Traveling the Electronic Highway: Glossary

Maps, Encounters, Directions.

© Gio Wiederhold 1997

Terms relevant to Internet Computing

A

• Address: in communication, the part of the message containing the destination; in computing, the identifier of a word in memory.
• Aloha-net: an early satellite WAN for the Hawaiian islands.
• Anthropometric: See Biometric
• API: Application Program Interface. HREF="ubi"
• ARPA: Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Defense department, see DARPA.
• ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode): technology for high-speed backbone service
• Authentication: verification that that a potential customer is indeed the person or institutional unit they purport to be, may involve passwords or biometric devices ¶.
• Authorization: giving a customer or intermediary (proxy) permission to execute programs or receive Information. HREF="security", the customer should be authenticated ¶.

B

• Backbone: The long-range connections for the Internet. (see).
• Beans or JavaBeans: run-time invokable component services HREF="ubi".
• Biometric: measures depending on biological uniqueness, as signatures, fingerprints, iris patterns, DNA, etc. ¶
• Bit: atomic data-value, may be 0 or 1.
• Broadcast: transmission of a message to anyone reachable.
• Browsers: programs that help in obtaining multi-media data from remote nodes, following the HTTP protocol.
• Bulletin board: a file on a node accessible by many customers for the posting and perusal of messages.
• Byte: an 8-bit unit, used to transmit a single character or part of a longer unit, as a word or a program instruction, or an image.

C

• Checksums: a technique for validatiing that a unit of transmitted or stored data has not been altered ¶.
• Clearance: assignment of a security level for mandatory security: primarily in the military.
• COM: Microsoft software component objects Component: a separable portion of a large computer program or system.
• Computer: hardware which contains at least one processor, and means for input, output, and storage of data.
• Computing: processing using a computer.
• Cookie: entry in a customers file, left by a browser interaction, to inform successive browser accesses about prior actionsx
• Copyright: conventions and laws that restrict copying and distribution of IP belonging to others.
• Copy-and-Paste: selection of text from a GUI display for subsequent insertion into another display area. Compare to drag-and-drop,
• CRT: Cathode Ray Tube: an electronic component used for displays.
• Customer: the user of an information system who derives a benefit from its operation.

D

• DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Defense department, called ARPA from its inception in 1958-1972 and 1992-1994.
• Data: encoded observations, writings, images, voice, etc. stored in a computer or on external storage media for retrieval or processing. ENTEDU.Intro. discretionary
• discretionary security: based on need-to-know, primarily in the military.
• display: screen connected to a computer for presentation of results.
• DCOM: Distributed COM debugging: removing errors from computer programs.
• discretionary security: based on need-to-know, primarily in the military.
• Disk storage: computer storage using magnetic or optical disks, may be fixed (hard) or removable.
• drag-and-drop: identifying an object on a GUI and making it available to another displayed process. Compare to copy-and-paste

E

• Email (Electronic Mail): textual (mainly) messages shipped among network participants.
• Encryption: transformation of a text to make it unreadable b anyone not possessing a decryption key ¶.
• Event: signal that triggers a system to start an operation. HREF="ubi"

F

• File: a collection of similar records, handled as a unit by the operating system HREF="db".
• Flaming: expressing one's opinion in messages in crude form, often broadcasting or multicasting them.
• Floppy disks: economical, removable disk storage.
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol): Internet service for transmitting a file of data among nodes.

G

• Gateway: a node that serves two networks and forwards messages among them. A gateway may have to do protocol and/or format conversions.
• Giga or G: postfix for 10^9 or 1 000 000 000, or for computer quantities 2^30 = 1 073 741 824.
• GUI: Graphic User Interface, presentation on a terminal screen, as a windows system, that allows output to be seen, marked for copy-and-paste, insertion of commands and text, and buttons to generate events.

H

• HTML (HyperText Markup Language): a definition of data formats according to SGML, used for web transmission protocols (HTTP).
• HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol): rules for locating, accessing, transmitting, and displaying web data.
• Hyperlinks: links among independently maintained, possibly remote documents, following the HTTP protocol.
• Hypertext: text with embedded links to other texts, possibly remote.

I

• Information: results delivered to a customer that are beneficial, i.e., that can cause decisions to be made, actions to occur, and, in time, the state of the real world to be affected. Creating information typically requires processing of data. A weaker definition encompasses all data that is of interest to the recipient. ENTEDU.Intro.
• Input: entry of of data or events into a computer, may use keyboards, communication lines, or devices to read magnetic, electro-optical, or physical media.
• Intellectual property (IP): documents on paper or in digital form for which ownership is asserted, by Copyright, Patents, or Trade Secret.
• Internet: wide-area communication service.

J

• Junkmail: messages that have not been requested, and do not provide information.

K

• Key: a sequence of characters or bits needed to login or transform a message to plaintext .
• Kilo or K: postfox for 1000, or for computer quantities 2^10 = 1024.
• Knowledge: rules about processing, for computing must be explicitly or implicitly (in a program) encoded to drive a computation. ENTEDU.Intro.

L

• Link: in networks, a communication path between two nodes, may use cable or radio; in documents, a processable cross-reference within or among documents, as a hyperlink.
• Local area network (LAN): a communication network under local control, using owned cables or fiber, typically constrained to a university or a factory. Multiple LANs may be connected by gateways. Beyond those boundaries a Wide Area Network is needed.
• Login (or Logon): starting a session on one's computer, requires authentication unless only local and personal services are made available.
• Logoff: termination of a session, costs may be computed and presented.

M

• Maintenance: efforts expended for debugging, adjusting to changes in hardware, communication, standards, and/or customer expectations. HREF="mediators"
• Mandatory security: based on level of clearance, primarily in the military.
• Markup: annotation of documents to provide information about formatting or linkages.
• Mediators; value-added software to convert output diverse, autonomous data resources to information for application programs. HREF="mediators"
• Mega or M: postfix for 10^6 or 1 000 000, or for computer quantities 2^20 = 1 048 576.
• Memory: fast, but volatile area for keeping data and programs.
• Message: a unit of transmission, as created by email, containing text and possibly other insertions, with a designation of recipients, source, subject, etc. Mat require multiple packets.
• Metadata: data that describe the content, extent, and format of other, primary data collections.
• multicast: transmission of a message to a group of recipients, identified by a list of addresses or some feature
• Multi-media: data including text, images, voice encodings, video, and the like.
• Multi-programming: ability to handle multiple processes.

N

• Name servers (DNS): Internet nodes that are designated to look up IP addresses for node names. discretionary
• Need-to-know: criterium for discretionary security, primarily in the military.
• Netiquette: informal rules of behavior for users of networks, as for email.
• Network: a communication infrastructure, having nodes and links among them..
• Node: a source, destination, or intermediate station in a communication network.

O

• Object: a grouping of data about a real-world item or abstract concept. HREF="ubi". Precise scope and implementations differ greatly.
• Overloading: the use of a term or the name of a method for more than one purpose, based on context.

P

• Packet: unit of Internet transmission, containing from a few dozen to several hundred bytes, with a machine-processable address for forwarding to the destination node.
• Peering: backbone service exchange without mutual accounting and reimbursement .
• Peta or P: postfix for 10^15 or 1 000 000 000 000 000, or for computer quantities 2^50 = 1 125 899 906 842 624.
• Plaintext: readable, i.e., unencrypted or decrypted text or other information.
• Privacy: keeping personal or institutional data or information out of the view of others, who are not specifically authorized.
• Process: an execution of a program. While a single processor may have only one active process at a time, a multi-programmed processor may handle many candidate process threads for potential execution.
• Processing or data processing: moving or transforming data to add value, often with the intent to create information.
• Processor: computer hardware unit able to handle an active process. HREF="ubi"
• Program: a sequence of instructions, that, when interpreted, can control a computer. HREF="ubi"
• Program instruction: a single command, placed in memory for execution.
• Protocol: in communication the rules that determine when to send what, and how to respond to good and bad transmissions.
• Proxies: programs that stand in for other programs.

Q

• QoS (Quality-of-Service): measures of performance and system reliability.

R

• Redundancy: data or information which duplicates other data or information, but is useful to improve performance or for recovery from errors.
• Requests For Comments (RFC): Specifications for Internet protocols and services.

  Routers = highly specialized computing systems which link the transmission capabilities and the subnets together. They arrange that the packets are forwarded along the best route.

S

• Scalability: the capability of a network or computer system to accommodate growth without major redesign or rework. Growth includes the number of customers, the number of nodes, and the number and types of services being provided, as well on-going modernizations of hardware, software, and standards.
• Scope: the range of applicability of a term. When the term refers to data, it encompasses all the recorded instances.
• Security: the protection of data and information from destruction or improper or inadvertent release. Encompass protection of privacy. HREF="security"
• Session: period of computer use, starting with a login and terminating with logoff or failure. May invoke many programs.
• SGML (Standard Graphic Markup Language): a protocol to specify markups.
• Storage: area in a computer for persistent data and programs. See also disk storage.
• Supercomputers: large computers, able to handle complex, mainly numerical, computations, operated by service centers.
• Synonyms: Two terms used for the same concept. Often synonym use depends on context, and often apparent synonyms have somewhat different scope.

T

• Tera or T: postfix for 10^12 or 1 000 000 000 000, or for computer quantities 2^40 = 1 099 511 627 776.
• Threads: identifiers of a process, to enable a processor to control, i.e., start, stop, reactivate a process
• time-sharing: letting a resource as memory or a communication path be used by multiple programs or messages through frequent cyclic assignment.

U

V

• Virtual memory: computer memory extension to storage, to overcome limits of the actual hardware memory. HREF="ubi"

W

• Watermarking: a technique for authentication of documents ¶.
• web (or World-Wide-Web, WWW): the collection of networks that are reachable through Internet protocols.
• Wide Area Networks (WAN): communication networks that extend beyond single geographical units, typically requiring transport over public transmission paths. Often used to connect Local Area Networks via a gateway.
• Word: the smallest addressable unit in memory, often equal to a byte.
• WWW (World Wide Web): see web.

Y

Z

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