Online addresses take several forms depending on whether you are sending email
or using other Internet applications. For email the address consists of a user ID
which may be numeric as in the case of CompuServe or alphanumeric on America Online.
When sending email to another user of your service you only need to use the ID. To
send a message outside your service &emdash; e.g. from CompuServe to America
Online &emdash; you must tell the CompuServe system where the other user is located.
Computers on The Internet are identified by a domain name which follows the ID and
the "@" symbol. The first part of the domain name is the name of
the other service or computer &emdash; aol in this case. The final characters
which follow a period (dot) identify the type of service. COM - commercial; EDU -
educational; GOV - government; ORG - non-profit organization; MIL - military. Three
letter codes are generally used in the U.S. If there are two characters at the end,
this is a country code such as "ca" for Canada. A typical CompuServe address
might be
71824.454@compuserve.com
To send a message internally in CompuServe, you only use the numeric portion -
the user ID - and the period is replaced by a comma.
When identifying a file for a program such as Netscape, you do not need the user
ID portion but you still use the domain name since you are telling the program where
to find a file. The domain name is followed by the file name which may consist of
several directories separated by slashes and finally the name. A Web browser such
as Netscape requires that you identify the type of server you are addressing by starting
the address with HTTP://, FTP:// etc. A complete address might be
HTTP://compx.ucla.edu/directory/filename
Email to someone using this system would be sent to
userid@compx.ucla.edu
America Online
One of the "big; three" commercial online services offering
access to news, weather, sports and numerous other databases through dial in connection
for a low monthly fee.
Archie Server
A central database listing files available on FTP servers
ARPA
Advanced Research Projects Agency - The Department of Defense agency that started
The Internet in 1969 by connecting four research computers.
B B B B
Backbone
High speed core network which is the foundation of The Internet.
BITNET
A network of university computers connected to the Internet
Browser
A program such as Netscape installed on the user’s PC to allow access to the
World Wide Web. Browsers are increasing in sophistication and are becoming the "universal;
client" application.
Bulletin Board
There are two common meanings for this term. In general a Bulletin Board is an
service that allows messages to be posted and read. See Newsgroups. A Bulletin Board
System (BBS) is computer system that offers a variety of services including the standard
message posting.
C C C C
Client Server
Online services use a "server;" program and data base. To access
a specific type of server, the users must have the corresponding "client;"
program. For example an FTP client program can be used to access an FTP server. (SEE
BROWSER).
CompuServe
One of the "big; three" commercial online services offering
access to news, weather, sports and numerous other databases through dial in connection
for a low monthly fee.
CUSI
One of several search engines available on the World Wide Web.
D D D D
Domain Name
(See Addressing)
E E E E
E-mail
Sending messages electronically over a network. Most online services are interconnected
so it is easy to send email to any user of any service.
F F F F
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions - Lists of questions and answers that are available
throughout online services. They are the "place; to start" when
learning about a service.
FTP
The protocol used to retrieve files through the Internet. Anonymous FTP is a
service available that allows the public &emdash; i.e. anyone without a User
ID on the FTP server &emdash; to retrieve files in the public directory.
G G G G
Gateway
A connection between different computer services. CompuServe is connected to
The Internet through a Gateway.
GIF
Graphical Interchange Format - One of the most popular file formats for exchanging
graphics on the Internet.
Gopher
A program available on many Internet hosts that allows easy navigation through
the services provided by that host. With a Gopher client the user sees a menu of
services which can include links to other Gopher servers.
H H H H
Home Page
The initial display the user sees when contacting a World Wide Web site.
Host
A computer on The Internet
HTML
HyperText Mark up Language. Since only text characters can be transmitted through
the Internet, a coding system was developed to "mark; up" text with
formatting codes so the receiving computer could display different type fonts, styles,
alignment, etc.
HTTP
HyperText Transfer Protocol - the communications protocol used to exchange information
on the World Wide Web.
I I I I
Infonet
One of several search engines available on the World Wide Web.
Internet
A network of over 6 million computers around the world that communicate with
the TCP/IP protocol.
Internet Service Provider
Companies that sell access to The Internet to individuals and small businesses.
IP Address
A set of four integers separated by periods (dotted quad) that is the true Internet
address. Domain names are converted to IP addresses for routing through The Internet.
IRC
Internet Relay Chat - a method for conducting "live;" conversations
with other users currently online to The Internet. Messages are transmitted back
and forth among two or more users.
J J J J
JAVA
A programming language designed to allow software to be transmitted along with
World Wide Web pages so the material can be animated or interactive.
Jughead
Similar to Veronica except Jughead only indexes a selected set of Gopher resources.
K K K K
L L L L
LAN
Local Area Network - Computers connected in a building or campus using customer
owned wiring.
Lycos
One of several search engines available on the World Wide Web.
M M M M
Mailing Lists
Similar to Newsgroups in that users exchange messages. In this case all messages
are emailed to all users.
Modem
A device used to connect a computer to the telephone system
Mosaic
A Web Browser that has been customized and distributed under a variety of names.
N N N N
NCSA
National Center for Super Computer Applications - Developers of Mosaic, the original
Web Browser
Netscape
The most popular Web Browser in use.
Newsgroups
Thousands of discussion groups available on The Internet. On CompuServe these
are referred to as Forums. Usenet is the system that controls Newsgroups. Messages
are posted and others can read and respond to them.
O O O O
Open Text
One of the most powerful search engines available. It indexes files based on
the entire content not just the title and key words.
P P P P
PDF
Portable Document Format - A document format which facilitates exchange and display
of files. See Acrobat.
PPP/SLIP
The protocols used by most dial in users to connect to an Internet Service Provider
(ISP). PPP-Point to Point Protocol,. SLIP-Serial Line Interface Protocol
Prodigy
One of the "big; three" commercial online services offering
access to news, weather, sports and numerous other databases through dial in connection
for a low monthly fee.
Protocol
An agreement about how information will be exchanged between computers. The agreement
is carried out by installing software on both computers that will send and receive
information in the format agreed to in the protocol.
Q Q Q Q
R R R R
Router
Computer switch that forwards information to the appropriate Internet host.
S S S S
Search Engine
A program and database that summarizes information available at World Wide Web
sites and allows searches by title and keyword. A Web Browser can be used to locate
information via a search engine.
Shell Account
A text based connection to an Internet Service Provider. It is less expensive
but less user friendly than the graphical interface available via PPP/SLIP.
Smiley
A representation of a face using typed characters, e.g. :-) . It must be turned
on it's side to see the image. Numerous variations exist.
T T T T
TCP/IP
The communications protocol of the Internet. Information is prepared in packets
by the Transmission Control Program and routed to the appropriate address by the
Internet Protocol program.
Telnet
The protocol used to log on as a user of an Internet computer
U U U U
UUENCODE
The most common method of coding files for transmission across The Internet.
Since The Internet only transmits ASCII characters, other types of information such
as graphics must be converted to ASCII form. The companion program UUDECODE restores
the file to its original form on the receiving machine.
V V V V
Veronica
A central database of files and services available on Gopher servers.
W W W W
W3
One of several search engines available on the World Wide Web.
WAIS
Wide Area Information Service - A service on an Internet host that keeps an index
of all the words in a large collection of files. Using a WAIS client you can search
this database for files containing specific key words anywhere in the text.
WAN
Wide Area Networks - Computers connected through public networks such as the
telephone system.
World Wide Web (The Web)
One of the most popular ways that information is organized and presented on the
Internet. A Web Browser on the user’s PC can communicate with Web sites (computers
that have a World Wide Web Home Page) to retrieve text and graphics using a "point;
and click" interface.
X X X X
Y Y Y Y
Z Z Z Z
