Glossary
Active Server Pages (ASP)
Microsoft® Active Server Pages (ASP) is a server-side scripting environment that you can use to create and run dynamic, interactive Web server applications. With ASP, you can combine HTML pages, script commands, and COM components to create interactive Web pages and powerful Web-based applications that are easy to develop and modify.
Active Server Pages .NET (ASP.NET, ASP)
ASP.NET is a set of web development technologies marketed by Microsoft. Programmers can use it to build dynamic web sites, web applications and XML web services. It is part of Microsoft's .NET platform and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) technology.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the amount of information that can flow to a certain point on the internet. Bandwidth has also come to mean the amount of data that an individual web site can send in a month often measured in gigabytes.
Bit
A fundamental unit of information having just two possible values, as either of the binary digits 0 or 1.
Byte
A set 8 of bits that represent a single character.
Cache
A hidden section of memory of physical disk space that is used to store temporary files or data so that it may be available for rapid or frequent access.
Common Gateway Interface (CGI, CGI-BIN)
A programming language used to convert data gathered from a web page into another form. A CGI program might turn the content of a feedback form into an email message, or search a server's database with user-entered keywords.
Compression
Data files available for upload and download are often compressed in order to save space and reduce transfer times. Typical file extensions for compressed files include .zip, .cab, and .tar.
Cookie
Collection of information, usually including a username and the current date and time, stored on the local computer of a person using the World Wide Web, used chiefly by websites to identify users who have previously registered or visited the site.
Data Source Name (DSN)
A DSN is an inherent system file that is part of Windows ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) that allows you to access your database using a name rather than the physical system path.
Dedicated Server
A dedicated server is a piece of equipment owned by a web host. This server is maintained and initially configured by the web host. This server is then leased to a customer for his/her use only. This offers the most amount of control over a hosting environment.
Domain Name
A unique name that identifies an Internet site. A domain name is the Internet's way of translating a numeric IP address into an easy-to-remember combination of words and numbers. A given machine may have more than one domain name, but a given domain name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names "example.com", "mail.example.com" and "sales.example.com" can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine.
Domain Name Server (DNS)
A computer running a program that converts domain names into IP addresses and vice versa. Domain Name Servers (also known as Name Servers) are the backbone of the Internet.
Ethernet
A type of networking technology for local area networks.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
A communications protocol governing the transfer of files from one computer to another over a network.
Firewall
A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN into two or more parts for security purposes. A firewall is commonly used to separate a network from the Internet.
FrontPage Extensions (FP)
FrontPage is the Web site creation and management program with the tools, power, and features to deliver better results.
Gigabyte (GB)
1024 Megabytes often used when referring to traffic.
Host
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network.
Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)
HTML is the scripting language used to create web pages. Plain English is used as the foundation of HTML; this combined with the use of tags allows you to format and display text and pictures.
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
A protocol used to request and transmit files, especially webpages and webpage components, over the Internet or other computer network.
Internet Protocol Address (IP)
The address of a device attached to an IP network (TCP/IP network). Every client, server and network device must have a unique IP address for each network connection (network interface). Every IP packet contains a source IP address and a destination IP address.
Internet Service Provider (ISP)
An organization that provides access to the Internet. Small ISPs provide service via modem and ISDN while the larger ones also offer private line hookups (T1, fractional T1, etc.).
Local Area Network (LAN)
A computer network dedicated to sharing data among several single-user workstations or personal computers, each of which is called a node.
Megabyte (MB)
1024 Kilobytes
Microsoft SQL Server (SQL, MSSQL)
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system produced by Microsoft. It supports Microsoft's version of Structured Query Language (SQL), the most common database language. It is commonly used by businesses for small- to medium-sized databases, and - in the past five years - large enterprise databases. Microsoft SQL Server competes with other relational database products for this market segment.
Mirror
To "mirror" something is to maintain an exact copy of it. The most common use of the term on the Internet refers to "mirror sites" which are FTP or web sites that maintain exact copies of material originally stored at another location. Another common use of the term "mirror" refers to writing information to more than one hard disk simultaneously to prevent its loss or destruction.
Multimedia
A combination of media types in a single document, such as text, graphics, audio and video.
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)
The Internet standard for attaching non-text files to standard email messages. Non-text files can include graphics, spreadsheets, word-processor documents, sound files, etc. An email program is said to be "MIME Compliant" if it can both send and receive files using the MIME standard.
Network
A network is created any time 2 or more computers are connected together to share resources. When 2 or more networks are connected, it becomes an internet.
Network News Transfer Protocol (NTTP)
The protocol used by client and server software to move a USENET posting over a TCP/IP network. Most common web browsers use an NNTP connection to participate in newsgroups.
Port
A "port" often refers to the number appearing after the colon (:) in a domain name, such as http://www.example.com:7000/.
Post Office Protocol (POP, POP3)
Post office protocol 3 is a set of rules that makes it possible for e-mail to be sent from one machine to any other machine. It is the standard protocol for receiving mail.
Protocol
Computer rules that provide uniform specifications so that all computer hardware and operating systems can communicate with each other.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
SSL is a way of transferring data across the internet securely using encryption.
Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
SPF lets domains say what computers are allowed to send mail as that domain. If your domain uses SPF, and someone tries to send mail as you in Timbuktu (assuming, of course, your ISP is not in Timbuktu), your correspondent's ISP can reject the message, or just flag it for discarding.
Server
A kind of daemon that performs a service for the requester and which often runs on a computer other than the one on which the requestor/client runs. A particularly common term on the Internet, which is rife with web servers, name servers, domain servers, ‘news servers’, finger servers, and the like.
Server Side Includes (SSI)
Server side include is a small tag that is inserted into an HTML document that will allow it to do a limited group of tasks. These include displaying the date and time and inserting a specific text file into the HTML document.
Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP)
SMTP is the protocol used to transfer mail from one machine to another. Unlike POP3 it is for sending E-mail rather then receiving.
Spam
To send a message or advertisement to a large number of people who did not request the information, or to repeatedly send the same message to a single person.
Structured Query Language (SQL)
A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Each application will have its own version of SQL-implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases will support a common subset of SQL.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
The URL is the address where a web site can be found. It is either in the form of a domain name (see domain name) or an IP address (see ip address)
Web Application (WebApp)
In software engineering, a web application is an application delivered to users from a web server over a network such as the internet or an intranet. Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of the web browser as a client, sometimes called a thin client. The ability to update and maintain web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity. Web applications are used to implement webmail, online retail sales, online auctions, wikis, discussion boards, weblogs, MMORPGs, and perform many other functions.
Web Design
Web design is the design or designing of a web page, website or web application. The term generally refers to the graphical side of web development using images, CSS and one of the HTML standards.
Web Development
Web development is a broad term that incorporates all areas of developing a web site for the World Wide Web. This often includes graphical web design, backend programming, and web server configuration. For larger businesses and organizations, web development teams can consist of hundreds of people, while smaller organizations may only require a single webmaster.
Web Hosting
Web hosting is a service that provides individuals, organizations and users with online systems for storing information, images, video, or any content accessible via the Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center.
Wide Area Network (WAN)
A communications network that uses such devices as telephone lines, satellite dishes, or radio waves to span a larger geographic area than can be covered by a LAN.
World Wide Web (WWW)
The technical definition of the WWW is the global network of hypertext (HTTP) servers that allow text, graphics, audio and video files to be mixed together. The second, more loosely used definition is the entire range of resources that can be accessed using Gopher, FTP, HTTP, telnet, USENET, WAIS, and other such tools.