Although you don't need to know every term that's bantered about on the Internet to be able to work, play, and develop on the Web, an understanding of a few key terms will help you to better understand what's going on there. Here's a short glossary of Internet and Web terms to help you get started.
Backbone A high-speed network for internetworking computer networks.
Browse To navigate the World Wide Web. Synonyms: cruise, surf.
Browser A client program for viewing HTML documents sent by a server over an HTTP connection.
Client An application or computer that receives and interprets data sent by a matching server computer/application.
CGI Common Gateway Interface; the way in which Web CGI-BIN scripts are run.
CGI-BIN Script CGI Binary script; a server-side program that accomplishes a task that cannot be done using HTML. A means of extending the usefulness and versatility of the Web.
Domain Name The unique name that identifies each Internet site.
E-mail Electronic Mail; addressed messages sent over a computer network, either automatically or by a human user, to one or more recipients.
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions list, which attempts to answer the most-asked questions on a given topic. Many are transmitted on a monthly basis over Usenet, and are archived on the Net.
FORM A subset of HTML tags that can be used to create fields on a Web page to accept input from a user.
FTP File Transfer Protocol; the TCP/IP protocol for transferring files on the Internet.
GIF Graphics Interchange Format image, often used on Web pages because of its ability to render a background color as transparent.
Gopher A client/server application for indexing and retrieving information on the Internet. The predecessor to the World Wide Web.
Hit An instance of someone (or something, such as a Webcrawler robot indexing program) accessing a Web page.
Hostname The DNS name for a single computer on the Internet, e.g., www.yahoo.com.
HTML HyperText Markup Language; the language used to create Web pages.
HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol; the client/server protocol for moving hypertext files on the Internet.
Hypertext Text containing links that, when chosen by a user, will "jump" to another block of text, either in the same document or in another.
Internet The worldwide network of computers connected by TCP/IP and other internetworking protocols.
IP Address Internet Protocol address, which is composed of four numbers separated by periods ("dots"), e.g., 198.137.221.9.
ISP Internet Service Provider; an institution that provides access to the Internet.
JAVA An interpreted script language developed by Sun Microsystems that resembles C++. It was created to extend the capabilities of the Web by allowing programs to be associated with Web pages that can run on a Web client computer when the page is accessed.
JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group; compressed graphics images, often used on Web pages.
LAN Local Area Network; a computer network limited in scope to a single group of locally interconnected computers.
Link A user-selectable hypertext or hypermedia jump point, that, when selected, will "jump" to another text or multimedia object.
MIME Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions; a means of identifying content in e-mail files and on Web pages. Used by Web browser programs to identify Web page content for proper display.
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group; compression algorithm for video and audio files, often used on the Web.
Multimedia Generic term for integrated, interactive video, audio, text, graphics, database, and other content.
Netscape Shorthand for the Netscape Communications Corporation's Netscape Navigator WWW browser, generally acknowledged to be the most popular Web browser program today.
Network A collection of computers connected by LAN, WAN, or Internet.
Newsgroup A Usenet conference or discussion group.
Node A single computer connected to a network.
NRE National Research and Education Network; the entity that will form the backbone for the U.S. potion of the Internet for the near future.
Page A single HTML document on the Web.
PERL Practical Extraction Reporting Language; many CGI-BIN scripts on the Web are written in PERL.
POP Post Office Protocol; the method whereby e-mail is generally transmitted.
Post To send a message for public display in a Usenet newsgroup.
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol; one of the protocols that enables a user to create a TCP/IP dialup connection to the Internet via modem.
RFC Request For Comments; the process of writing a document proposing a new standard for the Internet and then asking for the Net community to comment on it. The standard method for establishing rules and methods on the Internet.
Server A computer/application that sends data over the network to a matching client computer/program that is capable of properly interpreting that data.
SGML Standard Generalized Markup Language; the precursor to and a superset of HTML.
SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol; an alternative to PPP.
T1 A leased-line Internet connection that operates at 1.5 megabits per second.
T3 A 45 megabit-per-second leased line Internet connection.
Tag An HTML markup element.
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol; the suite of protocols that provides the infrastructure for the Internet.
Telnet A remote logon program that is part of the TCP/IP protocols.
URL Uniform Resource Locator; the standard World Wide Web address format, e.g., http://www.google.com.
Usenet A worldwide system of discussion groups.
VRML Virtual Reality Modeling Language for creating 3D sites on the Web.
WAIS Wide Area Information Server, for indexing and accessing great quantities of information on the Net. Often an adjunct to Gopher.
WAN Wide Area Network; an internetwork of LANs. The Internet is a huge WAN.
WWW World Wide Web; the portion of the Internet that consists of linked HTML pages.
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