A

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
ASCII is the most common format for text files in computers and on the Internet. In an ASCII file, each alphabetic, numeric, or special character is represented with a 7-bit binary number (a string of seven 0s or 1s). 128 possible characters are defined.

ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line)
ADSL is a technology for transmitting digital information at high speeds on existing copper phone lines to homes and businesses. ADSL is asymmetric in that it uses most of the channel to transmit downstream to the user and only a small part to receive information from the user. ADSL simultaneously accommodates POTS (plain old telephone service). ADSL can provide data at speeds ranging from 1.544 Mbps to 8 Mbps.

ADSL was specifically designed to exploit the one-way nature of most multimedia communication in which large amounts of information flow toward the user and only a small amount of interactive control information is returned.

Archie
A program that allows you to search for files available for anonymous FTP.

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)
A project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense that first used the packet-switching technology that is the basis of the Internet.

Analog
An electric transmission of varying frequency of amplitude.

ANSI (American National Standard Institute)
The Primary organization that sets the standards governing technology development in the United States.

B

Backbone
A high-speed physical network designed to span hundreds or thousands of miles. It provides the means to connect regional networks with each other. The current Internet backbone is provided by NSFNET. It spans the continental Unites States with speeds of 45 Mbps, using T3 lines leased from commercial service providers.

Bandwidth
A measure of the amount of information that can be transmitted via a given physical transmission line in a given period of time. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits per second. (bps)

Baud Rate
An older ,method of measuring the speed of a serial connection. BPS is the more prevalent way of measuring serial connection speeds.

Binary
Binary is the base two number system that computers use to represent data. It consists of only two numbers: "0" and "1". All information inside a computer is stored and manipulated as 1'a and 0's. Binary is the term used to describe this methodology.

Binhex
In Macintosh computing, a method of encoding binary files so that they consist only of ACSII text. The encoding is necessary so that the file can be transmitted via electronic mail; Internet mail can only handle ASCII text file. Base64 is another method o f this type of encoding. You need a program that can convert the text back to binary in order to use the file. The file extension for Binhex is .Hqu .

BPS (Bytes Per Second)
See Baud Rate.

C

CIR (Committed Information Rate)
The rate at which a data transfer service provider guarantees transfer speed will not drop below. Used commonly to describe the miniumum speed at which data will flow over an ADSL connection.

Com Port (Communications Port)
The port on your computer in which your modem is connected. This port allows your modem (or any serial device) to send information in and out of your computer.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
The common gateway interface provides a consistent way for data to be passed from the user's request to the application program and back to the user. This means that the person who writes the application program can makes sure it gets used no matter which operating system the server uses (PC, Macintosh, UNIX, OS/390, or others). It's simply a basic way for information to be passed from the Web server about your request to the application program and back again.

Because the interface is consistent, a programmer can write a CGI application in a number of different languages. The most popular languages for CGI applications are: C, C++, Java, JavaScript, REXX, and Perl.

D

Digital
Digital describes electronic technology that generates, stores, and processes data in terms of two states: positive and non-positive. Positive is expressed or represented by the number 1 and non-positive by the number 0. Thus, data transmitted or stored with digital technology is expressed as a string of 0's and 1's. Each of these state digits is referred to as a bit (and a string of 8 bits that a computer can address individually as a group is a byte).

Prior to digital technology, electronic transmission was limited to analog technology, which conveys data as electronic signals of varying frequency or amplitude that are added to carrier waves of a given frequency. Broadcast and phone transmission has conventionally used analog technology.

Digital technology is primarily used with new physical communications media, such as satellite and fiber optic transmission. A modem is used to convert the digital information in your computer to analog signals for your phone line and to convert analog phone signals to digital information for your computer.

DLL(dynamic link library)
In personal computers, a DLL file is a modular program routine that comes with or can be added to your operating system. Each DLL file must have a ".dll" file name extension. DLL files are dynamically linked with the program that uses them during program execution. They don't need to be compiled with the main program. The set of such files (or the DLL) is somewhat comparable to the library routines provided with programming languages such as C and C++.

DNS(domain name system)
The domain name system is the way that Internet domain names are located and translated into IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. A domain name is a meaningful and easy-to-remember "handle" for an Internet address.

Because maintaining a central list of domain name/IP address correspondences would be impractical, the lists of domain names and IP addresses are distributed throughout the Internet in a hierarchy of authority. There is probably a DNS server within close geographic proximity to your access provider that maps the domain names in your Internet requests or forwards them to other servers in the Internet.

Domain
In computing and telecommunications in general, a domain is a set of owned knowledge identified by a name. Typically, the knowledge is a collection of facts about some program entities or a number of network points or addresses.

On the Internet, a domain consists of a set of network addresses. This domain is organized in levels. The top level identifies geographic or purpose commonality (for example, the nation that the domain covers or a category such as "commercial"). The second level identifies a unique place within the top level domain and is, in fact, equivalent to a unique address on the Internet (or IP). Lower levels of domain may also be used.

The top level domains currently in use identify the geographic or categorical properties such as: .com for commercial, .org for non-profit organizations, .gov for government, .edu for educational. More top level domain names will appear in the future to accomodate the Internets growth. Look for .shop (Store Fronts) and .banc (Financial Institutions) and more to appear soon.

Download
To receive information from a host (sending) computer to your conputer. Commonly used to refer to transfering a file from another computer to your computer by means of a modem and a telephone line. The most common way of downloading is using a FTP program.(see File Transfer Protocol) Most Web browsers allow you to download using Hyper Links.

Dynamic IP Address
A dynamic IP address is one that is chosen and assigned to you by your sever. This address is assigned at the point you authenticate your self.

E-mail(electronic mail)
E-mail (electronic mail) is the exchange of computer-stored messages across a network. Messages are encoded in ASCII text. However, you can also send non-text files, such as graphic images and sound files, as attachments sent in binary streams. E-mail was one of the first uses of the Internet and is still probably the most popular single use. A large percentage of the total traffic over the Internet is e-mail. E-mail can also be exchanged between online service users and in networks other than the Internet, both public and private.

E

Ethernet
Ethernet is a standard local area network protocol that was originally developed by Xerox and then developed further by Xerox, DEC, and Intel. An Ethernet LAN can use coaxial cable or CAT5 UTP cable and provides transmission speeds up to 10 Mbps over coaxial, 100Mbps over Cat5 UTP. Nodes are connected to the cable and compete for access using a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) protocol.

F

FAQ (frequently-asked questions)
The FAQ (pronounced "eff - ay - que") or list of "frequently-asked questions" (and answers) has become a feature of the Internet. The FAQ seems to have originated in many of the Usenet groups as a way to acquaint new users with the rules. Today, there are thousands of FAQs on the World Wide Web.

Frame Relay
Frame relay is a technology for transmitting data packets in high-speed bursts across a digital network encapsulated in a transmission unit called a frame. Frame relay requires a dedicated connection during the transmission period. It's not suitable for v oice or video transmission, which requires a steady flow of transmissions. Frame relay is a fast-packet technology, which means that error-checking does not occur at any transmission stage. The end points are responsible for error checking. (However, the incidence of error in digital networks is extraordinarily small relative to analog networks.)

The frame relay standard, an extension of the ISDN standards, is CCITT I.122. A frame relay connection is known as a virtual connection. A permanent virtual connection is totally dedicated to one origin and destination pair and can transmit up to 1.544 Mb ps, depending on the capabilities of the pair. A switched virtual connection is also possible using the public network and can provide higher bandwidths.

Freeware
Freeware is programming that is offered at no cost. However, it is copyrighted so that you can't incorporate its programming into anything you may be developing. The least restrictive "no-cost" programs are un-copyrighted programs in the public domain. These include a number of small UNIX programs. When reusing public domain software in your own programs, it's good to know the history of the program so that you can be sure it really is in the public domain.

You can find a great deal of shareware and freeware at http://www.shareware.com.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the usual way you send files to your server (or receive some). Using FTP, you can also update (delete, rename, move, and copy) files at a server. People who create Web home pages use FTP to get their files to the server where they will be accessed.

FTP has a user command interface for establishing contact with a server, logging in, and sending, receiving, or otherwise changing files. Or you may install a utility that offers a graphical interface.

Many access providers include an FTP utility as part of the set-up. Among FTP utilities that can be downloaded from the Web are WS_FTP, and CuteFTP.

G

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
GIF (pronounced "jif") is one of the two most common file formats for graphic images on the World Wide Web. (The other is the JPEG.)

A graphics file format that was original developed by CompuServe and widely used to facilitate the exchange of graphics throughout the computer community, including BBS's and the Internet. A Gif is compressed to shorten the transmission time.

Gopher
A resource discovery tool that permits you to browse in search of diverse Internet resources, such as files, graphics, WAIS bases, or phone books, by using on-screen menus. Gopher enables you to retrieve these items without having to know the technical details of where the resources are located and how to operate the programs that retrieve them.

Two popular tools for searching Gopher file hierarchies are Veronica and Jughead.

H

Hub
In data communications, the word "hub" has the general meaning of grouping data from many lines onto one line and, in the reverse direction, forwarding data from the main line onto many ancillary lines.

Ascend Communications and U. S. Robotics are leading manufacturers of hubs.

HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language)
HTML is the set of "markup" symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display on a Web browser. The markup tells the Web browser how to display the information for the user.

HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol)
The hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is the set of rules for exchanging files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web. Relative to the TCP/IP suite of protocols (which are the basis for information exchange on the Internet), HTTP is an application protocol.

The protocol lets a user to jump to another document that may be located on another host thousands of miles away and then retrieve that information in a document.

I

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
The IEEE describes itself as "the world's largest technical professional society -- promoting the development and application of electro-technology and allied sciences for the benefit of humanity, the advancement of the profession, and the well-being of our members."

The IEEE acts as the developer of standards that often become national and international standards. The organization publishes a number of journals, has many local chapters, and several large societies in special areas, such as the IEEE Computer Society. The IEEE has its own page at http://www.ieee.org.

Internet
The Internet is a cooperative public network of shared information. Physically, the Internet uses a subset of the total resources of all the currently existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the Internet as a cooperative public network is its use of a set of protocols called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). The Internet is composed of the World Wide Web, E-mail, Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), Internet Relay Chat (IRC), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and numerous other systems that are linked together.

Internet Explorer (Microsoft Internet Explorer)
Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE) is the graphical World Wide Web browser or user interface that is provided with the Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, and 2000 operating system.

InterNIC
The InterNIC is a concept for an integrated network information center that was developed by several companies, including Network Solutions, in cooperation with the U.S. Government. The InterNIC currently provides information to the public regarding Internet domain name registration services. www.internic.net

Intranet
An intranet is a network that is contained within an enterprise. It may consist of many inter-linked local area networks and also use leased-lines in a wide-area network. It may or may not include connections through one or more gateways to the outside Internet. The main purpose of an intranet is usually to share company information and computing resources among employees. An intranet can also be used to facilitate working in groups and for teleconferences.

Typically, larger enterprises allow connection outside of the intranet to the Internet through firewall servers that have the ability to screen messages in both directions so that company security is maintained.

IP Address
Each device, (computer, router, etc.) connected to a TCP/IP Network, (such as the Internet), has an IP Address that uniquely identifies the device. TCP/IP Addresses consist of 4 numbers, 1-255, seperated by a period. i.e. 172.145.93.112

IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a system for chatting that involves a set of rules and conventions and client/server software. On the Web, certain sites such as Talk City provide an IRC server and help you download an IRC client to your PC.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)
ISDN is a set of digital transmission protocols for use over ordinary telephone copper wire as well as over other media. Home and business users who install ISDN adapters (in place of their modems) will see highly-graphic Web pages arrive much faster than with their 14.4 Kbps or 28.8 Kbps modems. ISDN requires adapters at both ends of the transmission so your access provider also needs an ISDN adapter. ISDN is generally available from your phone company in most urban areas in the United States and Europe.

ISP (Internet or independent service provider)
An ISP is a company that provides individuals and other companies access to the Internet. An ISP owns or rents the equipment required to have points-of-presence (POP) on the Internet for the geographic area served. The larger ISPs have their own high-speed leased lines so that they are less dependent on the telecommunication providers and can provide better service to their customers.

J

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
A JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg") is a graphic image created by choosing from a range of compression qualities (or from one of a suite of compression algorithms). While GIF graphics were acceptable for yesterdays graphics and monitors, JPEG can take advantage of the high-resolution displays that are almost a common place item in today's personal computers.

Along with the Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) file, the JPEG is a file type supported by the World Wide Web protocol.

K

L

Leased Line
A leased line is a telephone line that has been leased for private use. In some contexts, it's called a dedicated line. A leased line is usually contrasted with a switched line or dial-up line. Typically, leased lines can handle between 56kbs and 64 kbs of data.

Linux
Linux (often pronounced "lie-nucks" with a long "i" and "lih-nucks" with a short "i") is a UNIX-like operating system that was designed to provide personal computer users a low-cost or even free operating system comparable to traditional and usually more expensive UNIX systems. Linux's kernel was developed by Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in Finland. To complete the operating system, Torvalds and other computer programmers across the Internet community, made use of system components developed by members of the Free Softwa re Foundation for the GNU project.

List Server
A list server is a program that handles subscription requests for a mailing list and distributes new messages from the list's members to the entire list of subscribers as they occur.

A Usenet newsgroup subscription list employs a list server. In order to subscribe to these, your browser must have a newsgroup reader and you must read and subscribe to newsgroups using this reader.

Two commonly-installed list servers are listserv and Majordomo.

M

MIME (Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions)
A protocol that lets Internet users exchange multimedia E-mail messages containing enhanced character sets, PostScript formatting, recorded sounds, GIF graphics, and digital video.

Modem (modulator/demodulator)
A modem modulates digital signals from a computer or other digital device to analog signals for a conventional copper twisted-pair telephone line and demodulates the analog signal and converts it to a digital signal for the digital device.

In recent years, the 2400 bps modem that could carry e-mail has become obsolete. Today's 14.4 Kbps and 28.8 Kbps modems are themselves a temporary stepping stone to the higher bandwidth devices and carriers of tomorrow. In 1997, modems with 56 Kbps downst ream capability will become common. Using an ISDN adapter, your telephone wire can now carry up to 128 Kbps. Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), now on trial in a number of communities, offers bandwidth in the megabyte range.

Major manufacturers of modems include U. S. Robotics, Rockwell, Motorola, and Hayes.

MUD (Multi-User Dungeon)
A MUD or Multi-User Dungeon is an inventively structured social experience on the Internet, managed by a computer program and often involving a loosely organized context or theme, such as a rambling old castle with many rooms or a period in national histo ry. Some MUDs are ongoing adventure games; others are educational in purpose; and others are simply social. MUDs existed prior to the World Wide Web, accessible through telneting to a computer that hosted the MUD. Most MUDs tend to be a text based applic ation, although GIU MUDs are becoming more popular. Today, many MUDs can be accessed through a Web site and some are perhaps better known as 3-D worlds or chat worlds.

Yahoo provides a long list of MUDs.

N

Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator is the most widely-used World Wide Web browser or user interface. It was developed in 1995 by a team led by Marc Andreessen, who invented the first popular Web browser, Mosaic, at the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in 1993.

Newsgroup
A newsgroup is a posted discussion group on USENET, a worldwide network of newsgroups.

Newsgroups are organized into subject hierarchies, with the first few letters of the newsgroup name indicating the major subject category and sub-categories represented by a subtopic name. Many subjects have multiple levels of subtopics. Some major subjec t categories are: news, rec (recreation), soc (society), sci (science), comp (computers), and so forth (there are many more). Users can post to existing newsgroups, respond to previous posts, and create new newsgroups. You can subscribe to the postings on a particular newsgroup.

O

P

Perl (Practical Extraction and Reporting Language)
Also well known as the Pathologically Ecclectic Rubbish Lister, Perl is an interpreted script language created by Larry Wall. It is similar to the C language but includes and even goes byond the capabilities of popular UNIX facilities such as sed, awk, and tr. It is regarded as a good choice for developing Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs because it has good text manipulation facilities. www.perl.com

Ping (Packet Internet Groper)
Loosely, ping means "to get the attention of" or "to check for the presence of" another party online. Ping operates by sending a packet to a designated address and waiting for a response. The computer acronym was contrived to match the submariners' term f or the sound of a returned sonar pulse.

'ping (8)' is a UNIX command to manually ping another address, and can be used to measure round-trip delay.

POP (point-of-presence)
A POP (point-of-presence) is the location of an access point to the Internet. A POP necessarily has a unique Internet (IP) address. Your independent service provider (ISP) or online service provider (OSP) has a point-of-presence on the Internet. POPs are sometimes used as one measure of the size and growth of an ISP or OSP.

A POP may actually reside in rented space owned by a telecommunications carrier such as Sprint. A POP usually includes routers, digital/analog call aggregators, servers, and frequently frame relay or ATM switches.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3)
POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) is the most recent version of a standard protocol for receiving e-mail. POP3 is a client-server protocol in which e-mail is received and held for you by your Internet server. Periodically, you (or your client e-mail receiver) check your mail-box on the server and download any mail. POP3 is built into the Netmanage suite of Internet products and one of the most popular e-mail products, Eudora. It's also built into the Microsoft & Netscape browsers. POP and IMAP deal with the r eceiving of e-mail and are not to be confused with SMTP, a protocol for transferring e-mail across the Internet. You send e-mail with SMTP and a mail handler receives it on your recipient's behalf. Then the mail is read using POP or IMAP.

PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol)
Like SLIP, PPP is a TCP/IP protocol used for communication between two machines that are previously configured for communication with each other (thus, point-to-point). For example, your Internet server provider may provide you with a PPP connection so th at the provider's server can respond to your requests, pass them on to the Internet, and forward your requested Internet responses back to you.

PPP is usually preferred over the Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) because it can handle synchronous as well as asynchronous communication. PPP can share a line with other users and it has error detection that SLIP lacks.

Q

R

Router
On the Internet, a router is a device or, in some cases, software in a computer, that directs information packets to the next point toward their destination. The router is connected to at least two networks and decides which way to send each information p acket based on its current understanding of the state of the networks it is connected to. A router is located at any juncture of networks, including each Internet point-of-presence.

Ascend Communications is the leading manufacturer of routers.

S

SCSI (small computer system interface)
SCSI (pronounced "scuzzy") is a standard interface (approved by ANSI) for attaching a variety of peripheral devices to computers. Typically, a SCSI controller comes with or is added to a computer as an adapter card. A SCSI controller can handle up to 7 de vices of various types (for example, CD-ROMs, tape backup devices, and scanners). Devices are arranged as a chain from a single interface and input/output for these devices is interleaved by the controller and the operating system.

SERIAL DEVICE
Any device that send and receives information one piece at a time, (in series). Examples of Serial Devices are: Modems, Mice, Plotters, Palm Computers... (Basically, anything you plug into a serial port is a serial device)

SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol)
SLIP is a TCP/IP protocol used for communication between two machines that are previously configured for communication with each other. For example, your Internet server provider may provide you with a SLIP connection so that the provider's server can res pond to your requests, pass them on to the Internet, and forward your requested Internet responses back to you. Your dial-up connection to the server is typically on a slower serial line rather than on the parallel or multiplex lines such as a T-1 line of the network you are hooking up to.

A better service is provided by the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP).

SHTML (Server-side include Hypertext Markup Language file)
A Web file with the suffix of ".shtml" (rather than the usual ".htm") indicates a file that includes some information that will be added "on the fly" by the server before it is sent to you. A typical use is to include a "Last modified" date at the bottom of the page.

T

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
TCP/IP is the suite of network protocols that make the Internet, and a growing percentage of private networks, operate. The Internet, is, in fact, all the computers with access to the public telecommunications network that are using TCP/IP to communicate.

U

UNIX
UNIX is an operating system that originated at Bell Labs in 1969 as an interactive time-sharing system. Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie are considered the inventors of UNIX. The name is pronounced "yew-nix". UNIX has evolved as a kind of large freeware product, with many extensions and new ideas provided in a variety of versions of UNIX by different companies, universities, and individuals. Partly because it was not a proprietary operating system owned by any one of the leading computer companies and partly because it is written in a standard language and embraced many popular ideas, UNIX became the first open or standard operating system.

Upload
To send information from your computer to a host (receiving) copmputer Commonly used to describe transfering a file from your computer to another computer by means of a modem and a telephone line. The most common way of uploading is using an FTP program.(see File Transfer Protocol)

URL (uniform resource locator)
A URL is the address of a Web page. Using the protocol of the Web, the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), a URL (uniform resource locator) is the unique address of a single HTML page or file on the Web. The address includes a domain name (which is actually a unique Internet server address) and a hierarchical description of a file location on the server.

An example of a URL is:

http://www.aesoft.net

UTP
Short for Unshielded Twisted Pair

V

W

World Wide Web
A technical definition of the World Wide Web is: all the resources and users on the Internet that are using the (HTTP).

A broader definition comes from the organization that Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee helped found, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C):

"The World Wide Web is the universe of network-accessible information, an embodiment of human knowledge."

X

X2-(USR)
X2 is a proprietary technology from U.S. Robotics for the transmission of data over ordinary phone lines at speeds of 56kbs. This speed is a downstream or download speed only (to your home or business). Upstream speed is at a maximum of 33.6kbps .

Y

Z

Zip/Unzip
This is the compressing of a file or set of files into a single smaller file. Zipping a file or set will take up less space on a diskette and take less time to send to someone. The file extension of a zipped file is .zip . Unzipping is the uncompressing of a file or set of files into its original size. This is done after the transmission of the file.

Popular zipping programs are PkZip/PkUnzip and WinZip.