IT Lingo and Computer Terminology
ActiveX-This Microsoft-based technology was built to link desktop applications to the World Wide Web. Using ActiveX development tools, software developers can create interactive Web content for their applications. For example, Word and Excel documents can be viewed directly in Web browsers that supports ActiveX
Applet- This a Java program that can be embedded in a Web page. The difference between a standard Java application and a Java applet is that an applet can't access system resources on the local computer. System files and serial devices (modems, printers, scanners, etc.) cannot be called or used by the applet. This is for security reasons
Backbone- A network backbone carries data to smaller lines of transmission. A local backbone refers to the main network lines that connect several local area networks LANS together. The result is a wide area network WAN linked by a backbone connection.
Broadband- This refers to high-speed data transmission in which a single cable can carry a large amount of data at once. The most common types of Internet broadband connections are cable modems (which use the same connection as cable TV) and DSL modems (which use your existing phone line).
Client- In the computer world, servers have clients. The "client-server" architecture is common in both local and wide area networks. For example, if an office has a server that stores the company's database on it, the other computers in the office that can access the database are "clients" of the server.
DHCP- Stands for "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol." A network server uses this protocol to dynamically assign IP addresses to networked computers. The DHCP server waits for a computer to connect to it, then assigns it an IP address from a master list stored on the server. DHCP helps in setting up large networks, since IP addresses don't have to be manually assigned to each computer on the network.
DNS- Stands for "Domain Name System." The primary purpose of DNS is to keep Web surfers sane. Without DNS, we would have to remember the IP address of every site we wanted to visit, instead of just the domain name. Can you imagine having to remember "17.254.3.183" instead of just "apple.com"?
Firewall- A computer firewall is used to protect a networked server or client machine from damage by unauthorized users. The firewall can be either hardware or software-based. A network firewall allows only certain messages from the Internet to flow in and out of the network.
FTP- Stands for "File Transfer Protocol." It is a common method of transferring files via the Internet from one computer to another. You can also use a Web browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer to access FTP servers. To do this, you need to type the URL of the server into the location field of the browser. For example: "ftp://ftp.servername.com/" will give you a listing of all the directories of the FTP server, "ftp://ftp.servername.com/directory/" will give you a listing of all the files available in that directory, and "ftp://ftp.servername.com/directory/filename" will download the actual file to your computer.
Gateway- A gateway is either hardware or software that acts as a bridge between two networks so that data can be transferred between a number of computers. For example, when you send an e-mail to a friend or when you log in to a Web site, there is a gateway that allows the connection take place. Often, your connection to a Web site will involve many smaller connections to other servers along the way. In these cases, a number of gateways are used.
HTML- Stands for "Hyper-Text Markup Language." This is the language that Web pages are written in. Also known as hypertext documents, Web pages must conform to the rules of HTML in order to be displayed correctly in a Web browser.
HTTP- Stands for "HyperText Transfer Protocol." This is the protocol used to transfer data over the World Wide Web. That's why all Web site addresses begin with "http://". Whenever you type a URL into your browser and hit Enter, your computer sends an HTTP request to the appropriate Web server. The Web server, which is designed to handle HTTP requests, then sends to you the requested HTML page.
Hyperlink- A hyperlink is a word, phrase, or image that you can click on to jump to a new document or a new section within the current document. Hyperlinks are found in nearly all Web pages, allowing users to click their way from page to page. Text hyperlinks are often blue and underlined, ie www.microsoft.com
Internet- The Internet was created way back in 1969, during the Cold War, by the United States military. It was meant to be a "nuke-proof" communications network. Today, the Internet spreads across the globe and consists of countless networks and computers, allowing millions of people to share information.
InterNIC- Stands for "Internet Network Information Center." The InterNIC is an organization created by the National Science Foundation to provide Internet information and domain name registration services.
IP Address- Also known as an "IP number" or simply an "IP," this is a code made up of numbers separated by three dots that identifies a particular computer on the Internet. Every computer, whether it be a Web server or the computer you're using right now, requires an IP address to connect to the Internet. IP addresses consist of four sets of numbers from 0 to 255, separated by three dots. For example "66.72.98.236" or "216.239.115.148.
ISP- Stands for "Internet Service Provider." In order to connect to the Internet, you need an ISP. It is the company that you pay a monthly fee to in order to use the Internet.
Latency- This is the amount of time it takes a packet of data to move across a network connection. When a packet is being sent, there is "latent" time, when the computer that sent the packet waits for confirmation that the packet has been received. Latency and bandwidth are the two factors that determine your network connection speed
LDAP- Stands for "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol." If you want to make directory information available over the network, this is the way to do it. To give you an idea of how an LDAP directory is organized, here are the different levels of a simple LDAP tree hierarchy:
1. The root directory
2. Countries
3. Organizations
4. Divisions, departments, etc.
5. Individuals ( email)
6. Individual resources, such as files and printers.
Mirror- In the computer world, a mirror is a Web or FTP server that has the same files on it as another server. Its purpose is to provide an alternate way to access files when the main server is so swamped with people connecting and downloading files that other people can't get through. It is also used for disaster recovery.
Meta Tag- Meta tags provide information such as a description of the page, and keywords that are relevant to the page. Many search engines use the information stored in meta tags when they index pages.
OSPF- Stands for "Open Shortest Path First." OSPF is a method of finding the shortest path from one router to another in a local area network (LAN). As long as a network is IP-based, the OSPF algorithm will calculate the most efficient way for data to be transmitted.
P2P- Stands for "Peer to Peer." In a P2P network, the "peers" are computer systems which are connected to each other via the Internet. Files can be shared directly between systems on the network without the need of a central server. In other words, each computer on a P2P network becomes a file server as well as a client.
Packet- This is a small amount of computer data sent over a network. Any time you receive data from the Internet, it comes to your computer in the form of many little packets. Each packet contains the address of its origin and destination, and information that connects it to the related packets being sent.
Ping- A ping is a test to see if a system on the Internet is working. "Pinging" a server tests and records the response time of the server. Pinging multiple computers can be helpful in finding Internet bottlenecks, so that data transfer paths can be rerouted a more efficient way. “One ping only”.
POP3- Stands for "Post Office Protocol." POP3, sometimes referred to as just "POP," is a simple, standardized method of delivering e-mail messages. A POP3 mail server receives e-mails and filters them into the appropriate user folders.
PPP- Stands for "Point to Point Protocol." It is the Internet standard for dial-up modem connections. PPP is a set of rules that defines how your modem exchanges packets of data with other systems on the Internet.
PPTP- Stands for "Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol." PPTP is a networking standard for connecting to virtual private networks, or VPNs. Although the connection is created over the Internet, the PPTP connection mimics a direct link between the two locations, allowing for a secure connection.
Protocol- When computers communicate with each other, there needs to be a common set of rules and instructions that each computer follows. A specific set of communication rules is called a protocol. Because of the many ways computers can communicate with each other, there are many different protocols -- too many for the average person to remember. Some examples of these different protocols include PPP, TCP/IP, SLIP, HTTP, and FTP
Proxy Server- This is a server that all computers on the local network have to go through before accessing information on the Internet. By using a proxy server, an organization can improve the network performance and filter what users connected to the network can access. a proxy server caches everything accessed from the network. That means if Bob views a news story at cnn.com at 1:00 and Jill views the same page at 1:03, she'll most likely get the page straight from the proxy server's cache. The other main purpose a proxy server is to filter what is allowed into the network. The proxy server can limit what Web sites users on the network can access. Many organizations choose to block access to sites with objectionable material.
SMTP- Stands for "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol." This is the protocol used for sending e-mail over the Internet. Your e-mail client (such as Outlook, Eudora, or Mac OS X Mail) uses SMTP to send a message to the mail server, and the mail server uses SMTP to relay that message to the correct receiving mail server.
Socket- When a computer program needs to connect to a local or wide area network such as the Internet, it uses a software component called a socket. The socket opens the network connection for the program, allowing data to be read and written over the network.
SSL- Stands for "Secure Sockets Layer." SSL is a secure protocol developed for sending information securely over the Internet. Many websites use SSL for secure areas of their sites, such as user account pages and online checkout. Usually, when you are asked to "log in" on a website, the resulting page is secured by SSL. SSL encrypts the data being transmitted so that a third party cannot "eavesdrop" on the transmission and view the data being transmitted. Only the user's computer and the secure server are able to recognize the data.
SPAM- Doyle’s favorite breakfast meat.
TCP/IP- Stands for "Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol." These two protocols were developed in the early days of the Internet by the U.S. military. The purpose was to allow computers to communicate over long distance networks. The TCP part has to do with the verifying delivery of the packets. The IP part refers to the moving of data packets between nodes.
URL- Stands for "Uniform Resource Locator." It is the address of a specific Web site or file on the Internet. A URL cannot have spaces or certain other characters and uses forward slashes to denote different directories or folders. The second part of a URL (after the "//") contains the address of the computer being located as well as the path ie, //server or computer name/folder name >> //BobsLaptop/sharedfiles or //Server2/purchaseorders.
VoIP- Stands for "Voice Over Internet Protocol," and is often pronounced "voip." VoIP is basically a telephone connection over the Internet. The data is sent digitally, using the Internet Protocol (IP) instead of analog telephone lines. This allows people to talk to one another long-distance and around the world without having to pay long distance or international phone charges.
VPN- Stands for "Virtual Private Network." A VPN refers to a network that is connected to the Internet, but uses encryption to scramble all the data sent through the Internet so the entire network is "virtually" private. For example, a large company that has offices in multiple locations may need to send data to the different locations via the Internet. To keep the information secure, the company might first set up a VPN with an encrypted connection. It's basically like having a secure Intranet over the Internet.
WAN- Stands for "Wide Area Network." It is similar to a Local Area Network (LAN), but it's a lot bigger. Unlike LANs, WANs are not limited to a single location. Many wide area networks span long distances via telephone lines, fiber-optic cables, or satellite links. They can also be composed of smaller LANs that are interconnected. The Internet could be described as the biggest WAN in the world.
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