Glossary of Common Internet Related Terms

ASP (Active Server Pages)
ASP is Microsoft's server-side scripting technology. Scripts written in JScript or VBScript are embedded into HTML pages and perform some task before the web page is delivered to the end user. Many dynamic websites are built using some kind of server-side scripting such as ASP.

Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the measure of how much data can be transferred over a network in a period of time.

Browser
A computer program that displays web pages. The most popular browsers today are Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, and Mozilla. The browser is also often referred to as the "client" in a server-client relationship.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)
A standard that allows web servers to interface with executable applications. CGI programs are typically written in any of the various server-side scripting languages like Perl, C/C++, PHP, etc. One of the main uses of CGI is for processing HTML forms

Cookie
A cookie is a small piece of data that is saved in a user's browser. When a user visits a site, the cookie can be accessed to provide a personalized user experience.

Crawler
Automated software that retrieves web pages and follows hyperlinks contained in them. Search engines send out crawlers periodically throughout the web, and generate indexes.

DNS (Domain Name System)
A service that maps Internet domains to corresponding IP addresses.

DHTML
DHTML is the use of CSS and Javascript to create dynamic web experiences. One of the more popular uses of DHTML is drop-down menues.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
FTP is an internet protocol which defines how to download and upload files between a client and a server. Once a web page is developed, a FTP program such as WS_FTP or CuteFTP is used to upload the pages to the hosting server.

GIF
GIF is a very popular graphic file format used on the web today. Most web images that are comprised of mostly solid colors, are in GIF format.

HTML
HTML is the programming language in which web pages are written.

IP Address
A unique number identifying all devices connected to the Internet.

Java
A very popular programming language developed by Sun, used in developing web applications.

Javascript
A client-side programming language used to make web pages more interactive. Javascript is used to validate forms, display date information, create rollover effects, and much more.

JPEG
A graphic compression format used for images on the Internet. Typically, photographs or other web images that contain hundreds or thousands of colors are in the jpeg format. Images can be saved with the extension jpg or jpeg.

JScript
JScript is Microsoft's version of Javascript.

JSP (Java Server Pages)
JSP is an extension of Java Servlet technology which combines Java server-side programs and HTML. JSP, like ASP and PHP, is used to create dynamic web pages.

MySQL
MySQL is the most popular relational database. Server side programming languages such as PHP are typically used in conjunction with MySQL to deliver database information over the web.

Perl
Perl is an open source CGI scripting programming language.

PHP
PHP is a very popular open source server-side scripting language. Like ASP and JSP, PHP code is embedded in web pages and allows the creation of dynamic pages. Most web hosting companies offer PHP.

SQL (Structured Query Language
A programming language used for updating and querying relational databases. All databases including MySQL, Oracle, PostGRE, and MSSQL use SQL.

SSI (Server Side Includes)
SSI scripts are embedded into web pages and are usually used to include external files inside of a page or show date information. The script is executed before the page is delivered to the client. Web pages with SSI scripts usually have the extension .shtml.

Static IP
Some web hosting companies offer a static IP, which means that your site will be assigned a unique and unchanging IP address.

Subdomain
Subdomains are used to divide websites into different sections. Usually the subdomain is a descriptive name placed before the main domain. For example, Yahoo has several subdomains for their website. The finance section is under the subdomain http:://finance.yahoo.com and their shopping section has the subdomain http://shopping.yahoo.com.

XML (Extensible Markup Language)
XML is a markup language that is extensible, allowing people to design their own customized markup languages. XML is powerful because it allows non-compatible applications to communicate with one another.