@ Pronounced "at" as in an Internet address such as pheaven@calstate.edu.
Anchor The location of a hypertext link in a document. An anchor can be either the start of a hyperlink or the destination of a hypertext link.
Anonymous FTP Computers can run a special server known as an anonymous FTP server, which permit guests to log in on the computer and access public resources. In general, when you log in to an FTP site as user anonymous, you (or your browser) use e-mail address for the password string.
Archie A tool (software) for finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites. You need to know the exact file name or a sub-string of it.
Backbone A high-speed network that connects several powerful computers. In the U.S., the backbone of the Internet is often considered the NSFNet, a government funded link between a handful of supercomputer sites across the country.
Baud The speed at which modems transfer data. One baud is roughly equal to one bit per second. It takes eight bits to make up one letter or character. Modems rarely transfer data at exactly the same speed as their listed baud rate because of static or computer problems. More expensive modems use systems, such as Microcom Network Protocol (MNP), which can correct for these errors or which "compress" data to speed up transmission.
BBS (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.
BITNET (Because It's Time Network) -- A network of educational sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs, the most popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. BITNET machines are IBM VMS machines, and the network is probably the only international network that is shrinking.
Bandwidth How much "stuff" you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bitsper-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 bitsper-second, depending on compression. 56K, T-1, T-3
Browser A client program (software) that is used to look at various kinds of Internet resources. See also: Client, URL, WWW
Client A software program that is used to contact and obtain data from a Server software program on another computer, often across a great distance. Each Client program is designed to work with one or more specific kinds of Server programs, and each Server requires a specific kind of Client. See also: Server
Cyberspace Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel "Neuromancer", the word Cyberspace is currently used to describe the whole range of information resources available through computer networks.
Domain Name 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. Usually, all of the machines on a given network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names, e.g.
gateway.gbnet.com
mail.gbnetwork.com
www.gbnetwork.com
and so on. 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. See also: IP Number.
Dot (".") When you want to impress the net veterans you meet at parties' say "dot" instead of "period," for example: "My address is john at site dot domain dot com."
Down When a public-access site runs into technical trouble, and you can no longer gain access to it, it's down.
Download Copy a file from a host system to your computer. There are several different methods, or protocols, for downloading files, most of which periodically check the file as it is being copied to ensure no information is inadvertently destroyed or damaged during the process. Some, such as XMODEM, only let you download one file at a time. Others, such as batch-YMODEM and ZMODEM, let you type in the names of several files at once, which are then automatically downloaded.
Element (HTML) The basic unit of an HTML document. HTML documents use start and stop tags to define structural elements in the document. These elements are arranged hierarchically, to define the overall document structure.
E-mail (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 (Mailing List) See also: Listserv, Maillist
Emoticon See Smiley.
End Tag A markup tag that denotes the end of an element.
FAQ (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.
Follow-up A Usenet posting that is a response to an earlier message.
Freeware Software that doesn't cost anything.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) -- A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP is a special way to login 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".
Finger 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.
Get a life What to say to somebody who has, perhaps, been spending a wee bit too much time in front of a computer.
GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) A format developed in the mid-1980s by CompuServe for use in photo-quality graphics images. Now commonly used everywhere online.
Gopher A widely successful method of making menus of material available over the Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style program, which requires that the user have a Gopher Client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly across the globe in only a couple of years, it is being largely supplanted by Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will remain for a while. See also: Client, Server, WWW, Hypertext
Hacker On the Net, unlike among the general public, this is not a bad person; it is simply somebody who enjoys stretching hardware and software to their limits, seeing just what they can get their computers to do. What many people call hackers, net.denizens refer to as crackers.
Handshake Two modems trying to connect first do this to agree on how to transfer data.
Hang When a modem fails to hang up.
Helper Application A program launched or used by a browser to process files that the browser cannot handle internally. Thus users have helpers to view JPEG images or play sound files, and also to uncompress compressed files or unstuff archives.
Holy war Arguments that involve certain basic tenets of faith, about which one cannot disagree without setting one of these off. For example: IBM PCs are inherently superior to Macintoshes.
Home Page The introductory page for a World Wide Web site. A home page usually provides an introduction to the site, along with the hypertext links to local resources.
Host Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as WWW and USENET See also: Node, Network
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) -- The coding language used create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. 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 World Wide Web Client program, such as Mosaic. See also: HTTP, Hypertext, Mosaic, WWW
HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol) -- The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW) See also: Client, Server, WWW
Hypertext 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.
IMHO (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 many such shorthands in common use online, especially in discussion forums.
Internet (upper case I) The vast collection of inter-connected networks that all use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from the ARPANET of the late 60's and early '70s. The Internet now (Nov. 1994) connects roughly 30,000 independent networks into a vast global internet. See also: internet (lower case i)
internet (lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state.
IP Number (IP Address) Sometimes called a "dotted quad". A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 165.113.245.2. 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 Domain Names that are easier for people to remember. See also: Domain Name, Internet
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) -- Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a number major IRC servers 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".
JPEG An image format. JPEG allows for higher quality images than GIF.
LAN Local Area Network
Listserv The most common kind of maillist, Listservs originated on BITNET but they are now common on the Internet See also: BITNET, E-mail, Maillist
Login/Logon Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer host system. Not a secret (contrast with Password) Verb: The act of entering into a computer system, e.g. "Login to the WELL and then go to the GBN conference." See also: Password
Logoff Disconnect from Host system.
Lurk Read messages in a Usenet newsgroup without ever saying anything.
MOO (Mud, Object Oriented) -- one of several kinds of multi-user role-playing environments, so far only text-based. See also: MUD
MUD (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. See also: MOO
Maillist (or Mailing List) A (usually automated) system that allows people to send e-mail 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 kids of e-mail access can participate in discussions together.
Modem (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.
Mosaic The best known and most widespread WWW browser or client software. 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. See also: Browser, Client, WWW
Multimedia A mixture of media-text, audio and video-under the control of a computer. The World Wide Web is a form of multimedia.
Net.god One who has been online since the beginning, who knows all and who has done it all.
Net.personality Somebody sufficiently opinionated/flaky/with plenty of time on his hands to regularly post in dozens of different Usenet newsgroups, whose presence is known to thousands of people.
Net.police Derogatory term for those who would impose their standards on other users of the Net. Often used in vigorous flame wars (in which it occasionally mutates to net.nazis).
Netiquette A set of common-sense guidelines for not annoying others.
NIC (Network 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.
Network Any time you connected 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 internet. See also: Internet, internet
Newbie Somebody new to the Net. Sometimes used derogatorily by net.veterans who have forgotten that, they, too, were once newbies who did not innately know the answer to everything. "Clueless newbie" is always derogatory.
Newsgroups The name for discussion groups on Usenet .See also: Usenet
Offline When your computer is not connected to a host system or the Net, you are offline.
Online When your computer is connected to an online service, bulletin-board system or public-access site.
Packet Switching The method used to move data around on the Internet . 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.
Password A code used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such as "virtue7". A good password might be: Hot$1-6. See also: Login
Ping A program that can trace the route a message takes from your site to another site.
Post To compose a message for a Usenet newsgroup and then send it out for others to see.
Postmaster The person to contact at a particular site to ask for information about the site or complain about one of his/her user's behavior.
Protocol The method used to transfer a file between a host system and your computer. There are several types, such as Kermit, YMODEM and ZMODEM.
Prompt When the host system asks you to do something and waits for you to respond. For example, if you see "login:" it means type your user name.
README files Files found on FTP sites that explain what is in a given FTP directory or which provide other useful information (such as how to use FTP).
Robots On the World Wide Web, a program that autonomously searches through trees of hypertext documents, retrieving files for indexing (or other purposes).
POP 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 dialup 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. See also: PPP, SLIP
PPP (Point to Point Protocol) -- most well known as a protocol that allows a computer to use a regular telephone line and a modem to make a TCP/IP connection and thus be really and truly on the Internet . PPP is gradually replacing SLIP for this purpose. See also: IP number, Internet, SLIP, TCP/IP
RFC (Request For Comments) -- the name of the result and the process for creating a standard on the Internet . 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 e-mail is RFC 822.
Server (see Client) A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW 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 services to clients on the network See also: Client, Network
Shareware Software that is freely available on the Net. If you like and use the software, you should send in the fee requested by the author, whose name and address will be found in a file distributed with the software.
SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) A standard for using a regular telephone line (a "serial line") and a modem to connect a computer as a real Internet site. SLIP is gradually being replaced by PPP. See also: Internet, PPP
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) The standard by which electronic mail messages are communicated over the Internet.
Smiley A way to describe emotion online. Look at this with your head tilted to the left :). There are scores of these smileys, from grumpy to quizzical. Also known as Emoticons.
Snail mail Mail that comes through a slot in your front door or a box mounted outside your house.
Sysop A system operator. Somebody who runs a bulletin-board system.
Tag (HTML) HTML marks documents using sage. A tag is simply typed text surrounded by the less than and greater than signs, for example:
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/lnternet Protocol) This is the suite of protocols that defines The Internet . Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software. See also: IP number, Internet, UNIX
Telnet The command and program used to login from one Internet site to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the "login:" prompt of another host.
Terminal 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.
UNIX 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 TCP/IP built-in. It is the most common operating system for servers on the Internet.
URL (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:
http://www.matisse.net/seminars.html or
Upload Copy a file from your computer to a host system.
User name On most host systems, the first time you connect you are asked to supply a one-word user name. This can be any combination of letters and numbers.
Usenet A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed among hundreds of thousands of machines. Not ail Usenet machines are on the Internet, maybe half. Usenet is completely decentralized, with over 10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups
Veronica (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 gopher servers. The Veronica database can be searched from most major gopher menus. See also: Gopher
WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers) -- A commercial software package that allows the indexing of huge quantities of information, and then making those indices searchable across networks such as the Internet .
WAN (Wide Area Network) -- Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus. See also: Internet, internet, LAN, Network
WWW (World Wide Web) Two meanings - First, loosely used: The whole constellation of resources that can be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, Usenet, WAIS and some other tools. Second, the universe of hypertext servers (HTTP servers ) which are the servers that allow text, graphics, sound files etc. to be mixed together. See also: Browsers, FTP, Gopher, HTTP, Telnet, URL, WAIS
telnet://well.sf.ca.us or
news ://new.newusers.questions etc.