Computer Terms A
B C
ASCII --
(American Standard Code for
Information Interchange)
This is the world-wide
standard for the code
numbers used by computers to
represent all the upper and
lower-case Latin letters,
numbers, punctuation, etc.
There are 128 standard ASCII
codes each of which can be
represented by a 7 digit
binary number: 0000000
through 1111111.
Bandwidth
How much information you can
send through a connection.
Usually measured in
bits-per-second (bps.) A
full page of English text is
about 16,000 bits. A fast
modem can transfer about
57,000 bits in one second.
Full Screen Video would
require roughly 10,000,000
bits-per-second, give or
take and depending on how it
is compressed and delivered.
Binary
Information consisting
entirely of ones and zeros.
Also, commonly used to refer
to files that are not simply
text files, e.g. images.
Bit -- (Binary
Digit)
A single digit number in
base-2, in other words,
either a 1 or a zero. The
smallest unit of
computerized data. Bandwidth
is usually measured in
bits-per-second.
Blog -- (WeB LOG)
A blog is a journal that is
available on the web.
Keeping a blog updated is
called "blogging" and
someone who keeps a blog is
a "blogger."
Blogosphere or
Blogsphere
The current state of all
information available on
blogs and/or the sub-culture
of those who create and use
blogs.
Broadband
Generally refers to
connections to the Internet
with much greater bandwidth
than you can get with a
modem. There is no specific
definition of the speed of a
"broadband" connection but
in general any Internet
connection using DSL or a
via Cable-TV may be
considered a broadband
connection.
BTW -- (By The Way)
Shorthand for "By-the-way"
used in chatrooms, private
chats, Web forums, cell
phone text-messaging and
email..
Byte
A set of Bits that
represent a single
character. Usually there are
8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes
more, depending on how the
measurement is being made.
Cache - Simply means
a place on a hard drive
where files or web sites are
stored for future reference.
When you view a web site
you're actually seeing it
from your own cache. If you
clean your cache after every
browsing session, you will
increase your chances of
always seeing the most
recent version of a Web
page. Programs like
Zappit make this
very easy to do.
Cached Page - A web
page that is "cached" is one
that is stored on your hard
drive or on you Internet
Service Provider's server.
It's a good idea to keep
your temporary Internet
files cleared so you always
see the latest version of
the page you're viewing. If
you're ISP uses a caching
service (as many dial-up
ISPs do) you may not always
see the most recent version
of a page. Many dial-up ISPs
use caching as a way to
enhance the apparent speed
of your connection. This is
how the "accelerators" work.
They cache web sites on the
ISP's servers so they appear
to load faster.
Unfortunately this also
means you are probably
looking at a page that is
hours or even days old.
Client
A software program
that is used to contact and
obtain data from a Server
software program on another
computer, often across a
great distance. Each Client
program is designed to work
with one or more specific
kinds of Server programs,
and each Server requires a
specific kind of Client. A
Web Browser is a specific
kind of Client.
Cookie
The most common meaning of
"Cookie" on the Internet
refers to a piece of
information sent by a Web
Server to a Web Browser that
the Browser software is
expected to save and to send
back to the Server whenever
the browser makes additional
requests from the Server. It
is a plain text file.
Cookies may contain
information such as login or
registration information,
online "shopping cart"
information, user
preferences, etc.
Cookies are usually set to
expire after a predetermined
amount of time.
Cookies do not read
information on your hard
drive or send your life
history to the FBI. |