| 3DES |
Triple
Data Encryption Standard. |
| AAA |
Authentication:
Authorization: and Accounting |
| AARP |
AppleTalk
Address Resolution Protocol |
| ABEND |
A
crash or other abnormal termination of software: ABnormalEND.
Sometimes used in subject lines of emails warning friends of an
imminent loss of Internet access. |
| ABI |
Application
binary interface |
| Abort |
To
cancel, or terminate, a program, command or operation while in
process. |
| Access |
To
retrieve data or program instructions from “secondary
storage” (hard disk, floppy disk, or tape) or another on-line
computer device. |
| Access
Code |
An
identification code or password used to gain access to a
computer system. |
| Access
Control |
The ability to determine who has access to what network
resources and to deny service. |
| Access
Method |
Technique for moving data between main storage and input-output
devices. In a Systems Network Architecture (SNA) environment, it
is the software that controls the flow of information in a
network. |
| Access
Privileges |
Access
privileges are granted by the site’s administrator enabling
users to see, retrieve and/or make changes to directories and an
FTP or Telnet site.
|
| Access
Time |
The
period that elapses between the time the system issues a command
for data retrieval and the time the data is transferred from its
source. |
| ACK |
Acknowledgement
for a ping (a message from a computer based on submarine sonar
technology, calling for your attention or a computer's).
Speaking of chat room performance, ACK, ACK also means,
"Enough already! I get your point!" when used in a
chat room. |
| ACP |
Access
Control Protocol. |
| Active
Matrix |
Typically
used for laptop color screens and, increasingly, for flat
desktop Screens. Known
as "active matrix" displays, transistors are built
into each pixel within the screen.
For example, 640x480 color VGA screen requires 921,600
transistors; one for each red, green and blue dot. Also called
TFT LCD (thin film transistor LCD). |
| ActiveX |
A
program introduced by Microsoft that is used to instruct certain
technologies how to involve (COM) component object model and
(OLE) object linking and embedding functions. ActiveX can be
incorporated within most programming languages. It lets Web site
creators make interactive, multi-media Web pages and links
Microsoft Desktop products to the World Wide Web. |
| Adapter |
Hardware
installed on a PC or other computer and used to connect the
computer to other hardware. |
| Add-in |
A
mini program which runs in conjunction with a web browser or
other application that enhances the functionality of that
program. In order for the add-in to run, the main application
must be running as well. |
| Address |
Identifier
assigned to networks, stations and other devices so that each
device can be separately designated to receive and reply to
messages. |
| Address
Harvester |
The
programs that search Web pages and/or filter newsgroup traffic
looking for email addresses in order to unload unsolicited
advertising (or worse). |
| Address,
Internet |
There
are two kinds of addresses that are widely used on the Internet.
One is a person's e-mail address.
See Address, e-mail.
The other is the address of a Web site, which is known as
its URL. See
Address, web site. |
Address,
e-mail |
The
specific location of a person’s electronic mailbox on the
Internet. An e-mail
address typically consists of a variation of the person’s name
followed by an @ symbol followed by the domain of the service on
which the electronic mailbox is stored.
E-mail addresses are usually all lowercase letters. |
| Address
Resolution Protocol (ARP) |
Internet
protocol that dynamically maps Internet addresses to physical
(hardware) addresses on local area networks. ARP is limited to
networks that support hardware broadcast. |
| Address,
web page |
The
specific location of one single Web page on the Internet.
A Web page address is a unique combination of letters,
numbers, and symbols that identifies one single HTML file within
a larger Web site. |
| Address,
web site |
The
specific location of a Web site on the Internet.
A Web site address is a unique combination of letters,
numbers, and symbols that identifies a collection of HTML files
that are collectively referred to as a Web site. |
| Advanced
Program-to-Program Communications (APPC) |
Part
of the SNA protocol that establishes the conditions that enable
programs to communicate across the network. This capability,
involving LU6.2 and its associated protocols, allows
communication between two or more processes in an SNA network
without the involvement of a common host system or of terminal
emulation. |
| Advanced
Technology Attachment Packer Interface (ATAPI) and ATA-2 |
Formal
names for IDE and EIDE. |
| Advertising |
Process
by which services on a network inform other devices on the
network of their existence. |
| AEP |
AppleTalk
Echo Protocol |
| Agent |
The
part of a networked system that performs information preparation
and exchange on behalf of a software entity. |
| AIO |
Asynchronous
Input/Output |
| Alarm |
Audible
or visible warning signal that tells a network administer that
an error has occurred or there is a critical situation on the
network. |
| Alert |
Sent
by management devices to management consoles to inform
administrators of thresholds reached and other discrepancies on
the network. |
| Algorithm |
A
prescribed set of well-defined rules or processes for arriving
at a solution to a problem. |
| Alias |
A
type of nickname used, for example, in E-mail you can enter
"John Doe" and your e-mail knows you mean johndoe@business-sys-solutions.com.
An alias may also be used as part of a WWW address to a home
page with some types of accounts from the Internet Service
Provider. By example, where business-sys-solutions.com is the
domain name, an individual account may add an alias to reach a
particular home page such as www.business-sys-solutions.com/~Diana. |
| ALM |
AppWare
Loadable Module |
| Ambimousterous |
Able
to use a mouse with either hand. |
| American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) |
ANSI
is responsible for the establishment of many standards,
including a number of data communications and terminal
standards. ANSI is the recognized U.S. representative within
CCITT and ISO. See also CCITT and ISO. |
| American
Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) |
A
7-bit code, intended as a U.S. standard for the interchange of
information among communications devices. |
| Analog |
Data
in the form of some continuously variable physical quantity. For
a communications signal, a continuously variable waveform (as
opposed to discretely variable). The public telephone network
was designed to transmit voice messages in analog form. |
| Anchor |
The
area of a hypertext document that is either the source or
destination of a hypertext link.
The link might extend from that area to another document
or from another document to that area.
When anchors are the starting points of these links, they
are typically highlighted or otherwise identified in the
hypertext browser. |
| Angry
fruit salad |
A
terrible visual interface that has too many colors. |
| Annoyance |
You
are typing away with a new shareware program that suddenly stops
itself and a portal pops up from the author asking for a promise
to pay in order to continue. |
| Anonymous
FTP |
A
system of computers and databases tracking information of FTP
servers throughout the world. |
| APPC |
Advance
Program-to-Program Communications |
| AppleShare |
AppleShare
is Apple Computer's networking solution. It requires a dedicated
Macintosh as a network server and includes both server and
workstation software. It uses the AppleTalk Filing Protocol (AFP). |
| Applet |
A
program that can be downloaded over a network and launched on
the user's computer (see Java). |
| AppleTalk |
AppleTalk
is a set of communications protocols (such as IPX/SPX and NCP)
used to define networking on an AppleShare network. |
| AppleTalk
Filing Protocol (AFP) |
Allows
distributed file sharing across an AppleTalk network. |
| Application |
A
term used to refer to a software program that accomplishes a
certain task. |
| Application
interface |
A
set of software routines and associated conventions that permits
application programmers to use that interface as a part of any
application. |
| Application
programming interface (API) |
A
means by which an application gains access to system resources,
usually for the purpose of communication (the sending and
receiving of data), data retrieval or other system services. In
the specific area of terminal emulation, an API provides for the
simulation of keystrokes and for writing into and reading from
the presentation space (device buffer). It may also provide for
the sending and receiving of structured fields. |
| Application
Server |
A
server in a client-server network, which runs one or more
applications that can be shared by client stations and which
also, shares the data processing burden with client stations.
This shared application and shared data processing model
contrasts with the model used for other servers, such as file
servers, that simply send, receive, and store files, requiring
client stations to run all applications and process all data.
Either model can be most advantageous, depending on
circumstances. In many circumstances the application server
model allows for faster data processing, faster throughput to
client stations, greater data reliability, and increased data
security. |
| Application-Level
Firewall |
A
firewall that blocks or transfers traffic at the application or
top level of the OSI model. |
| APPN |
Advanced
Peer-to-Peer Networking. |
| APT |
Application
Programmer's Toolkit |
| ARA |
AppleTalk
Remote Access |
| ARAP |
AppleTalk
Remote Access Protocol |
| Archie |
A
Canadian-developed tool that can help you to locate files on the
Internet. |
| Archive |
To
create a redundant copy of computer file data, typically to
create a backup copy of that data to protect it if the original
copy is damaged or otherwise irretrievable. By some definitions,
an archive is required to contain copies of every version of a
particular file. In this case, to archive means to save a copy
of every object in a file system with a separate copy of all
changes made to that file. In addition to protecting files from
loss, this approach also permits any previous version of a file
to be restored, typically by date and time. |
| ARCnet
(Attached Resource Computing Network) |
A
proprietary token-bus networking architecture developed by
Datapoint Corporation in the mid-1970s. It is reliable and it
supports coaxial, twisted pair and fiber optic cable-based
implementations. |
| ARPAnet |
The
predecessor to the Internet. Developed by the U.S. Defense
Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency in the late
1960s, ARPAnet was an experimental network that initially linked
scientists engaged in defense research. Arpanet was intended to
link together different computers in dispersed geographical
locations. The network was designed to survive breakdowns along
any of its connections by sending information as packets. If a
connection broke down, the packets could be automatically
re-routed. |
| AS/400 |
An
IBM minicomputer. |
| ASCII
table |
A
table that lists the ASCII value for any character, in decimal,
octal or hexadecimal notation, sometimes in all three. |
| ASP |
AppleTalk
Session Protocol |
| ASPS |
Applications
service providers, or computer businesses that let users do
software applications from centralized data centers via
networks, including the Internet. For business users, an ASP is
a kind of outsourcer; users are not required to buy and own
software applications. |
| Asynchronous
Transmission |
The
transmission of data in which each character is a self-contained
unit with its own start and stop bits.
Intervals between characters may be uneven. It is the
common method of transmission between a computer and a modem,
although the modem may switch to synchronous transmission to
communicate with the other modem. |
| Architecture |
A
system’s architecture is described by the type of components,
interfaces, and protocols it uses and how these elements fit
together. |
| ASCII |
(American
Standard Code for Information Interchange) A standard for
encoding characters (including the upper and lowercase alphabet,
numerals, punctuation, and control characters) using seven bits.
The standard set is 128 characters; IBM expanded this to
256 by adding an eighth bit to each existing character.
This expanded set provides graphic, mathematical,
scientific, financial, and foreign language characters. |
| Asynchronous
Communications Server |
A
device on a LAN that provides the capability for network
workstations to access ASCII applications via switched
communications lines. |
| AT |
Advanced Technology |
| ATC |
Authorized Training Center |
| ATCON |
Diagnostic tool used on Novell Netware environments; provides
information about a server or router's AppleTalk stack, and
about other AppleTalk networks on the internetwork. |
| ATM |
(Asynchronous
Transfer Mode) A common Internet protocol for transferring data
across the Internet. ATM
is a dedicated-connection switching technology that organizes
digital data into cells or “packets” and transmits them over
a connection using digital signal technology.
|
| ATP |
AppleTalk
Transaction Protocol |
| ATPS |
AppleTalk
Print Services |
| Attach |
To
access a network server; particularly to access additional
servers after logging in to one server.Attributes A technique
for describing access to and properties of files and directories
within a filing system. |
| Attribute |
A
property of an HTML element; specified in the start tag of the
element. |
| Attributes |
A
technique for describing access to and properties of files and
directories within a filing system. |
| Audit
Trail |
A
means of locating the origin of specific data that appears on
final reports. |
| Authenticate |
Verify
the identity of a user or computer or person.
For example, some merchants will use advanced security
systems to authenticate you before processing your online order. |
| Authorization |
The
process that grants access to a local or remote computer system,
network or to online information. |
| Autoauthentication |
In
a client-server environment, a utility that lets users access
unrestricted network resources without password verification.
Only when a user attempts to access a restricted resource does
the utility prompt for a password. |
| Autologin |
In
a network environment, a utility that regulates user login
attempts. |
| Automagically |
It
means "automatically," but with a twist. |
| Automount |
A
graphical utility that provides an ironical tree structure to
simplify the user's task of locating and using a server, file
system, or volume. |
| Avatar |
A
word adopted by computer users to denote the digital
manifestation that humans take on when entering virtual worlds. |
| AVI |
A
video compression standard developed for use with Microsoft
Windows. Video clips on the World Wide Web are usually available
in both AVI and QuickTime formats. |
