Welcome to Profit
Gate's basic Internet Dictionary. Click
Here to find your word.
As in any Internet
dictionary, to define some words often requires yet more
web-related definitions, in order to understand them. Unlike most
basic dictionaries, however, this one is designed with the key words
within a definition linked to their meanings for convenience. This
dictionary is designed to be the best kind of system to fully understand
the words.
This allows
a newcomer to click on any web-related term within a defintion and
quickly define that word. You then simply click your Back Button to return to the original word and continue with that definition.
We invite you
to send us any words you feel should be added to this Internet dictionary. Send
requests with this form: e-mail
form
access provider: Any organization
that arranges for others to connect to the Internet.
By connect is meant - the ability to surf the Internet. Well known access
providors are AOL, CompuServe, and Microsoft. Access does not include hosting web sites, only looking at them.
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analog: refers to electronic transmission accomplished by using signals
of varying frequency or strength. Broadcast and phone transmission have
conventionally used analog technology.
Analog also refers to any fluctuating, evolving, or continually changing
process. Analog is usually represented as a series of electical waves. The
term originated because the variations of this wave is similar to the fluctuations
of the voice itself.
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application program: (sometimes shortened to application) is any
program designed to perform a specific function directly for the user or, in some cases, for another program. Examples of application programs
include word processors, database programs, Web browsers, development tools (such as drawing, paint, and image editing programs),
and communication programs. Application programs use the services of the
computer's operating system and other supporting
programs.
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ASCII: The most common format for text files
in computers and on the Internet. In an ASCII file, each character is represented
with a 7 digit binary number (a string of seven 0s
or 1s). 128 different characters are defined. ~ Return
to Dictionary Index ~
attachment, e-mail: E-mail messages are usually
encoded in ASCII text. However, you can also send non-text
files, such as graphic images and sound files, as attachments sent
in binary streams.
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back button:
The device on most web browsers that takes you
back one "click", to the web
page you just left. Normally it is found in the top left corner of
the browser window and labeled "Back".
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Bandwidth: On the Net, bandwidth is used to mean how
fast data flows on a given transmission path. Any signal has a bandwidth.
Generally speaking, bandwidth is the amount of data transmitted or received
per unit time.
Bandwidth
is proportional to the complexity of the data for a given level of system
performance. For example, it takes more bandwidth to download a photograph
in one second than it takes to download a page of text in one second.
Large sound files, computer programs, and animated videos require still
more bandwidth for acceptable system performance.
In
computer systems, bandwidth is expressed as data speed in bits per second (bps). Thus, a modem that works at 57,600
bps has twice the bandwidth of a modem that works at 28,800 bps.
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binary: A numbering system in which there are only two possible values
for each digit: 0 and 1. The term also refers to any digital encoding/decoding system in which there are exactly two possible states.
In digital data memory, storage, processing, & communications, the 0
and 1 values are sometimes called "low" and "high," respectively.
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bit: A bit, short for binary digit, is the smallest unit of
data in a computer. A bit has a single value of either 0 or 1. Computers
are designed to store data and execute instructions in bit multiples called bytes. In most computer systems, there are eight bits
in a byte.
In
telecommunication, the bit rate is the number of bits that are transmitted
in a given time period, usually a second.
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bit map: A bit map (often spelled "bitmap") defines a display space
and the color for each pixel or "bit" in the display
space. A GIF and a JPEG are examples
of graphic image file types that contain bit maps.
A
bit map does not need to contain a bit of color-coded information for
each pixel on every row. It only needs to contain information indicating
a new color as the display scans along a row. Thus, an image with much
solid color will tend to require a small bit map.
Because
a bit map uses a fixed or raster graphics method of specifying an image, the image cannot be immediately rescaled
by a user without losing definition. A vector
graphics image, however, is designed to be quickly rescaled. Typically,
an image is created using vector graphics and then, when the artist is
satisifed with the image, it is converted to (or saved as) a raster graphic
file or bit map.
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body: The BODY of a web page contains the document's content. The content may be presented
by a browser in a variety of ways. You can think
of the BODY as a canvas where the content appears: text, images, colors,
graphics, etc.
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boot program: To boot (as a verb; also "to boot up") a computer is
to load an operating system into the computer's
main memory or random access memory (RAM). Once the operating
system is loaded, it's ready for users to run applications.
Sometimes you'll see an instruction to "reboot" the operating system. This
simply means to reload the operating system (on PCs press the Ctrl, Alt,
and Delete keys at the same time).
Booting
or loading an operating system is different than installing it, which
is generally an initial one-time activity. When you install the operating
system, you may be asked to identify certain options or configuration
choices. At the end of installation, your operating system is on your hard disk ready to be booted (loaded) into random
access memory, the computer storage that is closer to the microprocessor
and faster to work with than the hard disk.
Typically,
when an operating system is installed, it is set up so that when you turn
the computer on, the system is automatically booted as well. If you run
out of RAM or the operating system or an application program encounters
an error, you may get an error message or your screen may "freeze", so
you can't do anything. If this happens, you may have to reboot the operating
system.
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browser: An application program that provides a way to look at, and interact with, all the information on
the World Wide Web. The word "browser" seems to have originated prior to
the Web as a generic term for a user interface that let you browse (navigate through and read) text files online.
Technically,
a Web browser is a client program that uses the
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to make requests
of Web servers throughout the Internet on behalf
of the browser user.
The
first widely-used browser was Netscape Navigator. Microsoft followed with
Internet Explorer. Today, these two browsers are the only two browsers
that the vast majority of Internet users are aware of. Although the online
services, such as America Online, originally had their own browsers, virtually
all now offer the Netscape or Microsoft browser.
While
some browsers also support e-mail (indirectly through e-mail Web sites)
and the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), a Web browser
is not required for those Internet Protocols and more specialized client programs are more popular.
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byte: kilobyte, megabyte, and gigabyte
In most computer systems, a byte is a unit of data that is eight binary
digits long. A byte usually represents one character, such as a letter,
number, or symbol (for example, "a", "2", or "@" would each require one
byte).
A
byte is abbreviated with a "B". A bit is abbreviated with a small "b".
A
byte can also hold a string of bits that are used in
some larger unit for application purposes (for example, the stream of
bits that constitute a visual image for a program that displays images,
or the string of bits that constitutes the machine code of a computer
program).
In
some computer systems, four bytes constitute a word, a unit that a computer
processor can be designed to handle efficiently as it reads and processes
each instruction. Some computer processors can handle two-byte or single-byte
instructions.
Computer
storage is usually measured in bytes. For example, 64 KB (kilobyte)
of memory is about 64 thousand bytes of memory; 128 MB (megabyte)
of RAM means about 128 million bytes of random
access memory. A 40 GB (gigabyte) hard
drive holds about 40 billion bytes - or - of data.
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CD-ROM: (Compact Disc, read-only-memory) is an adaptation of the
CD that is designed to store computer data in the form
of text and graphics, as well as hi-fi stereo sound. The original data format standard was defined by Philips and Sony in 1983.
The
format of the CD-ROM is the same as for audio CDs. A standard CD
is 120 mm (4.75 inches) in diameter and 1.2 mm (0.05 inches) thick and
is composed of a polycarbonate plastic underlayer - this is the main body
of the disc, one or more thin reflective metal (usually aluminum) layers,
and a lacquer coating.
The
CD-ROM, like other CD adaptations, has data encoded in a spiral track
beginning at the center and ending at the outermost edge of the disc.
The track holds about 650 MB of data. That's about
5.5 billion bits.
A
CD-ROM drive or "player" uses a lazer beam to decode the contents of each
disk. For a detailed explaination of how a CD player actually works, see How it Works.
CD-ROM's
started out with a single speed transfer rate of 150 KBps.
Their speeds are now expressed as multiples of the old single speed transfer
rate, 2X, 4X, 6X, and so on.
Recent models are over 50X.
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CGI: Common Gateway Interface. When a user fills out a form on a Web page and sends it in, it usually needs to be processed by a program.
This method for passing data back and forth between the server and the application
is called the common gateway interface (CGI). It is part of the Web's Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
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cgi-bin: A folder on a web server where program files are stored. These
are stored separately from other files for security
reasons. This is the only area of a Web server where programs are allowed
to run. See cgi + bin (binary).
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character: Each key on your computer keyboard represents one character.
Examples might include: B, f, ", ?, & +.
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click: Using
the mouse, a user positions the cursor over a link on a web
page, and presses the left button on the mouse. This results in the
user's browser being transferred to a new web page
to view.
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client: A client is the program or user, requesting information from a server. For
example, the user of a Web browser is making client requests for pages from servers on the Web. The computer handling the request
and sending back the Web pages is a server.
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client/server: On the Internet, your Web browser is a client program that requests services (the
sending of Web pages) from a Web server in another
computer somewhere on the Internet.
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code: The code is a set of instructions (written in one of the many
different programming languages) used to operate in a computer.
To
code (verb) is to write the actual instructions within a program that operates in a computer.
Web
Master's Note: This has become one of Mankind's most amazingly
overcomplicated, and difficult to keep up with, sciences in all history.
To define this further would require a formidable sized library, and before
you could read half of it, would be mainly obsolete.
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 computer:
A device that computes (determines by mathematics), especially a programmable
electronic machine that performs high-speed mathematical or logical operations
or that assembles, stores, correlates, or otherwise processes information.
Web
Master's Note - Warning: Computers rarely do what you WANT them
to, they do only what you TELL them to. In other words, they cannot think.
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cursor: a marker
on a computer's monitor indicating the point of focus of the user. This
marker appears as an arrow, a little hand, a symbol resembling a capitol
letter- I - or a blinking verticle bar, depending on where it is placed. The position
of the cursor is determined by either the mouse or the keyboard.
On the web, the cursor
behaves as follows:
- I = cursor is
over text.
 =
cursor is over nothing interactive. =
cursor is over an interactive link.
Off the web, users
may see the cursor as a blinking verticle bar in many types of programs.
In a text editor, for instance, the blinking verticle bar shows where
the computer will place any text typed with the keyboard. Basically, it
indicates the focus point of the computer.
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daemon: (pronounced DEE-muhn) Yes, you were right; there are "demons"
in your computer! This is a program that runs continuously and exists for
the purpose of handling periodic service requests that a computer system
expects to receive. The daemon program forwards the requests to other programs
(or processes) as appropriate.
Each server on the Web has an HTTPD or Hypertext
Transfer Protocol Daemon that continually waits for requests to come
in from Web clients and their users.
In
mythology, a daemon, according to Webster's, was "an attendant power or
spirit."
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data: In computing, data is information that has been translated
into a form that is more convenient to move or process. Relative to today's
computers and transmission media, data is information converted into binary or digital form.
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DHTML: Dynamic HTML. A combination of new Hypertext Markup Language
(HTML) tags and options, that will
let you create Web pages more animated and more responsive to user interaction
than previous versions of HTML. Simple examples of dynamic HTML pages would
include (1) having the color of text change when a user passes a mouse over
it or (2) allowing a user to "drag and drop" an image to another place on
a Web page.
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digital: refers to electronic technology that generates, stores,
and processes data in terms of two states: positive and negative. Positive
is represented by the number 1 and negative by the number 0. Data transmitted
or stored with digital technology is expressed as a string of 0's and
1's. These strings of digits are called bits.
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directory: See folder
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DNS: see Domain Name System.
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document: A document is a form of information. A document can be
put into an electronic form and stored in a computer as one or more file. Often a single document becomes
a single file. When using computer applications such as a word processor or graphics program, a document is the unit of
saved work. Each document is saved as a uniquely named file.
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Domain : On the Internet, a domain is a network address. This is
similar to your home's address used by the postal system. The mailman can
deliver our mail because we have a unique address such as 2275 Beverly
Lane - Clearwater FL 33764. On the Web, each site has its own unique address
also, so that Web servers can find it. These domains
are also referred to as "Dot.Coms". Our domain here is www.profitgate.net.
A
domain is also part of, and sometimes confused with, a URL.
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Domain Name System: (DNS) The way that Internet domain names are
located and translated into Internet Protocol Addresses.
A domain name is a meaningful and easy-to-remember "handle" for an Internet
address.
Profit
Gate's IP Address is 204.251.180.160 - its domain name is profitgate.net.
To
better understand how connections are actually made, see our Internet
Diagram.
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DOS: (Disk Operating System) was the first widely-installed operating
system for personal computers. Earlier, the
same name had been used for an IBM operating system for a line of business
computers.
The
first personal computer version of DOS, called PC-DOS, was developed for
IBM by Bill Gates and his new Microsoft Corporation. He retained the rights
to market a Microsoft version, called MS-DOS. DOS was (and still is) a
non-graphical operating system, with a relatively
simple, but not overly "friendly" interface .
Its prompt to enter a command looks like this:
C:>
The
first Microsoft Windows operating system was really an application that
ran on top of the MS-DOS operating system. Today, Windows operating systems
continue to support DOS (or a DOS-like user interface) for special purposes
by emulating the operating system.
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Download: Downloading is the transmission of a file from one computer system to another. From the Internet
user's point-of-view, to download a file is to request it from a Web page
in order to receive it.
Uploading is transmission in the other direction: from one computer to another.
From an Internet user's point-of-view, uploading is sending a file to
a computer that is set up to receive it.
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E-commerce: (Electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods
or services on the Internet, especially the World
Wide Web. In practice, this term and a newer term, e-business, are often
used interchangably. For online retail selling, the term e-tailing is sometimes
used.
As
a place for direct retail shopping, with its 24-hour availability, a global
reach, the ability to interact and provide custom information and ordering,
and multimedia prospects, the Web is rapidly becoming a multibillion dollar
source of revenue for the world's businesses. A number of businesses already
report considerable success. As early as the middle of 1997, Dell Computers
reported orders of a million dollars a day. By early 1999, projected e-commerce
revenues for business were in the billions of dollars and the stocks of
companies deemed most adept at e-commerce were skyrocketing.
The
Security of Business Transactions includes authenticating business transactors,
controlling access to resources such as Web pages for registered or selected users, encrypting communications, and in general,
ensuring the privacy and effectiveness of transactions. Among the most
widely-used security technologies is the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL),
which is built into both of the leading Web browsers.
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e-mail: (Electronic mail) is the exchange of messages over the Internet.
E-mail messages are usually encoded in ASCII text.
However, you can also send non-text files, such as graphic images and sound files, as attachments sent in binary streams.
E-mail
was one of the first uses of the Internet and is still THE most popular
use of it. A large percentage of the total traffic over the Internet is
e-mail.
E-mail
is one of the protocols included in Transport
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCPIP).
A
popular protocol for sending e-mail is - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
(SMTP).
The two popular protocols for receiving it are POP3 and IMAP.
Both
Netscape and Microsoft include an e-mail utility with their Web browsers.
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.exe (executable): A file whose name ends in ".exe" is really a program that when "opened" (selected by putting your mouse over the file name
and double-clicking your mouse) causes the operating
system to run the program.
To
execute a program is to run it in the computer,
to start it. Typically, we don't say that a program is executing;
we say that it is running.
Users who receive an .exe file as an attachment to an e-mail should always beware! Sometimes
this could be a computer virus.
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extension: An "extension" is a suffix that allows a file's format to be described as part of its name so that users can quickly understand
the type of file it is without having to "open" or try to use it. The file
name extension also helps an application to recognize whether a file is a type that it can work with.
Some
common examples of extensions are .exe - .gif - .jpg - .doc - and .txt
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file: In any computer system a file is an
piece of related data available to system users.
The file must have a unique name within its own directory. Some operating
systems and applications describe files with given formats by giving them a particular file name suffix known as a file name extension.
For example, a program (or executable) file is often
given an ".exe" suffix, and a text document is often given a
".txt" suffix.
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 floppy: A
small, removable data storage medium that can be
used with personal computers. These magnetic diskettes
are convenient for storing individual files and small programs.
The
term usually refers to the flexible plastic (magnetic) disk housed in
a rigid plastic cartridge measuring 3.5 inches square and about 1/8th
inch thick. Also called a "3.5-inch diskette," it can store up to 1.44
megabytes (MB) of data. Most personal computers today come with a 3.5-inch
diskette drive pre-installed.
Some
older computers provide drives for magnetic diskettes that were 5.25 inches
square, about 1 millimeter thick, and capable of holding 1.2 megabytes
of data. These were sometimes called "floppy disks" or "floppies" because
their housings were flexible. In recent years, 5.25-inch diskettes have
been largely replaced by 3.5-inch diskettes, which are physically more
rugged. Many people still call the newer hard-cased diskette a "floppy."
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 folder: Also called a directory, a folder
is a place in a computer where files are stored. Similar to a hanging folder in your office filing cabinet,
it holds individual files, and can have sub directories which may in turn
contain files. It is a group of related files that
are separated into a specific place with its own unique name. On the Windows
operating system, you can view all folders in your computer using the
Windows Explorer program. You can find this from the main Start Button,
under Programs, sometimes under Accessories.
Folders
are generally set up as you would a "family tree", like this:
Main
Directory
|-- folder 1
| |__ some files
|
|-- folder 2
||__ more files
|
Backup Directory
|-- folder 1
||__ and more files
|
|-- folder 2 |
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format: A format (noun, pronounced FOHR-mat) is a agreed upon layout
for data. Programs each take data,
in a certain format, process it, and provide some sort of result. All data
is stored in some specific format with the plan that it will be processed
by a certain type of program that knows how to handle that format.
Data
formats tend to fall into bitmaps (strings of 0s
and 1s) that describe images or sound patterns (or both), text formats (in which usually each byte value is mapped to a character), and
numeric data formats (used by spreadsheet and other database programs).
Hard
disks and other storage devices are also said to be formatted when
their space has been organized and divided into pieces that can be controlled
for convenient storage and access. For example, a hard disk may be formatted
(divided into areas called sectors, tracks, and clusters).
To
format (verb) a document or file for printing or displaying is to add
the necessary information to it so that the output device will know how
to present the output.
To
format (verb) a hard disk or diskette is to set up the space divisions
and initiate a space allocation table (table of contents) that will know
exactly how to reach each bit of data that may be stored there later.
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frames: In a Web site, frames are the multiple,
independently controllable sections on a Web presentation. This effect is
achieved by building each part as a separate HTML file
and having one "master" HTML file identify all of the
parts.
When users request a Web page that
uses frames, the address requested is actually
that of the "master" file that defines the frames. The result is that
multiple HTML files are displayed, one for each part.
Links in one frame can request a file that will appear in another (or the same)
frame. A common use of frames is where one frame contains a selection
menu and another frame that contains the space where the selected (linked
to) files will appear.
Surveys
of users indicate that many people do not like sites using frames. For
more on this, click
here.
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FTP (File Transfer Protocol): A standard Internet
Protocol, and the simplest way to exchange files between computers on the Internet.
FTP
uses the Internet's TCPIP protocols and is commonly
used to transfer Web page files from their creator to the computer that
acts as the server for everyone on the Internet.
It's also commonly used to download programs and other files to your computer
from other servers.
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GIF (Graphics Interchange Format): One of the two most common file formats for graphic images
on the World Wide Web. The other is the JPEG.
On the Internet, the GIF has become the standard format for images.
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graphic: (or image) In computers, and on
the Internet, a picture is generally referred to
as a "graphic" or an "image".
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GUI: (graphical user interface) A user interface,
consisting of graphic devices provided by a computer or a program to allow the user to communicate and
use the computer or program. A GUI provides its user a more or less "picture-oriented"
way to interact with technology. A GUI is usually a more satisfying or user-friendly
interface to a computer system.
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hard disk: Often called a "disk drive," "hard drive," or "hard disk
drive," this is the part of your computer that stores and gives access to
large amounts of data. Today's computers typically come with a hard disk
that contains many billion bytes (gigabytes) of storage.
A
hard disk is really a set of stacked "disks," each of which has data recorded
magnetically in concentric circles or "tracks" on the disk. Two heads,
one on each side of a disk, read or write the data as the disk spins.
A "head" records (writes) or reads the information on the tracks, something
like a phonograph arm but in a more fixed position.
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Hardware: The physical aspect of computers. Like software,
hardware is a collective term. Hardware includes not only the computer itself, but also the cables, connectors, power supply units, and peripheral
devices such as the keyboard, mouse, speakers, and printers.
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Heading: In all web pages, the "heading" is
at the top of the page and contains basic instructions needed by browsers to decode the page and present it to the user's computer.
The most important of these instructions is a tag identifying
this as a web page: <html>
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home page: 1) For a Web user, the home page is
the first Web page that is displayed after starting
a Web browser like Netscape's Navigator or Microsoft's
Internet Explorer.
The
browser is usually preset to go to the browser manufacturer's web
site. However, you can set it to open to any Web site.
For
example, you can specify that http://www.profitgate.net be your
home page. If you want to, Click
here to make Profit Gate your default homepage.
You
can also specify that there be no home page in which case a blank space
will be displayed.
2)
For a Web site developer, a home page is the first page presented when
a user selects a site or presence on the World Wide Web.
The usual address for a Web site is the home page address, although you
can enter the address (URL Uniform Resource Locator)
of any page and have that page sent to you.
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Hosting : Hosting (also known as Web site hosting, Web hosting, and
Webhosting) is the business of housing, providing a server,
and maintaining files for one or more Web
sites.
More
important than the computer space that is provided for Web site files
is the fast connection to the Internet. Typically,
an individual business hosting its own site would require a fast connection
that would be very expensive. Using a hosting service lets many companies
share the cost of a fast Internet connection for serving files.
Some
Internet access providers, such as America Online, offer subscribers free
space for a small Web site that is hosted by one of their computers. Geocities
is a Web site that offers registered visitors similar free space for a
Web site. While these services are free, they are also very basic and
often include "forced" advertising banners.
A
number of hosting companies describe their services as virtual hosting.
Virtual hosting usually implies that their services will be transparent
and that each Web site will have its own domain name and set of e-mail
addresses. In most usages, hosting and virtual hosting are the same. Some
hosting companies let you have your own virtual server, the appearance
that you are controlling a server that is dedicated entirely to your site.
Dedicated
hosting is the provision of a server machine that is dedicated to
the traffic to one, or a small group of Web sites. Only very busy sites
require their own dedicated hosting. Profit Gate manages its own servers
which are connected directly to the main backbone of the Internet.
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HTML: (Hypertext Markup Language) is the set of markup symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display
on the World Wide Web. The markup tells the Web browser how to display a Web page for the user. Each individual
markup code is referred to as an element or tag.
HTML
is a formal Recommendation by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
and is generally adhered to by the major browsers, Microsoft's Internet
Explorer and Netscape's Navigator, which also provide some additional
non-standard codes. The current version of HTML is HTML 4.0. However,
both Internet Explorer and Netscape implement some features differently
and provide non-standard extensions. This makes
building web site very challenging, even for the professional.
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HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): The is the set of rules for exchanging files on the World Wide Web. HTTP
includes the key idea that files may contain links (references
to other files) which, when activated (by mouse clicking) then transfers
the user to a new location.
Any
Web server machine contains, in addition to the HTML and other files it can serve, an HTTP daemon,
a program that is designed to wait for HTTP requests and handle them when
they arrive.
Your
Web browser is an HTTP client,
sending requests to server machines. When the browser user enters file
requests by either "opening" a Web file or clicking on a hypertext link, the browser builds an HTTP request and sends it to the Internet
Protocol address indicated by the URL. The HTTP
daemon in the destination server machine receives the request and, after
any necessary processing, the requested file is returned.
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hypertext: This is what makes the Web work. Hypertext
is a link between some text at point A, and something
related to this at point B. For example, you might have a word like automoble
(point A) - linked to a photo of a particular car (point B).
Hypertext
was the main concept that led to the invention of the World Wide Web,
which is nothing more (or less) than an enormous amount of information
connected by an enormous number of hypertext links. The term was first
used by Ted Nelson.
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ICANN: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
is a technical coordination body for the Internet. Created in October 1998
by a broad coalition of the Internet's business, technical, academic, and
user communities, ICANN is assuming responsibility for a set of technical
functions previously performed under U.S. government contract by other groups.
Specifically,
ICANN coordinates the assignment of the following identifiers that must
be globally unique for the Internet to function:
Internet domain names
IP address numbers
protocol details
In
addition, ICANN coordinates the stable operation of the Internet's root
server system.
As
a non-profit, private-sector corporation, ICANN is dedicated to preserving
the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to
achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and to
developing policy through private-sector, bottom-up, consensus-based means.
ICANN welcomes the participation of any interested Internet user, business,
or organization.
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IMAP4: (Internet Message Access Protocol 3) The latest version of
one of the standard protocols for accessing e-mail.
It is one of the two main systems being used on the Internet.
With
IMAP, your e-mail stays on the Internet server.
You view your e-mail at the server as though it was on your computer.
An e-mail message deleted on your computer is still on the server.
You
can view just the heading and the sender of the letter and then decide
whether to download the mail. You can also create
and manipulate folders or mailboxes on the server,
delete messages, or search for certain parts or an entire note. IMAP requires
continual access to the server during the time that you are working with
your mail.
A
simpler protocol is Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3).
With POP3, your mail is saved for you in your mail box on the server.
When you read your mail, all of it is immediately downloaded to your computer
and no longer maintained on the server.
POP
can be thought of as a "store-and-forward" service. IMAP can be thought
of as a remote server.
POP
and IMAP deal with the receiving of e-mail and are not to be confused
with the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), a protocol
for transferring e-mail across the Internet. You send e-mail with
SMTP and a mail handler receives it on the recipient's behalf. Then the
mail is read using POP or IMAP.
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interface: A user interface, consisting of graphic
or other devices provided by a computer or a program to allow the user to communicate and use the computer or program. A GUI
(Graphic User Interface) provides its user a more or less "picture-oriented"
way to interact with technology. A GUI is usually a more satisfying or user-friendly
interface to a computer system.
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Internet: The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide
system of computer networks - a network
of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission,
get information from any other computer.
It
was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S.
government in 1969 and was first known as the Advanced Research Projects
Agency Network. The original aim was to create a network that would allow
users of a research computer at one university to be able to "talk to"
research computers at other universities. A side benefit of ARPANet's
design was that, because messages could be routed or rerouted in more
than one direction, the network could continue to function even if parts
of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or other disaster.
Today,
the Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility accessible
to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Physically, the Internet
uses a portion of public communication networks. Technically, what distinguishes
the Internet is its use of a set of protocols called TCPIP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol).
Anyone
may access the Internet through an ISP ( Internet
Service Provider). Using a browser,
one may visit web sites across the
World. There currently are over a billion pages to see.
For
many Internet users, electronic mail (e-mail)
has practically replaced the Postal Service for short written transactions.
Electronic mail is the most widely used application on the Net. You can
also carry on live "conversations" with other computer users, using Internet
Relay Chat (IRC). More recently, Internet
hardware and software allows real-time voice conversations.
The
most widely used part of the Internet is the World
Wide Web (often abbreviated "WWW" or called "the Web"). Its outstanding
feature is hypertext, a method
of instant cross-referencing from one place to another on the Internet.
Although the Web is only a part of the Internet, many people use
the terms interchangeably.
In
most Web sites, certain words appear in text of a different color than
the rest, usually blue, and often underlined. When you click on
one of these words, you get transferred to another place. This is how
hypertext works.
Sometimes
there are buttons, images, or portions of images that are "clickable."
If you move the pointer over a spot on a Web site and the pointer changes
into a hand, this indicates that you can click on it and be transferred
to another site.
Using
the Web, you have access to millions of pages of information. Web browsing
(surfing the Net) is done with a Web browser, the most popular of which
are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The appearance
of a particular Web site may vary slightly depending on the browser you
use. Also, later versions of a particular browser are able to render more
"bells and whistles" such as animation, virtual reality, sound, and music
files, than earlier versions.
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Internet Protocol (IP): The method by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet.
Each computer on the Internet has at least one IP
Address that uniquely identifies it from all other computers on the
Internet.
When
you send or receive data (for example, an e-mail note or a Web page), the message gets divided into
little chunks called packets. Each of these packets
contains both the sender's Internet address and the receiver's address.
Any packet is sent first to a gateway computer that understands a small
part of the Internet. The gateway computer reads the destination address
and forwards the packet to an adjacent gateway that in turn reads the
destination address and so forth across the Internet until one gateway
recognizes the packet as belonging to a computer within its immediate
neighborhood or domain. That gateway then forwards the packet directly
to the computer whose address is specified. Once all the packets which
made up the original message are received, they are re-assembled into
the page or message.
~ Return to Dictionary Index ~
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