T--Z
Glossary
of Internet terminology
T--Z
3G
Third generation. Successor to what
is 2.5G or WAP, 3G is the much longed-for specification which will permit
fast access to the Internet via handheld devices which will have adequate or
better display screens. In the UK, the telcos spent £22 billion on
licences. Now their future lies in the hands of the electronics wizards at
Nokia, Ericsson et al who must create the gadgets people will think
'must have' about. If the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is to have some
version here on our planet, then 3G or 4G will make it available. The theory
is that 3G devices will allow you to find the nearest curry house or
launderette or cinema or whatever with a simple query sequence. So, instead
of a hefty collection of the earth-bound series of books, Hitch Hiker's
Guide to...travelers will take their trusty 3G with them and have the world
at their fingertips.
Try: www.h2g2.com
Tag
A 'tag' is the term given to the formatting element embedded in an HTML
document. They can indicate whether text is to be <b>bold
</b>, or there is to be a new paragraph <p>, a new line
<br> and other common text formats. For instance, in this glossary,
much use is made of cross-references or 'bookmarks' -- properly known as
'anchors' -- ie the place to go to. The formula for the link here to HTML
reads like this: <a
href="Glossary.htm#html"> -- where the 'a' indicates an
anchor; and the tag 'href' indicates the hypertext reference, ie
document 'Glossary' and bookmark 'html'. There is no need in this system of
bookmarks to indicate on which page each bookmark is to be found. Another
use of tags is to add a text indicator to images, so that if images do not
display for some reason the viewer can be told what is missing. This ability
can also be used to add information to images eg the navigation
arrows at the bottom of each page in this glossary show a different text
message when the mouse is hold over each in turn.
tar
Conflation of 'tape' and 'archive'.
A Unix utility
which creates a large file from several smaller. It is not strictly a
compression format, though often referred to as if it were; for once the tar
file has been created, it is then compressed by the Unix gzip
utility. This compressed file can be unzipped by PC utilities like WinZip
and PKUnzip.
TCP
The transmission control protocol that works 'on top of' the IP layer,
adding reliability and continuity of flow, and ensures the packets of data
actually do reach their destination.
See Also: Packet,
Protocol
TCP/IP
Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol. The two protocols
working together which form the basis of the internetworking which is the
the Internet.
see: IP
and TCP above; also Protocol
Telephone
The sine qua non of globalisation. A simple device which uses
fluctuations of electric power as the mode of transmitting (voice) sounds.
Now the signal is transmitted digitally, rather than in analogue form. The
change to digital transmission allows greater density of traffic and the
computer to be attached to the telephone system by a modem.
Once geo-stationary satellites -- orbiting 22,307 miles up -- became viable
as repeaters, international traffic bloomed into the commonplace. Following
this, world-wide computerisation created global possibilities for stock
markets -- 24 hours a day, a stock market is working somewhere in the world.
(The telephone exchange and TV and radio stations should be the first ports
of call for all revolutions. In 1916, the Irish
got caught in the Post Office.)
In its mobile form -- some 300 million users as of May 2000 -- the telephone
has turned into a marketeer's dream: the fashion accessory which can be
given to 14-year olds for Christmas. Their first incarnation as bulky
implements placed very visibly on pub counters -- so pretentious then -- has
morphed comfortably into hip-borne handhelds. With WAP now available and full-blown
3G imminent, the billionth mobile owner/user can't be far off. For all that
one can be flip about it, life without a phone is unimaginable: it is just
too useful (eg 999
and 911) and far too convenient. And without the Internet...well, swiftly
perish that thought!
Telnet
A protocol which allows remote log-in in a fashion similar to FTP except in
this case the process is not anonymous; access needs explicit authorisation.
Windows has a version; as does Unix.
Terabyte
Strictly 1024 gigabytes. By the time we reach tera (240) the
discrepancy between the strict 1024 and informal 1000 is becoming a matter
of serious difference and the stricter form should always be used to avoid
confusion and mis-understanding.
see: Byte,
Kilobyte
Gigabyte
Terminal
The physical kit which enables human beings to communicate with a computer:
keyboard and monitor. Without them, the gulf is of an impassable muteness.
Thread
There are endless numbers of threads in newsgroups and the BBS. Each thread
is basically a topic of conversation, or theme, being followed in a series
of relies to an original posting.
Timeout
A borrowed American sports term indicating in this context an end to a
connection because of inactivity, usually. However, some free-access ISPs
instituted timeouts to limit the length of sessions, preventing in other
words permanent connections.
TLA
Three-letter acronym. These usually refer to a file type's identifier, since
Windows inherited the 8-letter system from DOS. [DOS could not handle file
names longer than eight letters: five for the name itself -- often decorated
with ~ and 1, 2, 3, etc; the three remaining letters indicated the type of
file.] Acronyms are a disease of specialism: here we have a common
self-referencing, like a pimple on a pimple.
TLD
see Top level domain below
Top
level domain
The suffix attached to every web site's domain name eg .com,
.co.uk, .org, .ac.uk, .mil, .gov. Also, most countries have a unique suffix eg
.ca Canada, .ie Ireland, .au Australia, .tv Tuvalu, .it Italy etc etc.
For a full list of these country domains see
Appendix one of
this glossary.
Unix
An operating system typically written in C, and designed for multi-user
environments. It has TCP/IP built in, and is therefore one of the most
popular operating systems for servers on the Internet.
Upload
Upload is as it sounds and the opposite of download: files are uploaded to
another computer or server -- for instance when a web site is uploaded to a
host's server and becomes part of the WWW.
Transfer of files off a local computer up to
a specified remote computer (as opposed to download where files are pulled
off a remote machine).
See Also: Download
URL
Uniform resource locator. This is the system of addressing used on the WWW.
The full URL of this site is http://www.xxxxxx.co.uk.
The 'http' element indicates the protocol to be used, while the remainder
forms the IP address. Another URL could be ftp.xxxx.co.uk
where FTP is
the relevant protocol.
Usenet
A BBS based upon -- mostly -- Unix servers; it is much used by universities
and academics, also by (US) government departments and agencies. NNTP
is used as the mode of transfer.
VBS
Visual Basic script. A script -- ie
a set of instructions -- written in the native Microsoft VB language,
embedded in all its products. It is used as the language of macros which
people familiar with Microsoft's Word and Excel will know about; it can also
be used to write cgi
scripts. However it can be used for less benign purposes (ie ILOVEYOU.
Also see
Virus below). VBS scripts can be, in
effect, little programs and when executed can do anything to a computer
system. As the file extension -- .vbs -- of an e-mail attachment, it should
shout 'Destroy me now! Don't delay!' Curiosity should not be allowed to
suppress security's claims. Destroy the e-mail entire without opening,
regardless of who sent it. If you know the sender, ask them what it is
before anything else. That was how the 'Love
Bug' caught so many millions -- it had filched addresses from an e-mail
address book. So, of course, the recipient knew the sender. Fiendish love!
PS For all the hullabaloo and criticism of Microsoft for
making their programs vulnerable in this way, some of this criticism is
mis-guided and has the tenor of a rowdy mob on a bandwagon. Microsoft
programs are powerful, with many capabilities, and these Jacks of all trades
are very good at their trades. But there is, also, a trade-off: these
strengths are exploitable as has been very evident lately. Windows supports
a vast amount of 'functionality' -- jargon for doing lots of things --
and this flexibility has a price. (Fixing the Outlook vulnerability has
resulted in some severe limitations being imposed on it.) It's not that
Redmond is a holy site, replete with saints but rather, much of the time
users must take responsibility for their actions. And not wilfully accuse
others, it's too easy...pillory the virus-writers...
see: Attachment
Veronica
An unusually long acronym which expands into: very easy rodent-oriented
net-wide index to computerised archives. A
search engine for the world-wide network of Gopher
servers. Veronica is able also to produce searches from WWW servers. (The
'rodent' is, of course, the mouse in your hand.)
Video on
Demand
The gleam in the eye of many Telcos
and multimedia organisations who hope to use high-bandwidth telephone lines
to provide video ie films to your home as and when you want. In
place, the system would allow subscribers to dial-up a film library and
choose a film to run from a server on your home TV. Naturally, while booking
a film, your credit card would also be charged. It would also allow for
pay-per-view events, live or not, to be run in tandem.
Virus
Viruses on computers are as dangerous as they are in the human body. They
can disable or kill, as easily as they can be a nuisance like a head cold.
But of whatever kind, they are all bad news. Viruses are pieces of code
whose purpose is to cause damage of some kind. Some wipe files from hard
drives, or terminally damage the Bios; others are able to fillet information
from address books in e-mail programs like Microsoft Outlook or Eudora Pro
and then e-mail it to a specified address; others can find passwords and
other personal details if kept in set programs or folders. (If you must keep
credit card information or bank account details on your computer, keep it
all in an unobvious place -- not in a program designed to hold such
material. Of course, this puts some programs out of bounds...it all depends
how safe you think your system is....Now, think again. Use encryption if
you're sufficiently paranoid.) Some viruses are simply mischievous like
Ethan which only changes the author's name in the properties' page of
Microsoft Word 97 documents. There are software packages designed to protect
against these things and very effective they are, too...so long as the
definition files are kept up to date regularly (most good-quality programs
have weekly updates, at least; some daily). Also, these programs cannot
defend against a completely new kind of virus or script,
like ILOVEYOU.
They defend against what they have definitions for -- which come in the
updates. Most viruses 'caught' via the Internet arrive in e-mail
attachments. Therefore, don't open attachments unless their source is not
only known but known to be safe. (Some virus scripts can be executed even in
the preview pane of Outlook: forgo use of Preview pane. If Microsoft
publishes 'fixes' for this and other Outlook security problems these
comments may be redundant. Nevertheless, stay alert!) The Boy Scouts have it
right: Be prepared.
W3C
World Wide Web Consortium. (www.w3c.org)
Founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, its purpose is to promote open standards
and ensure the Internet does not fragment into incompatible -- or worse,
competing -- sectors. W3C is the body which oversees the development of both
HTTP and HTML.
WAIS
Wide-area information server. A basic search capacity of not much use or
relevance to most users of the WWW.
WAP
Wireless application protocol. The
much-hyped standard permitting Internet access via mobile phones. What's not
always made clear is that WAP is slow, -- often little faster than 14.4kbps.
In all the talk, much of what is expected of 3G
is finding itself attached to WAP. This can only end in tears and massive
phone bills.
Wide
Area Network (WAN)
A network of computers belonging to a company or organisation. They are
connected using dedicated leased lines or even by satellite to extend a
local network globally. The Internet itself is a WAN; the largest of them
all, since it comprises all others plus so much more.
WinSock
WINdows SOCKets is the Windows program which permits subscribers to connect
to and communicate with other computers on the Internet using the TCP/IP
protocol.
see: PPP,
SLIP, TCP/IP
WinZip
WinZip is perhaps the best
known of the 'zip' programs. It is 32-bit shareware
and owes much of its success to its general availability at download sites
like Tucows.com and Winfiles.com and also on PC magazine cover disks.
World
Wide Web (also WWW or Web)
The WWW or Web exists within the Internet as the vast collection of pages
formatted using HTML and their associated images which permit a user's GUI
to be the means of navigation and of display. It exists on a network of
servers each of which is essentially independent. One of the great blessings
of the WWW is that it is de-centralised beholden to no one person or
government. For this reason, it is viewed with anxiety and suspicion by
politicians everywhere for whom genuine free speech is dangerous and a
threat. (Hence the UK government's anxieties about the encryption of
e-mails. Further, by deeming ISPs to be publishers of
information rather than common carriers like BT, a neat way has been found
to exert censoring pressure.) At the same time, there is a great deal of
violence, pornography, wild and weird fantasy and obsession -- much of which
is pathological. However, being free and sentient human beings, we can
choose. We need neither to look nor be effected by it. If parents are
concerned, -- it is their responsibility both to restrain -- if
necessary -- and to educate their children.
see: Browser,
HTML, Internet
XMODEM
A widely-available file transfer protocol using serial lines between modems.
It uses 128-byte packets and has error detection.
YMODEM
A faster version of and successor to the XMODEM protocol. It uses 1K
packets.
zip
A generic term for compressing files. The most commonly-used programs are
WinZip and PKZip.
Each can, of course, also unzip files. WinZip files have the TLA
.zip. Other compression formats for archiving
files are LZW
and tar.
ZMODEM
A file transfer protocol similar to Xmodem except that as well as error
checking it can also handle crashes. If a previous transfer of
files crashed this protocol does not require the whole transfer to be
repeated, only what would have followed had there been no crash.
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