Tech Terms S to Z

SDSL - Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line. A version of DSL where the upload speeds and download speeds are the same.

Search Engine - A web system for searching the information available on the Web.

Secure Set Identifier(SSID) – A unique name for a wireless cell or network. As called Service Set Identifier.

Security Certificate - A chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used by the SSL protocol to establish a secure connection.

SEO - Search Engine Optimization. The practice of manipulate web pages so that they rank as high as possible in search results.

Server - A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to client software running on other computers.

Servlet -  A small computer program designed to be add capabilities to a larger piece of server software.

SGML - Standard Generalized Markup Language. Developed in 1986 SGML provides a rich set of rules for defining new data formats.

SLIP – Serial Line Internet Protocol- a non-standard method of electronically connecting a remote computer to an IP network as a node on the network most popular method at present to use graphical browsers on the Internet – first used to connect ham radios to the Internet.

SMDS - Switched Multimegabit Data Service. A standard for very high-speed data transfer.

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The main protocol used to send electronic mail from server to server on the Internet.

SNMP - Simple Network Management Protocol. A set of standards for communication with devices connected to a TCP/IP network. Examples of these devices include routers, hubs, and switches.

SOAP - Simple Object Access Protocol. A protocol for client-server communication that sends and receives information "on top of" HTTP.

Spam (or Spamming). An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which it is not) by sending the same message to a large number of people who didn’t ask for it.

Spider – An automated program that visits sites by following links, then indexing what it finds, for inclusion in search engine results. Also called a robot or a crawler.

Spyware - A somewhat vague term generally referring to software that is secretly installed on a users computer and that monitors use of the computer in some way without the users' knowledge or consent.

SQL - Structured Query Language. A specialized language for sending queries to databases.

SSL - Secure Socket Layer. A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet.

Star Topology – Connects computers in a cross-over, or star, configuration, in which every computer connects to every other computer.

Star-Bus Network – Connects each group of computers to its own centralized hub, and the hubs are then connected in a serialized, bus fashion.

Statement of Work (SOW) – A contract to initiate a project; containing project goals and expectations of how those goals will be met.

Storyboard – A rough outline or map of a planned website, showing what the sections of the site would look like, with an estimate of the technologies needed by the site.

Sysop - System Operator. Anyone responsible for the physical operations of a computer system or network resource. 

Switch – Directs the flow of data from one network node to another, controlling the amount of bandwidth allocated to the transfer.

Table – A database entity that contains rows and columns of data.

Tags - Tags are used to encase text which has special meaning in HTML. Tags tell the browser what to do.

TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. This is the suite of protocols that defines the Internet. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software.

Telnet – a method of logging into another computer as a terminal on that computer.

Terabyte - 1000 gigabytes.

Terminal - A device that allows you to send commands to a computer somewhere else.

Terminal Server  - A special purpose computer that has places to plug in many modems on one side, and a connection to a LAN or host machine on the other side. Thus the terminal server does the work of answering the calls and passes the connections on to the appropriate node.

TLD - Top Level Domain. The last (right-hand) part of a complete Domain Name. example .biz, .com, .edu, .gov, .info, .int, .mil, .net, .org, .us, .au

Trojan Horse - A computer program is either hidden inside another program or that masquerades as something it is not in order to trick potential users into running it.

Topologies – Basic design configurations used to wire networks.

Transparency – Allows a Web page background to show through an image, making the image blend into the background.

Twisted Pair – Copper wire cable, in five defined standards of bandwidth capacity, traditionally used for telephony, also used for network cables.

UDP - User Datagram Protocol. One of the protocols for data transfer that is part of the TCP/IP suite of protocols.

Upload - Transferring data from a the computer you are using to another computer.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator. It is used to specify file locations of html or other files.  An address on the Internet.

URN - Uniform Resource Name. A URI that is supposed to be available for along time. For an address to be a URN some institution is supposed to make a long term commitment.

USENET - the name given to the computer network which carries newsgroups - newsgroups are arranged in heirarchies based loosely on subject matter A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed among hundreds of thousands of clients machines.

Validation – Checking a document’s code for irregularities, or checking input to see if it is of the expected type (for example, numeric content vs. text).

Validation Engine – An application which checks HTML or other code for compliance to W3C standards.

Veronica- a system for finding files available from GOPHER servers.

Virus - A chunk of computer programming code that makes copies of itself without any conscious human intervention. Some viruses do more than simply replicate themselves, they might display messages, install other software or files, delete software of files, etc.

A virus requires the presence of some other program to replicate itself. Typically viruses spread by attaching themselves to programs and in some cases files.

VOIP - Voice Over IP. A specification and various technologies used to allow making telephone calls over IP networks.

VPN - Virtual Private Network.

Usually refers to a network in which some of the parts are connected using the public Internet, but the data sent across the Internet is encrypted, so the entire network is "virtually" private.

VRML – Virtual Reality Modeling Language a tagging language for conveying three dimensional information over the Internet using a VRML browser.

W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) – The organization responsible for Web standards.

WAIS – Wide Area Information Service a method of finding information on the Internet.

WAN - Wide Area Network. Any internet or network that covers an area larger than a single building or campus.

War Driving – Driving through a neighborhood or business district trying to discover unsecured wireless networks.

Web - Short for "World Wide Web."

Web browser – Software used to retrieve and display web pages on the web. Ex: Internet Explorer, Firefox

Webinar –

Allows participants to attend interactive sessions remotely, online.

Web page - A document designed for viewing in a web browser. Typically written in HTML.

Web server – The computer the web pages are stored on. The web server will transmit the web pages across the network/internet to the client computer which is running a web browser.

WebDAV - Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning. A set of extensions to the HTTP protocol that allows multiple users to not only read but also to add, delete, and change documents residing on a web server.

Website - The entire collection of web pages and other information (such as images, sound, and video files, etc.) that are made available through what appears to users as a single web server.

White Pages- lists of Internet users

Wi-Fi - Wireless Fidelity. A popular term for a form of wireless data communication, basically Wi-Fi is "Wireless Ethernet".

Wiki - A wiki is a web site for which the content can be easily edited and altered from the web browser in which you are viewing it.

WinSock- a specification for a program that implements a “socket” connection under the MS Windows environment – a winsock is needed for SLIP or PPP connections under WINDOWS.

Wireless Access Point – Provides centralized control and security features, and acts as a hub.

Wireless Network – a method using infra-red, ultra-violet or radio waves, of connecting computers into a network.

Worm - A worm is a virus that does not infect other programs. It makes copies of itself, and infects additional computers (typically by making use of network connections) but does not attach itself to additional programs; however a worm might alter, install, or destroy files and programs.

WWW - World Wide Web. is a term frequently used  when referring to "The Internet",.

XHTML -Extensible HyperText Markup Language. Basically HTML expressed as valid XML. XHTML is intended to be used in the same places you would use HTML (creating web pages) but is much more strictly defined, which makes it a lot easier to create sofware that can read it, edit it, check it for errors, etc.

XML - Extensible Markup Language. A widely used system for defining data formats. XML provides a very rich system to define complex documents and data structures such as invoices, molecular data, news feeds, glossaries, inventory descriptions, real estate properties, etc.

XMLRPC - XML Remote Procedure Call. A protocol for client-server communication that sends and receives information "on top of" HTTP. The data sent and received is in a particular XML format specifically designed for use with XMLRPC.

XPFE - Cross Platform Front End. A suite of technologies used to create applications that will work and look the same on different computer operating systems. A widely used XPFE application is the Mozilla web browser and its derivatives, such as the Netscape web browser in version 7 and later.

XUL - Extensible User-interface Language. A markup language similar to HTML and based on XML.