Computer Terms G
through K
Gateway
The technical meaning is a
hardware or software
configuration that
translates between two (or
more) different protocols.
For example AOL used to use
a proprietary email program
which used a Gateway to
allow it to connect with
other email programs using
the more common POP3
protocol. AOL has since
changed to a more standard
email protocol (luckily).
GIF -- (Graphic
Interchange Format)
A common format for image
files, especially suitable
for images containing large
areas of the same color. GIF
format is good for graphical
images which do not contain
complex color variations and
is more suitable for Web
graphics. GIF format is a
poor choice for digital
photographs because of the
huge number of color
variations within the
photographs. Almost all
animations on the Web are
GIFs.
Gigabyte
Normally 1024 Megabytes.
However some use Gigabyte to
mean 1000 Megabytes as well.
Hit
A "Hit" on a web site is
every time the page is
loaded and every time every
graphic or media file in
that page is loaded from a
single request (view). Lots
of times you'll hear someone
bragging that their site got
a "million hits". But, hits
are not as important as
"unique" visitors. If you
have a web page with 160
graphics on it and one midi
file, each time that page is
requested (viewed) it would
generate 162 hits (one for
each graphic, one for the
midi file and one for the
page itself. And every time
the page was reloaded or
refreshed it would generate
another 162 hits and so on.
Unique visitors are the real
measure of a Web page's
popularity since it counts
only the "unique" visitor
(by IP address) who has
visited that page.
Home Page
Home Page has several
meanings. It can mean the
page your browser opens with
when you open your browser
(like our Start Page). It
can mean the "home page" of
a Web site. For instance our
Web site's home page is
http://funonboone.com.
Host
A "Host Machine" provides a
service to other computer. A
Host Machine usually
provides several services,
such as SMTP (email) and
HTTP (web) and FTP (File
Transfer Protocol).
HTML -- (HyperText
Markup Language)
The language of Web Sites.
This is the code that
creates Web pages. Just
about every page on the Web
is written in HTML or
similar related language.
"Hyper" in the term
"Hypertext" simply means you
can create links to other
pages from a block of text
or an image. These are
called "Hyperlinks".
HTTP -- (HyperText
Transfer Protocol)
The main protocol for
accessing Web pages across
the Internet. Requires a
HTTP client (browser) on one
end and a HTTP server (Web
server) on the other (DUH!).
HTTP is the reigning king of
protocol used on the World
Wide Web (WWW).
IMAP -- (Internet
Message Access Protocol)
IMAP has been trying to
replace POP3 (Post Office
Protocol 3) as the main
protocol used by email
clients in communicating
with email servers for the
last five years. So far, it
hasn't had a great deal of
success, but probably will,
eventually replace POP3.
Why? Because it gives the
user so much more control of
Email sitting on the Mail
Server. Using IMAP an email
program can not only
retrieve email but can also
manipulate messages stored
on the mail server, without
actually having to download
the messages. You can manage
multiple mailboxes right on
the Web server, organize
your email, delete email,
and so forth without having
to download it to your email
program.
IMHO -- (In My Humble
Opinion) or (In My Honest
Opinion)
An Internet Chat/Forum
shorthand term. Normally you
use this when you're saying
something controversial or
disagreeing with someone.
But, you can use it however
you want. We don't care :)
Internet (The)
An extremely immense
collection of
inter-connected networks
that are connected using the
TCP/IP protocols and that
evolved from the ARPANET of
the late 60's and early
70's.The Internet connects
tens of thousands of
independent networks into a
vast global internet and is
the largest Wide Area
Network in the world. It is
estimated that there are
currently over 15 billion
Web sites on the World Wide
Web. Did you build yours
yet?
Intranet
A LAN (local Area
Network) or a private
network not accessible by
the public. For example an
company Intranet used for
moving mail and information
from one department to
another. Accessible from the
company's network but not to
the public.
IP Address
Every machine that is on the
Internet (yes yours too!)
has a unique IP number - if
a machine does not have an
IP number, it is not really
on the Internet. IP
Addresses are unique and can
be traced to you. It is not
easy to disguise or conceal
your IP address. Really,
it's not :)
IRC -- (Internet
Relay Chat)
The first "Internet Chat".
IRC is basically a huge
multi-user live chat
facility. There are a number
of major IRC servers around
the world which are linked
to each other. Anyone can
create a channel and
anything that anyone types
in a given channel is seen
by all others in the
channel. Private channels
can (and are) created for
multi-person chats or
one-on-one private chats.
IRC still has many users,
but has been largely
replaced chat programs like
MSN, Yahoo, etc. To access
IRC you need a chat client
like MIRC or pIRCh. Wow,
it's been a long time since
I've seen those names.
ISDN -- (Integrated
Services Digital Network)
Basically a way to move more
data over existing regular
phone lines. ISDN is
available to much of the USA
and in most markets it is
priced very comparably to
standard analog phone
circuits. It can provide
speeds of roughly 128,000
bits-per-second over regular
phone lines. In practice,
most people will be limited
to 56,000or 64,000
bits-per-second. Unlike DSL,
ISDN can be used to connect
to many different locations,
one at a time, just like a
regular telephone call, as
long the other location also
has ISDN. ISDN never gained
much popularity because it
is expensive and compare to
today's broadband, is
relatively slow. It is very
rarely seen these days.
ISP -- (Internet
Service Provider)
A company or organization
that provides access to the
Internet usually for profit.
MSN, AOL, SBC/Yahoo,
Comcast, Road Runner, etc.
are National ISPs. You
probably have one or local
ISP's struggling to survive
in your town too.
IT -- (Information
Technology)
A general term that refers
to the entire field of
Information Technology. This
can be anything from
computer hardware to
programming to network
management to software
implementation on a network.
Most medium and large size
companies have IT
Department.
Java
Java is a network-friendly
programming language
invented by Sun
Microsystems. The advantage
to Java is that it's
cross-platform. That means
it can run on Windows,
Linux, Unix, etc. Java can
be used to create software
with graphical user
interfaces such as editors,
audio players, web browsers,
etc. As well as create
special-effects on Web sites
(like snow falling, rain
showers, melting images,
fire, etc. Java is also
popular for creating
programs that run in small
computerized devices like
cell phones..
JavaScript
JavaScript is a programming
language that is mostly used
in web pages, usually to add
features that make the web
page more interactive. When
JavaScript is included in an
HTML file it relies upon the
browser to interpret or
"run" the JavaScript.
JPEG -- (Joint
Photographic Experts Group)
JPEG is most commonly
mentioned as a format for
image files. JPEG format is
a better choice image format
for photographs, digital
photography, or other
detailed graphics with many
colors and shades of color.
JPEG is the second most
common form of graphic on
the Web next to GIF.
Kilobyte
1024 bytes (correct) also
1000 bytes (incorrect) |