Internet Related Terms

(A)

Active Server Pages (ASP): A technology developed by Microsoft that allows web sites interact with users at the front-end and with servers/database at the back-end.

Active X: A name given by Microsoft as a set of "strategic" object-oriented programming technologies and tools. It is used to create modern web pages. The main technology is the Component Object Model (COM).

Applet: A small program that can be sent along with a web page to a user. Java applets can perform interactive animation, immediate calculations, or other simple tasks within the browser.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL): A technology for transmitting digital information at a high bandwidth on existing phone lines to homes and businesses.

AVI (Audio Video Interleaved): A sound and motion picture file that conforms to the Microsoft Windows Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) specification. [TOP]

(B)

Backbone: The central pathway for data in a network.

Bandwidth: The capacity of a network measured by the amount of data transmitted or received per unit time.

Back-end: A "back-end" application or program serves indirectly in support of the front-end services, usually by being closer to the required resource or having the capability to communicate with the required resource.

Browser: A software program that retrieves and displays Internet documents. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator are commonly used.

Bit (Binary DigIT): A single digit number in base-2. The smallest unit of computerised data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.

Byte: A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte. [TOP]

(C)

CGI(Common Gateway Interface): A standard way for a web server to pass requests from web users to an application program and to receive data back to forward to the users.

Chat: Real time online communication with other people who are using the Internet at the same time you are.

Client: The recipient of services on a network.

Cookies: A piece of information that a web site puts on web users hard disk so that it can remember their preference for use by the web page when the next time the user visits it. [TOP]

(D)

Database: A collection of data that is organised so that its contents can easily be accessed, managed, and updated.

Dial-up Connection: A telephone connection establishing a temporary connection to a network using a modem.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line): A technology for bringing high-bandwidth information to homes and small businesses over ordinary copper telephone lines. xDSL refers to different variations of DSL, such as ADSL, HDSL, and RADSL.

Domain Name System (DNS): Internet domain name are located and translated into Internet Protocol addresses by DNS. A domain name is used to replace an digit Internet address with a meaningful and easy-to-remember word.

Dynamic HTML: Any technology that adds an interactive element to an HTML page. [TOP]

(E)

Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce): The act of the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web. [TOP]

(F)

FTP(File Transfer Protocol): A standard Internet protocol for transferring document files between computers on the Internet.

Front-end: A "front-end" application is one that application users interact with directly.

(G)

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format): A common format for image files on the World Wide Web. [TOP]

(H)

Hit: An occurrence of someone visiting a web page.

HTML: Hypertext Markup Language. The set of markup symbols or codes inserted to a file to create a web page.

HTTP: The Hypertext Transfer Protocol. A protocol for exchanging files on the World Wide Web.

Host: Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. [TOP]

(I)

Impression: Used as a synonym for view in web advertising. Advertising measured in terms of ad views or impressions.

IT (information technology): A term that encompasses all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange, and use information in its various forms. It includes both telephony and computer technology in the same word.

Internet: A worldwide system of computer networks.

Intranet: A network that uses Internet technologies within a company or organization.

IP Address: The actual numeric address for each nodes on a network.

ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network. The concept is the integration of both analog or voice data together with digital data over the same network.

ISP (Internet Service Provider): A company that provides individuals and other companies access to the Internet. [TOP]

(J)

Java: A programming language from Sun Microsystems that can run on any platform.

JavaScript: A client-side scripting language developed by Netscape to make it easy to add features to web pages.

JPEG: A file format for images that supports higher quality and high compression, commonly used on the World Wide Web. [TOP]

(K)

(L)

Link: Using hypertext, a link is a selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another. [TOP]

(M)

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface): A Protocol designed for recording and playing back music on digital synthesizers.

Mouseover (Rollover): A technique using JavaScript that lets you change a web page element (usually a graphic image) when the user rolls the mouse over something on the page. [TOP]

(N)

Network: Any connection between more than one computer and other resources.

Newsgroup: A collection of messages posted as part of ongoing public discussions about particular interests

Node: Any device attached to a network. [TOP]

(O)

ODBC: Open Database Connectivity.. A Microsoft standard or open application programming interface (application program interface) for accessing a database.

Open Source: A certification mark owned by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). Software developers can use the Open Source trademark for distributing share/free software if their distribution terms conform to the OSI's Open Source Definition. [TOP]

(P)

Plug-ins: Additions to a software program to be installed to provide more functions.

Portal: A web site that provides users all purpose entry way to the Internet by providing pages that can be customised to the users needs as well as search engines, related information, and links to popular services.

PPP(Point-to-Point Protocol): A protocol for communication between two computers using a serial interface, typically a personal computer connected by phone line to a server.

Protocol: The special set of rules that end points in a telecommunication connection use when they communicate.

Proxy Server: A server that acts as an intermediary between a user and the Internet to ensure security, administrative control, and caching service. [TOP]

(Q)

QuickTime: A multimedia development, storage, and playback technology developed by Apple Computer. [TOP]

(R)

Real Audio/Video: Plug-ins that allow audio or video data to be played by the browser as it downloads. [TOP]

(S)

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer): A commonly-used protocol for managing the security of a message transmission on the Internet.

Server: The provider of a service on a network, can be a computer or a software program. [TOP]

(T)

TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The basic communication language or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network. [TOP]

(U)

URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The address of a file (resource) accessible on the Internet.

Usenet: The network that transports most newsgroup messages. [TOP]

(V,W)

WAP (Wireless Application Protocol): A specification for a set of communication protocol to standardise the way that wireless devices, such as cellular telephones and radio transceivers, can be used for Internet access, including e-mail, the World Wide Web, newsgroups, and IRC.

Web hosting: The business of housing, serving, and maintaining files for one or more Web site.

Web Page: A single HTML document.

Web site: A collection of related web pages usually in the same domain.

World Wide Web: All the resources and users on the Internet that are using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). [TOP]

(XYZ)

XML (Extensible Markup Language): A flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the World Wide Web, intranets, and elsewhere. [TOP]