Search
Engine: A tool for searching information on
the Internet by topic. Popular engines include InfoSeek,
Inktomi and Web Crawler.
Server: One half of the
client-server protocol, runs on a networked computer
and responds to requests submitted by the client.
Your World Wide Web browser is a client of a World
Wide Web server.
SET: An acronym for the
Secure Electronic Transaction protocol. It's a means
for authenticating credit card purchases on the
Net. Digital signatures are used by all parties.
Transaction information is encrypted using 1024
bit RSA encryption.
SGML: Standard General
Markup Language - a standard for markup languages.
HTML is one version of HTML.
Shopping Cart:
A piece of software that operates on an online storefront.
The "shopping cart" keeps track of all the items
that a buyer wants to purchase, allowing the shopper
to pay for the whole order at once.
Shareware: Software
that is available on a free limited trial basis.
Sometimes this is a fully featured product, other
times it lacks some of the features of the commercial
version. If you find the product useful, you are
expected to register the software, for which
in return you will receive the full featured commercial
version.
Signature: A personal
tag automatically appended to an email message.
May be short, such as the author's name, or quite
long, such as a favorite quote.
SLIP: Serial Line Internet
Protocol - a protocol allowing you to use a dial-up connection as an
Internet connection. Similar to a PPP connection, though far
less stable.
Smart Card: A credit
card sized plastic card with an embedded microchip.
The chip can be "recharged" with funds. The store
of value on the card is debited as a transaction
is made. The card can also store other ID information
such as, health care details and security information.
SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol - a protocol dictating how email messages
are exchanged over the Internet.
SPAM: Non-Internet: Delicious
"meat" in a can! Internet: Sending multiple, sometimes
thousands, of unwelcome messages to a newsgroup or mailing list to promote a commercial
product or Web site.
S-Mime encryption:
Protects the privacy of email. If the sender and
receiver both have email clients that support the
S-Mime protocol, they can communicate with email
that is secured.
SSL encryption:
Was developed by Netscape to provide data encryption
and authentication of servers or clients. SSL stands
for Secure Sockets Layer. It can be used for any
functions on the Internet- FTP, Usenet or the Web.
T
T1: A category of leased
telephone line service, allowing transfer rates
of 1.5 Mbps (megabytes per second) over the Internet.
Too expensive for home users (around $2000 per month),
but commonly found in business environments.
TAR: Tape ARchive - a compression
format commonly used in the transfer and storage
of files residing on UNIX computers.
TCP/IP: Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol - this protocol is the
foundation of the Internet, an agreed upon set of
rules directing computers on how to exchange information
with each other. Other Internet protocols, such
as FTP, Gopher and HTTP sit on top of TCP/IP.
Telnet: A protocol for
logging onto remote computers from anywhere on the
Internet.
Thread: An ongoing message
based conversation on a single subject.
TIFF: Tag Image File Format
- a popular graphic image file format.
Trolling: Deliberately
posting false information in order to illicit responses
from people who really want to help. A typical response
might be, "No, Bart Simpson was NOT one of our founding
fathers."
U
UNIX: A powerful operating
system used on the backbone machines of the Internet.
World Wide Web servers frequently run on UNIX.
Upload: To copy a file
from a local computer connected to the Internet
to a remote computer. Opposite is download.
URL: Uniform Resource Locator
- the method by which Internet sites are addressed.
An example would be "http://www.squareone.com".
USENET: Short for User's
Network. The collection of the thousands of bulletin
boards residing on the Internet. Each bulletin board
contains discussion groups, or newsgroups, dedicated to a myriad
of topics. Messages are posted and responded to
by readers either as public or private emails.
V
Visit: Synonymous with
viewing a World Wide Web site.
W
WAIS: Wide Area Information
Servers - a system of searchable text databases.
WAN: Wide Area Network -
a system of connected computers spanning a large
geographical area.
WAV: Waveform Audio (.wav)
- a common audio file format for DOS/Windows computers.
WINSOCK: Winsock - a
Microsoft Windows DLL file that provides the interface
to TCP/IP services, essentially allowing Windows
to use Web browsers, FTP programs, and others.
WWW: World Wide Web, or
simply Web. A subset of the Internet which uses
a combination of text, graphics, audio and video
(multimedia) to provide information on most every
subject imaginable.
X
X-Pixelmap: An uncompressed
color image file format (.xpm).
X-Bitmap: An uncompressed
black and white image file format (.xbm).
Z
ZIP: A compressed file format
(.zip). Many files available on the Internet are
compressed or zipped in order to reduce storage
space and transfer times. To uncompress the file,
you need a utility like PKZip (DOS) or WinZip (Windows). |
