This article is intended for those of you who have an interest in reading the literature about the Internet but are unfamiliar with the common terminology of the Internet. Just as you do not need to know all the words in the dictionary to speak a language, you do not need to know all the terminology to use the Internet. The following list, although a brief one, includes most of the common basic terms helpful to beginning Internet users.
AltaVista: Web search engine available from Digital Electronic Corp.
Attachment: A text, graphics or audio/video file attached to an email.
Baud rate: The speed at which modems transmit data. It is measured in bits per second.
Bookmark: A list of favorite URLS within a browser.
Browser: A software program used to locate and view different sites on the Internet.
Bulletin Board: An electronic Bulletin board(BBS) for posting and reading messages.
Chat lines/programs: A program for communicating instantly with others interested in a subject.
Client: It is a program that allows you to access information from a remote computer. It also refers to a computer that is requesting information from a server.
Compressed file: It is a file that has been compressed to save memory for easy transfer of a document
Cyberspace: A term used to describe the Internet domain.
Downloading: The process of transferring a document or program from a remote site to a local computer.
Decryption: Decoding of a message.
email: Short for electronicmail.
Encryption: Coding a message for security reasons.
FAQ: Short for Frequently Asked Questions. It is usually a file posted with most news groups.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol It is used to transfer files between computers.
File server: A mother computer in a network that serves the users in the network.
GUI: Graphical User Interface Operating Systems such as Windows95 that use icons are typical GUIs.
Homepage: A Web page created for/by an individual or the first page of a Web site.
HTML: HyperText Markup Language the common language used to create Web documents.
HTTP: HyperText Transport Protocol the protocol used to communicate between WWW servers. The set of characters " http://" is the beginning of practically every site address.
Hypermedia: Any combination of text, graphics and audio/video media on the Internet.
Hypertext: The hypertext links are used to retrieve documents
from the Internet by clicking on a word or icon.
Information Highway: A term used to describe the networks and the services that allows people to obtain information from the Internet.
Infoseek: Web search engine.
Internet: A network of smaller networks which connects computers around the world.
Internet address: A unique address for a specific location or an individual mailbox.
Intranet: A closed network within an organization.
IP address: A unique identifier for a computer acting as one node on the Internet.
Java: The most popular programming language for designing Internet applications. It was developed by Sun Microsystems in 1995.
JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group It is a format used to transfer digital images.
Lycos: A Web search engine.
Mail Server: It is the computer that maintains mail boxes for the users.
Microsoft Internet Explorer: Web browser software.
Modem: Short for Modulator/demodulator it is the device that allows a computer to transmit data over the phone lines.
MPEG: Motion Picture Experts Group It is another format for transferring digital files.
Netscape Navigator: Web browser software.
Newsgroup: A discussion group of individuals on the Internet with similar interests.
Password: It is a unique word within a system that allows the user access to the system.
Posting: Act of sending an article to a newsgroup.
PPP: Point to Point Protocol A PPP connection allows access to the Internet for a PC through a modem.
Protocol: A set of rules for transfer of data between a computer and a server or other computers.
Search engine: A software program that enables a user to locate and utilize various Web resources.
Telnet: A specific procedure for connecting to a remote computer.
Upload: The process of transferring data from one computer to another.
UserID: A word( usually a name) assigned to a user to have access to a system. It can be the same as the Username and it is followed by the password.
URL: Uniform Resource Locatora unique address for a Web site. It usually includes the address of the host computer and the path and the name of the file leading to the requested document.
WebCrawler: A Web search engine.
Web Page: A stored document/file which is part of a Web Site.
Web Site: A collection of Web pages.
WWW: World Wide WebA global system of networks that use HTTP to transfer hyperlinked documents.
Yahoo!: A Web search program usually referred to as directory.
For those of you who are interested in a more detailed " Internet Dictionary", here are the addresses of some popular sites:
http://www.vxr.com/glossary.htm
http://www.rdc.com.au/BasTerms.html
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=Internet+Glossary
Another useful site, specially for advanced users, is called TECHENCYCLOPEDIA. It is essentially a complete dictionary of computer terminology. It has generous definitions of over 10000 entries. Here is the address:
http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.cgi
Dr. Reza Abbasian, Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at TLU since 1995, has published many articles in the area of Computational and Applied Mathematics, and is coauthor of a text book about the use of computer software in teaching Vector Calculus. His e-mail address is abbasian_r@txlutheran.edu
Experienced Internet users are welcome to submit
articles for review and publication in this monthly column, to
Internet Beat column coordinator Gloria R. Rivera: 303 4764;
riverag@connecti.com;
http://www.seguin.net.