Chapter 9 – The Evolving Internet

Application server	A common type of Internet server that stores PC office applications, databases, or other applications and makes them available to client programs that request them.
Application service provider	A company that manages and delivers application services on a contract basis.
Cookie	Small files deposited on a user's hard disk by Web sites, enabling sites to remember what they know about their visitors between sessions.
Cyberspace	A term used to describe the Internet and other online networks, especially the artificial realities and virtual communities that form on them. First coined by William Gibson in his novel, Neuromancer.
Data-driven Web site	A Web site that can display dynamic, change able content without having constantly redesigned pages, due to an evolving database that separates the site's content from its design.
Dial-up connection	A connection to the Internet that uses a modem and standard phone lines.
Digital divide	A term that describes the divide between the people who do and do not have access to the Internet.
Dynamic IP address	An IP address that is assigned to a device when it connects to the internet; when that device disconnects from the Internet, the IP address may be reused.
Electronic money	A system for purchasing goods and services on the Internet without using credit cards.
Email server	A specialized server that acts like a local post office for a particular Internet host.
File server	In a LAN, a computer used as a storehouse for software and data that are shared by several users.
File transfer protocol	A communications protocol that enables users to download files from remote servers to their computers and to upload files they want to share from their computers to these archives.
Filtering software	Software that, for the most part, keeps offensive and otherwise inappropriate Web content from being viewed by children, on-duty workers, and others.
HTML	An HTML document is a text file that includes codes that describe the format, layout, and logical structure of a hypermedia document. Most Web pages are created with HTML.
Internet 2	An alternative Internet-style network that provides faster network communications for universities and research institutions.
Internet service provide	A business that provides its customers with connections to the Internet along with other services.
Internetworking	Connecting different types of networks and computer systems.
Java	A platform-neutral, object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems for use on multiplatform networks.
JavaScript	An interpreted scripting language, similar to but otherwise unrelated to Java that enables Web page designers to add scripts to HTML code.
Net neutrality	Also called network neutrality, it's the principle that Internet access should be free from restrictions related to the type of equipment being connected and the type of communication being performed with that equipment.
Open standards	Standards not owned by any company.
Packet-switching	The standard technique used to send information over the Internet. A message is broken into packets that travel independently from network to network toward their common destination, where they are reunited.
Plug-ins	A software extension that adds new features.
Pull technology	Technology in which browsers on client computers pull information from server machines. The browser needs to initiate a request before any information is delivered.
Push technology	Technology in which information is delivered automatically to a client computer. The user subscribes to a service and the server delivers that information periodically and unobtrusively. Contrast with pull technology.
RSS	An XML-based format for sharing data with aggregators, commonly used by bloggers.
Static IP address	An IP address assigned semi-permanently to a particular device connected to the Internet.
Streaming audio	Sound files that play without being completely downloaded to the local hard disk.
Streaming video	Video clip files that play while being downloaded.
Synchronized multimedia integration language	An HTML-like language designed to make it possible to link time-based streaming media so, for example, sounds, video, and animation can be tightly integrated with each other.
TCP/IP	1 Protocols developed as an experiment in internetworking, now the language of the Internet, allowing cross-network communication for almost every type of computer and network.
Uniform resource locator	The address of a Web site.
URL	The address of a Web site.
Web authoring software	Programs such as Adobe's Dreamweaver that work like desktop publishing page layout programs to allow users to create, edit, and manage Web pages and sites without having to write HTML code.
Web portal	A Web site designed as a Web entry station, offering quick and easy access to a variety of services.
Web server	A server that stores Web pages and sends them to client programs Web browsers that request them.
World wide web	Part of the Internet, a collection of multimedia documents created by organizations and users worldwide. Documents are linked in a hypertext Web that allows users to explore them with simple mouse clicks.
XHTML	Markup language that combines features of HTML and XML; its advantage is its backward compatibility with HTML.
XML	A programming language for Web sites that includes all of HTML's features plus many additional programming extensions. XML enables Web developers to control and display data the way they control text and graphics.