Technical Glossary

A-C

Applet

A small application, such as a utility program limited-function spreadsheet or word processor. Java programs are usually called Java applets, because they are relatively small in size.

Backbone

In communications, the part of a network that handles the major traffic. It employs the highest-speed transmission paths in the network and may also run the longest distance. Smaller networks are attached to the backbone.

Browser Cache

Pronounced "browser cash." A temporary storage area in memory or on disk that holds the most recently-downloaded Web pages. As you link from page to page on the Web, caching those pages in memory lets you quickly go back to a page without having to download it from the Web again. When you quit the browser session, those pages are stored on disk. The Web browser lets you set the amount of space to use and the length of time to hold them.

Cache

Pronounced "cash." A temporary storage area for instructions and data that is closer to the CPU's speed. The larger the cache, the faster the performance, since there is a greater chance that the instruction or data required next is already in the cache.

Certificate Authority (CA)

An organization that issues digital certificates (digital IDs) and makes its public key widely available to its intended audience.

Client

(1) A workstation or personal computer in a client/server environment.
(2) One end of the spectrum in a request/supply relationship between programs.

Client/Server Architecture

An environment in which the application processing is divided between client workstations and servers. It implies the use of desktop computers interacting with servers in a network in contrast to processing everything in a large centralized mainframe.

Client/Server Environment

A networking environment that is made up of clients and servers running applications designed for client/server architecture.

Common Gateway Interface Script (CGI Script)

A small program written in a script language such as Perl that functions as the glue between HTML pages and other programs on the Web server.

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D-F
 
 
Digital Certificate

The digital equivalent of an ID card used in conjunction with a public key encryption system. Also called digital IDs, digital certificates are issued by trusted third parties known as certification authorities (CAs).

Digital Signature

An electronic signature that cannot be forged. It is a computed digest of the text that is encrypted and sent with the text message. The recipient decrypts the signature and recomputes the digest from the received text. If the digests match, the message is authenticated and proved intact from the sender.

Digital Watermark

A pattern of bits embedded into a file used to identify the source of illegal copies. For example, if a digital watermark is placed into a master copy of an audio CD, then all copies of that CD are uniquely identified. If a licensee were to manufacture and distribute them in areas outside of its authorized territory, the watermark provides a trace.

Domain Name
 
An Internet domain name is an organization's unique name combined with a top level domain name (TLD).  Following are the top level domains.  See also gTLD.
 
.com   (commercial)
.net     (gateway or host)
.org    (non-profit organization)
.edu    (educational and research)
.gov    (government)
.mil     (military agency)

Domain Name System
 
Name resolution software that  lets users locate computers on a UNIX network or the Internet (TCP/IP network) by domain name. The DNS server maintains a database of domain names (host names) and their corresponding IP addresses.
 
Download
 
To receive a file transmitted over a network. In a communications session, download means receive, upload means transmit. Downloads depend on file size and network speed.
 
Encryption (Cryptography)
 
The conversion of data into a secret code for transmission over a public network. The original text, or plaintext, is converted into a coded equivalent called ciphertext via an encryption algorithm. The ciphertext is decoded (decrypted) at the receiving end and turned back into plaintext.
 
Frames
 
A Web browser feature that enables a Web page to be displayed in a separate scrollable window on screen. Older browsers do not support the frames feature, and many Web sites have a frames and non-frames version of the site to accomodate them.
 
FTP
 
A protocol used to transfer files over a TCP/IP network (Internet, UNIX, etc.).  It includes functions to log onto the network, list directories and copy files.


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G-M
 
 
Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD)
 
A general-purpose domain name on the Internet. The top level domains .com, .org. and .net are commonly considered to be gTLDs.

Hyperlink

A predefined linkage between one object and another. The link is displayed either as text or as an icon.  On World Wide Web pages, a text hyperlink displays as underlined text typically in blue, while a graphical hyperlink is a small graphics image.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

The document format used on the World Wide Web. Web pages are built with HTML tags, or codes, embedded in the text. HTML defines the page layout, fonts and graphic elements as well as the hypertext links to other documents on the Web. Each link contains the URL, or  address, of a Web page residing on the same server or any server worldwide, hence "World Wide" Web.

internet

A large network made up of a number of smaller networks.

Internet

"The" Internet is made up of more than 100,000 interconnected networks in over 100 countries, comprised of commercial, academic and government networks.

Internet Architecture Board (IAB)

(www.iab.org) Founded in 1983 as the Internet Activities Board, it is a mostly volunteer organization that provides architectural guidance to and adjudicates conflicts for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It appoints the IETF Chair and all other Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) candidates.  It also advises the Internet Society (ISOC) relating to technical and procedural matters.

Internet Engineering Taskforce (IETF)

(c/o Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Reston, VA, www.ietf.org) Founded in 1986, the IETF is a mostly volunteer organization of working groups dedicated to identifying problems and proposing technical solutions for the Internet. It facilitates transfer of ideas from the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) to the Internet community and is supported by efforts of  the Internet Society (ISOC). The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) provides architectural guidelines for the IETF, and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) provides overall direction.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

An organization that provides access to the Internet.  Small Internet service providers (ISPs) provide service via modem and ISDN while the larger ones also offer private line hookups (T1, fractional T1, etc.).  Customers are generally billed a fixed rate per month, but other charges may apply. For a fee, a Web site can be created and maintained on the ISP's server, allowing the smaller organization to have a presence on the Web with its own domain name.

Internet Society (ISOC)

(Internet Society, Reston, VA, www.isoc.org) An  international membership organization dedicated to extending and enhancing the Internet, founded in 1992.  It supports Internet bodies such as the IETF and works with governments, organizations and the general public to promote Internet research, information, education and standards. It also helps developing nations design their Internet infrastructure.

Internet Protocol Address (IP Address)

The address of a computer attached to a TCP/IP network. Every client and server station must have a unique IP address. Client workstations have either a permanent address or one that is dynamically assigned to them each dial-up session. IP addresses are written as four sets of numbers separated by periods; for example, 204.171.64.2.

Java

A programming language for Internet (World Wide Web) and intranet applications from Sun. Java was modeled after C++, and Java programs can be called from within HTML documents or launched stand alone.

Metatag

An HTML tag that identifies the contents of a Web page. Using a format, meta tags contain such things as a general description of the page, keywords for search engines and copyright information.

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N-S

Network

In communications, the transmission channels interconnecting all client and server stations as well as all supporting hardware and software.

Packet Switching

A networking technology used in wide area networks (WANs) that breaks up a message into smaller packets for transmission and switches them to their required destination. Unlike circuit switching, which requires a constant point-to-point circuit to be established, each packet in a packet switched network contains a destination address. Thus all packets in a single message do not have to travel the same path. They can be dynamically routed over the network as circuits become available or unavailable. The destination computer reassembles the packets back into their proper sequence.

Private Key Cryptography

Using the same secret key to encrypt and decrypt messages. The problem with this method is transmitting the secret key to a legitimate person that needs it.

Public Key Cryptography

A cryptographic method that uses a two-part key (code) that is made up of public and private components. To encrypt messages, the published public keys of the recipients are used. To decrypt the messages, the recipients use their unpublished private keys known only to them.

RFC (Request for Comments)

A published document that describes the specifications for a recommended technology. RFCs are used by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other standards bodies. RFCs were first used during the creation of the protocols for the ARPAnet back in the 1970s.

Root Server

A domain name server that is maintained by Network Solutions, Inc., Herndon, VA. It contains all the primary domain names that are registered, and it is updated daily. The data is replicated on several servers throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Router

A device that forwards data packets from one local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) to another. Based on routing tables and routing protocols, routers read the network address in each transmitted frame and make a decision on how to send it based on the most expedient route (traffic load, line costs, speed, bad lines, etc.).

Script

A small program that is used to glue other programs together. It may be written in a full-blown programming language, but it is called a script in this instance.

Search Engine

Software that searches for data based on some criteria.

Server

A computer in a network shared by multiple users. The term may refer to both the hardware and software or just the software that performs the service. For example, Web server may refer to the Web server software in a computer that also runs other applications, or, it may refer to a computer system dedicated only to the Web server application. There would be several dedicated Web servers in a large Web site.

Spider (Crawler)

Also known as a spider, ant, robot ("bot") and intelligent agent, a crawler is a program that searches for information on the World Wide Web. It is used to locate new documents and new sites by following hypertext links from server to server and indexing information based on search criteria.

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T-Z
 

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

A communications protocol developed under contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to internetwork dissimilar systems. Invented by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn, this de facto UNIX standard is the protocol of the Internet and has become the global standard for communications.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

The address that defines the route to a file on the Web or any other Internet facility. URLs are typed into the browser to access Web pages, and URLs are embedded within the pages themselves to provide the hypertext links to other pages.  The URL contains the protocol prefix, port number, domain name, subdirectory names and file name. Port addresses are generally defaults and are rarely specified. To access a home page on a Web site, only the protocol and domain name are required.

UNIX

A multiuser, multitasking operating system that is widely used as the master control program in workstations and servers.

W3C

(World Wide Web Consortium, www.w3.org) An international industry consortium founded in 1994 to develop common standards for the World Wide Web. It is hosted in the U.S. by the Laboratory for Computer Science at MIT.

Watermark (see digital watermark)

Web Browser

The program that serves as your front end to the World Wide Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. The home page is an index to other pages on that site that you can jump to by clicking a "click here" message or an icon. Links on that site may take you to other related sites.

Web Page

A page in a World Wide Web document.

Web Server

A computer that provides World Wide Web services on the Internet. It includes the hardware, operating system, Web server software, TCP/IP protocols and  the Web site content (Web pages). If the Web server is for internal use, it is known as an intranet server.

Web Site

A server that contains Web pages and other files which is online to the Internet 24 hours a day.

World Wide Web

An Internet facility that links documents locally and remotely. The Web document is called a Web page, and links in the page let users jump from page to page (hypertext) whether the pages are stored on the same server or on servers around the world. The pages are accessed and read via a Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer.

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Source:  CMPnet, Tech Encyclopedia <http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia>.


 

Created by Jocelyn R. Dabeau
Feedback?  Mail to: jdabeau
Last modified 3-1-99