Internet Terms and Definitions

What is the Internet?

The Internet is a world wide network of computers that are connected (networked) and are using the communication method called TCP/IP. The Internet was named ARPANET in 1969 by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense with just four computers connected together.

What is the World Wide Web?

Also called web or www, it is a collection of information, resources, pictures, sounds, multimedia on the internet that are linked and connected together. Using a software product such as Netscape makes accessing and linking to web pages containing information, easy. The world wide web was invented by Tim Bernes-lee in the CERN Laboratory in March 1989.

What is a Host?

A computer that is used to transfer data on the Internet.

What is Web Hosting?

To store and make web pages available and ready for inquiries, or a computer that has a consistant connection to the Internet.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is a description or representation of a computer's location on the Internet. It is usually separated by a dot.
For example:
www.comentum.com
sales.comentum.com
joespizza.comentum.com

In this example, comentum.com is at the hightest level (directly to the left of .com), making it the best commercial and most protected name for the Commentum Communications company. Any additional name information following after (to the left) of .com is under that domain umbrella, as in the joespizza.commentum.com example above, and does not hold the highest position in the domain name heirarchy.
In the same example, it is better to hold a domain name like the following:
joespizza.com
(rather than)
joespizza.comentum.com

What is DNS?

DNS (Domain Name System) is a large database of domain names and their correspondent Internet (IP Addresses) for example: www.widget.com corrisponds to it's unique number 207.168.6.12

What is an IP address?

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is an unique number used to identify a computer on the Internet. If you are connected to the Internet, you must have a unique network number, which is an IP address. An example of an IP address is:
207.168.6.12
There are four numbers separated by a dot, and are between 0 and 255.

What is HTML?

Hypertext Markup Language is a coding language used to tell a browser how to place pictures, text, multimedia and links to create a web page. When a user clicks on a link within a web page, that link, which is coded with HTML, links the user to a specific linked web page.

What is Hypertext?

Hypertext is text on a webpage that links to another document or webpage. The hypertext link can be as small as a letter or word, or as big as all the text on the page.

What is FTP?

File Transfer Protocal is a method of transferring files between two computers on the Internet. To access, upload or download information on a server computer (or a computer that accesses a server computer), FTP software makes the information access or transfer possible.

What is a home Page?

A home Page is the main or index page of a web site. For example, if a user opens Netscape or Internet Explorer and types the URL, http://www.commentum.com, that would open the home Page of the Commentum Communications company.

What is InterNic?

InterNic is the agency that governs and maintains the name and host registration on the Internet.

What is a URL?

Uniform Resource Locator is a web address used to connect to a remote resource on the world wide web.
For example:
https://www.comentum.com
ftp://ftp.comentum.com
telnet://info.comentum.com

In the above example, http:// is a type of Protocol (communication rules and methods) followed by www.commentum.com, which a host address. A port number could also be added after the host address (example: https://www.comentum.com:80).

What is a Port?

In relationship to the Internet, a Port is a channel that a server software would listen to, for any inquiries, there are certain standard default channels set for certain server software. For example, a web server software by default will listen to port 80 for any inquiry. Web server software can also listen to any other port, for example: http://www.commentum.com:5000

What is Baud?

Baud is the number of thime per second that a medem converts digital signals to analog sounds, so that it can transfer information over an analog telephone line.

What is a Bit?

Bit is a single digit in the binary numbering system (base 2). For example: 1 is a bit or 0 is a bit.

What is a Byte?

A Byte generally consists of eight bits.

What is Java?

Java is an object-oriented programming language created by Sun Microsystems Company. It can operate on any type ("virtual machine") of operating system, or computer system (PC, Mac, Solaris, etc.). It is a flexible tool for integrating interactivity and multimedia, and a very secure language, making it a useful language for networking or the Internet.

What is JavaScript?

JavaScript is a powerful scripting language created by Netscape, and is supported by Netscape 2.0 and higher, and Explorer 4.0 and higher. It is primarily used to add interactivity and multimedia to web pages.

What is JScript?

JScript is a scripting language created by Microscoft, similar to JavaScript.

What is a Server?

A server is a computer with a software program set up for serving web pages to a user on the same computer or another computer. The server computer coupled with server software, listens for inquiries from a client computer (a computer other than the server).

What is Upload?

To upload is to transfer data from your computer to another computer.

What is Download?

To download is to transfer data from another computer to your computer.