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Applet |
| A small Java program that can be
embedded in a web page. Applets differ from
full-fledged Java applications in that they are
not allowed to access certain resources on the
local computer, such as files and serial devices
(modems, printers, etc.), and are prohibited
from communicating with most other computers
across a network. The current rule is that an
applet can only make an Internet connection to
the computer from which the applet was
sent. |
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Beta Software |
| Before a commercial software
program is released to the public, it almost
always goes through a beta phase. During this
stage, the software is tested for errors,
inconsistencies, and any other problems. Though
beta versions of software used to be made
available only to developers, they are now often
available to the general public, usually through
the software company's web site. However,
because beta software is free, the programs
usually expire after a period of time. If you
choose to test some beta software, don't be
surprised if it has multiple problems and causes
your computer to repeatedly crash. After all, it
is the beta version. You can tell if a program
is still in beta by checking the program's
properties. If there is a "b" in the version
number (i.e. Version: 1.2 b3) that means it's a
beta version. |
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Bot |
| A bot is an automated software
program that can execute certain commands when
it receives a specific input. (Kind of like a
ro-bot, get it?) Bots are most often seen at
work in the Internet-related areas of online
chat (IRC) and web searching. The online chat
bots are usually a nuisance. They will do things
like greet people when they enter a chat room,
advertise web sites, or kick people out of chat
rooms with an accompanying nasty message. The
web searching bots, also known as spiders and
crawlers, search the Web and retrieve millions
of HTML documents, then record the information
and links found on the pages. They then generate
catalogs of the sites they have searched which
can later be accessed by a search engine.
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DSL |
| (Digital Subscriber Line) -- A
method for moving data over regular phone lines.
A DSL circuit is much faster than a regular
phone connection, and the wires coming into the
subscriber's premises are the same (copper)
wires used for regular phone service. A DSL
circuit must be configured to connect two
specific locations, similar to a leased
line. |
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Encryption |
| This is the coding or scrambling
of information in a file so that it can only be
decoded and read by someone who has the correct
decoding key. Encryption is commonly used in
e-mail and other data transferring so that if
someone were to intercept the message or data
they would not be able to read it. So if you
were sending a message over the office network
to your co-worker about how much you hate your
job, your boss, and the whole dang company, it
would be a good idea to encrypt the message
first. |
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Fire Wall |
| A combination of hardware and
software that separates a LAN into two or more
parts for security purposes. |
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Freeware |
| Like shareware, freeware is
software you can download, pass around, and
distribute without any initial payment. However,
the great part about freeware is that you never
have to pay for it. No 30 day limit, no demo
versions, no disabled features -- it's totally
free. Things like program updaters (for minor
updates) and small games are commonly
distributed as freeware. Please note that
freeware is copyrighted, however, so you can't
go sell it as your own software. |
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ISDN |
| (Integrated Services Digital
Network) -- Basically a way to move more data
over existing regular phone lines. ISDN is
rapidly becoming 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 56,000
or 64,000 bits-per-second. |
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Shareware |
| There's commercial software and
then there's shareware. With commercial
software, you have to pay for the product up
front, before you use it. With shareware, you
can use the product for a trial period and then
decide if you want to keep it. If you want to
keep the software after the trial period is up,
you're supposed to (and should) register the
product and pay the shareware fee. As an extra
incentive to pay for the software, many
shareware programs have disabled features in the
non-registered version or will keep bugging you
like mad to register the program after the trial
period has expired. |
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XML |
| Stands for "Extensible Markup
Language." (Yes, technically it should be EML).
It is a web development format for defining
specialized markup languages which can be used
to transmit data that is formatted for a
specific purpose. Get all that? Basically, XML
is related to the hyper-text markup language
(HTML), but it isn't really a markup language.
It's more of a meta-language, which is a
language used to create other specialized
languages. Though XML is a rather new concept,
it has already gained a lot of support from web
developers. Don't be surprised if you see XML
replacing HTML in the future. |
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| Courtesy: Glossary of Internet
Terms by Matisse Enzer (http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html) |
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