Glossary

The complete glossary from Appendix A can be found on this page, but not only is it free to use. It can also be copied and used in other contexts. The GNU Public license applies to the whole glossary.

This appendix contains a list of all the buzz-words used throughout the book. You can use this glossary while reading the book or as a future reference.

A

Acceptable Use Policy

A former set of formal rules that govern how a network, application or piece of information may be used. See also netiquette, Terms of Service.

Active X

Software technology developed by Microsoft for including applications into HTML pages. Lack of security let many people prefer Java over Active X.

Address

An address on the Internet is described as a uniform resource locator, which can be used for any type of addressing, such as e-mails (mailto:info@gallery-net.com), web pages (http://www.news.com/) and ftp sites (ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/communicator). Instead of using domain names, it is also possible to use IP addresses. See also ftp, e-mail, IP, uniform resource locator, web page.

Address Resolution Protocol

Used primarily with IP -- Network Layer to resolve addresses.

ADSL

See asymmetric digital subscriber line.

Advanced Research Projects Agency Network

A computer network that has been developed in the late 60s by the US Department of Defense to allow communication in a post-nuclear war age. Predecessor of the Internet. See also internet.

Ad-Server

A program or server that is responsible for handling the banner advertisements for several web sites. These servers offer statistics about visits and movements of customers. They offer also functionality, such as banner rotation, so that a single customer will not see a certain banner twice, when visiting the same web page.

Ad Transfer

An ad transfer is the successful arrival of a customer at the site of the banner advertisement. See also banner advertisement.

AFK

Net-language for "away from keyboard".

Agent

Application that acts for a customer by completing transactions, seeking information or prices or communicating with other agents and customers.

AI

See artificial intelligence.

Anonymous FTP

See ftp.

Anti-aliasing

Process used to remove jagged edges in computerized graphics.

American Standard Code For Information Interchange

A standard for the representation of upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers and punctuation on computers. There are 128 standard ASCII codes which are represented by a 7 digit binary code. The other 128 codes are used differently on most computers. In order to display non-Latin codes, Unicode is used in most cases. See also binary code, unicode.

API

See application program interface.

Applet

Java programs that are embedded into HTML pages. Applets are restricted, in such a way that they are, for example, not allowed to read and write to the hard disk of the user without explicit permission. See also HTML, java, servlet.

Application

A program, which is self-contained and that executes a set of well-defined tasks under user control.

Application Program Interface

Interface, which allows the communication between programs, networks and databases.

Archie

Piece of software for finding files on anonymous FTP sites. It searches only for file names and has been replaced by more powerful web-based search engines. See also anonymous FTP.

ARP

See address resolution protocol.

ARPANet

See advanced research projects agency network.

Artificial Intelligence

A branch of computer science that studies how to endow computers with capabilities of human intelligence.

ASCII

See american standard code for information interchange.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

ADSL is becoming the alternative to an ISDN line. It allows much higher bandwidths over a standard digital telephone line. It needs to be configured similar to a leased line in such a way that it can connect only to ISPs that are near you. A typical ADSL setup allows download speeds up to 1.5 megabits per second (about 200 kilobits per seconds), but upload is restricted to 128 kilobits per second (similar to two ISDN lines). ADSL works asynchronously, therefore the different up- and download speeds. See also bit, bps, ISDN, leased line, xDSL.

Asynchronous Transfer Method

A fast, intelligent hardware switch which can support voice, data, image, and video. Cell-switching (as opposed to packet) technology which replaces variable-length packets now in use with uniform (53 byte) cells. It promises any-to-any connectivity and networks that scale easily from a few nodes to global deployment. Combines packet switching's efficient use of bandwidth with circuit switching's minimal delays.

ATM

See asynchronous transfer method.

Attached File

A file, for example an application, image or sound, that is embedded into an email message. See also e-mail.

Audio Video Interleaved

Windows format for saving video with sound.

Authentication

The process of verifying a person.

Authorization

The process of allowing access to a system to a person.

AUP

See acceptable use policy.

Avatar

Three-dimensional representation or digital actor of a customer in a web shop or in a chat room.

AVI

See audio video interleaved.

B

Backbone

The top level of a hierarchical network. Major pathway within a network offering the highest possible speed and connecting all major nodes. The main pipes along which data is transferred. See also network, nodes.

Bandwidth

The maximum size of information that can be sent through a connection at a given time. Usually measured in bits per second (bps). See also bps, bit, T-1.

BASIC

See beginners all-purpose symbolic instructional code.

Baud

It is commonly used in the same way as bits per second. See also bit, bps, modem.

BBS

See bulletin board system.

BCC

See blind carbon copy.

Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instructional Code

A computer language that is easy-to-learn and highly flexible, which was invented at Dartmouth University.

beta

A pre-release of an application that is made available for the purposes of testing.

binary

Mathematical base 2, or numbers composed of a series of zeros and ones. Since zero's and one's can be easily represented by two voltage levels on an electronic device, the binary number system is widely used in digital computing.

Binary Digit

A single digit number in base 2 (therefore 0 or 1). The smallest unit for computerized data. See also byte, kilobyte, megabyte.

Binary Hexadecimal

Algorithm to convert binary files into ASCII-text. Used mainly on Macintosh computers. See also binary, ASCII, MIME, uuencode.

Binhex

See binary hexadecimal.

Bit

See binary digit.

Bits per second

Measurement unit for transferring data. A 33.6 modem can move 33.600 bits per second. See also bandwidth, bit.

Blind Carbon Copy

Copies people onto e-mails that cannot be identified by the person to whom the e-mail message was originally addressed to. See also carbon copy, e-mail.

BOFH

Net-language for "bastard operator from hell".

Bookmark

A file that contains references to web pages that you have already visited, which then can be organized and used to return to a particular page later on.

Boolean Search

A search allowing the inclusion or exclusion of documents containing certain words through the use of operators such as "AND", "NOT" and "OR".

Boot

To start up or reset a computer. When a computer is booted the operating syis loaded. There are two different types of booting a computer. A cold boot means that the computer needs to powered up from an off state and a warm boot means that all data in the memory is erased and the operating system is loaded from start. See also memory, operating system.

Bot

Net-language for "roBot".

Bozo Filter

A feature to screens out incoming e-mails and news postings from those whose correspondence in not valued. See also e-mail, news, spam.

Bps

See bits per second.

Browser

Client application that is able to display various kinds of Internet resources. See also Client, homepage, internet explorer, mosaic, netscape, URL, WWW.

BTW

Net-language for "by the way".

Bug

A programming error that causes a malfunction of the computer software or hardware. See also hardware, software.

Bulletin Board System

A computer based sytem that allows people to discuss topics, up and download files and send and receive e-mails. Bulletin boards can either run independently on a single computer where people dial in, or can connect to other bulletin boards to form a network, such as the FidoNet. See also dial in, e-mails, network.

BWOTD

Net-language for "bad word of the day".

Byte

Eight bits for a byte which is used to represent a single ASCII character, for example. See also bit.

C

Carbon Copy

When people use the CC function of their e-mail program they use it to copy additional recipients to an e-mail. See also blind carbon copy, e-mail.

CBT

See computer based training.

CC

See carbon copy.

Central Processing Unit

The main chip inside every computer that is used to run the operating system and the application software.

CERN

European Laboratory for Particle Physics, Geneva, Switzerland and birthplace of the World-Wide Web.

Certificate Authority

Issuer of digital certificates, used for encrypting communication and signing documents. See also digital certificates, digital signatures.

CGI

See common gateway interface.

Chat

Direct communication over the Internet with multiple persons. Other than e-mail, responses are made in real-time. See also IRC.

Checksum

A special calculation applied to a piece of information. If the information is transmitted and the calculation achieves the same result, then the transmission was successful.

Class

In object-oriented programming, a category of objects, or the applet file itself. For example, there might be a class called shape that contains objects which are circles, rectangles, and triangles.

Client

Application that resides on the customers computer and contacts a server to communicate. Examples: IRC clients, Web Clients. See also IRC, web.

Clipboard

A piece of memory that stores information only temporarily. See also memory.

CODEC

Program or device that COmpresses/DECompresses digital video.

Common Gateway Interface

A standard that describes how a web browser passes on information to a web server. CGI programs are able to read the information, process it and pass the results back to the web browser.

Compiler

A program that translates a programming language into machine code. See also programming language, machine code.

Compression

Technology to reduce the size of files and save bandwidth. See also bandwidth, lossy compression, non-lossy compression.

Computer Based Training

Way of learning to use a computer and a software package, offering information on a certain subject and a test for the pupil.

Concept Search

Instead of searching for documents that contain a given keyword, a concept search will search for documents related conceptually to a given keyword.

Connection

Established path for exchanging information.

Control Prog/Monitor

Operating System created by Gary Kildall in the 70's.

Cookie

Piece of information that is stored in the browser and can be retrieved by the server that placed the information there. This piece of information can be used to identify a user, for example.

CP/M

See control prog/monitor.

CPU

See central processing unit.

Cracker

A person who tries to break the copy protection of software.

Credit Card Processors

Offer services for electronic businesses, such as processing credit card transactions and verifying credibility of customers.

Crosspostings

A message that is sent simultaneously to several newsgroups. See also message, newsgroups.

Cyberculture

A collection of cultures and cultural products that exist on and are made possible by the Internet, along with the stories told about these cultures and cultural products.

Cyberspace

First used in Neuromancer by William Gibson. It is used to describe the Internet. See also internet.

D

Daemon

background process waiting for a client to start-up the service, such as the pop 3 daemon, which runs continually, but is activated only when people retrieve e-mails using an e-mail client.

Data Encryption Key

A string used to mathematically encode a message so that it can only be decrypted by someone with either the same key (symmetric encryption) or with a related key (asymmetric encryption).

Data Encryption Standard

Encryption scheme, developed by IBM in the 1970s.

Database

Collection of data formatted in a special way, to make it easier to retrieve a particular piece of information.

Dedicated Line

A phone line that connects two computers permanently to keep up service.

Demilitarized Zone

Zone in multi-layered firewalls, which contains public Internet services.

DES

See data encryption standard.

DHCP

See dynamic host configuration protocol.

DHTML

See dynamic hypertext markup language.

Dial-Up

A temporary connection between two computers established over a phone line.

Digerati

The digital elite, invented by Wired magazine. Derived from the word literati.

Digital Certificate

File containing information about its owner that can be used to identify the owner. See also certificate authority, SSL.

Digital Signal Processor

A separate processor, built into some sound cards, that relieves audio processing from the computer's CPU.

Digital Versatile Disk

A new standard for recording video on CD-ROM's using MPEG2, thus boasting better-than-broadcast TV quality. Costing about the same as a CD, DVD-ROM's hold 8 to 40 times more data. DVD will replace videocassettes, laserdiscs, CD-ROM's and audio CD's.

Disk Operating System

Outdated operating system with a command line interface. See also operating system.

Dithering

If a color is not available, it can be made from the available colors by placing a pattern of colors next to each other to visually mix. For instance the illusion of "orange" can be made by placing red and yellow pixels next to each other.

DMZ

See demilitarized zone.

DNS

See domain name system.

Domain Name

The name of a computer connected to the Internet. The Domain name is used to form a URL. See also URL.

Domain Name System

Database that links IP addresses and domain names. See also domain name, IP.

DOS

See disk operating system.

Download

To receive files from another computer on the Internet by actively requesting it.

DSP

See digital signal processor.

DVD

See digital versatile disk.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

Internet standard, based on RFC 1541, for the automatic allocation of IP addresses.

Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language

An extension to HTML, which allows a better user interaction and introduces dynamic web page creation.

E

E-Cash

See electronic cash.

EDI

See electronic data interchange.

E-Mail

See electronic mail.

Electronic Cash

Electronic money that can be exchanged on the Internet for goods, information and services. It is mostly used for micro-payment solutions. See also micro-payment.

Electronic Data Interchange

A standard for the inter-organizational computer-to-computer exchange of structured information.

Electronic Mail

Exchange of digital documents via the Internet.

Emoticon

Sideway faces express emotions without words on the Internet using special characters on the keyboard. The best-known emoticon is the smiley :-). If you can't see the face, turn you head and look again. Other emoticons include the smiling pirate .-) and the sad person :-(.

Encryption

Procedure to render a message illegible to anyone who is not authorized to read it.

Ethernet

Standard for connecting computers on an Intranet. See also bandwidth, intranet.

Extranet

Extranets are extended Intranets to share information with business partners over the Internet in a very secure way. See also intranets.

F

FAQ

See frequently asked questions.

FDDI

See fiber distributed data interface.

Fiber Distributed Data Interface

Standard for computer connections on optical fiber cables at a rate of 100 Mbit. See also bandwidth, ethernet, T1, T3.

File Transfer Protocol

Internet protocol to move files from one Internet site to another one. Public FTP servers allow the up- and download of files, creating public file archives.

Finger

Tool to locate people on other Unix servers. It helps to see if a certain person is online.

Firewall

A tool to seperate an Intranet from the Internet by disallowing connections on certain ports, making the Intranet very secure. See also network, intranet.

Firewire

Serial interface technology, which allows the connection of devices at speeds up to 50 Mbytes/s. Used for devices such as video cameras so that they can feed real time video to a computer.

Flame

A crude or witless comment on a newsgroup posting or e-mail. See also flame war.

Flame War

Instead of discussing positions in an online discussion, personal attacks (or flames) against the debators are exchanged. See also flame.

Flat File

A database in ASCII format that separates records by a special character. See also ASCII, database.

Font

Typographic style such as Times Roman or Helvetica.

Forward

Sending on an e-mail to a third person. See also e-mail.

Frame

HTML tag that allows the browser window to be segmented into several sections. See also browser, HTML.

Freenet

Internet access provided on a non-profit basis.

Freeware

Software that is available to anybody without the need for paying a fee, while the author retains the copyright.

Frequently Asked Questions

A web page that lists and answers the most common question on a particular subject.

FTP

See file transfer protocol.

Full-Text Index

Database containing every word of every document, including stop words. See stop words.

Fuzzy Search

Finds matches even if the keyword is misspelled or only partially spelled.

FWIW

Net-language for "for what it's worth".

FYI

Net-language for "for your information".

G

Gamma Correction

As not all screens or printers are the same, colors have to be adjusted from the computers idea of "normal" before they are displayed.

Gateway

Architecture for bridging between two networks that work with different protocols.

GIF

See graphic interchange format.

Gigabyte

1024 Megabytes, but some use 1000 Megabytes, as it is easier to calculate with. See also Byte, Megabyte.

Glitch

Small malfunction in the hardware or software which does not cause an interruption.

Graphic Interchange Format

Image format, very common on the Internet. See also JPEG, PNG.

Gopher

Internet protocol for presenting menus of downloadable documents or files. It is still around, but has no real importance anymore. See also HTTP, Hypertext, WWW.

Graphical User Interface

Graphical environment to simplify the use of the operating system and applications.

Grep

Unix command to scan files for patterns, also used as a synonym for fast manual searching.

GUI

See graphical user interface.

Guru

Synonym for expert.

H

Hacker

Persons who spend their time breaking into systems and networks in order to steal, change or delete data that does not belong to them.

Handle

See nickname.

Hello World!

The program that every computer student learns first, outputs "Hello World!".

Hit

The download of an element on a web page. If a web page consists of the HTML text, two images and a sound file, then there have been four hits on the web server. It is a way to measure the load of the server. See also HTML, web server.

Homepage

The main page on a web server.

Host

See server.

HTML

See hypertext markup language.

HTTP

See hypertext transport protocol.

Hypertext

Web documents that contain links to other documents.

HyperText Markup Language

The language for developing documents for the World Wide Web. See also client, server, WWW.

HyperText Transport Protocol

The protocol for transporting files from a web server to a web browser. See also client, server, WWW.

i

IBT

See internet based training.

Icon

Mnemonic convention to replace functional names by images.

IDE

See integrated drive electronics.

Identity Hacking

See social hacking.

IMAP

See internet mail access protocol.

IMHO

Net-language for ``in my humble opinion".

Index

A searchable database of documents created automatically or manually by a search engine.

Integrated Drive Electronics

A 16-bit parallel interface transferring only data. Cheaper than ESDI medium-range capacity (40-200Mb). Can't perform a physical (low-level) format because it is not a device-level interface.

Integrated Services Digital Network

Digital version of the good old analogue telephone line.

International Organization for Standardization

A federation of national standards bodies such as BSI and ANSI.

Internet

The computer network for business and leisure based on the TCP/IP protocol. All other computer networks have become irrelevant. Evolved from ARPAnet. See also ARPANet, network, TCP/IP.

Internet Based Training

Evolution of the computer based training, which offers real-time learning over the Internet with a teacher. See also computer based training.

Internet Mail Access Protocol

RFC 1730. IMAP4 allows a client to access and manipulate electronic mail messages on a server. This should be viewed as a superset of the POP3. The IMAP4 server listens on TCP port 143. IMAP is definitely an emerging technology and functionally completely outperforms the older POP environment.

Internet Protocol

See TCP/IP.

Internet Protocol Number

Unique address for every computer connected to the Internet. Currently it is composed of a series of four numbers, separated by dots. Example: 127.0.0.1. Domain names refer to IP numbers. See also domain name, internet, TCP/IP.

Internet Relay Chat

Multi-user chat facility on the Internet. Many servers around the world are interconnected to allow hundreds of thousands of users to chat at the same time. Special IRC clients are necessary to connect.

Internet Service Provider

Company providing access to the Internet.

Internet Society

Non-governmental international organization for global co-operation and co-ordination of the Internet and its technologies and applications.

Intranet

Private network that is based on the same technologies as the Internet, but restricted to a certain user group. See also internet, network.

IP

See internet protocol.

IRC

See internet relay chat.

ISDN

See integrated services digital network.

ISO

See international organization for standardization.

ISOC

See internet society.

ISP

See internet service provider.

J

JAR

See Java Archive.

Java

Programming language developed by Sun with cross-platform neutrality, object-orientation and networking in mind. See also applet, JDK.

Java Archive

A file format used to bundle all components required by a Java applet. JAR files simplify the downloading of applets since all the components (.class files, images, sounds, etc.) can be packaged into a single file.

Java Development Kit

Basic development package from Sun distributed for free in order to write, test and debug Java programs. See also applet, java.

JavaScript

Scripting language developed by Netscape that allows interaction within HTML pages. See also HTML, scripting.

JDK

See Java development kit.

Jini

Infrastructure and programming model which allow devices to connect with each other to create an instant community. Jini technology enables devices to work with each other, so users can create their own personal networks or communities no matter where they are located.

JIT

See just in time.

Joint Photographic Experts Group

Multi-company commission that develops new image formats.

JPEG

Image format for the Internet using lossy compression algorithms. See also joint photographic experts group.

Just In Time

The concept of reducing inventories by working closely with suppliers to co-ordinate delivery of materials just before their use in the manufacturing or supply process.

K

Kill File

File that contains rules for filtering unwanted messages.

Kilobyte

1024 Bytes, sometimes 1000 Bytes. See also bit, byte.

Knowbie

Expert in computer networking. See also newbie.

L

LAN

See also local area network.

LDAP

See also lightweight directory access protocol.

Leased-Line

A permanently established phone line that is used to offer twenty-four hour access to the Internet.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

A technology that provides access to X.500 for PCs.

Local Area Network

Computer network limited to a certain location. See also ethernet, WAN.

Login

Account name to gain access to a system. See also password.

LOL

Net-language for "laughing out loud".

M

Mailing List

A system to redistribute mails from one person to many other people who are interested in that mail. Mailing lists are used to create online discussion, similar to newsgroups, with the difference the mails are sent automatically while newsgroups require the user to actively retrieve the information. See also e-mail, newsgroup.

MAPI

See messaging application programmable interface.

Megabyte

1024 Kilobytes, sometimes 1000 Kilobytes. See also kilobyte, byte, bit.

Message Handling System

X.400 series of recommendations of abstract services and protocols used to provide electronic mail services in an OSI networking environment. X.500 is a series of recommendations that provide a distributed, user-friendly subscriber directory to help users address X.400 messages. These services are called simply the Directory.

Message Transfer Agents

Part of the X.400 OSI stack. Responsible for the actual transport of the message between user agents. MTA's typically reside on separate machines.

Messaging Application Programmable Interface

Microsoft standard for accessing mail on a server, similar to IMAP. See also IMAP.

MHS

See message handling system.

Micropayments

Payments that have a value between a fraction of a cent and roughly ten Dollars or Euro.

MIME

See multipurpose internet mail extensions.

Mirror Sites

Sites that contain exact copies of the original site. They are used to spread the load over several sites and to speed up the download for the customers by placing the server nearer to them.

Modem

See modulator demodulator.

Modulator Demodulator

Device between computer and phone line that converts computer signals to a form that can be used to transport the data over telephone networks.

MTA

See message transfer agents.

MUD

See multi-user dungeon.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

Format for attaching binary files to e-mails. Enables multi-part/multimedia messages to be sent over the Internet. This standard was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). See als binhex, uuencode.

Multi-User Dungeon

Environment for multi-user role games. Every user plays a different role in the game and is able to communicate and interact with others. Example: telnet 130.149.19.20 7680.

N

Netiquette

Code of behaviour on the Internet.

Netizen

Responsible citizen on the Internet.

Network

The connection of two or more computers in order to share resources is a network.

Newsgroup

Discussion group on USENET. See also USENET.

Network News Transport Protocol

Standard protocol for exchanging postings and newsgroups over the Internet.

NNTP

See network news transport protocol.

Node

A device connected to a network.

O

Object Oriented Programming

Art of programming independent pieces of code, which are then able to interact with each other.

Offline

Not connected to the Internet.

Online

Connected to the Internet.

OOP

See object oriented programming.

Operating System

Software that is loaded right after the boot time. It provides the basic functionality to run applications, based on a single set of instructions.

OS

See operating system.

P

Packet

The smallest unit for transmitting data over the Internet. Data is broken up into packets, sent over the network and then reassembled at the other end.

Password

Secret code to identify a user when logging onto a system.

Perl

Powerful scripting language, often used to write CGI scripts.

PGP

See pretty good privacy.

Phrase Search

A search for documents on the Internet containing an exact sentence or phrase specified by a user.

Plug-ins

Software that adds functionality to commercial applications, such as the Netscape browser or Adobe's Photoshop.

Point of Presence

Local access to the services of an ISP. See also ISP.

POP

See point of presence.

POP3

See post office protocol.

Port

Interface for accessing services on a server.

Portal

Point of entry web site to the Internet.

Post Office Protocol

Protocol for receiving mails via a client.

Postmaster

Administrator of the mail server. In case of problems, you can contact the postmaster. The postmaster of someone@foobar.org is postmaster@foobar.org, for example.

Pretty Good Privacy

Encryption algorithm developed by Phil Zimmerman.

Protocol

Rules how computers and applications interact.

Proxy Server

A proxy server retrieves documents on demand from a server and passes them on to a client. The advantage with a proxy server is that it normally caches documents. It is considerably faster to retrieve documents from the proxy rather than directly from a web server, especially if someone else has already retrieved that particular document.

PSTN

See public switched telephone network.

Public Switched Telephone Network

The normal telephone network.

Push Technology

Also referred to as "Web-casting" or "channel-casting", this technology broadcasts personalized information to subscribers.

Q

Query

Request for information from a database.

Query-By-Example

Find search results similar to a search result the user finds particularly useful.

Queue

Sequence of objects.

R

RAM

See random access memory.

Random Access Memory

Memory, that is used for executing applications and storing documents while working on them.

Readme

A text file containing information on how to use the file you want to access.

RealAudio

Software tool that supports transmissions of real-time, live or prerecorded audio.

Remote Login

Logging into a computer system from remote.

Request For Comments

The process for creating an Internet standard. New standards are proposed and published in form of a request for comments document. When a new standard has been established, it retains the acronym and a number is added.

RFC

See request for comments.

Root

The administrator account that has super-user rights on a system. See also sysop.

ROTFL

Net-language for "rolling on the floor laughing".

Router

A device to handle the connection between two or more networks. See also network.

RTFM

Net-language for "read the f*cking manual". Answer to a question that users could have answered themselves by reading the manual.

S

Search Engine

Web service that allows you to query a database for keywords and returns matching web pages.

Secure Sockets Layer

Protocol invented by Netscape to encrypt communication between web browser and server. It provides privacy, authentication and integrity.

Server

A device that provides one or more services to several clients over a network. See also client, network.

Servlet

A Java application that runs on a server. The term usually refers to a Java applet that runs within a Web server environment. This is analogous to a Java applet that runs within a Web browser environment.

Shopping Cart

It keeps track of all the items that a customer wants to buy, allowing the shopper to pay for the whole order at once.

Simple Mail Transport Protocol

The protocol to send electronic mail over the Internet. See also e-mail.

Simple Network Management Protocol

Protocol to manage and monitor devices connected to a network.

Smart Card

Plastic card of credit card size with an embedded microchip. The chip can contain digital money and personal information about the owner.

SMDS

See switched multimegabit data service.

Smiley

See emoticon.

SMTP

See simple mail transport protocol.

SNMP

See simple network management protocol.

Spam

Inappropriate use of e-mail and postings by sending information and advertising to people who did not request them.

Spider

See web crawler.

SQL

See structured query language.

Stop Words

Conjunctions, prepositions, articles and other words, which appear often in documents yet alone may contain little meaning.

Structured Query Language

The preferred programming language for communication with databases.

SSL

See secure sockets layer.

Switched Multimegabit Data Service

A proposed new standard for very high-speed data transfer.

Sysop

See system operator.

System Operator

Person who is responsible for the operations of a computer system or network resource.

T

T-1

A leased line with a bandwidth of 1,544,000 bits-per-second (about 1,5 Megabit/s). See also bandwidth, bit, byte, ethernet, T-3.

T-3

A leased line with a bandwidth of 44,736,000 bits-per-second (about 44 Megabits/s). See also bandwidth, bit, byte, ethernet, T-1.

Tagged Information File Format

A compressed graphic file format developed by Aldus as an international standard format. Unfortunately there are different versions of TIFF around, notably the MAC and PC versions have differing ways of compressing the data.

TCP/IP

See transmission control protocol/internet protocol.

Telnet

Program to perform a remote login to another computer.

Terabyte

1024 or 1000 Gigabytes. See also byte, kilobyte.

Thin Client

A cut-down network terminal with no local processing power.

TIFF

See tagged information file format.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

A set of protocols that are the foundation of the Internet, which enable the communication between computers.

Triple-dub

Net-language for "WWW".

Trojan Horse

A program that seems to be harmless and starts harmful functions after it has been installed.

U

Unicode

Text encoding scheme including international characters and alphabets.

Uniform Resource Locator

Addressing scheme on the Internet to locate Internet resources.

Universal Serial Bus

Serial interface that allows connection of up to 127 devices at speeds of either 1.5 or 12Mbits/s. It supplies power for those devices and allows the devices to be added and removed without rebooting.

Unix

Operating System, developed in the early seventies.

Unix to Unix Copy

Software to exchange e-mail and news on a store-and-forward basis.

Unix to Unix Decoding

Method of converting text files to binary files. See also binhex, MIME.

Unix to Unix Encoding

Method of converting binary files to text files. See also binhex, MIME.

URL

See uniform resource locator.

USB

See universal serial bus.

USENET

A decentralized world-wide system for newsgroups. See also newsgroups.

UUCP

See unix to unix copy.

UUDECODE

See unix to unix decoding.

UUENCODE

See unix to unix encoding.

V

Viewtime

This is the time a banner advertisement is visible on a web page. See also Banner Advertisement.

Virtual Memory System

A multiuser, multitasking, virtual memory operating system for the VAX series from Digital Equipment.

Virtual Reality Markup Language

A scripting language that is used to define three-dimensional worlds.

Virus

Malicious piece of code that can be hidden in programs and destroy data on a computer.

Visit

A visit is a complete session of accesses to a certain web server conducted by one person. A visit is concluded when the customer hasn't viewed any page for a certain period of time (60 seconds in most cases).

VMS

see virtual memory system.

VRML

See virtual reality markup language.

W

WAIS

See wide area information servers.

WAN

See wide area network.

Web

See world wide web.

Web Crawler

Service that scans web documents and adds them to a database. After having indexed one page it follows all links and indexes them as well. See also search engine.

Webmaster

The person in charge of a web server. Most web servers will allow mails to be sent to the webmaster. The web master of http://www.foobar.org/ can be reached at webmaster@foobar.org, for example. See also postmaster.

What You See Is What You Get

The promise that what you see on screen will also be what you get when you print out the document. Only very few software packages are able to fulfill this promise.

Wide Area Information Servers

Software package that allows the indexing of large quantities of information. Uses a separate protocol from HTTP and is not used very much anymore. See also HTTP, search engine.

Wide Area Network

A network that is distributed over several locations. See also LAN.

Wintel

The majority of computers today run the Wintel combination; the Windows operating systems and Intel processors.

World Wide Web

The part of the Internet, which is accessible through a web browser. The Web is not the Internet, but a subset.

Worm

A program that is designed to replicate itself over a network. Although not all worms are designed to destroy anything, most of them will try to attack your resources.

WRT

Net-langauge for "with respect to".

WWW

See world wide web.

WYSIWYG

See what you see is what you get.

Y

Yahoo

The original and most famous web directory.

YMMV

Net-language for "your mileage may vary". A warning that not everything described in a manual will work exactly the way it promised to.