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INTERNET TERMS GLOSSARY
A - F
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Apache:
The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to simply as Apache, is a web server notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. Apache was the first viable alternative to the Netscape Communications Corporation web server (currently known as Sun Java System Web Server), and has since evolved to rival other Unix-based web servers in terms of functionality and performance.
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Applet:
Small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML page. Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications in that they are not allowed to access certain resources on the local computer, such as files, modems, printers, etc., and are prohibited from communicating with most other computers across a network.
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ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers):
"Applying the principles of stewardship, ARIN, a nonprofit corporation, allocates Internet Protocol resources; develops consensus-based policies; and facilitates the advancement of the Internet through information and educational outreach."
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ARPA Net (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network):
Developed by DARPA of the United States Department of Defense was the world's first operational packet switching network, and the predecessor of the global Internet.
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ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange):
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), generally pronounced ask-ee, is a character encoding based on the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that work with text. Most modern character encodings — which support many more characters — have a historical basis in ASCII.
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Atom:
An evolving protocol for syndication and sharing of content.
Atom is being developed as a successor to and improvement over RSS and is more complex than RSS while offering support for additional features such digital signatures, geographic location of author, possibly security/encryption, licensing, etc.
Like RSS, Atom is an XML-based specification.
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Backbone:
The Internet backbone refers to the main "trunk" connections of the Internet. It is made up of a large collection of interconnected commercial, government, academic and other high-capacity data routes and core routers that carry data across the countries, continents and oceans of the world.
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Bandwidth:
In computer networking literature, digital bandwidth often refers to data rate measured in bit/s, for example channel capacity (digital bandwidth capacity) or throughput (digital bandwidth consumption).
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BBS (Bulletin Board System):
A user meeting and bulletin system that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and make announcements without other people being connected to the computer at the same time. The discussions are not "real time" like a chat system is. In the early 1990's there were tens of thousands of BBS's around the world and most were very small.
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Binary:
The binary numeral system, or base-2 number system, is a numeral system that represents numeric values using two symbols, usually 0 and 1. Owing to its straightforward implementation in electronic circuitry, the binary system is used internally by virtually all modern computers.
Also, one of the two basic types of files that are uploaded (usually by FTP) to the web server to be part of a website. The other type is ASCII.
Most modern FTP programs differentiate between the two automatically.
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Bit (Binary DigIT):
A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.
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Blog (weB LOG):
A blog is basically a personal journal that is available on the web.
The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger."
Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog.
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bps (Bits-Per-Second):
A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 56K modem can move about 56,000 bits per second over a standard telephone line.
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Browser:
The type of computer program that you are probably reading this with.
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Byte:
A set of 8 bits that represent a single discreet piece of data to a computer.
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Certificate Authority:
A certificate authority or certification authority (CA) is an entity which issues digital certificates for use by other parties. It is an example of a trusted third party. There are many commercial CAs that charge for their services and there are also free CAs. A digital certificate is necessary for a secure website environment for e-commerce.
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CGI (Common Gateway Interface):
A set of rules that describe how a Web Server communicates with another piece of software on the same machine, and how the other piece of software (the CGI program) talks to the web server.
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cgi-bin:
The typical file directory on a website in which CGI programs are stored and from which they are run.
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Cookie:
The most common meaning of "cookie" on the Internet refers to a piece of information sent by a website to the visitor's web browser. The Browser software is expected to save the cookie and to send it back to the Server whenever the browser makes additional requests from the Server.
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CSS (Cascading Style Sheet):
A standard for specifying the appearance of text and other elements. CSS was developed for use with HTML in websites but it is also used in other situations.
CSS is typically used to provide a single "library" of styles that are used over and over throughout a large number of related documents, as in a website. By changing that single library the look of an entire website can be changed.
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DHTML (Dynamic HyperText Markup Language):
DHTML is a collection of technologies used together to create interactive and animated web sites.
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DNS (Domain Name System):
On the Internet, the Domain Name System (DNS) associates various sorts of information with so-called domain names; most importantly, it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet: it translates human-readable computer hostnames like "manvillerwebservices.com" into the IP addresses that networking equipment needs for delivering information.
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Domain Name:
A name that identifies a computer or computers on the internet. These names appear as a component of a Web site's URL, e.g. DomainName.org. This type of domain name is also called a hostname.
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FAQ(s) (Frequently Asked Questions):
FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common questions on a particular subject. FAQs are usually written to explain various website features or clarify things that might be misunderstood.
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Fold:
See "Page Fold"
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FTP (File Transfer Protocol):
A very common method of moving files between your computer and your website.
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