X Y Z #
S
Scripting language
Series of programmed commands that designate how one computer
communicates with another computer.
Search engine
A Web site dedicated to helping users find information they
need by searching through the contents of the World Wide Web
and listing all the sites which contain the selected search
word or phrase.
Self-extracting archive
An archived file with the filename extension .exe, indicating
that when downloaded and run, it will be extracted by the
decompressing program around it, without user intervention.
Server
Within a network, a server makes files available to client
programs located on other computers when requested.
Service Provider
A service provider's role is to provide subscribers a gateway
to the internet.
Shareware
Software that can be downloaded from the internet for a free
trial period. Completely free software is commonly known as
"freeware".
Signature
The automatic addition of a few lines at the foot of an E-mail.
These usually consist of the sender's E-mail address, full
name and other details.
SLIP
(Serial Line Internet Protocol) like PPP, lets you use a modem
and phone lines to connect to the internet without connecting
to a host computer.
Smileys
Characters often used in News messages, E-mails and on Web
Pages to offer some degree of character or emotion. Example
:-)
SMTP
(Simple Mail Transport Protocol) often referred to as sendmail,
is designed to allow the delivery of mail messages to internet
users.
Snail mail
Write a letter. Buy a stamp, put stamp on letter. Walk to
the postbox and post letter. Wait a day or two and hopefully
it will have reached its intended destination...that's s n
a i l - m a i l.
Spam
Junk email (If you receive any Spam, you should report it
to the senders ISP).
Surfing
A popular metaphor used for describing someone exploring the
World Wide Web.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
T
Tag
In HTML terms, a 'tag' is used for marking-up text in various
ways so that it is formatted in a Web document. They are sometimes
called 'Markup Tags'.
T-1
Network link used on the internet allowing speeds of up to
1.54 megabits/second.
T-3
Higher speed (45 megabits/second) Network link used on the
internet.
TCP
(Transmission Control Protocol) works in conjunction with
IP to ensure that packets reach their intended destinations.
TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) the two
fundamental protocols which form the basis of the internet.
Telnet
Terminal emulation program allowing an authorised user to
access another computer on the internet and use that computer
as if it were local (when in reality it could be several thousand
miles away).
Terabyte
1000 gigabytes
Terminal
Piece of hardware that allows commands to be sent to a computer,
usually by means of a keyboard and display unit.
Terminal emulator
Allows a PC to emulate several terminal types.
Thread
In a Usenet group, this is a list of messages loosely relating
to one another (using the same 'thread').
Timeout
The facility whereby after a certain period of inactivity
the connection is dropped.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
U
UART
Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter - An interface
chip that allows your PC to talk to different serial devices
such as printers, mice or modems. If your computer has one
or more serial ports, it will have a UART.
Unix
An Operating System typically written in C, and designed for
multi-user environments. It has TCP/IP built in, and is therefore
one of the most popular operating systems for servers on the
internet.
Upload
Transfer of files off a local computer up to a specified remote
computer (as opposed to download where files are pulled off
a remote machine).
URL
(Uniform Resource Locator) resource addressing scheme of the
World Wide Web. Assists in locating and identification of
multimedia resources or multiple copies of resources.
Usenet
Specialised network linking thousands of newsgroups covering
every subject under the sun.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
V
Veronica
(Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net-wide Index to Computerised
Archives) A resource-discovery system providing access to
information resources held on most (+99%) of the world's gopher
servers. In addition to native gopher data, veronica includes
references to many resources provided by other types of information
servers, such as WWW servers, usenet archives, and telnet-accessible
information services.
Video Conferencing
A process where digital video cameras are used to allow people
to 'meet' over the internet whilst in front of their computers.
Virus
A virus is a computer program that can hide anywhere where
a computer stores information. They have the ability to transfer
from computer to computer with the use of the internet and
various other networks. A virus can do a number of things
to a recipient such as reformatting hard drives (destroying
data).
V-mail
Voice messages via the internet.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
W
WAIS
(Wide Area Information Servers) an architecture for a distributed
information retrieval system. WAIS is based on the client-server
model of computation, and allows users of computers to share
information using a common computer-to-computer protocol.
Webblog
Also known as a 'blog'. A site setup by an individual who writes about his
or her day to day experiences. Some have a particular theme, such as the now-famous
'Baghdad' webblog which chronicled an individuals life in Baghdad during the 2003 Gulf War.
Webblogs are becoming increasingly popular on the internet.
Wide Area Network (WAN)
Group of computers located geographically apart, usually belonging
to a single company or organisation, connected together using
dedicated lines or by satellite to simulate a local network.
WinSock
(WINdows SOCKets) Windows utility program allowing users connected
by SLIP, PPP or other direct connection to communicate with
other computers on the internet by TCP/IP.
World Wide Web ('WWW' or 'Web')
Specialised internet service allowing users to connect to
remote sites, with information presented as text with
hypertext
links. These links can be used to refer to almost all other
resources on the internet. Graphics can be embedded
into Web
pages, but can only be viewed using a graphical Web browser.
Other applications supported are sound files and movie
files.
Worm
A search utility on the World Wide Web that locates resources
following user-determined guidelines.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
X
XML
A new standard that is set to replace HTML as the mark-up
language of the Net.
X-MODEM
A data transfer protocol used in the days before TCP/IP.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
Y
Yahoo
A popular search engine available from your web browser. Its
full address is www.yahoo.com
Y-MODEM
Another file transfer protocol, slightly faster than XMODEM.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
Z
ZIP
Files that have been compressed using the PKZIP program have
this filename extension. They can be decompressed using the
PKUNZIP utility.
Z-MODEM
A fast and popular file transfer protocol, due to its efficiency
and crash recovery properties.
