FTP</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Applet"><font face="Arial" size="1">Applet</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A small <i>Java</i> program that can be embedded in an <i>HTML</i> 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.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#HTML">HTML</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Java">Java</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Archie"><font face="Arial" size="1">Archie</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A tool (software) for finding files stored on <i>anonymous FTP</i> sites. You need to know the exact file name or a substring of it.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="ARPANet"><font face="Arial" size="1">ARPANet</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) -- The precursor to the <i>Internet</i>. Developed in the late 60’s and early 70’s by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would survive a nuclear war.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="ASCII"><font face="Arial" size="1">ASCII</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(American Standard Code for Information Interchange) -- This is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Backbone"><font face="Arial" size="1">Backbone</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. The term is relative as a backbone in a small <i>network</i> will likely be much smaller than many non-backbone lines in a large network.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Bandwidth"><font face="Arial" size="1">Bandwidth</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">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.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bps">Bps</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bit">Bit</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#T-1">T-1</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Baud"><font face="Arial" size="1">Baud</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">In common usage the baud rate of a <i>modem</i> is how many <i>bits</i> 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).</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bit">Bit</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Modem">Modem</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="BBS"><font face="Arial" size="1">BBS</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Bulletin Board System) -- A computerized meeting and announcement system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make announcements without the people being connected to the computer at the same time. There are many thousands (millions?) of BBS’s around the world, most are very small, running on a single IBM clone PC with 1 or 2 phone lines. Some are very large and the line between a BBS and a system like CompuServe gets crossed at some point, but it is not clearly drawn.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Binhex"><font face="Arial" size="1">Binhex</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(BINary HEXadecimal) -- A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII) into <i>ASCII</i>. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#ASCII">ASCII</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#MIME">MIME</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#UUENCODE">UUENCODE</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Bit"><font face="Arial" size="1">Bit</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. <i>Bandwidth</i> is usually measured in bits-per-second.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bandwidth">Bandwidth</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bps">Bps</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Byte">Byte</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Kilobyte">Kilobyte</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Megabyte">Megabyte</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="BITNET"><font face="Arial" size="1">BITNET</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Because It’s Time NETwork (or Because It’s There NETwork)) -- A <i>network</i> of educational sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between <i>BITNET</i> and the Internet. <i>Listservs®</i>, the most popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are usually mainframes running the VMS operating system, and the network is probably the only international network that is shrinking.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Bps"><font face="Arial" size="1">Bps</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Bits-Per-Second) -- A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 <i>modem</i> can move 28,800 bits per second.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bandwidth">Bandwidth</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bit">Bit</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Browser"><font face="Arial" size="1">Browser</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A <i>Client</i> program (software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Client">Client</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#URL">URL</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#WWW">WWW</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Netscape">Netscape</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Mosaic">Mosaic</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Home Page (or Homepage)">Home Page (or Homepage)</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="BTW"><font face="Arial" size="1">BTW</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(By The Way) -- A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#IMHO">IMHO</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Byte"><font face="Arial" size="1">Byte</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">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.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bit">Bit</a> <a name="C"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Certificate Authority"><font face="Arial" size="1">Certificate Authority</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">An issuer of <i>Security Certificates</i> used in <i>SSL</i> connections.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Security Certificate">Security Certificate</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#SSL">SSL</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="CGI"><font face="Arial" size="1">CGI</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Common Gateway Interface) -- A set of rules that describe how a <i>Web</i> <i>Server</i> communicates with another piece of software on the same machine, and how the other piece of software (the “CGI program”) talks to the web server. Any piece of software can be a CGI program if it handles input and output according to the CGI standard.<br> <br> Usually 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.<br> <br> You can often see that a CGI program is being used by seeing “cgi-bin” in a URL, but not always.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#cgi-bin">cgi-bin</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Web">Web</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="cgi-bin"><font face="Arial" size="1">cgi-bin</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">The most common name of a directory on a web server in which <i>CGI</i> programs are stored.<br> The “bin” part of “cgi-bin” is a shorthand version of “binary”, because once upon a time, most programs were refered to as “binaries”. In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere on the same machine.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#CGI">CGI</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Client"><font face="Arial" size="1">Client</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a <i>Server</i> software program on another computer, often across a great distance. Each <i>Client</i> program is designed to work with one or more specific kinds of <i>Server</i> programs, and each <i>Server</i> requires a specific kind of <i>Client</i>. A Web <i>Browser</i> is a specific kind of <i>Client.</i></font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Browser">Browser</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="co-location"><font face="Arial" size="1">co-location</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Most often used to refer to having a <i>server</i> that belongs to one person or group physically located on an <i>Internet</i>-connected <i>network</i> that belongs to another person or group. Usually this is done because the server owner wants their machine to be on a high-speed Internet connection and/or they do not want the security risks of having the server on thier own network.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Cookie"><font face="Arial" size="1">Cookie</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">The most common meaning of “Cookie” on the Internet refers to a piece of information sent by a Web <i>Server</i> to a Web <i>Browser</i> that the Browser software is expected to save and to send back to the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the Server.<br> <br> Depending on the type of Cookie used, and the Browser’s settings, the Browser may accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save the Cookie for either a short time or a long time.<br> <br> Cookies might contain information such as login or registration information, online “shopping cart” information, user preferences, etc.<br> <br> When a Server receives a request from a Browser that includes a Cookie, the Server is able to use the information stored in the Cookie. For example, the Server might customize what is sent back to the user, or keep a log of particular user’s requests.<br> <br> Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of time and are usually saved in memory until the Browser software is closed down, at which time they may be saved to disk if their “expire time” has not been reached.<br> <br> Cookies <strong>do not</strong> read your hard drive and send your life story to the CIA, but they can be used to gather more information about a user than would be possible without them.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Browser">Browser</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Cyberpunk"><font face="Arial" size="1">Cyberpunk</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">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.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Cyberspace">Cyberspace</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Cyberspace"><font face="Arial" size="1">Cyberspace</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel <i>Neuromancer</i> the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Digerati"><font face="Arial" size="1">Digerati</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">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.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="DSL"><font face="Arial" size="1">DSL</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Digital Subscriber Line) -- A method for moving data over regular phone lines. A DSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber’s premises are the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. A DSL circuit must be configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased line.<br> <br> A commonly discussed configuration of DSL allows downloads at speeds of up to 1.544 megabits (not mega<strong>bytes</strong>) per second, and uploads at speeds of 128 kilobits per second. This arrangement is called ADSL: “Asymmetric” Digital Subscriber Line.<br> <br> Another common configuration is symmetrical: 384 Kilobits per second in both directions.<br> <br> In theory ADSL allows download speeds of up to 9 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 640 kilobits per second.<br> <br> DSL is now a popular alternative to <i>Leased Lines</i> and <i>ISDN</i>, being faster than ISDN and less costly than traditional Leased Lines.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#bit">bit</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#bps">bps</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#ISDN">ISDN</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Leased Line">Leased Line</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Domain Name"><font face="Arial" size="1">Domain Name</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names:<br> <br> matisse.net<br> mail.matisse.net<br> workshop.matisse.net<br> <br> can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine.<br> <br> Usually, all of the machines on a given <i>Network</i> will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (<strong>matisse.net</strong> in the examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#IP Number">IP Number</a> <a name="E"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="E-mail"><font face="Arial" size="1">E-mail</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Electronic Mail) -- Messages, usually text, sent from one person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a large number of addresses (<i>Mailing List</i>).</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Listserv">Listserv®</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Maillist">Maillist</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Ethernet"><font face="Arial" size="1">Ethernet</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A very common method of networking computers in a <i>LAN</i>. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bandwidth">Bandwidth</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#LAN">LAN</a> <a name="F"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="FAQ"><font face="Arial" size="1">FAQ</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Frequently Asked Questions) -- FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject. There are hundreds of FAQs on subjects as diverse as Pet Grooming and Cryptography. FAQs are usually written by people who have tired of answering the same question over and over.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="FDDI"><font face="Arial" size="1">FDDI</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(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 <i>Ethernet</i>, about twice as fast as <i>T-3</i>).</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bandwidth">Bandwidth</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Ethernet">Ethernet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#T-1">T-1</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#T-3">T-3</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Finger"><font face="Arial" size="1">Finger</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger requests, but many do.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Fire Wall"><font face="Arial" size="1">Fire Wall</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A combination of hardware and software that separates a <i>LAN</i> into two or more parts for security purposes.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#LAN">LAN</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Flame"><font face="Arial" size="1">Flame</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">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.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Flame War">Flame War</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Flame War"><font face="Arial" size="1">Flame War</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">When an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal attacks against the debators, rather than discussion of their positions. A heated exchange.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Flame">Flame</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="FTP"><font face="Arial" size="1">FTP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to <i>login</i> to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files. There are many Internet sites that have established publicly accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP, by logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites are called anonymous ftp servers.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Gateway"><font face="Arial" size="1">Gateway</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">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.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="GIF"><font face="Arial" size="1">GIF</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Graphic Interchange Format) -- A common format for image files, especially suitable for images containing large areas of the same color. GIF format files of simple images are often smaller than the same file would be if stored in <i>JPEG</i> format, but GIF format does not store photographic images as well as JPEG.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#JPEG">JPEG</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Gigabyte"><font face="Arial" size="1">Gigabyte</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">1000 or 1024 <i>Megabytes</i>, depending on who is measuring.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Byte">Byte</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Megabyte">Megabyte</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Gopher"><font face="Arial" size="1">Gopher</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A widely successful method of making menus of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a <i>Client</i> and <i>Server</i> style program, which requires that the user have a Gopher <i>Client</i> program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted by Hypertext, also known as <i>WWW (World Wide Web)</i>. There are still thousands of Gopher <i>Servers</i> on the Internet and we can expect they will remain for a while.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Client">Client</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#WWW">WWW</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Hypertext">Hypertext</a> <a name="H"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="hit"><font face="Arial" size="1">hit</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">As used in reference to the World Wide Web, “hit” means a single request from a web <i>browser</i> for a single item from a web <i>server</i>; thus in order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4 “hits” would occur at the server: 1 for the <i>HTML</i> page, and one for each of the 3 graphics.<br> <br> “hits” are often used as a very rough measure of load on a server, e.g. “Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per month.” Because each “hit” can represent anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Home Page (or Homepage)"><font face="Arial" size="1">Home Page (or Homepage)</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Several meanings. Originally, the <i>web</i> page that your <i>browser</i> is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. “Check out so-and-so’s new Home Page.”<br> <br> Another sloppier use of the term refers to practically any web page as a “homepage,” e.g. “That web site has 65 homepages and none of them are interesting.”</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Browser">Browser</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Web">Web</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Host"><font face="Arial" size="1">Host</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Any computer on a <i>network</i> that is a repository for services available to other computers on the <i>network</i>. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as <i>WWW</i> and <i>USENET</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Node">Node</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="HTML"><font face="Arial" size="1">HTML</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(HyperText Markup Language) -- The coding language used to create <i>Hypertext</i> documents for use on the <i>World Wide Web</i>. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear, additionally, in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a word, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a <i>World Wide Web Client</i> Program, such as <i>Netscape</i> or <i>Mosaic</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Client">Client</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#WWW">WWW</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="HTTP"><font face="Arial" size="1">HTTP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(HyperText Transfer Protocol) -- The protocol for moving <i>hypertext</i> files across the <i>Internet</i>. Requires a HTTP <i>client</i> program on one end, and an HTTP <i>server</i> program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the <i>World Wide Web (WWW)</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Client">Client</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#WWW">WWW</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Hypertext"><font face="Arial" size="1">Hypertext</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="IMHO"><font face="Arial" size="1">IMHO</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(In My Humble Opinion) -- A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum, IMHO indicates that the writer is aware that they are expressing a debatable view, probably on a subject already under discussion. One of may such shorthands in common use online, especially in discussion forums.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#BTW">BTW</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Internet"><font face="Arial" size="1">Internet</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1"><b>(Upper case I)</b> The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the <i>ARPANET</i> of the late 60’s and early 70’s. The Internet now (July 1995) connects roughly 60,000 independent networks into a vast global <i>internet</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#internet">internet</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="internet"><font face="Arial" size="1">internet</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1"><b>(Lower case i)</b> Any time you connect 2 or more <i>networks</i> together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Intranet"><font face="Arial" size="1">Intranet</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A private <i>network</i> inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public <i>Internet</i>, but that is only for internal use.<br> <br> As the Internet has become more popular many of the tools used on the Internet are being used in private networks, for example, many companies have web servers that are available only to employees.<br> <br> Note that an Intranet may not actually be an <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#internet">internet</a> -- it may simply be a <a href="http://www.matisse.net/files/Network">network</a>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#internet">internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="IP Number"><font face="Arial" size="1">IP Number</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Internet Protocol Number) -- Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g.<br> <br> 165.113.245.2<br> <br> Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more <i>Domain Names</i> that are easier for people to remember.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Domain Name">Domain Name</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#TCP/IP">TCP/IP</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="IRC"><font face="Arial" size="1">IRC</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC <i>servers</i> 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.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="ISDN"><font face="Arial" size="1">ISDN</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Integrated Services Digital Network) -- Basically a way to move more data over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is rapidly becoming available to much of the USA and in most markets it is priced very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone lines. In practice, most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000 bits-per-second.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="ISP"><font face="Arial" size="1">ISP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Internet Service Provider) -- An institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> <a name="J"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Java"><font face="Arial" size="1">Java</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Java is a network-oriented programming language invented by Sun Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that can be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately run without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer or files. Using small Java programs (called "<i>Applets</i>"), Web pages can include functions such as animations, calculators, and other fancy tricks.<br> <br> We can expect to see a huge variety of features added to the Web using Java, since you can write a Java program to do almost anything a regular computer program can do, and then include that Java program in a Web page.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Applet">Applet</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="JavaScript"><font face="Arial" size="1">JavaScript</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">JavaScript is a programming language that is mostly used in web pages, usually to add features that make the web page more interactive. When JavaScript is included in an <i>HTML</i> file it relies upon the browser to interpret the JavaScript. When JavaScript is combined with <i>Cascading Style Sheets</i> (CSS), and later versions of HTML (4.0 and later) the result is often called <i>DHTML</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">JavaScript was invented by <i>Netscape</i> and was going to be called "LiveScript", but the name was changed to JavaScript to cash in on the popularity of <i>Java</i>. JavaScript and Java are two different programming languages.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also:  <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#HTML">HTML</a>,  <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Java">Java</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="JDK"><font face="Arial" size="1">JDK</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Java Development Kit) -- A software development package from Sun Microsystems that implements the basic set of tools needed to write, test and debug <i>Java</i> applications and <i>applets</i><br> </font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Applet">Applet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Java">Java</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="JPEG"><font face="Arial" size="1">JPEG</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Joint Photographic Experts Group) -- JPEG is most commonly mentioned as a format for image files. JPEG format is preferred to the <i>GIF</i> format for photographic images as opposed to line art or simple logo art.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#GIF">GIF</a> <a name="K"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Kilobyte"><font face="Arial" size="1">Kilobyte</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (2^10) bytes.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Byte">Byte</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bit">Bit</a> <a name="L"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="LAN"><font face="Arial" size="1">LAN</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Local Area Network) -- A computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Ethernet">Ethernet</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Leased Line"><font face="Arial" size="1">Leased Line</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">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 require a leased line.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#T-1">T-1</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#T-3">T-3</a>, <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#DSL">DSL</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Listserv"><font face="Arial" size="1">Listserv®</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">The most common kind of <i>maillist</i>, "Listserv" is a registered trademark of L-Soft international, Inc. Listservs originated on <i>BITNET</i> but they are now common on the <i>Internet</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#BITNET">BITNET</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#E-mail">E-mail</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Maillist">Maillist</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Login"><font face="Arial" size="1">Login</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with <i>Password</i>).<br> Verb: The act of entering into a computer system, e.g. <i>Login to the WELL and then go to the GBN conference.</i></font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Password">Password</a> <a name="M"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Maillist "><font face="Arial" size="1">Maillist</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1"><b>(or Mailing List)</b> A (usually automated) system that allows people to send <i>e-mail</i> to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of the other subscribers to the maillist. In this way, people who have many different kinds of e-mail access can participate in discussions together.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Megabyte"><font face="Arial" size="1">Megabyte</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A million <i>bytes</i>. Actually, technically, 1024 <i>kilobytes</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Byte">Byte</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bit">Bit</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Kilobyte">Kilobyte</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="MIME"><font face="Arial" size="1">MIME</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) -- The standard for attaching non-text files to standard Internet mail messages. Non-text files include graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound files, etc.<br> <br> An email program is said to be MIME Compliant if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard.<br> <br> When non-text files are sent using the MIME standard they are converted (encoded) into text - although the resulting text is not really readable.<br> <br> Generally speaking the MIME standard is a way of specifying both the type of file being sent (e.g. a Quicktime™ video file), and the method that should be used to turn it back into its original form.<br> <br> Besides email software, the MIME standard is also universally used by Web <i>Servers</i> to identify the files they are sending to Web <i>Clients</i>, in this way new file formats can be accommodated simply by updating the Browsers’ list of pairs of MIME-Types and appropriate software for handling each type.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Browser">Browser</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Client">Client</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Binhex">Binhex</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#UUENCODE">UUENCODE</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Mirror"><font face="Arial" size="1">Mirror</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Generally speaking, “to mirror” is to maintain an exact copy of something. Probably the most common use of the term on the Internet refers to “mirror sites” which are <i>web</i> sites, or <i>FTP</i> sites that maintain exact copies of material originated at another location, usually in order to provide more widespread access to the resource.<br> <br> Another common use of the term “mirror” refers to an arrangement where information is written to more than one hard disk simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the computer keeps on working without losing anything.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#FTP">FTP</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Web">Web</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Modem"><font face="Arial" size="1">Modem</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(MOdulator, DEModulator) -- A device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone does for humans.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="MOO"><font face="Arial" size="1">MOO</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Mud, Object Oriented) -- One of several kinds of multi-user role-playing environments, so far only text-based.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#MUD">MUD</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#MUSE">MUSE</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Mosaic"><font face="Arial" size="1">Mosaic</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">The first <i>WWW browser</i> that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started the popularity of the Web. The source-code to Mosaic has been licensed by several companies and there are several other pieces of software as good or better than Mosaic, most notably, Netscape.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Browser">Browser</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Client">Client</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#WWW">WWW</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="MUD"><font face="Arial" size="1">MUD</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) -- A (usually text-based) multi-user simulation environment. Some are purely for fun and flirting, others are used for serious software development, or education purposes and all that lies in between. A significant feature of most MUDs is that users can create things that stay after they leave and which other users can interact with in their absence, thus allowing a world to be built gradually and collectively.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#MOO">MOO</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#MUSE">MUSE</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="MUSE"><font face="Arial" size="1">MUSE</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Multi-User Simulated Environment) -- One kind of MUD - usually with little or no violence.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#MOO">MOO</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#MUD">MUD</a> <a name="N"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Netiquette"><font face="Arial" size="1">Netiquette</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">The etiquette on the <i>Internet</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Netizen"><font face="Arial" size="1">Netizen</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the <i>Internet</i>, or someone who uses networked resources. The term connotes civic responsibility and participation.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Netscape"><font face="Arial" size="1">Netscape</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A <i>WWW Browser</i> and the name of a company. The Netscape (tm) browser was originally based on the <i>Mosaic</i> program developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).<br> <br> Netscape has grown in features rapidly and is widely recognized as the best and most popular web browser. Netscape corporation also produces web <i>server</i> software.<br> <br> Netscape provided major improvements in speed and interface over other browsers, and has also engendered debate by creating new elements for the <i>HTML</i> language used by Web pages -- but the Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported.<br> <br> The main author of Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic Communications and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications Corporation.<br> <br> </font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Browser">Browser</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Mosaic">Mosaic</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#WWW">WWW</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Network"><font face="Arial" size="1">Network</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an <i>internet</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#internet">internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Intranet">Intranet</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Newsgroup"><font face="Arial" size="1">Newsgroup</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">The name for discussion groups on <i>USENET</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#USENET">USENET</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="NIC"><font face="Arial" size="1">NIC</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Networked Information Center) -- Generally, any office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet is the InterNIC, which is where new domain names are registered.<br> Another definition: NIC also refers to Network Interface Card which plugs into a computer and<br> adapts the network interface to the appropriate standard. ISA, PCI, and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs.<br> </font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="NNTP"><font face="Arial" size="1">NNTP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Network News Transport Protocol) -- The protocol used by <i>client</i> and <i>server</i> software to carry <i>USENET</i> postings back and forth over a <i>TCP/IP</i> <i>network</i>. If you are using any of the more common software such as <i>Netscape</i>, Nuntius, Internet Explorer, etc. to participate in <i>newsgroups</i> then you are benefiting from an NNTP connection.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Newsgroup">Newsgroup</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#TCP/IP">TCP/IP</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#USENET">USENET</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Node"><font face="Arial" size="1">Node</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Any single computer connected to a <i>network</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#internet">internet</a> <a name="P"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Packet Switching"><font face="Arial" size="1">Packet Switching</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">The method used to move data around on the <i>Internet</i>. In packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed to different routes by special machines along the way. This way many people can use the same lines at the same time.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Password"><font face="Arial" size="1">Password</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such as <i>virtue7</i>. A good password might be:<br> <br> Hot$1-6</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Login">Login</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Plug-in"><font face="Arial" size="1">Plug-in</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for the Netscape® <i>browser</i> and web <i>server</i>. Adobe Photoshop® also uses plug-ins.<br> <br> The idea behind plug-in’s is that a small piece of software is loaded into memory by the larger program, adding a new feature, and that users need only install the few plug-ins that they need, out of a much larger pool of possibilities. Plug-ins are usually created by people other than the publishers of the software the plug-in works with.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="POP"><font face="Arial" size="1">POP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Point of Presence, also Post Office Protocol) -- Two commonly used meanings: Point of Presence and Post Office Protocol. A Point of Presence usually means a city or location where a network can be connected to, often with dial up phone lines. So if an Internet company says they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that they will soon have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a place where leased lines can connect to their network. A second meaning, Post Office Protocol refers to the way e-mail software such as Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain a SLIP, PPP, or shell account you almost always get a POP account with it, and it is this POP account that you tell your e-mail software to use to get your mail.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#SLIP">SLIP</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#PPP">PPP</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Port"><font face="Arial" size="1">Port</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">3 meanings. First and most generally, a place where information goes into or out of a computer, or both. E.g. the serial port on a personal computer is where a <i>modem</i> would be connected.<br> <br> On the Internet port often refers to a number that is part of a <i>URL</i>, appearing after a colon (:) right after the <i>domain name</i>. Every service on an Internet <i>server</i> listens on a particular port number on that server. Most services have standard port numbers, e.g. Web servers normally listen on port 80. Services can also listen on non-standard ports, in which case the port number must be specified in a URL when accessing the server, so you might see a URL of the form:<br> <br> gopher://peg.cwis.uci.edu:7000/<br> <br> shows a gopher server running on a non-standard port (the standard gopher port is 70).<br> Finally, port also refers to translating a piece of software to bring it from one type of computer system to another, e.g. to translate a Windows program so that is will run on a Macintosh.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Domain Name">Domain Name</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#URL">URL</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Portal"><font face="Arial" size="1">Portal</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">Usually used as a marketing term to described a Web site that is or is intended to be the first place people see when using the Web. Typically a "Portal site" has a catalog of web sites, a search engine, or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other service to entice people to use that site as their main "point of entry" (hence "portal") to the Web.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Posting"><font face="Arial" size="1">Posting</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A single message entered into a network communications system.<br> <br> E.g. A single message posted to a <i>newsgroup</i> or message board.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Newsgroup">Newsgroup</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="PPP"><font face="Arial" size="1">PPP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Point to Point Protocol) -- Most well known as a protocol that allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a <i>modem</i> to make <i>TCP/IP</i> connections and thus be really and truly on the <i>Internet</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#IP Number">IP Number</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#SLIP">SLIP</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#TCP/IP">TCP/IP</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="PSTN"><font face="Arial" size="1">PSTN</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Public Switched Telephone Network) -- The regular old-fashioned telephone system.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="RFC"><font face="Arial" size="1">RFC</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Request For Comments) -- The name of the result and the process for creating a standard on the <i>Internet</i>. New standards are proposed and published on line, as a Request For Comments. The Internet Engineering Task Force is a consensus-building body that facilitates discussion, and eventually a new standard is established, but the reference number/name for the standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the official standard for <i>e-mail</i> is RFC 822.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Router"><font face="Arial" size="1">Router</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A special-purpose computer (or software package) that handles the connection between 2 or more <i>networks</i>. Routers spend all their time looking at the destination addresses of the <i>packets</i> passing through them and deciding which route to send them on.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Packet Switching">Packet Switching</a> <a name="S"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Security Certificate"><font face="Arial" size="1">Security Certificate</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used by the <i>SSL</i> protocol to establish a secure connection.<br> <br> Security Certificates contain information about who it belongs to, who it was issued by, a unique serial number or other unique identification, valid dates, and an encrypted “fingerprint” that can be used to verify the contents of the certificate.<br> <br> In order for an SSL connection to be created both sides must have a valid Security Certificate.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Certificate Authority">Certificate Authority</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#SSL">SSL</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Server"><font face="Arial" size="1">Server</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to <i>client</i> software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a <i>WWW</i> server, or to the machine on which the software is running, e.g.Our mail server is down today, that’s why e-mail isn’t getting out. A single server machine could have several different server software packages running on it, thus providing many different servers to <i>clients</i> on the <i>network</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Client">Client</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="SLIP"><font face="Arial" size="1">SLIP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Serial Line Internet Protocol) -- A standard for using a regular telephone line (a serial line) and a <i>modem</i> to connect a computer as a real <i>Internet</i> site. SLIP is gradually being replaced by <i>PPP</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#PPP">PPP</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="SMDS"><font face="Arial" size="1">SMDS</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Switched Multimegabit Data Service) -- A new standard for very high-speed data transfer.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="SMTP"><font face="Arial" size="1">SMTP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) -- The main protocol used to send electronic mail on the Internet.<br> <br> SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a program receiving mail should interact.<br> <br> Almost all Internet email is sent and received by <i>clients</i> and <i>servers</i> using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email server on the Internet one would look for email server software that supports SMTP.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Client">Client</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="SNMP"><font face="Arial" size="1">SNMP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Simple Network Management Protocol) -- A set of standards for communication with devices connected to a TCP/IP <i>network</i>. Examples of these devices include <i>routers</i>, hubs, and switches.<br> <br> A device is said to be “SNMP compatible” if it can be monitored and/or controlled using SNMP messages. SNMP messages are known as “PDU’s” - Protocol Data Units.<br> <br> Devices that are SNMP compatible contain SNMP “agent” software to receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages.<br> <br> Software for managing devices via SNMP are available for every kind of commonly used computer and are often bundled along with the device they are designed to manage. Some SNMP software is designed to handle a wide variety of devices.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Router">Router</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Spam (or Spamming)"><font face="Arial" size="1">Spam (or Spamming)</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">An inappropriate attempt to use a <i>mailing list</i>, or <i>USENET</i> or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which it is not) by sending the same message to a large number of people who didn’t ask for it. The term probably comes from a famous Monty Python skit which featured the word spam repeated over and over. The term may also have come from someone’s low opinion of the food product with the same name, which is generally perceived as a generic content-free waste of resources. (Spam is a registered trademark of Hormel Corporation, for its processed meat product.)<br> <br> E.g. Mary spammed 50 USENET groups by posting the same message to each.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Maillist">Maillist</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#USENET">USENET</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="SQL"><font face="Arial" size="1">SQL</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Structured Query Language) -- A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="SSL"><font face="Arial" size="1">SSL</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Secure Sockets Layer) -- A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet.<br> <br> SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web <i>browsers</i> and web <i>servers</i>. <i>URL</i>’s that begin with “https” indicate that an SSL connection will be used.<br> <br> SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity.<br> <br> In an SSL connection each side of the connection must have a <i>Security Certificate</i>, which each side’s software sends to the other. Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from both its own and the other side’s Certificate, ensuring that only the intended recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be sure the data came from the place it claims to have come from, and that the message has not been tampered with.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Browser">Browser</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Server">Server</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Security Certificate">Security Certificate</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#URL">URL</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Sysop"><font face="Arial" size="1">Sysop</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(System Operator) -- Anyone responsible for the physical operations of a computer system or network resource. A System Administrator decides how often backups and maintenance should be performed and the System Operator performs those tasks.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="T-1"><font face="Arial" size="1">T-1</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A <i>leased-line</i> connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 <i>bits</i>-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line could move a <i>megabyte</i> in less than 10 seconds. That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 is the fastest speed commonly used to connect <i>networks</i> to the <i>Internet</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bandwidth">Bandwidth</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bit">Bit</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Byte">Byte</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Ethernet">Ethernet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#T-3">T-3</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="T-3"><font face="Arial" size="1">T-3</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A <i>leased-line</i> connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bandwidth">Bandwidth</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Bit">Bit</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Byte">Byte</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Ethernet">Ethernet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#T-1">T-1</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="TCP/IP"><font face="Arial" size="1">TCP/IP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) -- This is the suite of protocols that defines the <i>Internet</i>. Originally designed for the <i>UNIX</i> operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the <i>Internet</i>, your computer must have TCP/IP software.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#IP Number">IP Number</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#UNIX">UNIX</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Telnet"><font face="Arial" size="1">Telnet</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">The command and program used to <i>login</i> from one <i>Internet</i> site to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the login: prompt of another <i>host</i>.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Terabyte"><font face="Arial" size="1">Terabyte</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">1000 <i>gigabytes</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Byte">Byte</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Kilobyte">Kilobyte</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Terminal"><font face="Arial" size="1">Terminal</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A device that allows you to send commands to a computer somewhere else. At a minimum, this usually means a keyboard and a display screen and some simple circuitry. Usually you will use terminal software in a personal computer - the software pretends to be (emulates) a physical terminal and allows you to type commands to a computer somewhere else.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Terminal Server"><font face="Arial" size="1">Terminal Server</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A special purpose computer that has places to plug in many <i>modems</i> on one side, and a connection to a <i>LAN</i> or <i>host</i> machine on the other side. Thus the terminal server does the work of answering the calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate <i>node</i>. Most terminal servers can provide <i>PPP</i> or <i>SLIP</i> services if connected to the <i>Internet</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#LAN">LAN</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Modem">Modem</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Host">Host</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Node">Node</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#PPP">PPP</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#SLIP">SLIP</a> <a name="U"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="UDP"><font face="Arial" size="1">UDP</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(User Datagram Protocol) -- One of the protocols for data transfer that is part of the <i>TCP/IP</i> suite of protocols. UDP is a “stateless” protocol in that UDP makes no provision for acknowledgement of packets received.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#TCP/IP">TCP/IP</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="UNIX"><font face="Arial" size="1">UNIX</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A computer operating system (the basic software running on a computer, underneath things like word processors and spreadsheets). UNIX is designed to be used by many people at the same time (it is multi-user) and has <i>TCP/IP</i> built-in. It is the most common operating system for <i>servers</i> on the <i>Internet</i>.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="URL"><font face="Arial" size="1">URL</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Uniform Resource Locator) -- The standard way to give the address of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks like this:<br> <br> http://www.matisse.net/seminars.html<br> or telnet://well.sf.ca.us<br> or news:new.newusers.questions<br> etc.<br> <br> The most common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser program, such as Netscape, or Lynx.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Browser">Browser</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#WWW">WWW</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="USENET"><font face="Arial" size="1">USENET</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed among hundreds of thousands of machines. Not all USENET machines are on the <i>Internet</i>, maybe half. USENET is completely decentralized, with over 10,000 discussion areas, called <i>newsgroups</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Newsgroup">Newsgroup</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="UUENCODE"><font face="Arial" size="1">UUENCODE</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Unix to Unix Encoding) -- A method for converting files from <i>Binary</i> to <i>ASCII</i> (text) so that they can be sent across the Internet via <i>e-mail</i>.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Binhex">Binhex</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#MIME">MIME</a> <a name="V"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Veronica"><font face="Arial" size="1">Veronica</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerized Archives) -- Developed at the University of Nevada, Veronica is a constantly updated database of the names of almost every menu item on thousands of <i>gopher</i> servers. The Veronica database can be searched from most major <i>gopher</i> menus.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Gopher">Gopher</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="VPN"><font face="Arial" size="1">VPN</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Virtual Private Network) -- Usually refers to a <i>network</i> in which some of the parts are connected using the public <i>Internet</i>, but the data sent across the Internet is encrypted, so the entire network is "virtually" private.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">A typical example would be a company network where there are two offices in different cities. Using the Internet the two offices mereg their networks into one network, but encrypt traffic that uses the Internet link.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a>, <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a> <a name="W"></a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="WAIS"><font face="Arial" size="1">WAIS</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Wide Area Information Servers) -- A commercial software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then making those indices searchable across <i>networks</i> such as the <i>Internet</i>. A prominent feature of WAIS is that the search results are ranked (scored) according to how relevant the hits are, and that subsequent searches can find more stuff like that last batch and thus refine the search process.</font> <p> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="WAN"><font face="Arial" size="1">WAN</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(Wide Area Network) -- Any <i>internet</i> or <i>network</i> that covers an area larger than a single building or campus.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#internet">internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#LAN">LAN</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Network">Network</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="Web"><font face="Arial" size="1">Web</font></a></b> <dd> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#WWW">WWW</a></font> <p> </p> <dt><b><a name="WWW"><font face="Arial" size="1">WWW</font></a></b> <dd><font face="Arial" size="1">(World Wide Web) -- Frequently used (incorrectly) when referring to "The Internet", WWW has two major meanings - First, loosely used: the whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using <i>Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS</i> and some other tools. Second, the universe of hypertext servers <i>(HTTP servers)</i> which are the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files, etc. to be mixed together.</font> <p><font face="Arial" size="1">See Also: <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Browser">Browser</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#FTP">FTP</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Gopher">Gopher</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#HTTP">HTTP</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Internet">Internet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#Telnet">Telnet</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#URL">URL</a> , <a href="Glossary%20of%20Internet%20Terms.htm#WAIS">WAIS</a></font></p> </dd> </dl> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="1217" height="42"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" width="1178" id="AutoNumber1" height="17"> <tr> <td width="258" height="19"> <p align="center"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="1174" height="1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <hr color="#CC9900"> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="1217" height="111"> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="95%"> <tr> <td width="100%"> <hr color="#CC9900" width="80%" align="center"> <p align="center" style="word-spacing: 0; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><a href="http://www.rvv.com"><img border="0" src="http://www.rvv.com/images/logo.gif" alt="Richmond Virtual Village (rvv.com) logo" width="60" height="34" align="center"></a><font face="Arial" size="2"> The Richmond Virtual Village is a web site by JPCohen. 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